{"podcast":{"title":"Qiological Podcast","slug":"qiological-podcast-915251","podcast_index_feed_id":915251,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/qiological-podcast/","website_url":"https://qiological.com","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/d3b857d9-dd84-4532-9b50-c24cd612a149/Podcast-Cover-3000x3000.jpg","author":"Michael Max","episode_count":533,"summary":"Acupuncture and East Asian medicine was not developed in a laboratory. It does not advance through double-blind controlled studies, nor does it respond well to petri dish experimentation. Our medicine did not come from the statistical regression of randomized cohorts, but from the observation and treatment of individuals in their particular environment. It grows out of an embodied sense of understanding how life moves, unfolds, develops and declines. Medicine comes from continuous, thoughtful practice of what we do in clinic, and how we approach that work. The practice of medicine is more — much more — than simply treating illness. It is more than acquiring skills and techniques. And it is more than memorizing the experiences of others. It takes a certain kind of eye, an inquiring mind and relentlessly inquisitive heart. Qiological is an opportunity to deepen our practice with conversations that go deep into acupuncture, herbal medicine, cultivation practices, and the practice of having a practice. It’s an opportunity to sit in the company of others with similar interests, but perhaps very different minds. Through these dialogues perhaps we can better understand our craft.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-28T14:20:24.918062+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/qiological-podcast-915251"},"episode":{"title":"446 Failing Forward • Neal Sivula","slug":"446-failing-forward-neal-sivula","published_at":"2026-02-03T05:15:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/qiological-podcast-915251/446-failing-forward-neal-sivula","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/qiological-podcast-915251","url":"https://qiological.com","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/e68f23ae-4614-4a13-b208-bd39ac8e820a.mp3","summary":"What if “failure” was just expectations being uncomfortably rewritten by reality? In this conversation with Neal Sivula we discuss the experience of failing forward—what it actually looks and feels like when you’re a practitioner, a clinic owner, and a person who cares. How to navigate the employee who doesn’t show up the way you hoped, the power outage, or the appointment someone forgets. And the uncomfortable moment when you have to hold a boundary, especially when you’d rather not be the hammer. Neal has found a few steady anchors: the micro-business reality of “one day at a time,” and the quietly radical skill of addition by subtraction. Sometimes the way forward isn’t adding another technique. It’s stopping something. Simplifying. Doing more with lessing. There’s also the importance of tenderness . Neal works with older animals and the humans who love them, he leans on the practice of accompaniment—staying present when things are hard, not avoiding the difficult moments, but instead inhabiting them. It makes a difference. Listen into this conversation for how failure teaches, and what it asks of us when we’re the ones doing the learning.","meta_description":"What if “failure” was just expectations being uncomfortably rewritten by reality? In this conversation with Neal Sivula we discuss the experience of faili…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3554,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/qiological-podcast-915251/episodes/446-failing-forward-neal-sivula/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/qiological-podcast-915251/446-failing-forward-neal-sivula.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}