Nurturing Our Nature 養性
Sun Simiao’s Teachings on Cultivating Health and Longevity, Translated for Today
A 3-Month On-Demand Course designed and taught by Leo Lok and Sabine Wilms
Do you dream of going beyond treating illness, to facilitate true well-being for yourself and your family, community, and patients?
Are you a practitioner, student, or teacher of East Asian healing arts looking for the roots of your tradition?
Do you feel drawn to the teachings of the 7th-century medical sage Sun Simiao 孫思邈?
Are you ready to transform your heart, spirit, and body with ideas and practices from medieval China?
Are you interested in the creative interplay of religion, science, and medicine; of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism; and of joyful living, healing, and alchemy?
Do you want to cultivate virtue and alleviate suffering by improving spiritual, physical, and emotional health?
Last but not least, do you need ethics CEUs and want to become a more ethical practitioner on the basis of the wisdom of our medical ancestors?
Course Description
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![Ancient East Asian illustration of scholar near a mountain spring, with Chinese calligraphy on the sides.]()
In this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, two internationally respected experts on Chinese medicine combine their unique skillsets, experiences, and professional training in translation, clinical and personal practice, and academic research in history, philosophy, and religion. Join us, Sabine Wilms and Leo Lok, as we explore the writings of the great medical ancestor Sun Simiao 孫思邈 (581-682 CE) on his most esteemed, deepest, and undoubtedly most challenging subject: “Nurturing Our Nature”!
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Through the lens of Sun Simiao’s writings (vol. 27 of the Beiji qianjin yaofang in particular) and supported by other traditional Chinese medical and religious texts and our own life experiences, we consider how to help ourselves and those in our care to live more balanced, healthy, and virtuous lives, thereby preventing premature aging and unnecessary suffering.
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In dynamic, engaging, and inspiring prerecorded video lectures and discussions, join a learning community devoted to the alleviation of suffering through a synthesis of traditional Chinese medicine, philosophy, and religion, translated into the context of our contemporary lives and practices.
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Specific topics include daily lifestyle and preventative medicine, spiritual and ethical cultivation, meditation, sleep hygiene, physical exercises and breath work, alchemy and dietetics, and sexual cultivation.
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This course is bound to blow your mind by introducing and exploring material that has never been shared in a Western language before, brought to you by two scholar-practitioners with perfect complementary backgrounds and a solid decade-long history of collaboration. We aim to make this course nothing less than a life-altering experience!
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No background in Chinese is required, and the entire course is taught in English. We do share original Chinese sources and are happy to answer translation questions in the discussion forum. We both love reading and translating classical Chinese, but this course is about cultivating life, not translating texts.
What you receive…
In nine units presented over nine weeks, and with an additional month for review, we share our knowledge in a unique structure developed by Dr. Wilms over decades of teaching, to facilitate engagement, creativity, joy, and personal growth. Here are the details:
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In a creative combination of formal video lectures, audio conversations, and discussions, we present an enticing smorgasbord of literal translations, complementary quotes from historical and contemporary secondary material, and our personal and professional commentary.
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We share original translation excerpts and complementary primary sources (in translation) and secondary resources.
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For each unit, you are encouraged to engage with your colleagues by sharing your personal and clinical insights, questions, concerns, and additional resources you may have, as we develop a community of engaged learners. Leo and Sabine monitor and respond to comments and questions generally within 48 hours.
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As in Dr. Wilms’ memberships and our other online courses, here too you will find all relevant information, recordings, the discussion forum, and other resources on a single platform, easily accessed with the same password you use for our other offerings. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU LOSE ACCESS AFTER EXACTLY THREE MONTHS!
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In nine units of two hours each and a conclusion, you gain a total of 20 credit hours for continuing education if you pass the quiz at the end. This course is accredited by NCCAOM (including 2 ethics and 1 safety CEUSs), as well as by California Acupuncture Board (including 4 ethics units). We are happy to issue graduation certificates to fulfill other countries’ requirements.
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The price for the course is $999. The cost is nonrefundable and you gain access to the first lesson immediately after signing up.
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This course is now taught in an online “on demand” format. The information is drip-fed to you over two months, starting with Unit 1 immediately after you sign up, and then one unit each week, for a total of nine units. After this, you get an additional month of full access to all the material for review. Units are delivered via email and always accessed on our private password-protected platform.
Your Guides
In a truly unique constellation of backgrounds and skills, you get to watch the internationally famous podcasting and research team of Leo Lok and Sabine Wilms collaborate in real time, as they plumb the depths of one of the most important and challenging texts in the history of Chinese medicine.
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Writer, translator, professor, publisher, and goat herder.
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Leo is a practitioner and independent scholar of Chinese Medicine. A native speaker/reader of Chinese languages, Leo is one of the rare clinician-scholars in the world who excels in researching and translating ancient Chinese medical literature into the English language.
Since 2015, he has been a top contributor in the 6432-member Facebook group - Scholars of Chinese Medicine. Leo has helped research and answer more than 2000 questions on the historical development, interpretations and translations of Chinese medical topics for colleagues worldwide.
He has also been consulted for numerous translation projects for his expertise, e.g. Dr. Sabine Wilms's ‘The Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica’ (2017)《神農本草經》and "Hundred Questions on Gynecology" (2019)《女科百問》.
He is also a contributing translator for the Chinese Medicine section of an upcoming anthology of historical Asian literature on meditation related illnesses (a project by Dr. Pierce Salguero at Pennsylvania State University).
““To nurture our nature: If we strive to complete it with daily practices, it becomes perfect on its own….Then no internal or external illnesses could ever arise, and turmoil and disasters also have nowhere to start from. This is the guideline for nurturing our Nature.”
— Sun Simiao, Beiji qianjin yaofang, vol. 27
Outline
Unit 1: Sun Simiao and his Work and Time
Unit 2: Sun’s “Preface on Nurturing Our Nature”
Unit 3: “Daolin Teachings on Nurturing Our Nature”
Unit 4: “How to Live a Healthy Life”
Unit 5: “How to Practice Self-Massage” (Including Yogic Exercises and Breath Work)
Unit 6: “How to Attune the Qi”
Unit 7: “Dietetics and Alchemical Elixirs”
Unit 8: “The Yellow Emperor’s Prohibitions”
Unit 9: “Mending and Adding in the Bedroom”
Are you ready to emerge from the chrysalis?
If you feel like spreading your wings and exploring the beautiful butterfly that is your true nature, we welcome you!