All lessons of TCM Campus

Over a hundred lessons of Traditional Chinese Medicine, in eight modules. A taste of every lesson: the schema, the core and three practice questions.

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Module 1: Foundations

How does an acupuncturist think, and in what language?

How TCM thinks Why do two people with the same diagnosis get a different treatment in Chinese medicine?
Yin-Yang pathology and the Eight Principles Why can the same warmth come from Yin deficiency or from Full-Heat?
Vital substances What does an acupuncturist mean by "your Qi is stagnating" or "your Blood is deficient"?
Five Elements and causes of disease How does an acupuncturist explain why stress goes to your gut, and what actually makes someone ill?
The Zang-Fu If the Liver is not the liver, then what is it?
Patterns 1 to 10 Ten patterns, five pairs of neighbours: which finding decides each time?
Patterns 11 to 19 Night sweats, palpitations, poor sleep: when is it Kidney-Yin deficiency, when Heart and Kidneys not harmonised, and when Heart-Blood deficiency?
Relationships and combinations How does one pattern become two, and which do you treat first?
The five spirits (extra) Where is the spirit housed in TCM, and how can an emotion injure an organ?
The four examinations What do you need to see, hear, ask and feel before you may name a pattern?
Tongue diagnosis What does a tongue you see in ten seconds tell you, and what does it not?
Pulse diagnosis What does an acupuncturist feel under three fingers, and how much of it would a colleague also feel?
From finding to principle Twenty findings, one patient: how do you arrive at one principle, and what do you treat first?
Channels, Extraordinary Vessels, Six Stages Which six level pairs exist, and why does that matter for the Six Stages?
Point categories Why does an acupuncturist choose this point, with this technique, and not the point next to it?
Thirty key points What does a choice of points reveal about the pattern in the practitioner's mind?
Principles, herbs, safety From pattern to principle to points or formula: where does the practitioner decide, and where does the risk lie?
Clinical evidence What do "better than sham" and "better than no acupuncture" mean, and what does neither of them prove?
Mechanisms Along which route can a needle do something, in which model has that been seen, and what does that route not prove?
Case studies Which three findings separate two patterns that look alike, and what can you honestly promise after that?
Sparring and self-test How do you ask an acupuncturist a sharp question without tearing down their framework, and then defend a case yourself in ten minutes?

Module 2: Organs

What exactly does each organ do, and what goes wrong when it fails?

Heart Why does an acupuncturist look at your face, your tongue and your sweat when they want to know something about your Heart?
Liver How can one organ regulate your mood, your periods, your sinews and your eyes all at once?
Lungs Why, in TCM, do the skin, sweat and even urine belong to the Lungs?
Spleen Why does someone slump tired on the sofa after a meal, and what does that have to do with a prolapse or bruising easily?
Kidneys Why does an acupuncturist name the same organ for tinnitus, grey hair, getting up at night to pass urine and a weak lower back?
Pericardium, Ming Men and Original Qi (Yuan Qi) Who protects the Heart, and where does the fire come from that keeps all the organs warm?
Stomach Why is the Stomach called the origin of all the Fu, and what happens when its Qi does not descend?
Small Intestine and Large Intestine What exactly does the Small Intestine separate, and why is the Large Intestine paired with the Lungs?
Gall-Bladder and Bladder How can one organ store bile and also take decisions, and what does the Bladder do that the Kidneys do not do themselves?
Triple Burner: four views How can one organ be a Fu with a form and at the same time be "a name without a form"?
The Extraordinary Yang organs and the Four Seas Why does TCM mention the uterus, the brain and the bones in the same breath, and what do the Kidneys have to do with it?
The transformations of Qi What has to happen before a sandwich becomes Qi, Blood and urine, and where does it get stuck?

Module 3: Causes

What throws someone out of balance, and how does a cause turn into a clinical picture?

The emotions as a cause, in depth When does a feeling make someone ill, and how do you read which emotion affects which organ?
Climate and invasion Why does one person fall ill from a cold wind and another does not, and what happens to the invader afterwards?
Constitution, overwork and sexual activity Why does one person become exhausted after years of hard work and another does not, and what does each kind of exertion cost the body?
Diet, trauma, poisons, treatment and drugs How do what you eat, what happens to you and what you swallow make someone ill, and how do you read that in TCM language?

Module 4: Diagnosis

How do you get from looking, asking, feeling and listening to a pattern?

Looking: Mind, body and demeanour What do you see before someone says a word, and how much can you build on it?
Looking: face, eyes, nose, mouth, skin What does a colour in the face tell you, and where in the face do you look?
Tongue 1: colour and shape What does the tongue body itself say, apart from the coating, and when does it weigh more?
Tongue 2: coating, moisture, areas and protocol What does the layer on the tongue tell you about the Stomach and the pathogen, and how do you look so that a colleague sees the same?
The 16 questions, part 1 How do you ask about pain, food, stools, thirst, energy and the body so that the answer separates one pattern from another?
The 16 questions, part 2 What do you ask about the night, the thermostat and the person, and which answer separates two patterns that look alike?
Pulse 1: positions, levels and the healthy pulse Where do you put your fingers, how deep do you press, and what does a pulse with nothing wrong feel like?
Pulse 2: the 28 qualities How do you tell 28 pulses apart with three fingers, and which ones are so alike that you confuse them?
Palpation, hearing and smelling What do your hands, ears and nose tell you that the pulse and the tongue do not?

Module 5: Patterns

Do you recognise not just the 19 core patterns but the whole field, and do you see how they shade into one another?

Excess and Deficiency: the mechanics Who is winning, your own strength or the invader, and how do you see that in someone who has been ill for months?
Yin-Yang disharmony and the Qi mechanism Why does an acupuncturist not always cool when it is hot, and what happens when the Qi goes the wrong way?
The Eight Principles in depth How do you turn four questions into a diagnosis that still holds when the answers contradict each other?
Patterns of Qi, Blood and Body Fluids; Phlegm If you do not know the organ yet: what is going on with the substance, and how does one problem become the next?
Heart and Pericardium: all patterns Palpitations, a tight chest, poor sleep: which Heart or Pericardium pattern is it, and which finding decides?
Liver: Excess patterns Stuck, sideways, simmering, fiery, wet, clotted or frozen: how do you see which excess the Liver has, and which finding decides?
Liver: Deficiency and combined patterns An empty cupboard, a Yang that breaks loose, Wind that starts to blow: how do you read the Liver when there is too little underneath, and what does it then do to its neighbours?
Lungs: all patterns Cough, breathlessness, phlegm or dryness: is it the Lungs falling short, something from outside, or Phlegm lying inside, and which finding decides?
Spleen: all patterns Weak, cold, sinking, leaking, dry or damp: which finding tells you which Spleen pattern it is, and does the Dampness come from inside or from outside?
Kidneys: all patterns The Kidneys only fall ill through deficiency: how then can water overflow or Heat blaze, and which finding shows the way between the Kidney patterns?
Stomach: all patterns Pain in the epigastrium: empty or full, cold or hot, Qi, food or Blood, and which finding decides first?
Intestines, Gall-Bladder and Bladder Four Fu, one rule: a Fu is healthy as long as it passes things on. Which finding tells you whether it is blocked, overheated, chilled or leaking?
According to the pathogenic factors How do you recognise a pathogenic factor by its behaviour, and how do you know whether it comes from outside or from the organs themselves?
Six Stages How do you follow an invasion of Cold layer by layer, and which finding tells you it has moved one layer deeper?
Four Levels How do you read how deep a Heat disease has gone, and where does a TCM label stop and emergency care begin?
Three Burners and the three models side by side Where in the body does a Heat disease sit, and how do you lay the Six Stages, the Four Levels and the Three Burners over one patient?
According to the 12 channels Is this complaint in the channel or in the organ, and which finding decides?
According to the Eight Extraordinary Vessels When do you think of an Extraordinary Vessel instead of an organ, and which picture belongs to which vessel?
According to the Five Elements; the field as a whole How do you read a combination of organ patterns in the pentagon, and which of the ten models of module 5 do you use when?

Module 6: Points

Why does an acupuncturist choose this point, and what can it do?

The Five Shu points in depth Why do so many powerful points lie between fingertip and elbow, and how do you choose between the five?
Point categories in depth What does each point category promise, and why does a point that falls into three categories get priority?
Eight Extraordinary Vessels: functions and dynamics When does an acupuncturist choose an extraordinary vessel instead of an ordinary channel, and what do they gain by it?
Du Mai and Ren Mai What can a practitioner do with two vessels along the midline, one carrying all the Yang of the body and the other all the Yin?
Chong Mai and Dai Mai How does one vessel without points of its own explain menstruation, a feeling that rises from the abdomen to the throat, and cold feet all at once, and what does a girdle around the waist hold together?
Yin and Yang Qiao, Yin and Yang Wei Why do your eyes close in the evening and open in the morning, and which vessels hold the interior and exterior together?
Lungs: LU-1 to LU-11 Eleven points on one arm: why does an acupuncturist choose a different Lung point for a fresh cold than for someone who always has a cold?
Large Intestine: LI-1 to LI-20 A channel named after the bowel, yet chosen mainly for the teeth, nose, throat and Heat: why?
Stomach 1: ST-1 to ST-25 Twenty-five points between the eye and the abdomen: which do you choose for what lies beneath them, and which for what the channel does further on?
Stomach 2: ST-25 to ST-45 Why do the points with the strongest effect on the Stomach, the bowels and Phlegm lie on the lower leg, and how do you choose between them?
Spleen: SP-1 to SP-21 Twenty-one points from toe to flank: how do you choose between tonifying, draining Dampness, and holding, moving or cooling the Blood?
Heart and Small Intestine Why does an acupuncturist choose HT-7 for insomnia, HT-6 for night sweating and SI-3 for a stiff neck, and what can they do with the other points of these two channels?
Bladder 1: BL-1 to BL-30, the Back-Shu points Why does an acupuncturist choose a point on the back for an organ, and how do they know which point belongs to which organ?
Bladder 2: BL-31 to BL-67 Why does an acupuncturist choose a point in the back of the knee or at the ankle for low back pain, and what does a point on the little toe do in a breech presentation?
Kidneys: KI-1 to KI-27 Why does nearly everything an acupuncturist does for the Kidneys sit in a handful of points around the ankle, and what do the other twenty do?
Pericardium and Triple Burner Why does an acupuncturist choose PC-6 for nausea and a tight chest and TE-5 for a fever with a sore throat, and how are these two points connected?
Gall-Bladder: GB-1 to GB-44 Why do almost half of the Gall-Bladder points lie on the head, and why does a practitioner treating a headache still so often choose a point on the foot?
Liver: LR-1 to LR-14 How does a channel of only fourteen points give each of the five Liver patterns a point of its own?
Ren Mai: the points Why do six of the twelve Front-Mu points lie on one line down the front of the body, and how do you read a Ren point from its height?
Du Mai and the extra points What makes the Du Mai the governor of the Yang, what do points that lie on no channel at all do, and how does the whole world of points in this module fit together?

Module 7: Treatment

How does a pattern become a treatment plan, and how do you defend that plan?

Treatment principles: Root and Manifestation What do you treat first when someone has more than one thing wrong, and how do you defend that order?
Tonify or expel; acupuncture versus herbs Do you tonify first, expel first or do both, and is the needle or the herb the better means for it?
Point combinations 1: distal and local, above and below Why does an acupuncturist choose a point on the foot for a headache, and when the point right at the pain?
Point combinations 2: left and right, Yin and Yang, front and back When does an acupuncturist choose the side opposite the complaint, and why combine a point on the front with a point on the back of the same organ?
Treatment plans: Liver and Spleen How does a Liver or Spleen pattern become a defensible point set, with a reason for each point?
Treatment plans: Heart, Lungs and Kidneys How do you turn a Heart, Lung or Kidney pattern into a point selection you can defend point by point?
Treatment plans: Stomach, Intestines, Gall-Bladder and Bladder Why do you treat a Fu differently from a Zang, and which three points per Fu explain most point selections?
Treating external invasions How do you treat a pathogen that comes from outside, and how does the treatment plan change as it goes deeper?
Formulae and herbal safety How do you read a formula as a treatment plan, and how do you know whether it is safe for this client?

Module 8: Clinical practice

Can you think a complaint through in TCM language from start to finish, with the red flags and the evidence alongside?

Headache and migraine Where is the pain, what does it feel like and what makes it worse: how do three questions turn one headache into a pattern?
Insomnia and restlessness Not falling asleep, not staying asleep, or never settling at all: what does the time of night tell you about the Shen?
Fatigue and chronic illness Is someone tired because something is missing or because something is in the way, and what has to be investigated medically first?
Digestion Pain that gets better or worse with food, burning or cramping, stools watery or dry: which questions separate the patterns of the Stomach and the Intestines?
Menstruation and menopause Pain before or after the period, bleeding too early or too late, hot flushes with or without cold: how do you read the cycle as a map of the Kidneys, Liver, Spleen and Chong Mai?
Pain and Bi syndromes Where there is free flow, there is no pain: what blocks the flow, which pain belongs with a doctor first, and what is known about the effect?
Anxiety, low mood and the spirits When is low mood or anxiety a pattern to treat and when a reason to refer today, and which spirit is affected?
Infections, Latent Heat and viral conditions How does an acupuncturist read an infection that comes, lingers or returns later, and where does TCM stop and the doctor have to take over?
Evidence per indication, updated For which complaints has it been shown that acupuncture helps, for which that the real needle in the real place adds something, and where do we not know yet?