It is time to review the basics of pulse assessment for our herbal apprenticeship students and introduce this important skill for our newcomers. As with the other skills and theories of holistic medicine, we will continue to study the basics as we advance in exploring the many details, in this case the 28 or so main pulse "images"...
Begin by reviewing the previous post: http://www.nathanielwhitmore.com/living-herbalism/pulse-assessment
The remaining pulse definitions (not mentioned in the previous post that is linked above) from The Secret of Chinese Pulse Diagnosis by Bob Flaws include:
Stirring Pulse: Slippery, rapid, forceful; feels like a bean
Slippery: Comes smoothly flowing and uninhibited; feels smooth like pearls rolling in a dish.
Choppy: Slow, relaxed, stagnant, difficult, fine, may stop and lose a beat but then recovers. It is not smoothly flowing. It feels like a piece of bamboo scraped by a knife.
Fine: Soft, feels like a silken thread, weak, without strength, but persistent.
Faint: Insufficient, extremely fine, soft, barely palpable. It may sometimes be felt and then sometimes it is lost.
Large: Large, fills up fingertip, forceful.
Bound: Slow, relaxed, stops at irregular intervals.
Regularly Interrupted: Comparatively relaxed and weak; stops at regular intermittent intervals. These intervals may be strikingly long.
Skipping: Rapid and irregularly interrupted.
We will continue to review and re-review these definitions while we work on our sensitivity to pulse qualities in class and each on their own (ask friends and family to feel their pulses!). Remember, the pulse is a reflection of chi. The pulse also has a distinct relationship to blood (obviously), and therefore the heart; just as the tongue has a distinct relationship to the spleen (digestive system). Where one feels the pulse is where the chi is. This is connected to the triple burner theory (or triple heater, triple warmer... / san jiao).
The remaining pulse definitions (not mentioned in the previous post that is linked above) from The Secret of Chinese Pulse Diagnosis by Bob Flaws include:
Stirring Pulse: Slippery, rapid, forceful; feels like a bean
Slippery: Comes smoothly flowing and uninhibited; feels smooth like pearls rolling in a dish.
Choppy: Slow, relaxed, stagnant, difficult, fine, may stop and lose a beat but then recovers. It is not smoothly flowing. It feels like a piece of bamboo scraped by a knife.
Fine: Soft, feels like a silken thread, weak, without strength, but persistent.
Faint: Insufficient, extremely fine, soft, barely palpable. It may sometimes be felt and then sometimes it is lost.
Large: Large, fills up fingertip, forceful.
Bound: Slow, relaxed, stops at irregular intervals.
Regularly Interrupted: Comparatively relaxed and weak; stops at regular intermittent intervals. These intervals may be strikingly long.
Skipping: Rapid and irregularly interrupted.
We will continue to review and re-review these definitions while we work on our sensitivity to pulse qualities in class and each on their own (ask friends and family to feel their pulses!). Remember, the pulse is a reflection of chi. The pulse also has a distinct relationship to blood (obviously), and therefore the heart; just as the tongue has a distinct relationship to the spleen (digestive system). Where one feels the pulse is where the chi is. This is connected to the triple burner theory (or triple heater, triple warmer... / san jiao).
