This is the monthly live event, on the second Friday or Saturday of each month, as part of my Imperial Tutor mentorship. I either present a more formal lecture myself, followed by a lively discussion (what used to be called “History Train Lectures”), or I invite an important voice or two in Chinese medicine (practitioner of the East Asian healing arts, philosopher, anthropologist, historian, translator, author etc.) for a casual chat. While this is a members-only event, the general public can always join for a 9-day $9 trial to check it out.

My guest for this month is Howard Chen, MD. Here is a description of his life path and work, in his own words:

Following the Chinese Lunisolar calendar has helped me understand the path that has been laid before me. As a person with a constitution of deficient yang metal with a bit too much wood, I have found that structure and growth have been my constant life companions. At Brown University, I studied ways to integrate both Western and Traditional Health practices through my Major, “Biopsychosocial health”. The part of me that desired structure won out and I went on to study BioMedicine, eventually becoming a Family Medicine Physician. But of course, as in the theory of the Five Phases (五行), there is a time for structure and a time for growth, so I went on to study and practice Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, looking for answers that BioMedicine could not provide. On the way, I studied French Energetics, Worsley Five Element, and Tan Balance Method Acupuncture, and of course the Chinese calendar. When I realized that I needed more work on understanding and treating the Spiritual causes of disease, I went on a year long meditation retreat. When I had recovered, I established a clinic named the Chen Center for Integrative Medicine, where we tried to bring both Western and Eastern Medicine together. Most recently, when I realized I didn’t know enough about what my TCM students knew, I enrolled in the formal study of TCM at Middle Way Acupuncture Institute.

In my life cycle of establishing stability and structure, preferring growth, and then returning to establishing a new structure and stability, the practice that has been the most enduringly useful to me has been the study of the Chinese calendar in the context of the BaZi (生辰八字). After more than a decade of study and application of its principles with every one of my Biomedicine and Chinese Medicine patients, I can say for certain that it deciphers an individual’s constitution, the proverbial běn (本 of 标 and 本), which I believe is the xìng (性) that many authors, such as Wang FengYi (王凤仪) refer to. With this knowledge, we gain very specific information about an individual’s predilection for disease or health, such as where and when disease will manifest, and how to maintain health. Furthermore, through the comparison of the information from the 生辰八字and principles of TCM and Worsely Five Element, I’ve gained insight into the misunderstandings of Yin Yang theory and the Five Phases that we are all taught, and how this weakens our practice of Chinese Medicine.

For more information, see his clinic website www.thechencenter.com and his personal website, howardchenmd.com. He also likes to refer people to an old TEDx video to see him in action - https://youtu.be/hjFX2YiWnGg . Also, he teaches for two post-graduate acupuncture educators - https://theacademyofacupuncture.com/ and https://tanbalance.com/ where he can be found on their Faculty/Team pages.