A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond
by Sabine Wilms PhD
Tune in every New Moon for inspiring, joyful, and informative conversations with Sabine Wilms and Leo Lok on transforming ourselves, our communities, and the world, in the spirit of traditional Chinese medicine, spirituality, and philosophy. Separating fact from fiction, we aim to bring you medicine from China's distant past, translated here to meet YOUR needs today, in your personal practice, in your community, and in the clinic.Sabine Wilms, PhD, is a medical historian, recovering university professor, and author and translator of more than a dozen books on the Chinese healing arts, from gynecology and pediatrics to medical ethics and materia medica, published by Happy Goat Productions. In addition to writing, she runs the only advanced 2-year classical Chinese training program for practitioners of Chinese medicine and contributes insights from her checkered past as a biodynamic goat farmer and musician, all under the banner of her favorite phrase, “cosmic resonance,” a.k.a. the Chi
Episodes
-
Small Heart, Big Gallbladder
In this conversation, Sabine and Leo unpack the meaning of a supposed Sun Simiao quote: "Wish for a small heart and a big gallbladder!" To understand the multiple layers of possible meanings, especially as applied to the physician and the ruler, we draw on the significance of "heart" and...
-
Let's Get Spicy!
What do mint, radish, and burnt plastic have in common? How do you explain a physical sensation to somebody without a shared language or experience to fall back on? How did the arrival of chile pepper from the Americas change the meaning of "spicy" in the old world? Does it make sense to refer to…
more -
Moistening and Cooling for Fire and Smoke
While it may not feel like it yet, August 7 was the official beginning of fall, marked by the seasonal node lì qiū 立秋 in the traditional East Asian agricultural calendar. At the same time, most people in the northern hemisphere have already had to deal with smoke from wildfires in this...
-
When water doesn’t cut It… and… what’s with the coconut?
In light of the many unprecedented heatwaves striking the northern hemisphere in this year of a super El Niño summer, this episode of The Pebble in the Cosmic Pond is dedicated to summer-heat, and to the human physical, cultural, culinary, and medical responses to it. Using Sabine’s continued...
-
Hot-Cold Calibration for the Apex of Summer
This month's conversation is inspired by Sabine' experience of managing a heat wave in Vietnam with more or less successful adaptive skills, to put it diplomatically. In order to prevent overheating, or overcooling for that matter, and to benefit from adaptations like air conditioning, protective...
-
Three Friends Springrolls: Sustainable Agriculture that Harmonizes Heaven and Earth
In today's episode, which actually was recorded with both of us on the same continent, and even in the same area, near Danang, Vietnam, we consider ancient agricultural traditions. In the spirit of our new season, this is again more of a travelogue than a nerdy Chinese medicine podcast. Let us…
more -
Expressing the Spirit of Springing and Sprouting
Welcome to this first episode of our new Season Five on “Expressing the Spirit of Springing and Sprouting”! While we haven’t settled on a formal name for this season yet, we want to focus on renewal, play, joy, and paying attention, as a counterweight to the heaviness, suffering, and fiery chaos...
-
Frolicking Fish: Our Vision for Adding Joy, Love, and Curiosity to Chinese Medicine Education
What do you see missing in Chinese medicine education? How can we, Leo Lok and Sabine Wilms, with our unique combination of skills and resources, best support you as part of our beloved Chinese medicine community? What is the right and ethical balance between academic education, joyful...
-
New Year's Joy: Whales, Spring, and East-West Transmission in Pregnancy Care
Happy new year of the Yang Fire horse to everybody! In this conversation, recorded on the eve of the Chinese New Year, Leo had set out to share his excitement about the work that we have been doing on our upcoming course on "Nurturing Pregnancy." Sabine got distracted right at the beginning of…
more -
Nurturing Pregnancy: Modulating the Center
Most attention in the medical care of pregnancy focuses on preventing miscarriage in the tender first trimester, on the one hand, and on preparing for a smooth and safe labor and delivery in the last trimester. But what about the middle? In this episode, Leo and Sabine delve into over 2000 years…
more -
The slippery slope between discernment and judgment
As we all know, when somebody passes judgment on another person, regardless of the validity of that judgment, it will close the door to effective communication and connection. At the same time, one way of defining any healer's role is to serve as a guide who helps the patient on their path back…
more -
Playing with Qi and Other Tools of Self-Care
We start off this episode by exploring the meaning of "tiao qi" 調氣, which is the title of one of the chapters in Sun Simiao's volume on Yangxing (self-cultivation and longevity). Inspired by Sun Simiao's writings and our work in translating and teaching this material, we start within this context...
-
Confucian Willfulness?
In today's conversation, I asked for Leo's help in exploring Confucius' teachings on social cohesion, authority, and the creation of harmony in self, family, society, and the world, on the one hand, and on ethics, on following our "mandate from Heaven," and standing steadfast by our values, on…
more -
Shades of Love in Buddhism
In today's episode, I got to ask Leo to speak more specifically about the different kinds of love that are found in the Buddhist teachings. Together, we were able to explore how I can make sure that the deep love I feel for my daughter, to use the example closest to my heart, does not turn into a...
-
From Wittgenstein to Wenyanwen: Classical Reflections with Paola
In this conversation, Leo and Sabine feature our friend Paola Campanelli, an international practitioner and graduate of Sabine's 2-year classical Chinese training program. Together, we explore Paola's journey from philosophy to sinology to Chinese medicine, from her native Italy to China and…
more -
The Joys of Reading the Chinese Medicine Classics
In this episode, we (Sabine Wilms and Leo Lok) invited the Spanish practitioner and teacher of Chinese medicine Manu Moreno to share with us his personal journey of learning, practicing, teaching, and translating Chinese medicine. Manu generously introduced us to his childhood experiences,...
-
Chanting for Protection
In this conversation, we get pretty personal! In an honest exploration, we look at the intersection of Sabine's personal experiences, Leo's healing practices, and the power of intention. Specifically, we discuss the Surangama mantra and its protective and healing powers, and then consider the...
-
Harnessing Anger for a Better World
Chinese medicine practitioners are all too familiar with the common pathology of "Liver Qi Stagnation/Constraint." Partly related to feminine gender norms in both China and the West that force women to suppress and deny their anger, it results from the inability to let the liver Qi flow freely.…
more -
The Power and Perils of Postpartum Care
What do we (as in Leo and Sabine) mean when we say with great urgency and earnestness that postpartum care can heal trauma for multiple generations into the past and future? Why is there such a gaping hole in our modern culture's attention to the deep exhaustion, isolation, dangers, and need for...
-
The Healing Magic of Ducklings
Today's episode, which could also be called "the mother and child within each of us," explores the healing power of the heart through the joy that Sabine experiences when caring for her fluffy baby ducklings and goslings, or when sharing them as a healing tool with her community, old and young....
-
Strength Training Part One: Medical and Cultural Perspectives
Let's talk about exercise, strength training, aging, and, yet again, the need for careful calibration. In today's conversation we explore the sweet range between taxing the body, enabling it to work harder, and building strength, on the one hand, and resting and honoring a more Yin approach to...
-
Work and Play in Dark Times
For this episode, Leo Lok and Sabine Wilms explore how to find joy, practice self-care, and show up in meaningful ways during dark times. Starting with learning from animals and babies, somehow they keep coming back to resonance, rhythm, and movement, as the key to avoid getting stuck and...
-
Love, Joy, Cold Water Swimming, and Resilience
What do kindness and joy, swimming in cold water and sharing food, euphoria and resilience, coping mechanisms, COVID, community, compassion, and connection have to do with each other? How do we sustain our work and find joy in the face of suffering? Is it possible to make suffering lighter…
more -
Finding your True Nature Through Living Daoism
In today's episode, Leo Lok and I are joined by Jack Schaefer, a practitioner of both Chinese medicine and Daoism as a living practice. In his role as one of the most active, passionate, and committed transmitters of Daoism in the West, he is the cofounder of Parting Clouds Daoist Education…
more -
Sun Simiao's Secret to True Healing
How do you not only treat somebody successfully in the moment, but truly alleviate their suffering and get the effect of your action to stick, whether you use herbs or diet, needles or touch, or whatever? In medicine, farming, cooking, or any other area of expertise, how do we balance the need…
more -
Harnessing Emotional Energy
Are you feeling the turmoil of the world reflected in your own internal storm of emotions? Do you feel like you are drowning in grief or exploding in anger, tired from rumination, rattled by fear, or giddy with joy? Do your emotions sometimes keep you from being the powerful force for peace and...
-
Every Breath We Take
At the end of the day, what does it mean to “nurture our true, innate, genuine, heavenly nature” and how is that related to healing and personal growth? When is the last time you have consciously savored each breath as an opportunity for transformation and restoration? How does fear hold us back...
-
The Sweet Spot for Calibration
How do we decide in each moment on the best path towards píng 平 (“equilibrium” or “balance”) in the spirit of Chinese medicine? How do we calibrate our responses to external factors and decide between action and non-action? What do we use (and teach) as criteria for this process of actively...
-
Finding Balance Between Stillness and Action
How can we get better at listening to our body and aligning with the Dao? How can we compost harmful emotional energy into life-giving Qi in service of physical, emotional, and spiritual transformation? How can we use the tool of curiosity as an antidote to judgment and thereby change the flavor…
more -
Singing as Yangsheng
Are you curious about the theme music for Season Three of our podcast and the sharp contrast to the obnoxiously gregarious Mexican accordeon music of the previous two seasons, which, I must admit, are a reflection of my own German heritage and decades spent in Hispanic culture? Do you recognize...
-
The Balanced Person Doesn't Get Sick
Welcome to the first episode in Season Three of the Pebble in the Cosmic Pond podcast. For the next few months, we shall consider a variety of perspectives on “Nurturing Our Nature” 養性: Cultivating health and longevity from ancient China to today. This project is inspired by two things: First…
more -
What Do Love, Qigong, and Christ Consciousness Have to Do With Healing?
This episode, titled "What Do Love, Qigong, and Christ Consciousness Have to Do with Healing," is the second half of our conversation with Cynthia Li, a biomedical doctor in the Bay area who specializes in functional and integrative medicine. She is also a practitioner of what she calls “qigong...
-
Looking for the Root, in Medicine, Qigong, and Religion
Cynthia Li, our interview partner for this episode, is a biomedical doctor who I have been dreaming of asking questions for several years now, ever since our mutual friend Michael Lerner introduced me to her work. She is a biomedical doctor, specializing in functional and integrative medicine.…
more -
Relax! You're Okay!
Today’s episode titled “Relax! You are Okay!” is the second part of Leo’s and my conversation with Cara Conroy-Lau, a Kiwi with a Chinese mom now practicing Chinese medicine and Buddhism in Canada. For this portion, we focus more specifically on the female perspective, both on the giving and on…
more -
Olives and Porridge
In today’s episode on “Olives and Porridge,” Leo Lok and I are talking to Cara Conroy-Lau. Cara is a beautiful global border-crossing practitioner of Chinese medicine and Buddhism who has ended up in Canada at the Clear Sky Meditation Centre in Cranbrook, after growing up in Singapore, New…
more -
Living and Teaching the Way of Yin
For today’s episode on “Living and Teaching the Way of Yin,” Leo Lok and I are once again joined by Kris González, Chinese medicine practitioner and herbalist, whose personal experience of motherhood has been influenced by her Korean mother and her Mexican mother-in-law. In addition to her…
more -
Yangsheng By and For Women
Welcome to Season Two of “The Pebble in the Cosmic Pond” where we focus on 2nd generation immigrant Asian voices by, for, and about women in that sweet spot in between traditional Asian wisdom and contemporary Western embodiment. Joining Leo and myself for our third episode on Season 2 is Kris...
-
Attuning and Releasing with Ramona
In Season 2, titled “Over the Moon?”, we feature the voices of second-generation immigrant Asian women on female health. We explore the creative sweet spot in between the traditional Asian kitchen table wisdom that they have inherited from their mothers and aunties, and their personal and...
-
Over the Moon with Ramona
Once again, Leo Lok and Sabine Wilms are here to bring you old and new stories about China's healing traditions and about Medicine in Heaven and on Earth... ...and in the sweet spot in between. In a special twist for Season 2, evocatively titled "Over the Moon?", they focus on second generation...
-
Introduction to Season Two on "Over the Moon?"
In a special twist for Season 2, we feature second generation immigrant Asian women’s voices on female health. We explore the creative sweet spot in between the traditional Asian kitchen table wisdom on women’s health that they have inherited from their mothers and aunties, and their personal and...
-
Occupational Hazards in Chinese Medicine
What is the relationship between your personal practice of yangsheng and your clinical efficacy? Is it important, or even relevant, for a practitioner of Chinese medicine to embody the ideas of Yangsheng? In other words, can you be a good healer of others if you can’t take care of yourself? Are…
more -
Eating for Old Age: The Lost Art of Chinese Food Therapy
Today’s conversation is inspired by Leo Lok’s ideal of “Bodhisattva Math,” which is a great reminder for us to focus on topics in Chinese medicine that have the most impact on alleviating unnecessary suffering with the least amount of effort! In this context, Sun Simiao reminded us already in the...
-
Questioning Our Filters
Medicine, like any other skill or knowledge system, needs to be rooted in both subjectivity and objectivity. By valuing either one over the other, we deprive ourselves of an essential part thereof. Can traditional Chinese medicine and philosophy help us find a more balanced way of making sense of...
-
More on Compassionate Practice
What makes somebody a master physician? What can we learn from historical texts about some limitations and possibilities, strengths and weakness of Chinese medicine that are no longer visible in the modern clinical context, especially as practiced in the West? How can we acquire and transmit…
more -
Compassionate Practice, from Seattle To Taiwan to Nepal
How does the training and practice of Chinese medicine change depending on one’s location? What is the difference in patient expectations, scopes of practice, and lineage versus institutional training and licensing? And what is really behind this supposed contrast between biomedicine, perceived…
more -
Healing Soundbath for the World by Dr. Hood
Catching up on the news this morning, I felt a strong need to do something so I got in touch with my friend and colleague Dr. Brenda Hood, whose tuning forks are magical. I just felt like the world had a little need for some of her healing magic, and she was happy to oblige. So here is yet…
more -
Cultivating the Ineffable
Today’s conversation started out with an innocuous email I sent to Leo, requesting that we explore that aspect of any good healer’s practice that is challenging to speak about and analyze rationally, let alone measure, certify, or transmit. And yet, we all know how powerful a healer can be, not...
-
May Guanyin Ease Our Sorrow
This episode is a spontaneous response to the intense sorrow that I see so many of my friends in multiple places of the world experiencing right now, whether directly or indirectly. So I have invited my dear friend Leo Lok for a conversation about suffering, sorrow, Guanyin, compassion, and...
-
Truth East and West and in Between
How do we cultivate the ability to hold two opposite experiences of reality at the same time and thereby somehow get closer to the truth in between? How do we overcome the limitations of language in describing the ineffable while still appreciating its analytic function? If we can use language in...
-
The Yellow Emperor's Broken Heart
What does it mean when the Yellow Emperor mourns and why might that matter to you? Does he “lord it over” his subjects and discuss medicine and needles because the exploitation of a healthy population yields more taxes? Or does he love and care for the people like a parent for their children and…
more
About this show
Tune in every New Moon for inspiring, joyful, and informative conversations with Sabine Wilms and Leo Lok on transforming ourselves, our communities, and the world, in the spirit of traditional Chinese medicine, spirituality, and philosophy. Separating fact from fiction, we aim to bring you medicine from China's distant past, translated here to meet YOUR needs today, in your personal practice, in your community, and in the clinic.Sabine Wilms, PhD, is a medical historian, recovering university professor, and author and translator of more than a dozen books on the Chinese healing arts, from gynecology and pediatrics to medical ethics and materia medica, published by Happy Goat Productions. In addition to writing, she runs the only advanced 2-year classical Chinese training program for practitioners of Chinese medicine and contributes insights from her checkered past as a biodynamic goat farmer and musician, all under the banner of her favorite phrase, “cosmic resonance,” a.k.a. the Chi
Hosted by
Sabine Wilms PhD
Categories