New books coming up from Singing Dragon…

2014 has been an exciting year for Singing Dragon with the publication of some truly groundbreaking books; from The Spark in the Machine and Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches – TianGan DiZhi, to Rasa Shastra and The Compleat Acupuncturist. But we’re not finished yet! Here are some of the exciting titles coming to you in the rest of 2014:

Buck_Acupuncture-and_978-1-84819-159-4_colourjpg-webAcupuncture and Chinese Medicine
by Charles Buck

Charles Buck, the chairman of the British Acupuncture Council, draws on three decades of study, practice and teaching in this book to provide a relevant and engaging account of the origins of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. From its pre-Han dynasty roots to Chinese medicine as we know it today, Buck covers the key texts, the main scholars and the concepts they have contributed to the greater body of knowledge. With Buck’s lucid and engaging style, Roots of Modern Practice is going to be the new ‘must-read’ resource that will help practitioners and students deepen their understanding of this great medical tradition.

Hamwee_Zero-Balancing_978-1-84819-234-8_colourjpg-webZero Balancing
by John Hamwee

The definitive guide to Zero Balancing brings this increasingly popular therapy to life. It contains a clear description of the anatomy and physiology of energy which leads on to a compelling explanation of how and why this form of bodywork can have such powerful effects. Throughout, there are illustrations which convey the unique energy of a Zero Balancing session and John Hamwee provides fascinating examples of clients, their experiences and the outcomes of the work.

 

 

Tisserand_Aromatherapy-vs_978-1-84819-237-9_colourjpg-webAromatherapy vs MRSA
by Maggie Tisserand

Breaking new ground in the field of essential oils, this scientifically based but accessible book addresses the challenge of serious infection, especially MRSA, in hospitals, in the community, and in animals. Maggie Tisserand focuses on the scientifically proven effects of antibacterial essential oils, and their usefulness in managing infection, including the ‘superbug’.

 

 

 

Hellas_Yogic-Cooking-N_978-1-84819-249-2_colourjpg-webYogic Cooking
by Garuda Hellas

Yogic cooking is nutritious, easy to digest and free of toxins, allowing you to improve your health, keep your body strong and facilitate spiritual revolution. The aim of yoga is to cultivate a physical, mental and psychic balance so that higher states of being can be experienced. This can be achieved through a balanced vegetarian diet that includes all the essential vitamins and minerals. This books contains 56 delicious and easy-to-follow recipes, with something for every occasion it is the perfect introduction to the ayurvedic approach to life.

 

Quayle_Mouses-House-Ch_978-1-84819-247-8_colourjpg-webThe Mouse’s House
by Susan Quayle

A beautiful children’s book that combines reflexology with delightfully engaging rhymes and illustrations. Written by a specialist maternity reflexologist, it features easy-to-follow diagrams and instructions for giving basic reflexology to a child during a bedtime (or anytime) story.

 

All of these books are available for pre-order now. To receive notifications for new books in your areas of interest, sign up for the Singing Dragon mailing list.

Making your acupuncture sessions unique, personal and amazing

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Making your acupuncture sessions unique, personal and amazing – by Ioannis Solos

As acupuncturists, we all wish to provide quality treatment and patient satisfaction, and each time a patient praises our healing abilities it reaffirms our belief that we are doing something right.

However, what makes a patient happy is not always our level of competence in meridian diagnosis, but also various interpersonal and esoteric skills that some tend to identify and cultivate better than others.

In this article, I will speak about the patient-doctor connections as described in the classical theories of Chinese acupuncture.

According to the early Confucian traditions, when doctors exercise compassion and benevolence, they can become not only successful healers but also restore faith in the medical field. This is why a doctor-scholar should embark upon a meticulous study of the classics, and as Chen Shi Gong advised: “learn the contents by heart and understand them with the eyes”.

The Confucian ideas about benevolence, compassion and seeking deeper understanding, were also evident in the early theories of Chinese acupuncture.

One of the central and most esoteric concepts in Chinese Medicine is the theory of “Controlling the Spirit”.

The term “Controlling the Spirit” or “Zhi Shen” [治神] is made up of two characters, zhi 治 and shen 神. The character zhi in this term is used in the context of control and recuperate. The character shen is made up of two parts: the radical shi 礻, which means worshiping; and the character shen 申 that stands for the ninth earthly branch, meaning “to extend” or “to expand.” In the oracle bones, the most ancient version of the character shen appears as depicting a man and a woman having sexual intercourse. The same character is also included within the character dian 電 for lightning, as the outcome of the “intercourse” between heaven and earth. This sense of “closeness,” “intimacy “and “connecting” is perhaps one of the most beautiful concepts of our medical tradition, although it should always be followed by the rules of etiquette and propriety.

Building and maintaining a positive doctor-patient therapeutic relationship is vital for healing and re-balancing. This is not only important in the social sense but also for therapeutic synchronization and treatment management. Timid and difficult patients are sometimes hard to treat. Helping them to relax, focus and take part in the treatment ritual is an art. However, this is also something that many need to re-discover, explore and apply with creativity and a sense of responsibility. Tailoring your approach in accordance to the needs of each patient will certainly ensure the positive outcome of each acupuncture session.

In the classic Chinese Medicine literature we read:

Therefore, when using the needle, one should examine and observe the patient’s bearing (i.e. posture and movement), and identify if the essence (jing), spirit (shen), ethereal soul (hun) and corporeal soul (po) are preserved or lost. If the five [spirits] have already been injured, acupuncture will be unable to provide treatment. (Ling Shu—Ben Shen)
If using acupuncture to treat, you should assist the [patient’s] spirit to focus and then needle. [This procedure does] not only [apply] for needling but [you should] also allow the [patient’s] spirit to become stable before moving the qi. If the spirit is out of focus, then don’t needle. If the spirit is stable you can treat [by both needle and moving the qi]. (Biao You Fu)
When needling, the patient’s spirit qi must be stable (focused), and his breathing even. The doctor should also do this (i.e. focus and adjust his breathing), and not be hasty. (Zhen Jiu Da Cheng)

In my new book Developing Internal Energy for Effective Acupuncture Practice, I tried to explain various ancient ideas that are rarely clarified in the current TCM literature, alongside a rigorous training regime.

Cultivating your overall health, increasing your spiritual awareness and making the right energetic connections with your patients will certainly enhance your understanding of the medical art and open your eyes to a much larger world.

Ioannis Solos studied Traditional Chinese Medicine at Middlesex University and the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. He enjoys researching, teaching, practicing and critically interpreting the ancient philosophy and culture of China, internal martial arts, health preservation practices, classic medical texts and lesser-known Chinese esoteric traditions. He is the author of Gold Mirrors and Tongue Reflections and the new book Developing Internal Energy for Effective Acupuncture Practice: Zhan Zhuang, Yi Qi Gong and the Art of Painless Needle Insertion.

The Spark of Life – extract from The Spark in the Machine

9781848191969

In this chapter, Daniel Keown offers up a fascinating account of how the human body works in relation to electrical currents.
Keown explores the ‘super substance’ collagen, electrical currents that mimic the Qi flowing along channels, and the intelligent energy that regrows broken bones.

Read the extract…

“This book is a must read for anyone that has ever wondered how Acupuncture might work. Daniel Keown, a Western medical doctor and Acupuncturist, has managed to stylishly bridge the gap between ancient Chinese medicine theory and Western medical science which is no small feat. He explains complex ideas with elegant simplicity and provides case studies to bring some of the ideas to life. This should be on the curriculum for both Acupuncturists and Western medical students. This book is thoughtfully written and raises stimulating ideas for future work in this area.”
– Amazon customer review

The Spark in the Machine by Daniel Keown is available to buy from the Singing Dragon website

 

July Fire Element activities for children – by Karin Kalbantner-Wernicke and Bettye Jo Wray-Fears

Welcome back to the monthly series of stimulating Five Element activities that can support development of children in all ages!   By clicking on the link at the end of this article you can enjoy making your own notebook of Five Element exercises for each month and season of the year. 

FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!fire-element
What do those three words expressed with exclamation marks elicit in you?  Action, alarm, quick-rising energy to react, a pounding heart, consideration of others, a need for clear communication to call out to others for help?  You are landing in the Fire Element capacities already and July brings us into the heart of summer and the Fire Element.

The Fire Element gives us our capacity to communicate with others with warmth, excitement, distinction, emotional sensitivity, and clear articulation.  It rules the heart, so Fire Element development includes learning to express and feel all of the emotions in life.  Joy, laughter, lightness of being, and relational sensitivity are the core emotional expressions gifted to us in our Fire Element capacities.

Correlating summer qualities can be seen in the vitality of nature in the Fire Element.  Summer brings playfulness, bustling energy to interact with others, red, sweaty faces, laughter, heart connecting activities, and vacations that involve relationships with others or self.  Like the busy bees in nature pollinating the trees and collecting nectar for the hive, all activities are directed by some level of communication with others and self.  And like real fire, the energy of this Element in children can be seen in flickers of spontaneity, exuberance, boundless freedom to express in all directions in a room, contagious – spreading laughter, humorous wit, and warmth to all that come near it.

The following exercises can be used with a family, classroom, or a group of children to experience qualities of Fire Element.  Remember, all emotions and experiences in the participants are part of the growth of the Elements.  There is no right or wrong way to react to these games.  Allow children to experience whatever arises with support, acceptance, and safe boundaries, and all five of the Elements are given room to grow.

Nicking Socks

This game is suitable for groups of at least six children.  Each child needs to be wearing loose-fitting socks.

a. On command, everyone crawls around the room and tries to pull as many socks as they can off the other children’s feet and stick them in their own waistband.  The contest creates a lot of laughter and romping.

b. To calm the group down afterwards, all the socks can be put into a bag, and the child who collected the most socks is blindfolded and has to try to find the matching pairs.  Can it be done?  Laughter, playfulness, group camaraderie is offered for all in this exercise.

Desire and capacity for relationships, emotional intelligence, awareness of others and oneself are fruits of developed FIRE qualities.

Making Faces (Good for all ages, great for parent/child groups)

3 or more individuals are standing in a line facing in one direction. The last child/participant makes some kind of funny facial expression.  When the child is ready, he/she taps on the shoulder of the person in front of him.  Then this child/person taps the shoulder on the person in front of him and passes the expression on.  When the last child receives the expression, all compare how it looks with the last persons interpretation and how it looked at the beginning.  The difficult part is not to laugh and to try to stay serious all the time.  Nearly impossible!

This article can be downloaded in a PDF format by clicking on this link  so you can start creating a notebook of Five Element exercises that will be offered each month.
You can find more information and examples of how the Five Elements support development in children in the book: Children at Their Best: Understanding and Using the Five Elements to Develop Children’s Full Potential for parents, teachers, and therapists, published by Singing Dragon.

NEXT: Earth Element activities – stay grounded in the season of change

June Wood Element activities for children – by Karin Kalbantner-Wernicke and Bettye Jo Wray-Fears

In our previous blog we introduced the element Wood through a visualization exercise to help children begin to feel the Element in themselves and the environment.  The focus was on the imagination and creativity qualities that Wood Element offers in life. We will continue with Wood in this blog and expand on the way it supports child development.

Beside creativity and imagination, the Wood Element gives us two other important gifts, our physical mobility and flexibility. Here we want to emphasize that the development of flexibility happens as strongly in the mental capacity as in the physical. A good analogy of a flexible nature in someone can be seen in a bamboo tree. No matter which direction the wind blows, bamboo will stand upright over and over again. The following exercise is an example of how you can bring this experience to a family or small group of children. It creates a lot of movement involving rolling, turning and stretching that is good for everyone. Above all, it is really fun and brings laughter and play into the dynamics of any group.

June Wood imageThe World is Coloured

Particularly in springtime we experience a large variety of colours in nature. Everything blossoms, budding fresh green leaves and flowers of every hue.  Everywhere you look nature is full of energy and joy for life. The following exercise can bring all of these qualities to everyone in the family or group.

The family members sit down on a big towel of their own, and are told it is a large tub full of different colours, whatever they imagine. Everyone chooses one particular colour that they are sitting in and shares which colour they selected.  Each can say the special reason why the colour they picked is their colour for today. 

Then everybody should “paint himself” –if possible everywhere- with his favourite colour, by turning on his towel, rolling and lolling about. Encourage each to try all the movements possible in their tub.

Then ask, “Is your body totally covered with colour? Well, now let’s paint the floor!“

Everybody rolls and rolls throughout the space. There are obstacles everywhere! If another person is touched, their colours mix. What colour is it now?

After a few minutes everybody sits up.

 “So, now let’s paint the soles of each other’s feet – pick a partner and ask your partner which colour he would like.  Apply the colour firmly on your partner’s soles. When you are done, everybody stand up and make footprints with big or small steps in the whole room! Now, try to walk in the footprints of another person and see what it feels like to walk in their steps.”

Everybody has to go under a shower afterwards. Everyone searches for a place in the room for himself/herself and shakes the colours off vigorously under their shower.

To end, everyone must hop until they are dry!

The physical activity of this exercise allows the Wood Element’s need for large movements, imagination, loud noises, and stretching for everyone.  Allow the dynamics of the group to unfold. There might be natural directors that appear as others ideas and creativity come and go. Give room for each to experience and work out what might be difficult or easy in the interactions and instructions. Experiencing any difficulty is as important as experiencing the ease in all of the Five Element exercises, as participants have the opportunity to try out new solutions.

If anger appears, allow this. Anger is the natural response to frustration and the emotion expressed in the Wood Element. Activities that give children permission to experiment with anger, supports healthy development as they learn how to manage this strong energy. For those that struggle moving through this emotion, the following exercise can be added:

Lightning Power

Kalbantner-Wern_Children-at-The_978-1-84819-118-1_colourjpg-webSit without shoes on a chair.  Cling your toes into the floor and tense all the muscles of your feet.

Now imagine a lightning bolt which sends the anger down into the floor. If the child likes he/she can also clench the hands and make a grimace with the face.

After a while relax and enjoy how much lighter everything feels now.

We invite you to look for what comes next month as we enter into the Fire Element and season of summer. This article can be downloaded in a pdf format by clicking on this link so that you can start creating a notebook of Five Element exercises that will be offered each month. You can find more information and examples of how the Five Elements support development in children in the book, Children at Their Best: Understanding and Using the Five Elements to Develop Children’s Full Potential for Parents, Teachers, and Therapists, published by Singing Dragon.

NEXT: July Fire Element Activities – nicking socks and making faces

 

Shōnishin: the many applications of non-invasive acupuncture – by Thomas Wernicke

Oppenheimer-Wer_Shonishin_978-1-84819-160-0_colourjpg-web

Shōnishin is a non-invasive form of acupuncture developed specifically to respond to the needs of children. Instead of needles gentle stimulation all over the body is performed with a tool, which is rather like a nail, by different stroking techniques. In addition to the stroking techniques, different tapping techniques are used in certain areas and vibration techniques on acupuncture points.

In the past few years a steadily increasing interest in Shōnishin has become noticeable outside its home country of Japan, especially in Europe, Britain, and the United States.

So what makes Shōnishin so popular with therapists, parents and children? There are many reasons:

  • Therapists see Shōnishin as a way of developing as a practitioner
  • The treatment is simple and effective, and the successes speak for themselves
  • Children love this treatment as it has a pleasant feel to them
  • Parents are very accepting of the treatment as it is gentle and non-invasive.

Another reason for the spreading of Shōnishin is that this treatment method can be used field-specifically. Depending on the therapist’s professional background, as a doctor, alternative practitioner, Shiatsu-practitioner, physiotherapist or midwife, the patient collective, and thereby the indications, are different.

By way of example, approximately 70-80% of all midwifes in Germany have an acupuncture education – and thereby are qualified to practice Shōnishin. For them, Shōnishin offers great opportunities to support newborn babies suffering from feeding difficulties, abdominal pain, developmental problems or even excessive crying. In the event of a needle phobia, Shōnishin is an alternative for pregnant women while preparing for birth or as a supporting treatment for women who have recently given birth and suffer from involutional problems or blocked milk ducts.

The area of application of Shōnishin for orthopedics is completely different from that of midwives. Their focus is mainly on children with problems related to posture and the musculoskeletal system. On the other hand pediatricians apply Shōnishin with infants suffering from problems of the digestive system, the respiratory system or developmental disorders, whereas allergies and neurodermatitis are in the foreground with older children.

General practitioners are finding the technique useful for children or adolescents with concentration problems in school, ADHD or enuresis.

Shiatsu practitioners often apply Shōnishin in combination with baby-shiatsu or children-shiatsu, in order to support them in their development. Physiotherapists can show better successes in the treatment of hemiparetic children, as the usually increased tonicity can be decreased by additional treatment with Shōnishin and thereby the children become more treatable.

shonishinFor acupuncturists, especially for those who focus on treating children, a new field of action comes in appearance with Shōnishin, respectively an existing one can be widened. Furthermore, Shōnishin is an interesting supplement – or even an alternative for any therapist with acupuncture knowledge using manual methods.

Shōnishin is being used as an alternative to acupuncture in women’s shelters, mother-child facilities and nurseries. In this case women and children who are in difficult social or monetary situations, abandoned, without any obvious way out, are supported. These include traumatised women and children (for instance victims of rape), who are only able to permit touching due to the “interposed” Shōnishin instrument which means no dermal contact with the skin takes place.

Another field of application for Shōnishin will be in the treatment of the elderly. Particular parameters like skin conditions and mental conditions seem to show retrogression into childhood. First experiences with Shōnishin in residential care homes show promising treatment approaches. Even here it becomes obvious, that treatment with a Shōnishin instrument is advantageous: seniors often suffer from a shortage of physical contact. With Shōnishin the contact doesn’t take place directly, but indirectly with an instrument. For that reason seniors have no fear of contact and are willing to allow the treatment.  Another advantage of treating elderly people with Shōnishin is that many of them have to take blood-thinning medicines. Due to the non-invasive and gentle treatment technique with Shōnishin, there is no contraindication.

Conclusion

Shōnishin is about to play an important role in the treatment of children. Shōnishin finds its application in doctor’s or acupuncturist’s surgeries, midwife work and increasingly in clinics. During the last years we can observe in the framework of congresses (TCM, acupuncture, pediatrics) an increasing demand for Shōnishin lectures and events. An increasing number of doctors and non-doctors (alternative practitioner, physiotherapists, midwives, Shiatsu-practitioners) are discovering this exceptionally gentle and effective type of treatment.

 

Thomas Wernicke is a licensed General Practitioner with qualifications in complementary medicine, Chinese and Japanese acupuncture. He has been the Training Manager for Daishi Hari Shōnishin in Europe since 2004. His new book: Shōnishin: The Art of Non-Invasive Paediatric Acupuncture is now available from Singing Dragon. This complete and user-friendly guide provides everything practitioners should know about Shōnishin and how this therapy can be used with different age ranges, especially young children.

 

Request a free copy of the new Singing Dragon Complete Catalog for Spring-Summer 2014

Our Singing Dragon Complete Catalog for Spring-Summer 2014 is now available. With full information on our expanding list of books in Qigong, Bodywork, Yoga, Taiji, Aromatherapy, Craniosacral Therapy, Chinese Medicine and a variety of other disciplines, our complete catalog is a tremendous resource for complementary health practitioners and anyone interested in enhancing their own health, wellbeing and personal development.

To receive a free copy of the catalog, please sign up for our mailing list and we’ll get one out to you right away. You may also request multiple copies to share with friends, family, colleagues and clients–simply note how many copies of the catalog you would like (up to 20) in the “any additional comments” box on the sign-up form.

We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to get more information about our outstanding new and forthcoming titles such as The Spark in the Machine by Dr. Daniel Keown and The Four Dragons by bestselling author Damo Mitchell. The catalog also contains information about the newest forthcoming paperback from Jennifer Peace Rhind, Listening to Scent and the most recent addition to our growing nutrition list, Eat to Get Younger by Lorraine Nicolle and Christine Bailey along with over 150 additional books, DVDs and other resources.

Click this link to see a listing of new and recent titles from Singing Dragon.

To request a copy of the Singing Dragon complete catalog, please click here to fill out our sign-up sheet. Please be sure to click any additional areas of interest as well. You should receive a copy of the catalog within two weeks.

Springtime Wood Element activities for children – by Karin Kalbantner-Wernicke and Bettye Jo Wray-Fears

This blog is an invitation to parents, teachers, therapists and mentors of children to join us in having fun with a seasonal series of stimulating Five Element activities that can support development in all ages!  These entries can be downloaded and printed off in pdf format by clicking this link so that you can enjoy making your own notebook of Five Element exercises for each month and season of the year.  We hope you have as much fun being creative with these ideas and projects as we have with many children and families.

May Wood imageSince we are beginning this series in springtime we will start with the Wood Element, the perfect place to start any activity with children. Wood Element marks the time of new beginnings and all the bursting energy of creativity and expanding growth like the first spring flowers breaking through the ground and fresh green buds on the trees and bushes. If you have lived in a place that has long, cold winters, you know the antsy feeling of wanting to move, jump, and stretch in every direction to greet the sun and warm air of the coming spring! This is exactly what children feel physically as they are developing gross and fine motor skills and testing them out for the first time, or emotionally and cognitively as they are learning new activities and seeing the possibilities of what they can do next from their new development!

The following exercises can be used with a family, classroom, or group of children to experience qualities of Wood:

 A Tree in the Forest

Have the group of participants get comfortable and read the visualization below.

Imagine you are a seedling of your favorite tree or plant in the earth. You can feel other seedlings around you nestled in the soil tucked up tight with the earth and each other to keep warm from the cold of winter.  But now the earth is getting warmer.  You feel something growing bigger inside you day by day.  You feel itchy and antsy to let it out, until finally the energy gets so strong that it bursts out in every direction!  Your roots shoot down into the soil, and your trunk, branches, and leaves up and out towards the sun.  You feel the roots of the other trees around you and playfully you all race each other toward the sun and sky!  Feel how strong, fresh and new you feel in the freedom to grow!

When finished have everyone draw a picture of what they saw themselves as in a forest with each other. Pick a wall or board to have everyone create the forest with their pictures hanging together.

A Family/Group Springtime Walk

Talk about springtime and get ideas from the group about what they notice with the plants, animals, and colours in nature.  What does their body and air feel like in the room when they talk about this? Wood Element brings the development of imagination, movement, planning and creativity. Allow all ideas, there are no right or wrong answers.  Let them express how they experience and relate this time of year to themselves.  After everyone has a chance to share, get ready for a walk outside and invite all to pick one item up from nature that reminds them of spring.  When you get back from the walk, place all the items found on a table or cloth for everyone to touch and admire. This can be left on a season table somewhere in the room or house, and the children can be invited to continue to add items and be creative with the table throughout the season. Remember, that it is not about looking perfect to the adult eyes!  Let the children find all the awkward and balanced expressions of Wood Element and have fun seeing what they create. Permission to play and express is the key to growth.

Splitting the Tree

Every Element has an emotion associated with its development. The creative energy of the Wood Element brings emotions of frustration and anger when this dynamic desire cannot Kalbantner-Wern_Children-at-The_978-1-84819-118-1_colourjpg-webmove. This last exercise we offer is to support the healthy movement of anger. Use pillows, plastic bat, cardboard tube, anything safe to allow a child to get as physically active as she/he needs to express their emotion.

Imagine a big trunk of a tree on the floor in front of you. With an axe, you want to use all your power to split the trunk. But it is so hard to do that you get really angry! Take all your energy and power and keep striking the trunk until you feel tired and can rest, feeling calm.

For more information about the Five Elements and the way they can support child development, read Children at Their Best: Understanding and Using the Five Elements to Develop Children’s Full Potential for Parents, Teachers, and Therapists released in April 2014 with Singing Dragon.

NEXT: June Wood Element activities – a colourful world and lightning power!

Singing Dragon complete 2014

This fully interactive brochure has all of the new Singing Dragon titles for the spring and summer of 2014 as well as our complete backlist. In here you will find books on Chinese medicine, complementary therapies, martial arts, nutrition, yoga, ayurveda, qigong, Daoism, aromatherapy, and many more alternative therapies and ancient wisdom traditions.

Click on the covers or titles to be taken to the book’s page on the Singing Dragon website. If you would like to request hard copies please email hello@intl.singingdragon.com with your details and the number of copies you would like.

VIDEO: Why Western medicine needs Chinese medicine

In this Q&A session Dr Daniel Keown, author of The Spark in the Machine, explains why Western medicine can no longer afford to ignore what Chinese medicine has to offer patients.

Dr Keown’s book presents a radical new integrative model for looking at the human body which shows how everything Chinese medicine says about anatomy, including meridians, acupoints, and Qi, is backed up by Western embryology. The Spark in the Machine is available from the Singing Dragon website.