1 - Dr van Buren started as an osteopath. He travelled extensively and gained insights that were well beyond what is found in any written works. He became extraordinarily interested in the more esoteric and different to the Worsley school, at the same time, developed his own interpretation of Stems and branches. Some of his work is carried forwards on other’s attempts to also keep alive his life work.
Wendy Williams (www.shokanten.com) is a great place start here. Wendy’s initial experience in acupuncture was actually being one of Dr John Shen’s patients. Some of us are involved in our women’s lives, and the maternal urges and echoes often fudge what else we do. This is a feminist issue - who looks after and tends, may not ‘get out there’ /published or gain recognition from the masses – but most women practitioners who become teachers, have been majorly nurturing to all around them. Their service shines in small circles.
Dr van Buren was a magician in practice – he worked with the more alchemic and the more astrological. When he was teaching over 30 years ago, it was a study just to try to make sense of the journey – as it was highly individualised and there was a lot of personality leakage. Such is being a person. They, like all before, will sink into obscurity and I very much wonder at the rate evidence-based’ and research (through the western acceptable model) whatever much that actually gives our medicine its character and flavours, will actually be retained for others as the older practitioners as myself fade out also.
Through a lifetime career of working on my own, my children’s and my student’s and patients’ blockages, worrying them at the edges, wondering whatever I can do – sometimes it is at the ‘give up’ point that inspiration strikes . . . . here I am hoping if it is you that is thinking of the giving up – as it all looks too hard – be it staying on as a student, as a practitioner or as this patients’ practitioner, you will find inspiration.
A different look – through different eyes – and a peeling back of preconceptions is often important in all endeavours.
2 - Dr John Shen
Starting with acupuncture, one of the first things that I do is try to do what Dr Shen said – “first get the patients’ love’.
I am not sure whether he actually meant the romantic notions of this word – I would imagine he meant more being worthy of the professional respect and admiration and from there, the wanting to be ‘good’ as this is the practitioners’ intention may be closer the mark. Whatever he meant, through being a mentor and role model, to be there for the release of fear seemed to be development, here he worked from. Helping all understand that what was happening was an orderly progression from where they had strayed from life’s blueprint. He devised a system of looking very differently at the human condition.
As I go through in seminar development, I will be adding to this model. His pulse work was technically portrayed in some of Dr Leon Hammer’s works. The framework that makes it live was not. I intend to offer some of what I gleaned from Dr Shen, very briefly in the seminars I observed him work in the early 1980’s in Australia. Following Dr Hammer about, in 1982 and in 1994, I was able to remember a lot more of the essence that Dr Shen carried. He really was a master at assisting other’s to heal themselves.
He did this through very quiet observation. Within 30 seconds he seemed to understand what had broken the blueprint. He may be asked a question, listened to the pulse, and then out came the answer –using physiognomy, ear inspection, and every other sense he had honed to the task. Rarely these days is there time to just observe, to contemplate and to then spend a lifetime thinking independently.
Both men had been in practice for decades by the time I met them. Both were at the end of their productive lives, and were very clear on their ways of working. Both were pulse masters – and both had very different style of pulse, of being and of working. Both also carried immense learning gained through others as they had actively sought out perfection in all before them. This is not apparent in either teaching or practice as the masters in China went through the tumult of a revolution, where it was not safe to be in practice. Dr Shen, like so many others escaped.
3 - LIFE - my own and that of my students and patients...
I strongly suggest all when studying acupuncture also start looking with either an anthologists’ or a sociologists’ eyes at the context of the medicine we choose to follow- both now and in the recent past. There is a whole genre of writing coming from the earlier days of the past century and studying these places in context what has happened to our medicine – it is not in the form it was even a century ago. Vastly altered through the upheavals its country of origin went through treated with as much respect as the more than 6,000 universities destroyed in the neighbouring Tibet, we in the west need to take off our blinkers and start discovering where we can take this medicine, ourselves.
We live in very different times; and these keep on changing. We have patients whose lives are making no more sense to them than our own may make to us. We are losing our direction in all things – and the fabric of all that has woven humans together is unravelling. Perhaps this gets more obvious as we age – I now also have been working with acupuncture as long as Dr van Buren had when I met him in the late 1970’s.
Rewriting and hiding in the past that made it out of the dark days we all pretend did not happen – has been translated into the culture or the medicine we use today. Also the gifts having been raised in another language /culture/age and setting to those whose work forms the basis for what is written currently. Sometimes it does not fit. Both these men went ahead and developed from where their teachers had given them a basis, to where their more important teachers – their patients – lead them.
Dr Shen always said ‘don’t worry’. He always tried to get the person to stop the inner battle that was actually destroying their likelihood of healing. All acupuncture writing gives lip service to this – major cause of disease? Emotions. This can get lost as we in the west are forgetting the Chinese had a cultural revolution.
Watching either man work with someone was an inspiration. They were absolutely working Shen to Shen. I sincerely hope that this comes through in the work you see before you on this site, as I believe that unless we see the totality of all that the person is we cannot work for/with them. Sometimes the information here may appear mechanical – we do have to undo what has happened and the physical is easy to present – hence the photos. Although this work is not in text book form I have done my best to show the practical application of a senior acupuncturists ‘ thinking and her clinical work.
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Jennifer, UK:
“I am impressed by the depth of your research into Chinese medicine, your understanding of what women need and the sheer amount of work involved in what you have created.”
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April ( Brisbane):
"In the last six months I have been taken on a learning journey that has completely changed my views on acupuncture, and how I work as an acupuncturist. Since I have been watching Heather work I have been shown a completely new way of thinking/being. What I have learnt is to treat a person as someone who has lived a life, whose life has impacted upon their blueprint. We were not taught this at university."
Read more ...
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Jennifer, UK:
“I am impressed by the depth of your research into Chinese medicine, your understanding of what women need and the sheer amount of work involved in what you have created.”
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Mike, (Queensland):
"I plugged your 'sharpen-up...' website while guest lecturing at last night. Awesome video.
Well done and thank you."
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Janet - (Spain):
‘I think your approach is brilliant, you are forthright and speak common sense, a rare commodity these days!’
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Camilla ( Brisbane):
"What I gained from doing the workshop with you:
- for the first time since I graduated I felt excited about the prospect of being an Acupuncturist. I left feeling very enthusiastic with the thought that “yes, I can do that, I can help these women". Whereas before I wanted to help them but was somehow blocked, or lacking in all the tools. The workshop opened up my eyes to other methods of dealing with these cases outside TCM which I have always instinctively known but never had the permission to use without feeling like I was practicing un pure TCM.
- It reawakened my interest with the 8extras, a topic that was belittled sometime in the 4th year of college when we were doing the research subject.
- I confirmed some of my deep personal subconscious beliefs about birthing that I must have had passed down to me from my mother because they were never something we learnt at college.
- I gave me the confidence to clearly see what was REALLY happening when I visited one of my patients after a C-section in a private hospital a week later. The uneasy feeling about what was being done to here was more than an uneasy feeling but a clear picture of the patterns being laid down that would affect her and her babies for years to come.
And the main the course gave me was a passion and a need to be practicing in the area of women’s health which I have toyed with for years but never actively perused because I had the belief that I needed to have a general practice and not exclude all the other cases because if I did I would not have enough patients and would not be able to make a living, I now realise there are an abundance of birthing women who need our help."
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Paddy McBride Dip Ch Ed, M Hlth Sci(TCM)
Nelson, New Zealand:
"As an acupuncturist and a Childbirth Educator and having worked with expectant couples and new parents on both sides of the Tasman, I am confident that Heather’s work can and will make a difference in the wonderful world of birth.
The techniques outlined by Heather are a current take on ancient wisdom, in a readily accessible package for anyone, regardless of their previous knowledge of either birth or acupuncture.
I especially appreciate Heather’s attention to referencing and cross-referencing her work, thus enabling the reader to quickly go to the part of the book they need with a minimum of effort.
Her work will be of interest not only to couples but also to other health professionals with an interest in facilitating natural childbirth."
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Maurice (Netherlands):
"Thanks for sending me your books and DVDs to my address in Holland. I enjoyed your conference last year very much.
Your 'hands on' approach is just what I needed by that time, and it has influenced my way of working. I was getting too confused and fet up with all the theoretical textbooks.
Would be great if you can come another time and show us some more practical devices. big hug, M."
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Kim (Los Altos, USA):
"A colleague of mine went to one of your classes and allowed me to view her DVDs of your lecture on Women's health.. and now I'm hooked!
I LOVE what you're teaching, and hope to catch up with you next lecture series in the states if there are any coming up.
I love how you weave the spiritual, feminine into your teaching."
With gratitude!
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Marlene Farry (Acupuncturist, NZ):
"Heather Bruce is an outstanding clinician - achieving results in cases both chronic and complex.
Her contribution to Acupuncture and Holistic (wise woman) health in Australia and New Zealand is far sighted, revolutionary and thankfully, with thoughtful pragmatic application."
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Robin Kerr, NZRA, NDA:
"I was a fortunate participant in Heathers course on 'removing blockages'.
It was great to have her years of experience and passion in working in women's health.
As a relatively new acupuncturist but with many years experience in women's health, this course gave confidence and validation to the work I do.
Many of her techniques and resources are used in my work now on a regular basis."
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Mike (Sunshine Coast):
"I was extremely moved by your last post on the Need More info on OB/GYN and Infertility thread.
You wrote, among other amazing lines,:"but should we look as an experienced people observer, with the intent to help and heal and with an open enquiring mind, and the acupuncture/energy framework at our disposal, we can often attend to those where hope seems gone."
Well, I read that and I almost had tears in my eyes. It is people such as you who embody the very essence of inspiration for practitioners and students of acupuncture. When I read some of the things you write, they serve as great reminders that I am on the right path in life and in my job."
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Nick:
“I opened myself up to being more shamanistic again. My roots have been lost in the more technical aspects of studying, and the spiritual is reasserting itself again. Your passion is thus inspiring. On a more personal note, I am examining your sexual concepts and the difference between potency and vitality”.
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Camilla:
“For the first time since I graduated I felt excited about the prospect of being an acupuncturist.
I left feeling very enthusiastic with the thought that "yes, I can do that, I can help these women" - whereas before I wanted to help them but was somehow blocked, or lacking in all the tools.
The workshop opened up my eyes to other methods of dealing with these cases outside TCM which I have always instinctively known but never had the permission to use without feeling like I was practicing ‘impure’ TCM.
It also reawakened my interest with the 8 extras, a topic that was belittled sometime in the 4th year of college when we were doing our research subject.
It gave me the confidence to clearly see what was REALLY happening when I visited one of my patients after a C-section in a private hospital a week later.
The uneasy feeling about what was being done to here was more than an uneasy feeling but a clear picture of the patterns being laid down that would affect her and her babe for years to come”.
The course gave me was a passion and a need to be practicing in the area of women’s health which I have toyed with for years but never actively pursued.
I had the belief that I needed to have a general practice and not exclude all the other cases because if I did I would not have enough patients and would not be able to make a living, I now realise there are an abundance of birthing women who need our help.
Thankyou so much – you validated some of my deep personal subconscious beliefs about birthing that I must have had passed down to me from my mother because they were never something we learnt at college."
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Mark:
“I came away from the seminar with an appreciation of your extensive experience – especially the application over time working out such things as the sacral massage. The next day, I was aware of the practical tips – like the different depths of needling affecting different meridians. The main thing I possibly got was the thought that I did not need to couple the eight extras when working with them.
“I learn visually, so I really liked the use of the whiteboard. In clinic – I had not thought of the role of the temperature the way that you explained and am working differently now with those coming in with infertility. Especially important was your concept of anything that creates heat as being a jing disruptor – a very useful tool for use in talking with patients”.
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Sheridan:
“It definitely got me thinking and am doing things differently.
I am now more aware of blockages and am not automatically coupling the 8 extras as we do in the Japanese style.”
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Wendy (Brisbane):
“Good on you for all the work you put in to practitioner tools and education, this is priceless for people like myself. Having just graduated, it is wonderful to have a senior and very successful practitioner sharing their work”.
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About Heather