We all find our own unique way into the practice of East Asian medicine.

It’s part luck, part dogged curiosity and persistence, and sometimes a bit of fate.

In this conversation with Holly Guzman, we wander through her circuitous route into the medicine—from knocking on the door of the Chinese embassy in Kabul, to hanging out at a bookstore in San Francisco, waiting to see who might pick up the one English book on acupuncture. Along the way she crossed paths with some remarkable teachers, witnessed extraordinary ways acupuncture was used in China, and learned lessons about herbs, storytelling, and clinical responsibility that shaped the practice she has today.

Listen into this discussion as we explore her early travels to China in the late 1970s, what it was like to practice before acupuncture was legal, and the powerful influence of teachers like Miriam Lee and Yat Kee Lai. Holly also reflects on herbal training that emphasized curiosity over categories, the role of storytelling in clinical work, and how imagination opens the door to new possibilities in medicine.

Holly reminds us that this medicine didn’t arrive fully formed—it grew through the curiosity, audacity, and persistence of practitioners who were willing to explore what was possible.

Sports medicine acupuncture is one of those phrases that sounds neat and tidy. But, what does it actually mean?.

In this conversation with Darren Maynard, dig into the complexity and methods that fall within the world of orthopedic and musculo-skeletal medicine. We explore what it means to be bilingual in clinic, and the value of being able to hold a Chinese medicine diagnosis and a Western ortho assessment in the same set of hands. We’ll discuss why “sports” doesn’t mean “athletes only,” how palpation is a key to effective treatment, and why training means more than a few weekend courses—especially when needle depth, safety, and confidence are on the line.

Listen in as we take a look at the turf-war issues of dry needling, and what it means to have acupuncture “integrated” into the larger medical care system. And how Chinese medicine principles allow for nuance that results in better clinical outcomes.

Some concepts in Chinese medicine don’t need more poetry. They need a hands-on palpable marker, and a willingness to admit, “I think I get it… and then the light changes and I can’t see it.” That’s the territory we’re in with the Ming Men—the so‑called Gate of Destiny, the fire that isn’t just heat, the thing we can discuss over the centuries and still not be sure about when meeting it again on Tuesday afternoon in clinic.

This panel conversation is an attempt to better understand the Ming Men. Not by flattening it into one definition, but by tracking it from different angles—textual, palpatory, alchemical, ecological—and seeing what stays consistent as the perspectives change.

Anne calls it an activation power that wants to move freely, so a person can occupy their whole existence without leaving corners uninhabited. Thomas brings it straight to the table: put your hand below the navel, check the relative coldness, watch what happens to breath, warmth, and the eyes when things begin to organize. Zev keeps widening the lens—ministerial fire as warmth and life, as clinical strategy, and as a reflection of the larger world we’re burning to keep ourselves comfortable.

This is delightfully open-ended conversation on the Ming Men, one that helps to guide our focus not by providing answers, but by exploring enlivening questions.