Congratulations on your new book. I am looking forward to ordering it from the homeopathic book vendors. I am also a huge fan of "Physical Examinations and Observations in Homeopathy" by Filip Degroote. I would like to know how your book differs.
I would like to share some recent experience learning CTM Japanese style (Nagano similar to Kiko Matsumoto who writes in English).
Here in Tokyo, I have been spending a lot of time going for private hands-on tutoring with an acupuncturist who has 20 years of experience. I am using tuning forks instead of needles. My tutor is correcting me on simple stuff like the direction of the fork, choice of fork, etc. I am just fitting into her treatment strategy, but the nice thing is she is teaching me strategy and analysis too. Also, I am doing simple stuff like moxa burning.
I was feeling really frustrated wondering how I would learn clinical skills. With this apprenticeship, I am getting it seems everything. Yesterday she had me taking blood pressure with a cuff.
Yesterday I noticed that a patient complaining of numbness and cold in the hands had double jointed elbows. My tutor showed be how the clavicle and two toes were also loose. That is the bone moves too easily just like the elbow bone. I am going to get the fuller explanation of the thinking behind the treatment from her the next time I see that patient. I have a lot of prep to do so that I will be ready to understand her (stuff like learning those related muscles in Japanese) I think it is really complex and so she is thinking about how to explain it. Has something to do with the lack of energy (chi) in those parts.
She does really simple diagnostic routines that anyone could do. For example, she measures the under arm temperature on both sides of the body. The lower temperature side is consistently the weaker side of the body. Interestingly it is not necessarily the side of the body where the aches and pains are. In my case the left side is weak and the other side has injury and also I over compensate for left side weakness so I strain the right side. As my own treatment progresses, the right side where all the pains are gets better and I feel the problems on the left side more. Finding the weakness of chi on the left side takes really sensitive palpation. But it also apparent in things like the condition of finger nails, dryness of the skin, body hair patches, skin marks, indents of weak acupuncture points. Also, local temperature difference that takes training to feel.
Pulse, tongue, and checking chi distribution, skeletal alignment evaluation are all daily practices. I love this Japanese version of TMC because of all the ways of checking the efficacy of treatment. (Wholling spelling???, observation of chi reactions on related parts of the body....) TMC ways of looking at disease and its causes is so interesting. Just another perspective very different from what the Doctor said to the patient or lab results. So much more sensitive so you don't have to be treating full blow disease symptoms.
I think these skills are going to be very useful not only in the initial diagnosis, but also in subtle checks as to how the patient is doing with the remedy. I used to feel bad about forcing a patient to come in to see me repeatedly when often I had little skill to evaluate progress or to help them with the difficulties of healing. I can see that this is going to change and I am very happy about that.
I am bringing my friends, student and patients to her. She is so good that I feel no hesitation in recommending her to anyone. They go to her with me having consented to me working with her. They get a huge amount of explanation about what we are doing and learn a lot about themselves so I feel it is totally worthwhile for them.
I am teaching her homeopathy
))Blessings,
Ellen