I Know You Know: Integrating Traditional and Contemporary Healing Thinking and Application

Copyright © 2023 by Haisong Wang and Pryor Hollis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First Printing, 2023

I Know You Know

Integrating Traditional and Contemporary Healing Thinking and Application

Dr Haisong Wang and Pryor Hollis

The Healthy Influence Books

I Know You Know

To our ever-expansive, yet interconnected health community.

Our understanding of health and wellbeing stems from your willingness to share your unique perspectives and embrace new knowledge with an open mind. It is your motivation to heal and grow that inspires this book, and your trust in us and in yourselves is deeply humbling.

Thank you for taking this journey with us.

Contents

Introducing Dr Haisong Wang

Note on Production by Pryor Hollis

Purpose

Definitions

Structure of the Body

Structure and Our Control

Three Vertical Planes

Six Steps

Skin to Bone Levels

Posture and Body Language

Horizontal Layers of the Face and Head

Interaction Between the Face and Abdomen

Mind Connection with the Physical

Mind, Thought, and Movement

One Mechanism: Mind, Body, and Breath

Shapes

Conceptual Spheres

Body, Mind, and Spirituality

Visibility of Emotions

Projecting to the Environment

Within Our Environment

Time and Space

The Universe and Flow

Scent in the Environment

Sustainable Healing

Sustainability

Practitioner and Patient

Balance of the Elements

Levels of Healing

Two Cycles of Five Elements

Aspects Influencing General Health

Energy

Types of Pain

Openness, Closedness, and Transition

Perception of Energy

Literature and Energy

Yin and Yang in Body Positions

Language, Communication, and Understanding

Balancing Qi and Blood Circulation

Real-Life Applications

Overview

Birth to Early Childhood

Primary School

Middle and High School

University and Start of Work

Post-Graduation and Immersion in the Work Force

Major Adult Life

Retired Life

About The Authors

Introducing Dr Haisong Wang

My Chinese medicine journey dates back through generations of my family and heritage. My wife is also a Chinese medicine practitioner, as well as my father-in-law, mother, brother, and sister-in-law. We often work together, always learning from each other, and building on our shared generational knowledge. My journey is a collective journey.

The philosophies of Chinese medicine were surrounding me, from the very beginning, and formed a foundation of appreciation for and curiosity of Chinese medicine. Though it seemed natural for me to be drawn into the path of Chinese medicine, it was also my own passion that guided me towards this journey. I love to learn. For me, learning is not just necessary to put new knowledge into practice. It is an avenue of connection and appreciation for the world around us. My curiosity and interest in various topics inspire me to seek out answers, and in turn, the answers I find yield further questions. Learning is a journey, an attitude, and a way through which I can connect with the world.

Beyond this, I am also fascinated by different levels and ways of thinking and perceiving. Chinese medicine involves a wide- ranging level of thought, connecting ancient healing techniques and ideology with modern-day contexts. Today more than ever, the integration of Chinese medicine and mainstream modern medicine introduces yet another level of thought within this already expansive layer of healing.

I started my career in medicine, working in an emergency department in China. Making life-or-death decisions and collaborating with others was a major part of my daily routine. I learned to assess the facts of situations and select the best path of care for patients within short amounts of time, knowing that there could be immediate life-changing consequences. This experience taught me to think and act logically, and embedded within me a new level of understanding of the value of human life, and how swiftly our health can take an unexpected turn. Though my work primarily took place during the most critical times of a patient’s life, there were still moments in which I would care for patients before and after their treatment in the emergency department. I started to see a more holistic way of caring and healing, that stretched across lives far beyond the most urgent moments.

Upon moving to Canberra, Australia, around twenty five years ago, I faced a new language, a new environment, and a new job. Additionally, having to work independently as a Chinese medicine practitioner meant I had more limited resources than I had in China – I had to be resilient and adaptive.

At the time, the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) was looking to expand their teaching opportunities in Chinese medicine and connected with the hospital where I was working. I was given the opportunity to start as a teacher for Technical and Further Education (TAFE) courses in Chinese medicine at the CIT. Not only was the course fast-paced and highly practical, but it also required me to teach in English for the first time. I quickly developed strategies to simultaneously learn and apply the English language. As part of the course, I also regularly took CIT students back to China to practice their skills in Chinese medicine. The ten years I spent teaching flew by.

In the year 2000, my brother and I also opened our own practising clinic with the support of our family. We shared the same vision of progressing the Chinese medicine and holistic healthcare community in Australia. Through networking in the local community, we also collaborated with a group of health professionals with similar goals and values, including physiotherapists, psychologists, dentists, massage therapists, and other Chinese medicine experts and enthusiasts. To this day, we continue to learn from each other and share our strengths in different areas of expertise. Our different ways of thinking and different approaches to providing healthcare create an enriched system of learning, collaborating, innovating, and sharing of culture.

As I was teaching and beginning a new business, my days were mostly filled with one-on-one consultations. I would hear about the desire of many individuals to be more involved in their own healing and that of their loved ones. Their initiative and motivation to have more control over their own health fueled a greater sense of compassion and sympathy in me. I experienced a change in my approach to healing, as I put less emphasis on highly logical and efficiency-based thinking, to a more holistic, nurturing, and caring perspective. I was able to form more meaningful, trusting connections with my clients, which allowed me to provide more support for holistic long-term healing. Additionally, transitioning quickly between speaking Chinese and English, and between different collaborative working styles, became natural.

I also expanded my focus to methods of healing that were still driven by Chinese medicine ideology, but took place outside the clinic and targeted wellbeing in terms of quality of life. I wanted to support those in the community who expressed their initiative to be more involved in their own health and healing. So, I started teaching tai chi classes, and providing additional support and guidance in breathing, meditation, and qi gong techniques, which were based on yin-yang theories of balance. These methods were ones that can be used by anyone at any time, and I saw that Chinese medicine could help not only with treating illness as it arises, but with illness prevention, and with the holistic improvement of one’s quality of life.

During my career, I have found that being exposed to many new ways of thinking, approaches to healthcare, and technology, has guided my constant learning. To compile some of these influences and ideas, I created my own personal website, sharing my own philosophies and values. My days are now a combination of discussing new concepts with my colleagues and peers, teaching and practising tai chi and qi gong, reading about and researching new ideas, appreciating art and talent that my clients share with me, and