By Eric Brand

The other day I was fortunate to experience a truly rare and treasured opportunity: I had the chance to study with Dr. Shi Xue-min in an intimate clinical setting in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Shi is one of China’s most famous acupuncturists, and the opportunity to study with him in a private, intimate setting is virtually unheard of. In his hometown of Tianjin, China, Dr. Shi runs one of the world’s largest hospitals devoted to acupuncture, and his hospital and techniques are the focus of the popular new documentary film 9000 Needles.

During his current trip, Dr. Shi is spending nearly six weeks in the USA, and he is leading a very unique clinical training program in Phoenix that is organized by his student and friend, Dr. Jing Liu. Dr. Liu is herself an inspiring expert clinician, and seeing her in action was an incredible aspect of the experience. Along with Dr. Shi was his colleague from Tianjin, Dr. Bian, another masterful acupuncturist with beautiful technique. I felt barely worthy of sitting in the same room as experts like these, and I tried to quietly watch and observe their masterful techniques for the next 24 hours in a state of student bliss.

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I could tell that it was going to be a special experience when I first saw the clinic itself and the excellent team of resident acupuncturists working for Dr. Jing Liu, and by the end of my stay I was feeling simply amazed by the caliber of Chinese medicine that I witnessed there. Dr. Liu’s clinic was bursting at the seams with patients and their success stories, and I would have been content to study for years with Dr. Liu and her young colleague and protégé Dr. Liu Kun alone. Given that environment, the chance to watch the needling technique of Dr. Shi and Dr. Bian in close quarters was an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime, and I left Phoenix feeling completely blown away by the quality of the experience.

In China, Dr. Shi Xue-min is known for several different contributions to the world of acupuncture. My first exposure to Dr. Shi Xue-min’s work was based on books that he had written or edited, including one of China’s main acupuncture therapy textbooks. Later on, after living in Beijing while working at China’s largest TCM publishing house, I heard people refer to Dr. Shi with a tone of reverence, and as I read more widely in Chinese acupuncture texts, I came to realize that his method of Xing Nao Kai Qiao had spread throughout China’s hospitals and textbooks. I visited his hospital in Tianjin and was blown away by its scale, an entire 2000 bed hospital largely devoted to acupuncture, the largest and most advanced of its kind in China. Yet it was only after I saw his hands move in real life that I fully understood what his greatest contribution to acupuncture was- the art of technique.

Dr. Shi was in the first generation of university-trained doctors of TCM in China. As such, his primary teachers were famous acupuncturists from the era of traditional lineage training, and Dr. Shi formed close relationships with several of these true “lao zhongyi,” coaxing them to pass down their treasured knowledge. Beyond inheriting this knowledge from former generations, Dr. Shi gradually took acupuncture into new directions by emphasizing needling stimulation and assessing acupuncture quantitatively for the first time in an academic setting.

Dr. Shi is best known for his acupuncture treatment method known as Xing Nao Kai Qiao, which is an approach used for stroke treatment in China. Xing Nao Kai Qiao involves specific points and methods of stimulation, and it has been widely used in stroke treatment and research for nearly forty years. However, beyond Xing Nao Kai Qiao alone, of arguably even greater importance are Dr. Shi’s contributions towards needle manipulation and the quantitative effects of acupuncture as a whole.

As a student in Dr. Liu’s clinic, I paid particular attention to Dr. Shi’s supplementing and draining technique. He advocates narrow amplitude of rotation with a high frequency of rotation and gentle force for supplementation, and wider amplitude of rotation with lower frequency and greater force for draining. When written in text, such a technique seems simple, but when seen in real life by a real master, it is profound. Dr. Shi’s hands are dexterous like a magician, and even in his seventies his fingers move with brilliant speed and grace. He has some special techniques for certain points and other unusual tricks, but his true magic lays not in point selection, but rather in how well he needles the points. As Dr. Shi himself said, “all pilots fly planes and use the same equipment, but a good pilot flies very safely and lands very well.” Truly, we all use the same points and the same needles, but most of us simply don’t manipulate the needles with the grace and skill that Dr. Shi does.

Dr. Shi frequently speaks about needling technique in analogy to the dose of medicinals when prescribing herbs. With herbs or drugs, there are clear standards of dosage for certain characteristic effects. To Dr. Shi, the intensity of needle stimulation is akin to dosage, and different problems require different methods of stimulation. This concept of quantitative acupuncture effects, as well as questions into the duration of acupuncture effects, have been extensively researched by Dr. Shi and over 100 PhD students that have followed his work. As the first person to bring these concepts into the science of acupuncture research, Dr. Shi has made a tremendous contribution to the global community.

It was truly a great honor to be there to see Dr. Shi. He has one upcoming lecture series at NYCTCM in New York, followed by an event at Emperor’s in Los Angeles and another series at Five Branches in Santa Cruz/San Jose. If anyone has the opportunity to attend these classes, I strongly recommend it! He is currently doing a clinical training course in Phoenix, the information is at this link.