What is an Italian-American expat doing in Germany writing about Traditional Chinese Medicine? Well, that’s a long story, which I won’t delve into here. However, I am aware that my daily existence has me dancing in the interstices between cultures, national boundaries, and even centuries – on a daily basis I consult medical texts, some of which were written literally 2,000 years ago and a half-world away, in order to support clients in the here and now of 21st century Europe. I feel lucky to be able to do so, on so many levels!

Yesterday I woke to find the golden glory of the tree outside our bedroom window already shedding to the cold, moist earth below. I wondered, „Can it already be the end of autumn?“ And looking more closely at the Chinese calendar (which marks the seasons a bit differently than the western calendar), I realized, indeed, the 2-week “Qi node” augering the beginning of winter starts already on this week – has probably already come and perhaps long passed as you read this.

I’m always on the lookout for current research that relates to topics in TCM or western medicine that I often encounter in my practice. Here’s a brief look at what I’ve been reading recently, in case anything would also be of interest to you.

Digestive problems sometimes develop insidiously. Before we know it, we’ve started simply avoiding certain foods or have chosen to live with some digestive discomfort, even at the expense of our energy levels or well-being. How can we return to a healthy, happy relationship with food? What do we do if we often experience disturbances, but conventional medical examination can’t find a structural problem? Or if the western medical solution only helps partially?

Diagnosis – East and West TCM views the human body through a very different lens than western medicine. I often compare them in this way: Western medicine views illness as a problem in and of itself within the body – like a Petri dish growing bacteria. When a problem…