If you are not yet familiar with the Qiological podcast hosted by Michael Max, you really need to check it out. It is, without a doubt, the best podcast I know on Chinese medicine—truly a massive library of invaluable information for any practitioner.
Recently, I had the incredible honor of sitting down with Michael for episode #469, titled “You Don’t Know Before You Know.” We had a deep, meaningful, and open conversation about clinical practice, the discipline of looking closely, and the unique magic of Master Tung’s acupuncture.
What We Discussed in This Qiological podcast on Master Tung’s Acupuncture
During our conversation, we went far beyond basic point locations and explored the underlying philosophy, history, and mechanics that make this lineage so powerful. Here is a look at what we covered:
- Pronunciation and Lineage: Why the characters still read “Tung” out of respect, though the name is actually spoken “Dong.”
- Entering Through the Balance Method: How the teachings of Dr. Richard Tan served as my initial doorway into the world of Dr. Tung’s points.
- Frustration as the Beginning of Understanding: My early days of wrestling with strange numbers and seemingly no clear logic before the entire system finally opened up to me.
- Two Schools of Thought: We explored the ongoing debate—are Tung’s points simply extensions of the classical fourteen channels, or do they form an entirely separate system?
- The Five Zang and the Palm: How to effectively use the fingers as a direct, micro-system map to the internal organs.
- Needling Difficult Territory: Practical techniques for comfortably and effectively working the sensitive points on the hands and fingers.
- Diagnosis Through the Palm: The art of reading blood vessels, discoloration, and tissue changes before ever touching a needle.
- Dao Ma Groups and Reaction Areas: Understanding why these points live in clusters and dynamic zones rather than as single fixed spots.
- The Undefined Acupuncture Point: Learning to trust clinical observation over the textbook when something unnamed and unexpected shows up on the patient’s body.
- Treating Root, Branch, and Symptom: Strategies for seamlessly layering diagnosis, internal organ regulation, and immediate symptom relief all in one session.
- Channels as Reaction, Not Structure: The fascinating concept that meridian pathways may only appear in response to an active imbalance.
- Secrecy, War, and Preservation: The historical context of how displacement to Taiwan led one family to finally release a closely guarded medical tradition to the wider world.
- The Vascular Autonomic Signal (VAS): How I borrowed a brilliant discovery from French auricular medicine to physically “hear” whether an acupuncture point is active.
- Needle Depth as Its Own Diagnosis: Using the pulse itself to find the exact anatomical depth where the treatment takes hold.
