The Shen Nong Society

Goals and Objectives

At the completion of this symposium, the learner will:

• Understand the challenges presented by examining the Shen Nong Ben Cao (Divine Farmer’s Classic of Materia Medica) considering contemporary perspectives on Chinese herbal medicine
• Understand the basis on which the asserted distinction between classical Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese medicine leads to professional confusion and clinical narrowness
• Understand the strategies used by High Falls Garden in developing a safe, economical, and resilient supply of Chinese herbs grown in the United States
• Understand the appropriate clinical application of Ephedra Sinensis (Ma Huang) in gynecology
• Understand the relevance and importance of maintaining NCCAOM herbal certification to the professional practice of Chinese herbal medicine in the United States

Detailed Content

•  Overview of Goals of SNS
• The Divine Farmer’s Message to Modern Practitioners of Chinese Medicine (Wilms)
• A Frog at the Bottom of the Well: Why Siloing and Polarization in East Asian Medicine Leads to Poor Patient Outcomes (Mitchell)
• Growing East Asian Herbs in the US: UPDATE (Giblette)
• Opening the Door: The Use of Ma Huang in Gynecology (Frank)
• “Can We Talk? On the Topic of Regulations and Credentials (Travaglione)

Objectives

1. To understand the thinking behind a classical approach to practicing East Asian Herbal Medicine
2.  To understand the issues involved in the growing of East Asian medicinals in the US.
3. To understand why medicinals have been substituted and their usage has changed throughout history.
4. To understand how studying changes with different orientations to the material
5. To understand the changing nature of apprenticeship in East Asian Herbal Medicine.

Outline

•  Overview of Goals of SNS
• From What Foundation Do We Grow? Toward the Future of Chinese Herbal Medicine
• Quality in Herb Production: The Dirt on Dirt"
• Changes in Herbal Medicines from Ancient Times to the Present
• Seasonal Qi, Epidemics, and Chinese Herbal Medicine: Treating Transmuting Patterns Effectively
• How to Study Herbal Medicine in the 21st century
• Training through Apprenticeship in Chinese Medicine