Lumiel

My blog this month is about Dr. Wei-Chieh Young, from whom I just received a weekend seminar which consisted of many hours of lectures in Chinese (translated by Dr. Christine Chun of Emperor’s College) and a day of clinic divided into two parts. The first part was Clinic Theater, in which four patients were presented to the class with their medical history and current complaints. The second part was set up so that we could treat various patients and receive counsel and supervision from Dr. Young.

Clinic theater was very relevant to our movement, as I noticed that he intake was similar to ours. He sometimes seemed to be asking the Ten Questions, but only if his broad experience was leading him down a particular path, and he was closing in on a pattern. Otherwise he didn’t conduct as extensive an intake as previous Chinese medical teachers. He used three to five needles, left them in at least 30 minutes (as per Master Tung’s technique) and got great results.

During the intern clinic, we were able to see his bleeding techniques demonstrated successfully. Not every patient was bled, maybe a an eighth of them. The only treatment that was not successful was one in which the intern in charge of this patient inserted the last needle of the treatment himself, using a #1 Seirin (instead of a 28-to 30 gauge needle) and on the meridian but not on the point. Dr. Young was puzzled as to the outcome until this was revealed.

The lectures were terrific. There were times when it was difficult to understand because he was so enthusiastic in his lecturing, he’d get out from behind the table and walk up to us, gesturing, his eyes burning with enthusiasm, it was as if we should be understanding him perfectly without help from the translator, so some of us subconsciously didn’t hear Dr. Chun and thus had some difficulty getting the “words”. But overall, it was stimulating and inspiring, and fun. A lot of the fun came from the translator’s personality. She is from China, but she has a persona that resonates with the typical American Strong Woman, so there was a lot of humorous interaction between her and Dr. Young and several of us. She is on the board, I think, of AAAOM, so I would be interested in watching her to see how deeply involved (or not) she becomes.

Dr. Young has been doing this since he was about 17 years old, and is now around 65. I liked him because he is proud of his association with Master Tung but at the same time is trying to keep the teachings pure by not naming any points after people, including himself. I initially thought that his preoccupation on his website and his introduction with his credentials was narcissism, but now realize that it’s a reaction to all the false claims on Tung authenticity by other practitioners. One student of Tung acupuncture in my class said that Dr. Chu’s description of Dr. Young as arrogant is entirely false, after experiencing his class. On the contrary, he’s very down-to-earth and does not hold himself above us. He’s a stickler for the way this kind of acupuncture is practiced, because he believes the efficacy is influenced greatly by length of needle retention, choice of points, order of points inserted, movement of the area of complaint, etc.
He says that none of the great masters needle sites of local pain, because that’s the part that needs to be moved once the needles are inserted. He asked patients to move or wiggle their hips or shoulders or neck (whatever was hurting) every 5 minutes during the needle retention time, beginning with immediately after the needles were inserted.

He brought up the story of his one bout with Bell’s Palsy, and how he needed only four days to treat it with needling, herbs and bleeding. But it was touching to hear how he taped his face the next day to go to work, and when patients asked why there was tape all over his face, he just murmured something about cutting himself accidentally. But actually it was because he was so embarrassed that he could have gotten Bell’s himself. He told us how it happened, and he had just done all the things (I can’t remember them now) that patients normally do to contract this (like sitting next to a fan or air conditioner while being undernourished or sleep-deprived).

A humorous bit of practice advice: He also told us how he had treated a patient about three times, and then never saw that patient again until months later, when that patient brought a new patient in for treatment. So Dr. Young asked why he never came back for acupuncture, and the patient said that he noticed Dr. used the same points on him each time, so the patient went home and started needling himself in the same places, and healed himself. Dr. Young advised us to vary the needling pattern on our patients, to prevent this sort of self-help from occurring.

I would enthusiastically recommend his seminars, on the strength of this experience and on the personal results I felt from his needling on me. It was phenomenal. His website is http://www.drweichiehyoung.com/. I have his latest book “Tung’s Acupuncture” ($77) and will order the previous one ($60). Once we have both those books, he said that he will give us 30% discount on the next one, which we all want to get.

Sometimes you will find a discrepancy between something in his books and what he is teaching in person. He explained that he is very cautious and conservative in his books, but if he is teaching you in person, he will give you a fuller teaching. For example, he may say to use one point contralaterally only. But when he teaches that point in person, he may demo it bilaterally.

Add to this recommendation is the interest in his palm-reading which he promises to write about. His books first come out in Korean, where the demand for his books is greatest. After that somewhere down the line, they get translated in English. I can’t give you all the advice he handed out left and right, there was so much. I’ll just tell you it’s something you want to experience yourself, because he rocks!