Wildfire season is no joke here in California. Chinese herbs can help your respiratory system during the smoky time of year. Keep reading to learn more!

Edgar Mojica has always wanted to heal and educate other people. With a background in education and pre-med, he realized that he wanted a medical career where he could truly connect with his patients. After visiting AIMC, he realized that a future in East Asian medicine and acupuncture could provide that. To read more about his journey, click here!

AIMC’s Japanese Foundations

Since its founding in 1990 by the Meiji School of Oriental Medicine in Japan & its alumni, AIMC has always had a close relationship with Japanese styles of acupuncture & herbal therapy. Our Board Chair, Dr. Goto, is the president of our sister college, GOTO College of Medical Arts & Sciences in Tokyo. In addition to offering Japanese acupuncture electives & clinical supervision to our Master’s students, we have a continuing education Japanese Medicine certificate program that has been forged in relationship with some of the great teachers of Japanese Medicine in the U.S. and abroad. We regularly bring Japanese teachers to the U.S. for seminars, and we hope to reschedule our

You may have seen people practicing their Qi Gong or Tai Chi forms in the Bay Area’s many parks. Often older generations of Chinese Americans swear by the practice for their joint health and overall well-being. So what is this ancient practice and how could it benefit you?

Qi Gong

Qi Gong is a form of meditative movement like the asana practice of yoga. The sequences are often more gentle than modern yoga but the basic principle is the same: breath, body, and mind united in a pose or movement. Of the Chinese movement practices, Qi Gong is known as the more meditative branch, while Tai Chi has more of a martial affiliation. They have overlapping forms and sequences and are often referred to interchangeably.

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Summer is the season of flowers and it’s in full swing here in the AIMC Garden.

Check out our gallery of beautiful and medicinal blooms, all grown with love here at AIMC:

Jie geng
Platycodon grandiflorus, Balloon Flower

The root is used to ease coughs of all kinds, clear phlegm, and aid the Lung qi.

Huo Xiang
Pogostemon cablin, Patchouli

Very effective to soothe nausea and vomiting of all kinds. A household staple!

Zhi Zi
Gardeniae, Gardenia

The fruit is used to clear heat and restlessness from the body. The flowers’ sweet, pure aroma lifts depression and sadness.

California Poppy
Eschscholzia californica

It’s not Chinese, but California Poppy has a place in our medicine as a cooling herb that acts on the Liver and the …

With Olympic athletes competing with cupping marks on their backs and acupuncturists being hired by major league athletic teams, there’s a surging wave of interest in Acupuncture and alternative therapy for treating sports injuries and enhancing athletic performance. We recently hosted an opportunity for our students and alums to sit down with people working in the field of Sports Medicine to share their experiences and offer a glimpse into the future of acupuncture careers on and off the athletic field.

The Event

With over 30 students and alums attending the virtual conversation, we were joined by Glenn Oberman, L.Ac., AIMC faculty member & supervisor of the UC Berkeley Sports Medicine Externship, and Tomoya Harada, DC, Chiropractor for the San Francisco 49ers and current AIMC Masters student. …

Welcome to the August edition of the kitchen herbalist. Here, the AIMC herbal pharmacy director Athene Eisenhardt shares seasonal recipes based on the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine.

Blueberries are a wonderful summer food high in antioxidants and support Heart, Kidney, and Brain function. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), all three of these organs are related. The Heart can be likened not only to the heart organ but also to the central nervous system, which includes the brain.

The brain is in turn fed and nourished by the Kidney essence. And, together, the Heart-Kidney axis helps properly regulate our nervous systems’ ability to respond to traumatic events and shock. The beautiful midnight blue color of these berries is a give away that they help nourish the …

Over the last few months we’ve all heard the words “unprecedented” and “uncertain” too many times to count. While those words still hold true, we’ve chosen to focus on the positive. We’re here to tell you that now is a better time than ever to further your education and prepare for a future as a healer.

At AIMC Berkeley, we’re currently offering online classes so our students can continue their education while staying safe at home. We are running both our theoretical and clinical courses, and we are offering a telemedicine clinic. We are hard at work getting our campus and clinic ready to welcome students back this Fall for a limited offering of hands-on courses & a strategically designed in-person clinic. We are …

An AIMC student spoke to a licensed acupuncturist with a master’s degree in public health and a doctorate in epidemiology, about how acupuncture can help COVID-19. Read our blog to learn more!

Flower Essences: Gentle Messages for the Heart Ruler

Today is the Summer Solstice, the longest and brightest day of the year. Summer is the
season of Sun and Light, and the Heart. In Chinese Medicine, the Heart is the Ruler that sits on our inner
throne and ensures harmony in our world. Just as in ancient China, when it was rare to actually glimpse
the revered Emperor, our own Heart Ruler is a behind the scenes presence that rules not through force,
but gently, effortlessly, through the quality we refer to as Wu-Wei. Thus, we approach the Heart Ruler
gently and reverently. For this reason, the Heart channel and Heart Back Shu points were classically
forbidden to needle. The approach is too direct. Approaching …