The Apricot Grove
Lectures & Publications
Deepen your study of the Neijing and Classical Chinese medicine
Explore our curated collection of lectures, articles, and publications that illuminate the foundational principles of Neijing Nature-Based Medicine. These resources offer valuable insights for both seasoned practitioners and dedicated students, supporting deeper understanding and continued inquiry into Neijing-based healing traditions.
Sample Lectures from Our Online Classroom
From the 2024/26 Mentorship Training Program
Study Topic #12
Architecture of the Human Body (excerpt)
Study Topic #13
Rivers and Watersheds (excerpt)
Study Topic #14
Suwen Chapter 1 Text Reading (excerpt)
Study Topic #25
Seeing with the Artist’s Eye (excerpt)
FEATURED SERIES
The Theory and Practice of Neijing Nature-Based Medicine
Introduction to Neijing Classical Acupuncture Part I: History and Basic Principles
ARTICLE
First published in Journal of Chinese Medicine
Number 100 (October 2012)
Classical Chinese medical texts represent the foundation for all traditional Chinese medical theories and practices. Written over two thousand years ago, these documents set forth and define the basic principles of Chinese medicine and the clinical practice of acupuncture. They represent a critical and comprehensive resource for the modern practitioner. Despite their importance, the fundamental principles contained within these texts remain poorly understood and rarely used in modern clinical practice.
Introduction to Neijing Classical Acupuncture Part II: Clinical Theory
ARTICLE
First published in Journal of Chinese Medicine
Number 102 (June 2013)
As outlined in Part I of this article, the theories and practices of Neijing classical acupuncture are radically different from the type of acupuncture commonly practised today. In essence, Neijing classical acupuncture is a form of clinical surgery, the goal of which is to restore the body’s circulatory pathways and tissue planes to a state of dynamic balance. In its clinical application, Neijing classical acupuncture is a physician-level skill built upon a sophisticated understanding of the innate patterns of nature and an in-depth knowledge of the structure and physiology of the human body.
Introduction to Neijing Classical Acupuncture Part III: Clinical Therapeutics
ARTICLE
First published in Journal of Chinese Medicine
Number 104 (February 2014)
Chinese medicine currently stands at a critical crossroad in its development, and today exists at a significant distance from the ideas that gave birth to its practice. Shared concepts and terms resonate through classical texts and modern theories, and yet - especially in the West - there exists a significant divide between what was originally envisioned and what is currently practised and taught. This poses significant challenges for the profession.
Sunday Talks Lecture Series
The Sunday Classes are a series of free public discussions on a variety of subjects based on Neijing classical medicine theory, presented by Dr. Edward Neal, MD.
Events
Symposiums, lectures, workshops, and conferences with Dr. Neal
Dr. Neal regularly lectures to AMA physicians, acupuncturists, scientists, has worked with the World Health Organization, and numerous other organizations, universities, and institutes.
To host Dr. Neal for a speaking engagement, please contact us.
General Articles and Videos
Reflections on Studying the Huang Di Nei Jing in the West
By Dr. Edward Neal, MD
First published in Chinese Medicine and Culture
Volume 7, Issue 1 (March 2024)
Huang Di Nei Jing ( 黄帝内经 The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic) has been the source text of Chinese medicine knowledge and innovation for over two thousand years. Despite this key relevance, many of its ideas and practices have proven difficult to understand and implement fully into clinical practice. Cultural and language differences can be compounded with these challenges but may also present new opportunities for advancement and insight when studied by researchers outside of the originating culture. This article introduces the method of Classical-Text Archaeology and delves into the author’s two-decade journey of researching this text, with a discussion on cultural differences and issues of medical scholarship.
Reading the Seasonal River Tides
VIDEO
In the initial descriptions of Chinese medicine set down in the Huangdi Neijing, acupuncture was described as a traditional form of ecological surgery. Its primary aim was to restore the natural watersheds of the body by regulating the flow of the blood circulating through these regions. These writings compare the vascular rivers of the body to rivers in nature, understanding them to be formed by the same basic forces and patterns of nature. Similar to rivers in nature, the flow qualities of the vascular rivers display different seasonal variations or 'tides'. We assess these seasonal tides in the pulse qualities of the major blood vessels of the body. This allows us to synchronize the bodies of our patients with the seasonal patterns of nature.
Acupuncture Journal Club Meeting with Evidence Based Acupuncture
In a special collaboration with the folks at Evidence Based Acupuncture, Dr. Neal guest moderates a journal club discussing the paper by Stephan Birch and his colleagues titled "Understanding blood stasis in traditional East Asian medicine: a comparison of Asian and Western sources". During this talk, he delves into the current state of Chinese medicine terminology and highlights some of the pressing challenges illuminated by these findings.
The Neijing Perspective on the Covid-19 Illness
VIDEO
This is a lecture presented by Dr. Edward Neal about Covid-19, given on April 20, 2020 and hosted by Healthy Seminars.
Nei Jing Perspective on Life, the Universe and Acupuncture
PODCAST
WITH DR. EDWARD NEAL
INTERVIEWED BY MICHAEL MAX (QIOLOGICAL)
We trace our medicine back to the Neijing, but most of our actual practices come from a more modern perspective.
Going back to those roots is not easy. Even for native speakers of Chinese, reading the 文言文 wen yan wen, the classic Chinese is difficult. For those of us in the modern West, these ancient texts are challenging. They require not just language, but a minset that views the world from through a completely different set of lenses and prisms than Cartesian and materialistic science offers to us.
Immersion in this ancient material changes us if we allow it. Gives us hints at seeing how matter and energy interact in ways toward which modern medical science is blind.
In this conversation we listen into how the Neijing gives another way of approaching acupuncture, the 脈 mai, channels, and helps us to understand our bodies as fluid based ecosystems.
External Diseases
VIDEO
Watch Dr, Neal present a brief excerpt from a lecture on External Diseases given to 2017-2018 Neijing Studies: Level I students on October 1, 2017.
An Interview with Edward Neal
ARTICLE
First published in Journal of Chinese Medicine
Number 105 (June 2014)
Following the paradigm-shaking series of three articles recently written by Edward Neal for The Journal of Chinese Medicine (issues 100, 102 and 104), the JCM wanted to follow up with an interview with Dr. Neal in order to tease out some of the arising threads. Dr. Neal has been practising and teaching Chinese medicine for over 20 years. Originally trained as a Western allopathic physician, he first studied traditional acupuncture with Dr. Anita Cignolini of Milan, Italy.
Classical Chinese Medicine and Contemporary Science: The Vascular Model of Disease Pathogenesis. A Common-Path Theory of Human Illness
ARTICLE
First published in Medical Acupuncture
Volume 27, Number 2, 2015
The practice of physician acupuncture faces unique challenges in its development and inclusion as a recognized medical specialty. Information contained in early Chinese medical texts offers solutions to some of the divides that separate Chinese Medicine from contemporary biomedicine. Recent advances in classical text research—made possible by the establishment of Chinese language databases—provide new hypotheses of disease pathogenesis and new strategies for treating various acute and chronic illnesses.
