Top 10 Tips for New Yoga Teachers

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In Yoga Teaching Handbook, a new release for November, you can read expert advice on teaching yoga and managing a successful yoga business. One of the contributors of the book, Alison Purchase, has put together ten top tips for new yoga teachers, which you can read below. 

1: Keep your class plan flexible.

Plan the general structure of a class rather than each pose. That way you can adapt the class based on the students’ needs and you won’t feel stressed if you forget what pose you had planned next.

2: Take an interest in your students.

If you arrive early and stay late, you have the opportunity to chat with your students and find out more about them. Students often have questions or are looking for advice to develop their practice. Continue reading →

Richy K. Chandler discusses ‘When Are You Going to Get a Proper Job?’

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When Are You Going to Get a Proper Job? is the new comic from Richy K. Chandler, which tackles the issue of how the responsibilities of parenting can clash with a creative career.

When Are You Going to Get a Proper Job? features parent and graphic artist, Tariq, who finds himself stuck in a cycle of guilt, torn between quality time with his family and creative time in the studio.

This comic will spark the important debate about the value society places on creative careers, and will raise awareness of the pressures put upon creative professionals and how this career choice can conflict with family life and societal expectations.

Richy K. Chandler discusses the themes of the book and the process of drawing the illustrations in the video below.

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More Titles by Richy K. Chandler

You Make Your Parents Super Happy!

Explaining why parents decide to separate in simple, understandable language to children, this candid graphic story reassures and comforts any child whose parents are breaking up. Fully illustrated, with characters that any child can relate to, this book is a lifeline during a confusing time.

Click here to read more about the book.

‘The Spirit of the Organs’: Extract

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John Hamwee’s The Spirit of the Organs contains 12 stories each depicting a different organ of the body and illustrates how they are traditionally understood in Chinese Medicine. Hamwee explores the spirit of each organ not in analytical, rational, summarising language but through life stories that express the nature and tendencies of the organ at a deep level.

We have an extract from the book which explains why a practitioner’s appreciation of the spirit of an organ can lead to more effective treatments with patients. You can read the extract here.

Click here to read more about the book.

If you would like to read more articles like this and hear the latest news and offers on our books, why not join our mailing list? We can send information by email or post as you prefer, and please also tell us about your areas of interest so we can send the most relevant information. You can unsubscribe at any time.

More books by John Hamwee

Intuitive Acupuncture

An incisive and wide-ranging exploration of the role of intuition in the effective treatment of patients through acupuncture and Chinese medicine. The author explores theory, clinical experience, and best ways to develop reliable intuition through rigorous interrogation and self reflection.

Click here to read more about the book.

Zero Balancing

The classic, definitive book on Zero Balancing, an increasingly popular therapy that can be easily practised alongside other complementary therapies. Descriptions of particular sessions and client experiences are accompanied by a wider discussion about the nature and behaviour of energy and its use in healing.

Click here to read more about the book.

Acupuncture for New Practitioners

An invaluable guide for anyone beginning a career in acupuncture, this book offers insights into likely challenges and pitfalls of the first years of practice. It addresses styles of working, common mistakes, confidence with patients, and success and failure in the treatment room, helping novice acupuncturists to reflect on their practice.

Click here to read more about the book.

 

Create Your Own BaZi Calendar

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Calculating the BaZi, a new release from September, can help you to understand how to recognise the various influences on BaZi (Chinese Astrology) and learn how to devise personalised astrological charts, without needing a Chinese calendar.

Detailed instructions show how your destiny is contained within your birth chart, and how to understand its changes over the whole lifespan. Dr Taylor Wu also explains the relationship between your individual BaZi chart and your personality, emotions, health, relationships, aptitudes, and life chances. With many examples, and worked exercises, including a detailed interpretation of actual charts and case studies, Dr Taylor Wu demonstrates how to bring the GanZhi principles to life.

We have an extract from the book here, in which you can read a brief overview of the philosophies upon which the calendar was built.

To read more about the book, please click here.

If you would like to read more articles like this and hear the latest news and offers on our books, why not join our mailing list? We can send information by email or post as you prefer, and please also tell us about your areas of interest so we can send the most relevant information. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Essential Resources for Chinese Medicine Students

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We have all the books you need for your Chinese Medicine course, from comprehensive textbooks to fun and engaging learning tools such as our acupuncture colouring book and a comic covering the diagnosis of 78 syndromes of Chinese Medicine.

Read more about our books for students below. To view all the books in our Books for Students collection, please click here.

Basics of Chinese Medicine

Principles of Chinese Medicine by Angela Hicks is a a definitive introductory guide to Chinese medicine, and is a great starting point for those just beginning their studies. You can read more about the basics of Chinese Medicine, including an examination of yin and yang in this extract from the book.

 

Principles of Chinese Herbal Medicine by John Hicks is an authoritative introduction to the fundamentals of Chinese herbal medicine. We have an extract from the book here, which details the characteristics, processing and properties of the herbs used in Chinese Medicine.

The Yellow Monkey Emperor’s Classic of Chinese Medicine is a truly unique learning tool. With this graphic novel, you can learn and remember the syndromes of Chinese medicine, their causes, symptoms and treatment protocols with these witty cartoons, rich with Daoist in-jokes. We asked Spencer Hill for a glimpse ‘behind the scenes’ of working on the book, and in this blog piece, Hill recalls the process of drawing the cartoons for The Yellow Monkey Emperor’s Classic of Chinese Medicine and how he met and came to work with Damo Mitchell.

Also of interest

Acupuncture

The Fundmentals of Acupuncture by Nigel Ching is a fantastically readable guide to Chinese Medicine, and you can read more about acupuncture points, and yuan source points in particular, in the extract here.

 

 

Rainy Hutchinson’s The Acupuncture Points Functions Colouring Book presents a fun and practical way of learning the functions of acupuncture points on the twelve primary and eight extra channels. This colouring book is an essential learning resource for students of acupuncture, acupressure, shiatsu and massage, and is ideal for revision and self or paired testing. We have an exclusive colouring page from the book here.

 

Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine by Charles Buck is an authoritative and accessible account of the history of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. The book provides an accurate overview, focussing on the key developments that are of most practical relevance to the students and clinicians of today. In an extract from the book, you can read about medicine in China prior to the Han Dynasty.

Chinese Medicine – Techniques

Nigel Ching’s The Art and Practice of Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine is a complete diagnostic manual for students of Chinese medicine. It covers how to collect and collate the relevant information needed to make a diagnosis and clearly describes the various diagnostic models in Chinese medicine.

We have an extract from the book which includes a detailed discussion of interviewing techniques, including suggestions on what questions to ask your patients.

 

Clare Stephenson’s The Acupuncturist’s Guide to Conventional Medicine is a comparative textbook which provides everything students and practitioners of complementary medicine need to know about conventional medicine. You can read a sample from the book on the processes of disease, examined from both a conventional medicine perspective and a Chinese medicine perspective here.

We also sat down with Clare Stephenson to talk about Eastern and Western medicine, acupuncture and complementary therapies in practice. Read the interview on our blog.

Classical Chinese Texts

Grasping the Donkey’s Tail by Peter Eckman is an in-depth examination of some difficult, often misunderstood classical texts of Oriental medicine, and is an essential text for students of Chinese Medicine. You can read about the Yi Jing in this extract from the book.

 

Richard Bertschinger’s Essential Texts in Chinese Medicine is a commentary and translation of the key writings for students and practitioners of Chinese medicine in the 21st century from the ancient, definitive set of books on Chinese medicine, the Huangdi Neijing or ‘the Yellow Emperor’s Medical Classic’. You can read an extract from the book here.

 

 

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Nora Franglen: Q&A

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Following the release of Blogging a Five Element Life, we caught up with author Nora Franglen to ask her some questions about her life as an acupuncturist and what people can expect from her new book.

 

Your book documents the period between 2014-2017, and touches on significant events from these years. What changes in the world have most influenced you during this time?

Undoubtedly the referendum vote for Brexit and the election of Donald Trump dominated the last year. These two events had a profoundly depressing effect on me and on many other people, including my patients. I was made even more aware of how important it is to accept the differences between people, which a knowledge of the five elements helps us towards. I hope, too, that it can make us more tolerant in an increasingly intolerant world.

Continue reading →

How Increasing Self-Awareness Can Unlock Your Creative Potential

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Galvanizing Performance, a new release from August, is an application of the teachings of the Alexander Technique to the performing arts. This collection demonstrates how deliberate movement and specific practice in theatre, music, song and dance can improve the art form, as well as the artist’s wellbeing.

We have an extract from the book, in which you can read about how increasing self-awareness can increase self-confidence and lead to an unlocking of creative potential.

Read the extract here.

If you would like to read more articles like this and hear the latest news and offers on our books, why not join our mailing list? We can send information by email or post as you prefer, and please also tell us about your areas of interest so we can send the most relevant information. You can unsubscribe at any time.

More Books Like This

The Energetic Performer

Amanda Brennan

New anatomical and physiological knowledge is combined with eastern energy techniques and traditional actor training methods as the basis for this pioneering approach to actor training. Practical exercises extend understanding of the somatic systems and how to create flexible bodies for truthful performances.

Click here to read more.

Reflecting on a Lifetime’s Practice of Five Element Acupuncture

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Nora Franglen’s latest book, Blogging a Five Element Life, shows the holistic nature of life as an acupuncturist, and is a must read for anyone interested in acupuncture or Chinese medicine.

We have an extract from the book, which features advice on treating patients effectively, guidance on acupuncture techniques and her thoughts on the elements and how they can be applied to public figures.

Click here to read the extract

Click here to read more about Blogging a Five Element Life.

If you would like to read more articles like this and hear the latest news and offers on our books, why not join our mailing list? We can send information by email or post as you prefer, and please also tell us about your areas of interest so we can send the most relevant information. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Books By Nora Franglen

Blogging a Five Element Life

The follow-up to Nora Franglen’s first book of collected posts on the holistic life of an acupuncturist, this provides further insight into the everyday musings of a master of her craft. From her love of London’s cafes to challenges she has experienced in her clinic, it reveals how acupuncture can enrich and balance all aspects of our being.

Read more about the book here.

 

On Being a Five Element Acupuncturist

Based on her well-read blog, Nora Franglen provides a rich insight into the inner thoughts and feelings of a master acupuncturist. Covering everything from her love of coffee shops to how to treat patients effectively, it is reveals the holistic and rich nature of acupuncture.

Read more about the book here.

 

The Handbook of Five Element Practice

A companion for practitioners of Five Element acupuncture that strengthens the foundation for practice. With detailed outlines of the different components of Five Element diagnosis and treatment, this complete manual will support and invigorate practice. It also includes a Teach Yourself Manual.

Read more about the book here.

 

The Simple Guide to Five Element Acupuncture

This accessible guide explains the history and philosophy of five element acupuncture, and shows how it addresses specific health needs and general well-being. With case studies throughout, the guide explains how an acupuncturist diagnoses and treats patients, and looks at the character of each element.

Read more about the book here.

 

Keepers of the Soul

With profiles of well-known figures, the book explains the spirit of each of the Five Elements of Chinese medicine, and what they look like in different people. The philosophy behind Five Element acupuncture is explained, including what it means to live in harmony and how the Five Elements help shape our body and soul.

Read more about the book here.

 

Patterns of Practice

Considering acupuncture in its wider context, this book contains Nora Franglen’s reflections on her practice and explores how the search for acupuncture points can lead the practitioner deep into challenging areas of existence.

Read more about the book here.

 

What is Five Element Acupuncture?

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by Nora Franglen

You can see from the title of my six books published by Singing Dragon that I practise and write about a branch of acupuncture called five element acupuncture. All acupuncture is based upon an understanding of an ancient Chinese philosophical concept which describes the universe and all who live in it as created by the Dao, the All, the infinite, what we can think of as the universe before the Big Bang.

 

The Dao itself is divided into two forces called yin and yang, positive and negative forces created at the time of the Big Bang, which always counterbalance each other and make time and motion possible. Finally, yin and yang split into what the Chinese call the five elements, each with simple, everyday names of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. In geographical terms we can see the elements as being like the four directions of north, south, east and west, with the fifth its centre.

Continue reading →

What is Manipulation Therapy?

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To mark the publication of ‘Osteopathic and Chiropractic Techniques for Manual Therapists: A Comprehensive Guide to Spinal and Peripheral Manipulations‘ by Jimmy Michael, Giles Gyer and Ricky Davis, we have an extract from the book detailing what manipulation is, the types of manipulation and the mechanism of action of joint manipulation.

Click here to read the extract

Click here to read more about the book.

 

If you would like to read more articles like this and hear the latest news and offers on our books, why not join our mailing list? We can send information by email or post as you prefer, and please also tell us about your areas of interest so we can send the most relevant information. You can unsubscribe at any time.

More Titles Like This

Dry Needling for Manual Therapists

A comprehensive and practical handbook to medical acupuncture for treating musculoskeletal (MSK) problems. Perfect for use in clinic, it includes fully-illustrated instruction on MSK medical acupuncture and electro-acupuncture points and techniques, guidance on safety and treatment planning and overviews of the theory behind the practice.

Click here to read more about the book.