This talk will discuss fertility from the perspective of classical yangsheng, "nurturing life." Sabine will invite you to take a step back from the technical details of your clinical practice and contemplate critically how fertility-oriented practitioners of Chinese medicine can be of the greatest service in contemporary healthcare in the tradition of the Yellow Emperor and Sun Simiao. What can classical Chinese medicine contribute to modern fertility care? What are its strengths and weaknesses, limitations and potentials? How can we consciously, flexibly, and appropriately assist a broad spectrum of patients who suffer from the inability to pass on their ancestral lineage in our modern world? Warning: This talk is intended to raise more questions than provide answers.
Sabine has been studying classical Chinese writings on medicine ever since her PhD education in Asian Studies and medical Anthropology. With a strong academic background in early Chinese philosophy, science, cosmology, and language and therefore in a historically and culturally sensitive approach to classical Chinese medicine, she now enjoys studying and teaching Chinese medicine as a living, effective, ever-changing, and much needed response to the issues of our modern times. Some of her favorite topics are gynecology and reproduction, pediatrics, medical ethics, and “nurturing life,” as envisioned by the great medieval “King of Medicinals” Sun Simiao. Sabine is happiest when engaging in a dialogue with practitioners and students of Chinese medicine on how to bring this ancient wisdom to life in our modern times. Besides teaching at the School of Classical Chinese Medicine at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, and producing books on Chinese medicine through her publishing company, Happy Goat Productions, she is busy raising a daughter and varying numbers of dogs, chickens, goats, fruits, and vegetables.