Last August, exactly one week after taking the California Licensing Exam (CALE) in Sacramento, I was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer, secondary to a cancer that started somewhere below my diaphragm. It was a shock to get that diagnosis.

I was so excited to begin my new career as an acupuncturist after being a poor college student for four years. It’s been an incredible journey – incredibly painful and at the same time incredibly healing. I first debated whether or not to go to the emergency room for a pain in my right rib cage. It turned out to be a pleural effusion – the emergency room doctors and nurses thought it was strange that I wanted to take a picture of the fluid they drained …

Chief Strategist at UCSF Benioff Integrative Hospital. Nurse. Doula, Mental Health Researcher/Yoga Teacher, Veterinarian Acupuncturist Assistant These are the diverse positions held by our Summer 2017 students. Now they share a new title: Student of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Here is what our new students say about what made them take this important step in their lives—embarking on the path to become acupuncturists: “Oriental medicine, herbs and acupuncture have healed me more than all other health modalities combined,” said Hali Hanson.

Rahanna Frykberg sees firsthand the benefits of acupuncture at her job at the Holistic Veterinary Care in Oakland: “Time and again I witness the healing, regenerative, rebalancing powers of acupuncture in combination with herbal medicine and the true transformative magic of integrative medicine.”

Yaminah Abdur-Rahim comes from a …

Two semesters ago, UC Berkeley Junior Daiwei Liu was carrying a full course load, working 15 hours a week in Nobel Laureate Randy Schekman’s lab studying Huntington’s Disease and kick-starting a brand new student-initiated class “Traditional Chinese Medicine 101: Know more about your body and yourself”.

Liu organized the class through the De-Cal program at UC Berkeley which lets students innovate their own courses. Liu wanted to share the power of Traditional Chinese Medicine with other students. It was such an exchange of ideas that philosophy professor Joseph Tussman sought to foster through the Democratic Education at Cal program (DeCal), which he founded in 1965.

Nishanga Bliss, Dsc, LAc, demonstrates Qigong at a Winter 2017 De-Cal at UC Berkeley.

Liu’s class joins a wide ranging lineup of De-Cal …

Front row (l-r): Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo, Academic Director of Shang Shung School of Tibetan Medicine; Yasuo Tanaka, President of AIMC Berkeley; Dr. Yangdron Kalsang LAc, Founder of Kunde Institue Back row (l-r): Adam Okerblom LAc; Founder of Sowa; Dr. Sanggee Bohm, Visiting Instructor at University of Virginia School of Medicine; Dr. Kunga Wangdue, Vice President of Traditional Tibetan Medical & Astro Association New York; Tsering Zangmo; Geshe Lobsang Partsang, Buddhist Chaplain at Santa Clara County Jail; Dr. Jordan Wheeler LAc, Pharmacy Director at AIMC Berkeley; Robyn Adcock LAc, Program Director of AIMC Berkeley; Isabella Liu, AIMC Berkeley student.

AIMC Berkeley, a leader in the field of acupuncture and integrative medicine education, was honored to host a distinguished group of Tibetan doctors and scholars on April 19, …

At San Francisco’s Cherry Blossom Festival last weekend I stumbled across a flyer advertising an invitation to hear a cancer patient tell her story of recovery at Konko’s Church of San Francisco in Japan town. Since cancer runs in my family across three generations, and most recently for my parents, I did not think twice about going to hearing her presentation. It was well worth going!

Doctors told Mrs. Fusami Kudo that she had end-stage ovarian cancer and had less than a month to live. She underwent excruciatingly painful treatment; she had to be physically restrained with a towel in her mouth to prevent her from screaming. She underwent 30 days of radiotherapy.

Once she passed the 30 days she was told she would live, she learned …

Rebirth of AIMC Berkeley

The origins of modern day Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College, Berkeley (AIMC) really begin with its current chairman, Dr. Shuji Goto. Goto has provided illustrious leadership to acupuncture colleges both in the U.S. and in Japan. Since 1988, Dr. Goto has served as President and Chairman of the Board at Goto College of Medical Arts and Sciences in Tokyo.

And in 1991, Dr. Goto served as chairman of the American College of Chinese Traditional Medicine (ACTCM) in San Francisco.

He became chairman of ACTCM when bankruptcy was imminent. But Goto was able to raise the necessary funds, save the school, and make reforms to create financial solvency. ACTCM acknowledged Dr. Goto’s powerful impact by renaming their library after him. However, Dr. Goto’s work was …

Alzada Magdalena will speak at a brown bag lunch at AIMC Berkeley on Friday, April 7, 12-1pm

Alzada Magdalena, a 2001 Graduate of AIMC Berkeley (back when it was called Meiji College), has two acupuncture practices—one in Davis, CA and the other in Prineville, Oregon.At her two practices, The Healing Arts, she treats patients, teaches Qi gong, meditation and dietary practices.

Alzada began her acupuncture practice in 2002, merging it with her existing bodywork practice.

Two years later she opened a clinic in a remodeled bungalow in downtown Davis, California, and practiced there until 2011. In 2011 she and her family moved to Bend, Oregon.However, her Davis patients requested she come back to take care of them, and so she has done so.She has returned to …

Our Alumni who are also Doctors & Nurses
Reflect on their Knowledge of Both Systems

First of a two-part series. Our second installment will spotlight our current students who are also nurses.

Katja Zamrik, MD (Germany) & LAc

Studying Traditional Chinese Medicine as a physician, I was fascinated by the ancient knowledge about the connection between certain organ systems. Over the last 100 years, Western Medicine has been able to find proof of these ancient observations on the molecular level (hormones and enzymes) for example, the connection between the kidneys and bone metabolism and the interplay between the cardiovascular system and the kidneys. Having studied Eastern Medicine has broadened my ability to interpret my patients’ signs and symptoms. Often there are no explanations for …

This a recipe made by Sarah Donnelly for our AIMC Berkeley Intro to Herbs class, where students create and share a medicinal recipe. These delicious chocolates treat wind-cold disorders and are also act as a tonic and detox. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Gelatin
Ginger
Chocolate
Lemon juice
Honey
Coconut oil
Agave nectar
Cayenne pepper

Medicinal Ingredients and function in the body:
Ginger – Warming to the Lungs, Spleen and Stomach; releases exterior; indicated for coughing, wheezing, nausea.
Chocolate – Bitter – Anti inflammatory; dries dampness and phlegm
Lemon & Honey – Muscle/pain reliever
Honey – Tonifies
Gelatin – Eases joint pain

Instructions:

Candied Ginger Topper:
Slice ginger thinly, cover with 2C of water. Boil 10 minutes or until ginger has softened. Drain, and return 1/4C water to the cooked ginger, stirring …

When an acupuncturist says you have heat, they don’t necessarily mean in temperature…. That’s what former Oakland Raiders and Winter 2014 AIMC Berkeley graduate Josh Taves discovered during his first brush with Oriental medicine.

Taves told the story of his early encounter with the medicine when he gave a speech during Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College (AIMC) Berkeley’s 2014 commencement. He described meeting an elderly Chinese American practitioner at a Food & Wine Fair in Diablo in the dead heat of summer. The acupuncturist diagnosed Taves as running too hot. Taves said he thought: ‘no sh….’ The temperature was above 100, and Taves weighed 300 pounds at the time. (He has since lost 60 pounds).

Taves was sweating profusely. Very astute of the man, he thought! Knowing …