Quotes from The Gathering: Chicago 2012

Quotes from The Gathering: Chicago 2012

Every year the naturopathic student community holds a philosophical conference at one of the accredited naturopathic medical schools in North America. For three days, naturopathic medical students and “elders” – seasoned professionals in practice for about 20 years or more – gather together in an event called (fittingly) The Gathering to share philosophical insights about the art and practice of naturopathic medicine. I have personally attended twice: my first year, in 2011, it was held at our own Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM) in Toronto, Canada, and this year, in 2012, it was held at the National University of Health Sciences (NUHS) in Chicago, Illinois. Both times it hasn’t failed to be less than inspirational. Here are some golden nuggets of naturopathic insight from three amazing naturopathic doctors:

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7 Reasons Why Summer Studying Doesn’t Have to Suck

It occurred to me during a lazy, yet productive, day at the Toronto Reference Library, among stacks of deliciously old-smelling books – this ain’t so bad.  Although I’ve taken to whining about it in previous posts, summer studying doesn’t really have to be that terrible.  Here are 7 ways to find beauty in sacrificing some our best months of the year for the sake of education:

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Creating Aha! Moments in the Clinic

As a summer English as a Second Langauge (ESL) teacher I often attend teacher training workshops.  In a recent training session I attended, a grammar workshop, it was impressed upon us the importance of creating a learning environment in which we allow students to experience the language rule for themselves, rather than simply standing at the blackboard, teaching it to them.

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Another Failed Attempt at Studying for NPLEX 1

Yonge and Bloor, downtown Toronto, Canada at approximately 2:00 pm.  Thursday, June 21.  I finish teaching ESL for the day and enter the Toronto Reference Library, a $5 Starbucks strawberry banana whey protein smoothie in hand, sunglasses resting on the top of my head and my First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 tucked under my arm.  NPLEX 1 is in t-minus 45 days.  Here we go…

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I Got the NPLEX Blues…

I am decidedly an empiricist.  No, this doesn’t mean that as a child I used to hover over ant hills with a magnifying glass, observing uncanny details about ant anatomy or looking at leaves under a microscope.  Well, maybe like all children I did this, but that kind of thing doesn’t interest me anymore.  Sadly…

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Learning to Let Go: Why I Don’t Bother Memorizing the Actions Anymore

At CCNM we have an quarterly exam in Point Location, or acupuncture.  The exam consists of memorizing all of the points on two or more acupuncture channels (usually around 60-70 different points), along with the underlying anatomy, contraindications and the depth and angle at each point.  (more…)

“Eat Me”

In Alice’s world there was a pill to make you smaller and another to make you taller.  In the world we live, however, we have pills that cover us for virtually everything – even racism.  My pharmacology group recently presented an article on how blood pressure medication reduced racial prejudice by 66%. (An aside:  perhaps more people should be on this medication.)

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