Scottish College for Chinese Medicine

Jonathan Clogstoun-Willmott

November 21, 2024

The Scottish College for Chinese Medicine helps people learn about the huge benefits of and the cultural background to Chinese medicine.

When you go for – say – acupuncture – to treat pain or improve health, you probably think it’s like taking a painkiller or a supplement.

It’s true that acupuncture is increasingly recognised for its painkilling benefits but that’s a bit like saying surgery represents the whole of Western medicine!

Acupuncture and other forms of therapy used in Chinese medicine are based, traditionally, in and on the cultural history and experience of China. If you ignore what that offers, you probably won’t get the full benefits of your treatment.

One example: just as we now recognise, in the ‘West’ the importance of proper nutrition for health, so too in the Chinese cultural tradition, food and its ‘energy’ make a significant contribution to your health.

Of course, many patients taking Western-style medication have appallingly bad diets … they will take longer to get and remain better than those who adopt better dietary regimes.

The same goes with Chinese medicine, but there is far more to it than just food, important though food is. Chinese medicine has equivalents for most forms of Western medicine therapy. But it has a huge philosophy behind it too, emphasising what is fundamentally a vitalistic concept of health and well-being.

And it’s got experience too, probably as much as 3000 years worth! (Not just in China, but all over East Asia and now the world, meaning many millions of patient-experiences.)

Vitalism

Vitalism is often derided by Western medicine, which is reductionist. However, vitalism offers hope because it recognises the importance of the spirit in health, whether by spirit you mean when you recognise someone in ‘high’ or ‘low’ spirits, or you mean something more religious or even metaphysical. This comes down to the idea of ‘qi’, the energy of life.

With, at heart, the philosophy of yin and yang, and the five elements, and much else, Chinese medicine offers many ways for people to recover a positive attitude to health and happiness.

The Scottish College for Chinese medicine aims to provide, initially, short courses for the general public, on how understanding health from the Chinese medical perspective can provide benefit for life.

Introductory Courses for the Public

The following shows forthcoming courses.

PLEASE NOTE!! At present we do NOT offer training leading to a licence to practise acupuncture or Chinese herbal medicine. If this is what you need, we list below some of the British schools you should contact.

Forthcoming Courses (lecturer Jonathan Clogstoun-Willmott):

Saturday November 16th 2024: a morning (10-1) on Cupping and the acupuncture meridians. Learn this ancient skill for the good of your family. Find out more and book here!
Saturday December 14th 2024: a morning (10-1) on Nutrition and Using Food Energy for Health: a different way of understanding food and how to use it for health and to reduce symptoms of disease. Find out more and book here.
Saturday January 18th 2025: a morning (10-1) on the Soul of Chinese medicine – the Five Elements, the crucial cultural background to many East Asian systems of traditional healthcare. Find out more and book here.
Saturday February 22nd 2025: a morning (10-1) on the Chinese Medicine clock and the Zangfu energy organs . Find out more and book here.
Saturday March 22nd 2025: a morning (10-1) on the Meaning of Blood, a vital concept in Chinese medicine, often explaining insomnia, infertility, mental health problems and many forms of arthritis and skin problems. Find out more and book here.
4 Saturday mornings introducing Chinese medicine – 3 hours each at fortnightly intervals. We’ve had great reviews for this. We recorded a recent course and shall make parts of it available online. Check back here soon!