April 2024 Dear Colleagues and Friends, Although we continue to see an avalanche of information and commentary as the pandemic and political narratives escalate, my commentary section will be a bit shorter this month. I will be participating in Dr. Simon Yu’s Acupuncture Meridian Assessment (AMA) standard workshop April 25-28, 2024 [see Dr. Yu’s website for current registration information]. For now I am busily updating my lectures since I last dusted them off for presentation. Although the history lecture changes little, we are seeing more and more information about [...]

Why does it always come back to politics? 12 March 2024 Another Part 1 on Politics Politics – eww – that’s a naughty word right? As time and the seasons march (pun intended by the way) past us, political repression and the popular perceptions continue to remain dark. As I daily go through my journals and newsletters, I frequently wonder how the acceptance and understanding of natural medicine has changed so markedly since the start of the so-called pandemic. A friend, a lady physiotherapist blind since birth and now [...]

12 February 2024 There’s no real theme for this month’s commentary – it’s more like a jumble of thoughts as all the journals and newsletters gear up for this new year and begin looking at necessary treatments for the secondary health issues post pandemic/vax. So, for this issue, in three parts here is a brief overview of some of the political aspects, and then– more importantly – for parts two and three “what can we do?” about all these pandemic “secondary illnesses”. Part 1 – The Political Commentary Current [...]

15 January 2024 January. Well, we made it through the holidays and all they represent – faith, hope, family, celebrations, beautiful and special meals – and have reached that time of reflection, a bit of loneliness, the rush to get back into the office/school and routine and of course, facing the bills. I will admit, it’s been difficult for me to get back into this routine of writing and translating for the monthly announcements, and the record cold temperatures in our part of the world has me wishing we [...]

16 January 2024 Dear Colleagues and Friends, Holidays, and winter illnesses, and the opportunity to get together with friends and family. It’s difficult to get back into the New Year routine, but exciting to look forward to another year of workshops, activities and research into our field. My report on the big A4M conference in Las Vegas is simple and one word: disappointing. Vegas is no longer “cheap” but rather exorbitantly expensive (even for food court meals) and the travel (even though winter had not yet struck in force) [...]

And Your December 2023 Releases Med-Week Resources, Part 2 This will be a brief and incomplete listing of some of the many companies represented at the recent Medicine Week Congress. In the few weeks since sending you my initial impressions of that amazing congress, I’ve had a chance to reorganize not just my thoughts but also the reams of information and cards I gathered while wandering the exhibits. Because I am not an active practitioner, but rather a lecturer, researcher and writer, my perspective when viewing the exhibits is [...]

November 2023 My dear Colleagues and Friends, What an adventure! For the first time in four years, I made the pilgrimage journey to Baden-Baden, Germany to participate in the annual Medicine Week Congress. For me, traveling by myself with no group and no set schedule for extra meetings, it was almost a holiday. I had the opportunity to visit with several colleagues from former times now that we can also be friends without the formality of business responsibilities. I visited briefly at Medical Electronics in Rheinau (still an interesting [...]

16 October 2023 As I have moved forward with preparations and organization for my two forthcoming conference travels (be sure to watch my “away from my desk” dates!), it has been a pleasure to talk with a number of “old” friends and colleagues. I appreciate every single one of those calls and Zoom meetings. It helps to ground and focus my thoughts and to ensure the information I’m sending you remains relevant and useful. Many of us are once again venturing back into the busy conference and seminar schedules. [...]

12 September 2023 Dear Colleagues and Friends, With so many activities and weeks passing since the previous newsletter issue, I’ll try to keep this sort of brief and add in some of the interesting tidbits that have crossed my desk in the meantime. P2P and OIRF: Thank you for your patience and understanding as I took a rather long “summer” hiatus from my usual duties and chores for P2P/OIRF to work on the OIRF legacy project. Although I focused solely on collecting and categorizing all the materials for input [...]

April 2023 How can there be so much change, so quickly and without our knowledge or consent? I quote: British Columbia’s New Powers to Silence Dissenting Physicians Recently passed legislation puts involuntary treatment and mandatory compliance into effect. Commentary by Mary Lowther “OMNS (April 13, 2023) Last November the British Columbia Provincial Government introduced the Health Professions and Occupations Act, also referred to as Bill 36, passed and enacted with a minimum of debate, consultation or media promulgation. It empowers the government to assume more control over how health [...]