At Yinova we’re proud of our commitment to continuing education. We regularly bring teachers into our center from around the country to train our team and keep our knowledge current and our practice vibrant. Our in-house training program is an example of our commitment to provide our patients with the best care possible and our staff with an environment where they can continue to grow as practitioners.
Recently we were honored to host senior acupuncturist and clinical herbalist Z’ev Rosenberg for a continuing education workshop on classical Chinese medicine. The lecture was an insightful discussion that focused on the use of classical Chinese medicine to address contemporary, autoimmune diseases, which are often difficult to identify and complicated to treat
Autoimmune diseases are conditions where the body loses its normal ability to distinguish itself from invading pathogens and mistakenly identifies it’s own organs, glands, or other tissues as foreign, leading to a self-directed attack. What’s more, in these conditions, the immune systems that are attacking the body are also missing the regulation to turn “off”. This can lead to metabolic and hormonal dysfunction where a small, “misunderstood” signal can evolve into a complex of serious health problems.
Some of the more commonly known autoimmune diseases include
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Lupus
- Celiac Disease
- Pernicious Anemia
- Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
- Scleroderma
- Type 1 Diabetes
- Crohn’s Disease
The exact causes of autoimmune diseases are not clear, nor is it understood why we are seeing more of them today than ever before. Environmental toxins and contaminated food supplies as well as bacterial and viral infections are all suspects in this over-sensitization of immune function. Predictably, stress is also a factor. What is clear though is how much we don’t understand about them, and that conventional treatments can be harsh and difficult to tolerate.
Traditional Chinese medicine, at its essence, is based on the observation of patterns in nature and how these patterns manifest in our physical, mental, and spiritual health. While modern life has produced many modern, complex diseases, the formative forces of nature that TCM reflects upon are timeless. The centuries-old practice of TCM allows patients to address complicated disease patterns without compromising their own health. At The Yinova Center, we use TCM to support many of our patients’ comprehensive health strategies for treating autoimmune conditions.
We had a wonderful time working with Z’ev over the weekend and the entire Yinova staff came away with new insights to bring to our clinic and our patients. Continuing education plays an important role in the practice of any medicine. In addition to keeping practitioners up to date on new developments, it also has a vital role in TCM of keeping us connected to the roots of our medicine which span thousands of years. Z’ev Rosenberg has been a leader in our field for many years as a clinician, as a teacher, and as a strong advocate for traditional medicine while still regarding the technological advances of conventional medicine.
We are deeply grateful to Z’ev for sharing his experience with us this past weekend in what will be the first of a series of workshops with him over the next few years.
