This is the third iteration of this website. I created it first in 2006 as an outlet for my exploration
of my early education in East Asian medicine at National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM, once called NCNM). By blogging frequently and interacting with students and practitioners worldwide, I could create a much richer educational environment for myself than I would have had otherwise. Over the years, the site has been a place for my teaching work in East Asian medicine, business and ethics, and a place for fruitful discussion among peers and students.
In late 2019, I transitioned the website from its then name of Chinese Medicine Central back to the original 2006 name, Deepest Health. This was during a period of profound transformation for me personally and professionally. I moved to the Oregon Coast, reoriented my clinical practice, left NUNM and was invited to teach for Institute of Classics in East Asian Medicine (ICEAM) – and those are just the main highlights!
The most important development to come out of that fertile period was my rediscovery of my desire to pursue a path of scholarship.
I stepped on that path back in 2000 during my first Philosophy class at Oregon State University. While my professional work diverged from the formal study of Philosophy, I was fortunate to keep that impulse alive by attending one of the more philosophically oriented schools of East Asian medicine in the US. Still, the demands of living under capitalism while raising a young daughter have often made me erroneously believe that pursuing a life in scholarship was out of reach for me. Production line medicine and insurance companies have seemed to me to be my eternal focus.
I’m hoping I can show that to be untrue.
From 2020 forward, this website is growing into something entirely new. The fuel in my scholarship will always be East Asian medicine and my practice of acupuncture and herbs with patients. Doubtless, I will discuss my research and thoughts around that cluster of topics. But, my intent is to lean into the place I’m increasingly called. That place lies at the intersection of multiple threads : deep ecology, phenomenology, existentialism, virtue ethics, feminism, the philosophy of liberation, history and philosophy of science, classical Chinese philosophy and the texts of the Han dynasty, current socio-political events and movements and more, more, so much more. Above all, my work from here is animated by the desire to understand how I can best contribute to the flourishing of our precious community here on Earth.
Make no mistake, my clinical work and my teaching of the nuts and bolts of East Asian medicine are important to me.
They will always be. But, in this time, it is in the simple actions of reading, thinking, writing and in scholarly collaboration that I find myself most deeply fulfilled. This site, and whatever flows from it, is an effort to use digital tools to accomplish that.
If you would like to contact me, please use the form below
I will get back to you within 2 business days. I am not accepting any guest posts, affiliate pitches, advertising pitches or similar – those will go unanswered. Likewise, this is not an appropriate place to ask for medical advice, for you or a patient. For that, please visit my clinic website and reach out to me that way.
If you are a student, and are wanting access to your previous course materials, get in touch and I’ll make sure you’re all set up.