13 May 2025 There is one event that I always look forward to each spring, and that is making the journey to St. Louis to participate in Dr. Simon Yu’s Introductory Acupuncture Meridian Assessment seminar and workshop. It’s a long day of travel and flying each direction for me from our beautiful little resort community in the interior of British Columbia – but well worth it. Attended this spring by nearly 20 docs and dentists, this session was exceptional. I was able to present all three of my lectures [...]

In Memory Heinrich Rossmann, MD Dr. H. Rossmann was one of the few doctors who also cooperated as an expert on behalf of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians with Dr. Reinhold Voll, the founder of electroacupuncture (EAV). Now he has died shortly before his 90th birthday. Since 1970 he has been involved with EAV, found a special methodological approach, which he continued with curiosity, imagination and the joy of experimentation. Together with Dr. N. Mayer, among others, he developed the HOMOPATH© test program, today the most modern [...]

December 2024 Dear Colleagues, Supporters and Friends, As this year comes to a close, we are all ready for the holiday break with a chance to spend time with family and to relax a bit. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for your support over this past year – and for many of you over many years. It is now more than six years since I closed the doors to Occidental Institute’s offices and moved into my small home office to continue this work [...]

September 2024 My dear colleagues, supporters and friends, Yes, it has been several months since I last contacted you and filled in the changes and news occurring in this amazing field from my perspective as a “supposed-to-be” retired gal who is still devouring all those related journals and newsletters. I must admit I’ve been doing it mostly from the comfort of my easy chair, mixed in with a lot of naps. But the added benefits of stepping back from my desk with all it’s usual chores and duties, has [...]

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 [...]

January 2023 Dear Colleagues and Friends, As I move into this New Year of 2023 as well as this new chapter in my life, I feel counterbalanced with optimism for the future but weighed down by the frustrating worldwide controversies, upheavals and often corruption. While many prayed for hope, peace, joy, love and prosperity throughout the holiday and year-end festivities, we are still surrounded by reports of the disastrous events of 2022 that have changed the face of politics, economics and healthcare for far into the future. As I [...]

Birthdays, Philosophy & Exit Strategies With the culmination of the 101st Birthday celebrations and activities for my beloved Mom Catharine, I’ve once again found myself wandering through the newsletters and ever changing information about the virus, the vaccines and the possible resolutions for the health of our families and patients. I’ve stated it before that without a doubt, this is a unique time in history – for conventional medicine, so-called alternative medicine, politics, economics and society as a whole. I am not so prideful and [...]

“Turn! Turn! Turn!*” A Time of Consideration A4M Anti-Aging or Complementary & Energy Medicine Medical vs Wellness or Physical/Chemical vs Energy Can We Use Energetic Assessments to Guide Therapy and Move Toward “Wellness”? I have taken some time after returning from the A4M Conference in Las Vegas, NV during December 2019 and over the recent holiday period for a great deal of personal introspection. My mind has been spinning with the input of exceptional information and the considerations of the consequences of the ever-encroaching regulative restrictions. Like the contradictions [...]

01 October 2019 Dear Colleagues and Friends, The digitalized third version of the OIRF Chinese Medical Classics is now available. For full description and details see product and publication descriptions on this website. Take a look at an excellent article by Taylor Bean, ND published in the NDNR Naturopathic Doctor News & Review, Volume 15, Issue 8, August 2019. Entitled “Naturopathic Perspective of Vaccination, Optimizing Immunization & Putting Parents at Ease”, Dr. Bean gives us a practical and perceptive approach for helping our patients, both the parents and the [...]

Announcements, Updates and Reminders August 2019 08 August 2019 Dear Colleagues and Friends, It’s finally done. The over four months of detailed bleary-eyed computer work has finally been completed, and I am pleased to announce that the digitalized third version of the OIRF Chinese Medical Classics is now available. I have come to truly appreciate all the dedicated work that went into the development of these course materials during the early 1980’s. Working as a team Dr. Michael Barnett, Dr. Michael Coburn† and myself (Carolyn) spent endless hours translating, [...]