Institute for the Study of Vital Currents in Ancient Medicine
Certificate of Chinese Medicine Psychiatry
24 Month Clinical Immersion - Online with In-Person Retreat
Starting on April 17, 2025
Classical Source-Based Training in Chinese Medicine Psychiatry.
Transform lives with the power of ancient and vital currents.
Discover the power of Classical Source-Based Medicine to transform your patient’s lives and restore your passion for Chinese Medicine.
OVERVIEW
Teacher, Scholar, and Practitioner Brandt Stickley invites you to explore the fruit of over 25 years of dedication to furthering and developing the work of his mentor, Dr. Leon Hammer. Hammer understood Chinese medicine to be the realization of a humane, compassionate, non-pathologizing, and effective psychosomatic medicine that completes and expresses the potential sought by many western models. Strongly versed in this model and having taught the material at Dr. Hammer’s request, and in his presence for decades, Brandt has developed the work by grounding the concepts in the Classical literature, and delving deeper into the study of the emergent models that inform and develop Hammer’s work. What emerges is a Source-based Classical education that establishes a framework for a deep and nuanced dialogue between ancient and modern currents in the realm of cognitive, behavioral, mental, and spiritual experience. The work is as grounded in understanding the nervous system as it is perceiving the Yang of the Fire Spirit, and navigates the non-linear watersheds of Chinese medicine theory as the basis for a non-pathologizing approach to mental health.
Drawing on decades of award-winning teaching experience at the highest academic levels in Chinese medicine, Brandt is offering a 24-month long course that begins from the basics of Nei Jing physiology, through the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue, classical models of the disorders of mind and emotion, and historical models of extreme mental and spiritual states. The goal of this course is to present the entire system that has evolved through a commitment to the work of Dr. Hammer alongside an intense focus on restoring the power of classical roots that are implicit within the lineage handed down from Dr. John Shen. This passion to find the most efficacious treatments to alleviate the suffering of others, and to be of the greatest service led to the intense study of the classical texts and traditions, and their derivatives, such as the models of the Fire Spirit School, and Qi Dynamic theory. This course will take the student from the rudiments of those models up to the highest level of understanding and practice. Students will be mentored in:
Developing heightened skill in direct perception
Increased fluency with technical skills of pulse-taking, needling, and formula combination.
Learning how to read and interpret texts with both rigor and symbolic richness simultaneously
Incorporating an alive, embodied, exquisitely sensitive spiritual model through practice(s).
Taiyang Life: finding the wellsprings of creativity and internal fullness that allow for the realization of a truly resourced, dynamic resilience (ying/wei) and self expression no matter what challenges arise.
Discovering the freedom within that makes one a must-see practitioner and having the confidence and knowledge to deliver life-changing treatments.
PILLARS OF CERTIFICATION
1. Source-Based
The fundamental sources of Chinese medicine are the Classical texts of the Su Wen, Ling Shu, Nan Jing, Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue. Through close reading of the texts, associated commentaries, and directed readings we gain access to a robust and powerful healing model that is remarkably and presciently suited to the times in which we live. Direct attention to historical textual sources reveals insight that restores the potency of Chinese medicine to address the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of health. A source based approach neither relies upon a reductionistic model, nor a mystification of the vital currents of ancient medicine. We strive to develop the tools to understand medicine based upon the model presented in the texts themselves.
2. Physio-Semiotics
Chinese medicine is based on the understanding of number, symbol, and pattern. Classical Chinese Medicine recognizes the power of symbolic understanding to make sense of the unseen aspects of our experience. In both health and disease, the body expresses itself through symbolic expressions and meaningful patterns. It is possible to become so fluent in the symbolic expression native to Chinese medicine that we become capable of reading the language of awareness directly, and we see the body as an expression of awareness. This transforms one’s understanding of diagnosis, channels, points, and herbal formulas in a way that empowers clinical efficacy to initiate profound transformation and alleviate suffering.
3. Imaginal
Building upon the symbolic language, students will explore embodied direct perception; spirit-based, imaginal, and experiential. Practices intended to empower engagement with the unseen are interwoven through the whole curriculum. The repetitive, regular practice of these methods will generate a grounded rhythm that allows us to realize Dr. Shen’ s recognition that “Chinese medicine is in the life” even as we come to know experientially how the subtle governs the dense, how spirit directs emotion, and how emotion affects experience, and how all of this can be known as rhythm, movement, and sensation. Working in this way enhances the awe and wonder of clinical practice every day.
4. Integral
We strive to understand the constant creative evolution of awareness, and to align ourselves fully with that. One soon recognizes an evolutionary process at play in the world, and that the underlying dynamic of that development is the same model that forms the basis of the entire holistic and ecological vision of the body and the world in Chinese medicine. I aim to make this a visceral and sensory experience in teaching and practice. Assigned readings, and discussions work with a wide array of textual sources from ancient to modern. This course creates a framework to work with this material directly and guidance to explore their resonance with vital currents of ancient East Asian medicine.
5. Rewilding Chinese Medicine
Participants will be invited to explore the natural world and her patterns, and will explore the specifics of the Six Conformations to engage with nature and natural forces in new and dynamic ways. A shift in focus connects one to the animacy of nature and reawakens the power of relationship to place. Together we will explore methodologies of listening to the land, just as we listen to the pulse, and the body, and understanding the role of the more-than-human terrain that is the true model for Chinese medicine. This frames a discussion leading to a unique categorization of Pacific Northwest medicinals according to Fu Xing Jue flavor and function dynamics.
6. Transformation and Flow
The circular dynamics that connect us to the land, the earth, and the cosmos are the same processes of flow that express themselves in our bodies. The ceaseless flow of time and transformation are intersecting with our physiology in both health and illness, and the wonder is that our apprehension and participation in these patterns form the basis of our mind, body, and spirit, which create the medicine we practice, and form its outline. Together we will practice immersing ourselves in these dynamics- through guided meditations, visualizations, and paratheatrical exercises- and discover flow that leads to meaningful change.
7. Animism: the View
In Chinese medicine, I understand a quality of movement and inquiry that sees all health and well-being in relationship with the natural and spiritual dimensions of the world, and sees human beings as participating in this great mystery internally and externally since time immemorial. The root of Chinese medicine is relational ontology. "To elaborate: life in the animic ontology is not an emanation but a generation of being, in a world that is not pre-ordained but incipient, forever on the verge of the actual" (Ingold, 2006). This is not to be studied, or taught. It is to be experienced, tasted, felt, and known. And shared, which is what we will do.
LEARNING STRUCTURE
Regulary scheduled two hour live zoom sessions with Brandt and other guest speakers on Thursdays at 5-7pm Pacific Time.
Recordings will be available for those who cannot attend live.
Course content hosted on a dedicated Thinkific site.
Facebook Group for Course Participants.
Ongoing questions and practice suggestions for students to explore on their own time.
Discussion and reflection in smaller groups.
Guest lectures: Heiner Fruehauf, Z’ev Rosenberg, Sabine Wilms, Josh Paynter, John Anderson, Sascha Altman Dubrul, Fleur Inanna, Douglas Wingate, Leo Lok and more!
Meditative practice, nature observation, and embodiment exercises to be done on the student’s own time.
Ongoing access to all course materials.
An In-person immersion in Oregon at no extra course costs. Travel and Accommodations are not included. Offered during the second year: dates and location to be announced.
Requirements to complete a Certification in Chinese Medicine Psychiatry
Complete theory paper in year one
Complete case study in year two
Attend both pulse and acupuncture in-person immersions
Completion of all course assignments
Continuing Educations for Live and Distance learning will be available according to NCCAOM and California Requirements
IN PERSON IMMERSION
Participants are invited to attend a four-day in person immersion in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. In this beautiful setting, we will devote ourselves to hands on practice of the Shen-Hammer pulse, acupuncture and experiential inquiry.
Airfare and accommodation are not included. Lunch provided on immersion days.
August of 2026, exact dates and location to be announced.
CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
Courses included in the Certificate:
Myth, Magic, and Imaginal Inquiry
This course marks the first steps in opening the mind to the non-linear consciousness that is the foundation of Chinese medicine by training our senses to perceive in a more holistic and imaginative manner. Participants discover their own best means of perceiving patterns and imaginal worlds, and gain fluency in seeing and feeling basic aspects of the 5 Phases and 6 Conformations in the world around them. Experiential practices, writing, and art bring the practices to life. Guest Speakers will also expand our inquiry.
Physiology and Organs from the Classics
In this 6 week course participants read and reflect directly on a number of passages about each Zang Organ from the Su Wen and Ling Shu. Lecture focuses on connecting, explaining, and contrasting the Classical perspective to more modern Zang Fu Patterns. The work reveals a process-oriented and fluid dynamic that heightens one’s understanding of physiology and often yields surprising insights.
SHL Qi Dynamics
Building upon the understanding of Organ function, the dynamics of Open-Close-Pivot and Branch-Root-Center Qi are introduced as the basis for seeing the Yin Yang Dynamics of the Six Conformations. The foundation established through this introduction sets the stage for the Psychology of Classical Chinese medicine, and explains how the interpretation of Qi dynamics informs a hermeneutic that is both grounded and freeing but always directly derived from close reading of the source text. The cosmic and conscious aliveness of the texts is revealed, and felt.
Shen-Hammer Psychology
The root of the work centers Dr. Hammer’s Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies model of Chinese medical Psychiatry, revealing a powerful and evolving system that Brandt enlivens and explores through a non-pathologizing, somatic, trauma-informed, antipsychiatry/mad studies, consciousness studies, and spiritual lens. This series also elaborates the classical formulas that treat each of the patterns in Hammer’s model: including anxiety, depression, psychosis, and interpersonal relationships.
Chinese Medicine Psychiatry from the Classics
Another core series explores the psychiatric patterns directly from the lines of the SHL and Jin Gui, and the associated formulas as well as close readings of the most relevant chapters form the Su Wen and Ling Shu related to mental health, including Five Spirits, Seven Emotions, and other patterns. Each line is interpreted directly and word-by-word to inform our understanding.
Jailbreaking the DSM-
With all of the prior material assimilated, it is possible to deconstruct the principal authority for psychiatric diagnoses- not by breaking the disorders into zang fu patterns, but instead beginning to see the dynamics of formulas directly in the signs and symptoms of the text. This is a groundbreaking effort that positions Classical Chinese medicine at the forefront of mental health, and allows the practitioner to speak the language of the normative model while jailbreaking the material, and building the allyship of CM with the Mad Studies movement.
Pulse Studies- Shen Hammer Pulse in Jingfang Perspective
A unique perspective connecting the Shen-Hammer Pulse system to the formulas of the SHZBL. A complete transmission of the Shen-Hammer pulse elaborated in classical terms based upon gesture and Yin Yang dynamics.
Embodied Acupuncture
This 12-class Acupuncture series uses the concept of Gesture to explore acupuncture, and connect the Shen-Hammer pulse to classical models of Nei jing and Nan Jing categories, Master Tung Acupuncture, and Sa’am. The focus is on crafting elegant and powerful synaesthetic acupuncture treatments, and visionary needling through the synergistic relationship between channels, principles of point combination, and needle manipulation guided by the somatic experience of time, space, rhythm, direction, gesture, and physio-semiotic insight. All of the coursework is integrated with Shen-Hammer pulse.
Eight Extraordinary Vessels
Presenting the Eight Extras from a rigorously source-based method but transparently enlivened through the animist lens and deep reflection on the transmission that shines through the nuanced language of the classical references. This also presents a pulse model for working with chrono-acupuncture, signs and symptoms, and pulse findings for the selection of Eight Extraordinary Vessel treatments.
Integrating Master Tung and Sa’am
As a system, Master Tung Acupuncture shares a number of aspects in common with the Shen-Hammer pulse system. Both in terms of viewpoint and historical transmission. Master Tung Acupuncture is also very similar to the use of Shang Han Lun formulas, and the sophisticated principles of combining formulas to generate uniquely individualized treatments. Likewise, the principles of Five Phase and Six Conformations that form the basis of Sa’am are also congenial therapeutic partners. Brandt shares his experience working with these systems in the context of Shen-Hammer pulse diagnosis and Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies patterns, integrating these two powerful systems into the fold.
Pulse-Diagnosis-Treatment Process
The culmination of the series is the integration of all of the categories of diagnosis at play in the system: pulse qualities are described in terms of sensation and interpretation, and then linked to the classical concepts, Dragon Rises Red Bird Flies Diagnosis, Dr. Shen’s unique patterns as transmitted by Dr. Hammer, and then the points, single herbs, and formulas associated with Shen-Hammer pulse diagnosis.
Therapeutic Relationship
Based upon Dr. Hammer’s book The Patient-Practitioner Relationship in Acupuncture, this course elaborates the core principles in the work of Dr. Hammer as they are lived and practiced in the therapeutic encounter, and further extends the work into relational frameworks, and classical concepts.
In-Person Immersion
We will gather to put all of the material together through hands-on practice in community, grounding the learning in experience. This includes extensive hands on pulse training.
Guest Speakers:
Heiner Fruehauf, Z’ev Rosenberg, Sabine Wilms, Josh Paynter, John Anderson, Sascha Altman Dubrul, Fleur Chetwynd and others!
Also in the Curriculum:
Integrating Shang Han Lun and Shen-Hammer Pulse
Integrating Dr. Leon Hammer’s Dragon Rises and Flies with Shen-Hammer Pulse and Acupuncture, including Saam
Integrating Saam and Shen-Hammer Pulse
Integrating Indicative Trauma Impact and Chinese Medicine
Guest Lecture on intersection of Chinese Medicine and Somatics
Shen-Hammer Pulse and Classical Pearls
Mad Studies and Chinese Medicine
Exploring comparative literature and Chinese Medicine Concepts
CALENDAR
(Best Viewed on Personal Computer, not mobile )
Date Description Class Content
APRIL 2025
3rd Week of the Month Zoom with Brandt Ritual Opening Beginnings
4th Week of the Month. Zoom with Brandt Magic, Myth and Inquiry Class One
MAY 2025
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Guest Speaker TBA
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Zang Organs from the Classics Heart
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Zang Organs from the Classics Lung
4th Week of Month. No Class No Class No Class
JUNE 2025
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Zang Organs from the Classics Liver
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Zang Organs from the Classics Spleen/Stomach
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Zang Organs from the Classics Kidney
4th Week of Month. No Class No Class No Class
JULY 2025
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Magic, Myth, and Inquiry Class Three
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt SHL Qi Dynamics Intro Biao-Ben-Zhong Qi
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt SHL Qi Dynamics Kai - He-Shu
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt SHL Qi Dynamics Taiyang
AUGUST 2025
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt SHL Qi Dynamics Yangming
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt SHL Qi Dynamics Shaoyang and Taiyin
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt SHL Qi Dynamics Shaoyin and Jueyin
4th Week of Month. No Class No Class No Class
SEPTEMBER 2025
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Magic, Myth and Inquiry Class Four
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Psychology Introduction, Part 1
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Psychology Introduction, Part 2
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Psychology Water, Part 1
OCTOBER 2025
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Psychology Water, Part 2
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Psychology Wood, Part 1
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Psychology Wood, Part 2
4th Week of Month. No Class No Class No Class
NOVEMBER 2025
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Psychology Fire, Part 1
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Psychology Fire, Part 2
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Psychology Earth
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Psychology Metal
DECEMBER 2026
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Psychology Anxiety/Depression
2nd Week of Month No Class No Class No Class
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Magic, Myth and Inquiry Class 5
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt Chinese Medicine from the Classics Classical Patterns, Part 1
JANUARY 2026
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Chinese Medicine from the Classics Classical Patterns, Part 2
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Chinese Medicine from the Classics Classical Patterns, Part 3
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Chinese Medicine from the Classics Classical Patterns, Part 4
4th Week of Month. No Class No Class No Class
FEBURARY 2026
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Chinese Medicine from the Classics Classical Patterns, Part 5
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Chinese Medicine from the Classics Classical Patterns, Part 6
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Chinese Medicine from the Classics Classical Patterns, Part 7
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt Chinese Medicine from the Classics Classical Patterns, Part 8
MARCH 2026
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Chinese Medicine from the Classics Classical Patterns, Part 9
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Chinese Medicine from the Classics Five Spirits, Five Emotions
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Chinese Medicine from the Classics Seven Emotions
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt Chinese Medicine from the Classics Ling Shu Chapter 8
APRIL 2026
1st Week of Month No Class No Class No Class
2nd Week of Month No Class No Class No Class
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Magic, Myth and Inquiry Class 6
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt Jailbreaking the DSM Class 1
MAY 2026
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Jailbreaking the DSM Class 2
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Jailbreaking the DSM Class 3
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Jailbreaking the DSM Class 4
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt Jailbreaking the DSM Class 5
JUNE 2026
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Jailbreaking the DSM Class 6
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Jailbreaking the DSM Class 7
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Jailbreaking the DSM Class 8
4th Week of Month. No Class No Class No Class
JULY 2026
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Magic, Myth and Inquiry Class 7
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Pulse in JingFang Class 1
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Pulse in JingFang Class 2
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Pulse in JingFang Class 3
AUGUST 2026
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Pulse in JingFang Class 4
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Pulse in JingFang Class 5
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Shen-Hammer Pulse in JingFang Class 6
4th Week of Month. In Person Immersion Immersion Immersion
SEPTEMBER 2026
1st Week of Month In Person Immersion Immersion Immersion
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Myth, Magic, and Inquiry Class 8
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Embodied Acupuncture Gesture (Emotion as Direction), part 1
4th Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Embodied Acupuncture Gesture (Emotion as Direction), part 2
OCTOBER 2026
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Embodied Acupuncture Introduction to Point Categories
2nd Week of Month No Class No Class No Class
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Embodied Acupuncture Shu Points
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt Embodied Acupuncture Xi- Cleft, Yuan, Lou
NOVEMBER 2026
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Embodied Acupuncture Bie Collaterals and Influential Points
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Embodied Acupuncture 12 Channels and Su Wen 10
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Embodied Acupuncture SHL and 4 Seas
4th Week of Month. No Class No Class No Class
DECEMBER 2026
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Myth, Magic, Inquiry Class 9
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Eight Extraordinary Vessels Introduction
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Eight Extraordinary Vessels Du and Ren
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt Eight Extraordinary Vessels Chong Mai
JANUARY 2027
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Eight Extraordinary Vessels Dai Mai
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Eight Extraordinary Vessels Yin Wei and Yang Wei
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Eight Extraordinary Vessels Yin Qiao and Yang Qiao
4th Week of Month. No Class No Class No Class
FEBRUARY 2027
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Myth, Magic, Inquiry Class 10
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Integrating Master Tung Introduction
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Integrating Master Tung Major Points
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Josh Integrating Saam Introduction
MARCH 2027
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Integrating Saam Channels and Patterns, Part 1
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Integrating Saam Channels and Patterns, Part 2
3rd Week of Month No Class No Class No Class
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt Powerful Elegant Treatments Pulse to Diagnosis to Treatment, Part 1
APRIL 2027
1st Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Powerful Elegant Treatments Pulse to Diagnosis to Treatment, Part 2
2nd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Powerful Elegant Treatments Pulse to Diagnosis to Treatment, Part 3
3rd Week of Month Zoom with Brandt Powerful Elegant Treatments Pulse to Diagnosis to Treatment, Part 4
4th Week of Month. Zoom with Brandt Therapeutic Relationship The Container
CLOSING CEREMONY
TBA Zoom with Brandt Graduation and Certification Departure
***This is just a sample schedule. Actual class dates will vary. An updated calendar will be provided upon purchase***
COSTS
This offering is a product of over 25 years of intensive study of Chinese Medicine, Psychiatry, Consciousness, and Myth. I want to keep this offering as affordable as possible while not undervaluing myself and the amount of work that goes into creating a course like this.
The cost for this 24 month immersive course is:
$10,000
Payment Plan Options:
Option One: Full Price at $10,000
Option Two: 12 monthly payments of $850 per month, this includes a $200 administrative fee.
Option Three: 24 monthly payments of $440 per month, this includes a $560 administrative fee.
Discounts will be given to the Heartdrops on my Patreon. To be announced in Patreon.
If you have any questions regarding payment plans, please email admin@brandtstickley.com
ONLINE DISTANCE EDUCATION
Two year certificate training
84 two–hour live study lectures
Content includes 12 full post-graduate level courses
Time created for experiential learning and reflection
In-depth interactions with colleagues and teachers in class discussion forums
Post Certificate access to Heartdrops Discord Group
166 PDA/CEU credits (NCCAOM®)
IN-PERSON IMMERSION
Hand-on clinical skills are taught in four day in-person clinical intensives:
Two days of Shen-Hammer pulse training
Two days of Acupuncture and Experiential Inquiry
Group learning in a natural setting
28 PDA/CEU (NCCAOM®) credits
BIO
Brandt Stickley is an Associate Professor in the College of Classical Chinese Medicine, National University of Natural Medicine, and a Visiting Professor at Dragon Rises College of Oriental Medicine, Pacific Rim College, Five Branches University, Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences, Yo San University and Maryland University of Integrative Health. As a Senior Instructor and Board member of Dragon Rises Seminars he teaches Shen-Hammer Pulse Diagnosis. Brandt is a graduate of Cornell University and the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He worked closely with Dr. Leon Hammer for over 25 years, and is considered an authority on the model of Chinese medical psychiatry developed by Dr. Hammer. In furthering his mentor’s legacy, he has relentlessly pursued a synthesis of Classical Han and Tang Dynasty herbal medicine and acupuncture, Chinese magical medicine, philosophy and religion, with concepts of psychosomatic medicine, body-oriented psychology, neuro-phenomenology, process-oriented philosophy, imaginal, integral, and consciousness studies. He brings all of these disciplines to play in striving to intend the impossible as a clinician, teacher, writer and speaker.
Joshua Park - Instructor and Course Moderator
Joshua Park is a Chinese Medicine physician who has studied with Brandt for over a decade, beginning at the National University of Natural Medicine where he received his doctorate in Classical Chinese Medicine. Brandt’s mentorship has been a constant source of illumination and inspiration for him, both in clinical practice and in his ongoing engagement with foundational medical classics. Dr. Park has worked as an acupuncture physician at the Memorial Healthcare System’s Division of Integrative Medicine in Florida, where he specialized in oncology and other complex cases. He has taught Korean Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine at Wongu University of Oriental Medicine, topic areas he has also discussed on the Qiological podcast. His private practice is in Southern California.
“Wherever there is life there is movement. Not all movement, however,
betokens life. The movement of life is specifically of becoming rather than
being, of renewal along a path rather than displacement in space. Every
creature, as it ‘issues forth’ and trails behind, moves in its characteristic way.
The sun is alive because of the way it moves through the firmament, but so
too are the trees because of the particular ways their boughs sway or their
leaves flutter in the wind, and because of the sounds they make in doing
so.”
-Timothy Ingold, ethnos, vol. 71:1, march 2006 (pp. 9–20), excerpted from my "Acupuncture Lecture- Eight Extraordinary Vessels section.
All of my content, augmented with readings such as this, are interpretations directly from source texts (Su wen, Ling Shu, Nan Jing) and of course the readings are also freely shared, and well-cited. My point is that it is possible to think freely while still being rigorous. I think it is also important to note that I do strongly ground my thought in lived animist experience. I find context-rich relational ontology vitally present in the texts themselves. I believe that the texts are alive, and thus I am not made anxious by redaction or history, nor do I claim a long unbroken lineage of such thought. I am wary of supposed archaic traditions that yet betray a subtle non-animist dualism, while the most alive traditions have conserved the animacy in the vibrant language of poetry. I can show you how passages from a text as dead and constricted as the DSM V can be liberated through contact with lines from the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue. I can share the architecture of formulas that match the lived experience of extreme states, directly, with no pathologizing or even pattern diagnosis but straight, clear, direct expressions of lived experience, recorded and conserved through centuries, and more freely available today than ever before, around the entire world. I can also show you how those formulas or their derivatives (insofar as the Fu Xing Jue does not pre-date the SHL, for example- and also is the fruit of a living lineage) can be reterritorialzed as bioregion-specific wildcraft. These are just a few thoughts that arose as I searched for a particular slide, much as one might shuffle a deck of the Marseille Tarot. - Brandt Stickley
The Small Print
For the Institute for the Study of Vital Currents in Ancient Medicine (Vital Currents)
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There are three payment options for the clinical integration. Please read outline terms for each payment option and choose which you will commit to:
Option One: Full Price at $10,000
Option Two: 12 monthly payments of $850 per month, plus a $200 administrative fee.
Option Three: 24 monthly payments of $440 per month, plus a $560 administrative fee.
If the student has not completed their payments by the end of live classes, we will close their access to the student portal until payment is complete. Students will receive certificates once tuition is paid in full.
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Option 1 Payment Method: A full refund will be granted within 30 days of the course start minus a $750 refund fee.
Option 2 and 3: If monthly payment plans are discontinued course access is revoked immediately.
If a student stops the payment before completion (such as a leave of absence or drop-out), the account access is removed. If the payment is stopped, then it will need to be restarted from the beginning of the next course. If finances are an issue, a personalized payment plan is possible to support dedicated students.
If the course is paid in full and the student takes a leave of absence or drop-out, the student will keep all access.
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The above fees include access to online content, live classes, an active Facebook group and a theory paper and case study. Students are responsible to stay on schedule and finish the program within the 24 month time period. For those that can’t finish the course on time, there is an additional $300 fee to join the next live cohort.
Completion:
Students that successfully complete the course are invited to the Heartdrops Discord.
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Access to and use of Vital Currents websites and systems are governed by the Terms and Conditions set forth below, as well as any applicable laws, statutes, ordinances and regulations. By accessing these website and systems, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.
Copyright
All aspects of Vital Currents websites, systems, and materials, including text, images, audio, video and downloadable materials are the intellectual property of Brandt Stickley, and cannot be copied, duplicated, displayed, distributed, shared, forwarded, transmitted or conveyed in any form or by any means without the express written permission of the copyright holders.
Vital Currents authorizes you to access these websites, systems and materials using your personal computer, and to save and/or print materials for the sole purpose of facilitating your own personal, non-commercial use of the information. You may not sell, rent, lease, loan, sublicense, modify, create derivitave works, republish, or otherwise use the content and materials in any way for any private or public, for-profit or non-profit purpose, without the express written permission of Vital Currents.
My hope is that you use the materials for your own education and growth, while honoring the over 25 years I have spent developing and furthering this work.
Privacy
To access Vital Currents website and systems, you will have an account with your own username and password. You agree to maintain the confidentiality of your username and password and to be responsible for all activities that occur under your account. You agree to notify Vital Currents of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. Vital Currents shall not be responsible or liable in any way for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with these requirements.
Consent
Online video meetings are recording for later viewing, as well as online questions and answers stored for future student use. To allow Vital Currents the use of the material, you agree that by participating in Vital Curents online courses and accessing these websites and systems, you agree that online discussions, including but not limited to comments, questions, suggestions or feedback will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary and will become the property of Vital Currents. You also consent to the audio, video and text recording of your voice, and likeness, and agree that these recording will become the property of Vital Currents. You grant Vital Currents a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free right to display, reproduce, modify, publish, broadcast, edit, and distribute such information and recordings, in whole or in part, in any form, media or technology.
Payment Plans
Vital Currents offers various tuition payment options and may consider requests for flexible payment arrangements, but reserves the right to decide such requests on a case-by-case basis. Setting up a recurring payment plan is a concession offered at our discretion as an alternative to paying all fees in advance. The recurring payment plan allows students to pay (or arrange payment) for tuition installments. This agreement is not refundable or cancellable. In the case of any inability to make payments, then it is your responsibility to notify us in advance to make acceptable payment arrangements for payment.
Indeminifcaiton
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Brandt Stickley, Vital Currents, its related organizations, officers, affiliates, employees, representatives, and agents from and against any suit, action, liability, or proceeding in connection with any third party claim and/or complaint to which we may be exposed. You agree in this regard to accept exclusive liability for any sums, damages, costs, lawyers’ fees or court costs for which we may be held liable arising from your violation of these Terms and Agreements.
Commitment
After all of this legal language, in taking this course you are making a commitment to learn from Brandt Stickley and Institute for the Study of Vital Currents in Ancient Medicine for the benefit of yourself and all beings, and to use this knowledge ethically, to promote healing and happiness for all…
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Continuing Education Credits for Live and Online will be available for NCCAOM and California. More information soon.
Please check P.22, item #1 of the NCCAOM recertification handbook to verify that these CEU are accepted for the purposes of recertification by the NCCAOM. Please check with your individual state board to ascertain if they will accept CA approved CEU for your state recertification.
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Is this a course in counseling?
No, it is not. This is a robust psychosomatic system that centers the non-duality of body-mind. As such, it is not the modern western approach to mental health through counseling. The focus here is on the use of source-based Chinese Medicine to treat modern mental conditions in a transformative and non-pathologizing mental wellness paradigm.
