Hi Andrew! I was wondering - given that you've trained in TCM, and also sounds like you have some Ayurveda training and then training with David Winston, will you at some point describe the process you use for assessing and determining formulas for your patients? Do you basically use a Chinese medicine approach - tongue, pulse, palpation of channels, abdomen, and questioning and then are you thinking in purely Chinese medicine terms, or are you using the system David teaches, or...? Just curious how you apply learnings from different systems and schools of thought into your clinical practice? If you're going to get into this at a later date, I can wait for that. Thank you!

Andrew said: Wow, this is a big question. I think that the Cliffs Notes version answer is that usually one system jumps out at me over the others during the discussion with the person in front of me. Often times it comes down to what system or treatment modality the person thinks will be most useful in their daily routine. For example, a mixed tincture is more convenient than a decoction so the person will select that. Some people will not consider “nasty tasting herbs” and will only take capsules. In that case I select supplement therapy and use my knowledge of energetics combined with herbal science. When I have a very difficult case, I will often make working diagnoses using TCM, Ayurveda, functional medicine, western herbal medicine, and allopathic medicine then look for the common thread among all of them! I really like to find where the systems intersect in a particular case. Or, if I try one treatment and it does not work, I will switch systems and use a treatment from one of the others.