Academy of Source-Based Medicine

This will be the first in a four part lecture series to outline the fundamental principles of the pulse – the floating, sunken (deep), rapid and slow images. The first lecture will focus on the floating pulse, and then the next three lectures follow the order above.

Zhang Zhicong 張志聰 (1610-1674ce) remarks, ‘People say, “recognising the pulse is really difficult!” To which I respond, “although you are saying that recognising the pulse is difficult, you are not aware that the true difficulty lies in assessing the pulse.”’

In this lecture, you will not only learn to recognise and distinguish similar pulses, you will also learn how to assess them so you can improve your ability to identify patterns in clinic.

Qing Dynasty physician Huang Yuanyu 黄元御 (1705-1758ce) states, “the floating and sunken pulse, they represent the nature of yin and yang… slow and rapid, they represent qi of yin and yang.”

This lecture will focus on the floating pulse 浮脈. We also discuss other floating pulses and how to differentiate them which will help you gain clarity under your fingertips in clinic.

We dive deep into classical literature, from the early texts such as Nanjing, Shanghan Zabing Lun and Maijing to provide us with clinical understanding of this pulse. In addition, we then explore successional literature (literature after the Han dynasty) to see how other famous doctors discussed and applied the floating pulse.

While many of the texts we look at are more herbal focused, I draw on the experience of two famous acupuncturists - Cheng Dan’an and Dan Yutang. These two wrote commentaries of the Shanghan Lun that we’re acupuncture focused, so we also discuss and analyse Acupuncture Equivalent Prescriptions to some famous classical formula, such as Mahuang Tang and Guizhi Tang.

In the final portion of this lecture, we will discuss case studies from physicians. Case study analysis has been a fundamental principle of studying Chinese medicine that has unfortunately remained rather underutilised in the West. It is best to study with someone in their clinic, but if that is not viable – the next best thing is to read their case studies to gain introspection into how they treat.

At the end of this lecture you will be able to

-          Taking the floating pulse and differentiating similar pulses of the floating category.

-          Assess and diagnose the floating pulse across the cun, guan, and chi positions.

-          Treatment of floating pulse with famous formula

-          Build confidence in selecting and analysing formulas for the floating pulse.