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Acupuncture and East Asian medicine was not developed in a laboratory. It does not advance through double-blind controlled studies, nor does it respond well to petri dish experimentation. Our medicine did not come from the statistical regression of randomized cohorts, but from the observation and treatment of individuals in their particular environment. It grows out of an embodied sense of understanding how life moves, unfolds, develops and declines.Medicine comes from continuous, thoughtful practice of what we do in clinic, and how we approach that work. The practice of medicine is more — much more — than simply treating illness. It is more than acquiring skills and techniques. And it is mo…
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Qiological Podcast makes East Asian medicine legible through practitioner conversations rich in history, clinical detail, and honest reflection.
Michael Max turns conversations about East Asian medicine into close examinations of how a practice is learned, adapted, and sustained. Acupuncture and herbal medicine provide the center of gravity, while discussions reach into mentorship, clinic ownership, medical history,…
Tupperware herb jars meet the Fire Horse; your Chinese medicine curiosity has room to roam.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A patient conversation about the uneasy work of letting an acupuncture practice settle.
Slowing down lands here as a practice problem, not a lifestyle slogan. Michael Max follows a conversation about an acupuncture practice at capacity, and the practitioner who begins turning the faucet down after years of pushing harder.
A wine-glass analogy makes the 40 hertz question about sound and the brain unusually tangible.
The episode traces psychoacoustics from the bouncy, rhythmic music drawn from a coffee plant to the particular resonance of 40 hertz, giving a familiar shape to a subject often wrapped in wellness language.
A practical look at practice, responsibility, and what training leaves out.
This episode lingers on the gap between training and practice, where ambition meets boards, student loans, and the weight of responsibility. An early story about a cancer patient told to get his affairs in order gives it its clearest human center, and the later account of…
Acupuncture's history is framed as layered, lived-in, and still unfolding.
The episode follows Michael Max and Peter as they trace acupuncture's movement through China, Taiwan, Korea, Europe, and the United States, keeping the focus on lineage: who taught whom, what endured, and how methods shifted along the way.
A Fire Horse forecast becomes a grounded reflection on creative force, burnout, and what belongs in the saddlebag.
A Fire Horse year gives this single-episode review its organizing idea: creative charge, self-inquiry, and the discipline to hold back when momentum runs hot.
A marimba, a wine glass, and East Asian medicine shape a curious, careful episode about sound as medicine.
The episode moves lightly from coffee plants and marimba into psychoacoustics, resonance, and sound's place in East Asian medicine. A guest links the coffee plant's bouncy, caffeinated character to the marimba, then lingers on the question of who should sing its songs.
A personal history of herbs, from hospital rotations in China to a very practical raw pharmacy.
A hospital rotation in China gives this personal herb story its hinge. The guest looks back on roughly nine weeks across nine departments, then on returning home and trying to make the practice tangible: building a raw pharmacy, writing formulas, ordering herbs, and spending…
Calm health science for everyday choices.
Osteopathy from the treatment room outward.
This episode explores how fascia and connective tissues align with traditional East Asian medicine theories, particularly the internal-external relationships of meridians and organs.
This episode discusses effective communication strategies between Chinese medicine practitioners and Western medicine colleagues, while also exploring the challenges of running a business as a self-cultivation practice.
This episode explores the deeper meanings of acupuncture channel names in East Asian medicine, inspired by the concept of knowing something's true name from literature.
Cara Frank recounts her journey into East Asian medicine, starting as a teenager in 1970s New York when illegal acupuncture cured her PID.
Host Michael Max converses with composer Yuval Ron and Chinese medicine practitioner Rick Gold about the intersection of sound, neuroscience, and herbal medicine.
Volker Scheid frames Chinese medicine around a practical mismatch: finite formulas must address an unlimited number of patient singularities.
Michael Max opens this Qiological Qigong episode with the claim that confidence comes from knowing and from being comfortable with not knowing.
Michael Max opens the episode with Yuval Ron and Rick Gold, two guests who connect psychoacoustics, Chinese medicine, and sound healing.
This episode explores the importance of quality in herbal medicine, learning from mistakes, and effective communication techniques in East Asian medicine through personal anecdotes.
This episode explores the challenges of integrating techniques like dry needling and tensegrity in sports medicine, while reflecting on the limitations of patient education in Chinese medicine.
This episode explores the challenges of sitting quietly with oneself amidst modern anxieties, connecting it to concepts in East Asian medicine like fire and consciousness.
This episode explores the integration of traditional Chinese medicine techniques like Zang Fu Tuina with modern Western approaches to health, focusing on pain perception, nutrition, and the microbiome.
Michael Max opens with the problem of not knowing what you do not know when you enter this medicine.
The host opens by widening the frame around acupuncture history.
Michael Max opens with Chinese astrology as the other side of Chinese medicine.
This episode explores the deeper meanings of acupuncture channel names in East Asian medicine, inspired by the concept of knowing something's true name from literature.