{"podcast":{"title":"A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond","slug":"a-pebble-in-the-cosmic-pond-6320860","podcast_index_feed_id":6320860,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/pebble-in-the-cosmic-pond/","website_url":"https://www.pebbleinthecosmicpond.com/","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/6965970a-2b97-406e-ac7a-03277b54c4cf/VbqJ8vh50gVW4WuvyuVGQlWi.jpg","author":"Sabine Wilms PhD","episode_count":52,"summary":"Tune in every New Moon for inspiring, joyful, and informative conversations with Sabine Wilms and Leo Lok on transforming ourselves, our communities, and the world, in the spirit of traditional Chinese medicine, spirituality, and philosophy. Separating fact from fiction, we aim to bring you medicine from China's distant past, translated here to meet YOUR needs today, in your personal practice, in your community, and in the clinic. Sabine Wilms, PhD, is a medical historian, recovering university professor, and author and translator of more than a dozen books on the Chinese healing arts, from gynecology and pediatrics to medical ethics and materia medica, published by Happy Goat Productions. In addition to writing, she runs the only advanced 2-year classical Chinese training program for practitioners of Chinese medicine and contributes insights from her checkered past as a biodynamic goat farmer and musician, all under the banner of her favorite phrase, “cosmic resonance,” a.k.a. the Chinese ideal of harmony between the three realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. Leo Lok, our \"purveyor of multiple perspectives,\" is a practitioner and independent scholar of Chinese Medicine. A nativ…","last_synced_at":"2026-06-15T16:19:46.400128+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-pebble-in-the-cosmic-pond-6320860"},"episode":{"title":"Playing with Qi and Other Tools of Self-Care","slug":"playing-with-qi-and-other-tools-of-self-care","published_at":"2025-11-20T19:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-pebble-in-the-cosmic-pond-6320860/playing-with-qi-and-other-tools-of-self-care","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-pebble-in-the-cosmic-pond-6320860","url":"https://pebbleinthecosmicpond.com/episode/playing-with-qi-and-other-tools-of-self-care","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/1beab748-7abf-4b6d-823c-28d82503484f.mp3","summary":"We start off this episode by exploring the meaning of \"tiao qi\" 調氣, which is the title of one of the chapters in Sun Simiao's volume on Yangxing (self-cultivation and longevity). Inspired by Sun Simiao's writings and our work in translating and teaching this material, we start within this context of yangsheng but end up exploring much broader clinical practices. We reject the judgmental tone of \"regulating,\" as a translation of \"tiao\" 調, in favor of the playful curiosity and flexibility of \"modulating,\" \"calibrating,\" or \"playing with.\" As a side note, it delighted both of us to discover the significance of embodied experience and of discernment rooted in the five senses as we have both been practicing this art of calibration in the tradition of Sun Simiao's teachings over the past couple of years. To understand our own and patients' behaviors that get in the way of healing disease, avoiding suffering, and improving wellbeing, we then looked at the difference between inability and unwillingness to \"do what is good for us.\" But we quickly got more nuanced and changed the direction of our inquiry: To avoid judgment, which is a dead end in useful communication between any two people, we considered searching for obstacles and blockages instead. Could this perhaps be meaningfully expressed in the concept of \"Qi stagnation,\" since this concept goes beyond just physical lack of flow, to include mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions? In the end, we discussed the unaddressed need for specialized training in Chinese medicine so that practitioners can more easily slip into the role of skillful communicator and coach. At the end of the day, what practitioners need, beyond technical expertise, to truly help their patients, are the qualities of equanimity, patience, and more t…","meta_description":"We start off this episode by exploring the meaning of \"tiao qi\" 調氣, which is the title of one of the chapters in Sun Simiao's volume on Yangxing (self-cul…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2959,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/a-pebble-in-the-cosmic-pond-6320860/episodes/playing-with-qi-and-other-tools-of-self-care/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-pebble-in-the-cosmic-pond-6320860/playing-with-qi-and-other-tools-of-self-care.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}