Self-Tongue Diagnosis  

Oh boy, self-tongue diagnosis! As I was cruising around the internet looking for info to share about this, I came upon this website and think it's a winner.  All in good humor, it takes the mystery out of these weird tongues and illustrates the kind of things a practitioner of Chinese Medicine is looking for.

Often when I ask to look at someone's tongue for the first time I get met with a certain reticence. It is an unusual request if one is not used to it, and I think folks feel it is too intimate or weird or gross or something. It is a major diagnostic indicator in this medicine, though, and provides important information.

Part of the beauty of Chinese Medicine is that it clearly demonstrates the truth of holographic theory:  the whole is coded in each of its parts.  Thousands of years ago as this medicine developed, there were no instruments available to help with diagnosis (thermometers, stethoscopes, blood tests, etc) and diagnosis was a matter of discerning from your patient what could be gathered through the senses.  Chinese Medicine talks of the Four Diagnostic Techniques:  Looking, Asking, Listening/Smelling, and Palpation.  A major component of the "Looking" diagnosis is looking at the tongue. 

So, if you are up for a little fun I invite you to go for it and see what you can learn.  Remember, it's just an innocent piece of flesh! (And, the tongues on this site are fairly tame.  When I was in school, we were shown slides from China, projected many times their original size, of the worst possible looking tongues from folks who likely just crawled out of a cave, complete with snaggle or completely missing teeth, and some seriously pathological conditions. The tongues on this site are pretty standard and not such a big deal.)

I found this video on Youtube and just liked it.  It is a very basic introduction to Chinese herbal medicine from the inside of a traditional herb store.

For those of you unfamiliar, Chinese herbal medicine is a vast, sophisticated and powerful system. It developed through trial and error over many centuries, and, from the hand of a skilled herbalist is effective, reliable and safe.  Most of the herbs I prescribe in my practice come in tablet form and are classic formulas.  Here is an opportunity to see some raw herbs as well, before they are ground up and made acceptable and palatable.  I still do recommend the traditional teas, though, which are made individually from raw herbs, brewed, and then consumed.  The teas may look like motor oil and don't taste like hot cocoa, but they are potent concoctions to be sure, and good for what ails you! Click here.

The PanAfrican Acupuncture Project is yet another extremely worthy non-profit organization that is taking acupuncture to places it has not gone before.  This time it is to Uganda primarily,

as the project trains local health care practitioners  in simple acupuncture protocols to deal with the symptoms of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases in the local population. So take a look at the website, and learn what this most commendable organization is up to. Watch the video too, and make a donation if you are so moved.