Newsletter - Pacific Rim College - Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine in BC

This fall is shaping up to be the season of workshops at PRC. With at least 6 new workshops slated to be offered, and a couple of others in development, there will be something for everyone with an interest in natural health.

Although 2 months have passed since the Canadian Oriental Medicine Symposium (COMS) in Vancouver, I would like to recognize John Stan and Eastern Currents for putting on another successful event. If you have not participated in COMS before, please consider doing so next year.

There has not been a dull moment at PRC this year. The winter semester was our busiest yet with over 150 students from around the world enrolled in programs. We also presented over half a dozen weekend workshops on topics from medicinal mushrooms to Thai massage.

In just a few weeks we begin renovations on the newest segment of the college, a 3000 square foot expansion with classrooms, offices and a student lounge.

Enjoy the newsletter!

Todd N Howard, President

PRC named Finalist for two Chamber of Commerce Business Awards, Wins one

Pacific Rim College was the only Victoria business to be recognized as a finalist in 2 different categories for the 2011 Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. PRC was named Runner-up in the category of Business of the Year in Innovation for its role in helping to innovate natural medicine education by not only offering unique programs, but also for services such as the monthly health plan known as WellPlan and the Global Outreach Program. PRC's president Todd Howard was named Victoria's Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

PRC Campus Expansion

This summer PRC will begin renovations on a 3000 square foot expansion to its Victoria-based campus. The new facility will provide 4 additional classrooms, office space and a student lounge. The campus expansion is slated to be completed for the September 2011 semester, and will also involve upgrades to the college's existing facilities. This facility growth is essential to accommodate the rapidly increasing enrolment numbers and to make room for the actualization of new and exciting plans that are underway.

PRC Improves Administration Software

By accessing a new online registration system, students at PRC are now able to register for courses, check course marks and view transcripts from anywhere where Internet is available. PRC's custom-made system is helping to enhance nearly the entire administrative process and to provide user-friendly interface to all PRC students.

Summer Continuing Education Courses

PRC is pleased to release its Summer 2011 Continuing Education lineup of courses. Courses are held weekly for either 8 weeks or 15 weeks and include Holistic Nutrition, Tai Qi Chuan, Qi Gong, Anatomy and Physiology, Practical Herbal Pharmacy, Ethnobotany and more. Courses can be taken for personal enrichment or for credit. For more information and to register, please click here.

Workshop by Renowned UK Herbalist

Herbalist Peter Conway is scheduled to present a workshop entitled 'Hidden Dimensions of Healing in Natural Medicine'. Over the course of 2 intensive days, Peter will explore the ways in which practitioners can exert therapeutic effects beyond their primary tools of practice. Peter argues that all practitioners can positively and significantly influence patient outcomes by attending to the interpersonal factors that occur in the consultation. Awareness and manipulation of these normally concealed aspects of healing allows for enhanced benefits to patients and increased satisfaction for practitioners. In a wide-ranging, profound, radical yet entertaining set of presentations and exercises, Peter will touch on the fields of history, philosophy, science, physiology, esotericism, clinical practice and more.

Peter is President of the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy, a member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, and a Director of the European Herbal and Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association. He teaches herbal medicine courses at numerous schools including the London College of Traditional Acupuncture. Peter helped develop the UK National Professional Standards for Herbal Medicine and sat on the UK Department of Health Steering Group looking at the regulation of herbal medicine and acupuncture. He has written several books including his recent textbook The Consultation in Phytotherapy: the herbal practitioner's approach to the patient published by Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone. 'Hidden Dimensions of Healing in Natural Medicine' is scheduled at PRC for September 24-25. Please click here for more information and to register.

Final Thai Massage Workshop

Nikki Manzie and Taro Chiba will present the final workshop in this season's Traditional Thai Massage series on May 28-29. 'Thai Back-Walking and "Hands-Off" Massage' is of equal benefit to client and therapist. This course is approved by The College of Massage Therapists of British Columbia for 14 PE A2 credits. Other practitioners may also be eligible to apply CEU credits. Please click here for more information.

Yogatherapy Program receives Recognitions

Pacific Rim College is now a Registered School of the Yoga Alliance, the national education and support organization for yoga in the United States. Graduates of the Foundations of Yogatherapy Certificate Program and of the Diploma of Eastern Therapies and Bodywork are recognized yoga teachers. Additionally, PRC is also a member school of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. IAYT supports research and education in Yoga and serves as a professional organization for Yoga teachers and Yoga therapists worldwide.

Yogatherapy and Ayurvedic Marmatherapy Programs set for Fall

Two of PRC's ever-popular semester-long programs - Foundations of Yogatherapy and Fundamental of Ayurvedic Marmatherapy - return this fall. The Foundations of Yogatherapy program introduces students to the philosophy, therapeutic principles and techniques of yoga and now contains a Yoga Teacher Training program that is recognized by the Yoga Alliance at the 200-hour level. Ayurvedic Marmatherapy works with vital points (Marmas) in the body where there is a junction of tissues, vessels, systems and subtle yet potent life-energies. Marmas are stimulated with acupressure, oil massage and energy work to affect a healing response in their associated organs, tissues and energy channels. For more information about these programs, including the admissions process, please click on the program links above.

2012 Japanese Acupuncture Program dates announced

PRC is pleased to welcome back the Japanese Acupuncture Institute of Seattle for another installment of Canada's only recognized Japanese Acupuncture Certificate Program. The series covers a broad range of treatment techniques from Japan, including abdominal (hara) palpation and diagnosis, subtle needling techniques, moxibustion, use of intradermals, press tacks and press spheres, cupping and bloodletting techniques, Sotai, and non-needling pediatric (Shonishin) techniques. This program consists of 4 weekend modules of 3 days length and a 2-day clinical intensive. Although each module brings students closer to fully understanding Japanese acupuncture techniques, the first 3 modules can be taken individually as stand alone courses. Only students who have completed the first 3 modules are eligible to take the fourth module and the clinical intensive. For more information, please click here.

Upcoming Workshop on Cosmetic Acupuncture

This fall PRC will be hosting Virginia Doran for a 3-day workshop on cosmetic acupuncture. Ms. Doran is a worldwide authority on cosmetic acupuncture, which aims to correct the signs of aging by both local treatment and by treating the underlying causes of aging on a personal level. It has been shown to improve muscle tone, increase collagen production and overall reduce some of the visible signs of aging. Ms. Doran has demonstrated cosmetic acupuncture on major television networks such as CBS News, UPN News, FOX Good Day New York, and the Maury Povitch Show. The date and details of this training will be posted very soon on our Lectures, Workshops and Events page.

Acupuncture Exam Boot Camps

PRC's Gillian Marsollier and Vancouver-based Monique Du Preez are presenting the 2011 Acupuncture Registration Boot Camps in both Victoria and Vancouver. If you are planning on writing the CTCMA acupuncture registration exam, this is an opportunity you do not want to miss. For more information and to register, please visit www.lifteducation.ca.

Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine Workshop

Renowned TCM Veterinarian Dr. Bruce Ferguson is schedule to present 'Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine Theory and Practice' on February 18-19, 2012. Anyone interested in Traditional Chinese Medicine applied to companion animals or those simply wanting to hone their TCM diagnostic skills will benefit from attending this seminar. Dr. Bruce Ferguson DVM, MS, is an internationally-renowned clinician and lecturer in TCVM who is known for his information-packed enthusiastic presentations. He is the president of the American Association of TCVM and publishes clinical research and practical application articles in the only English-language Evidence Based Medicine TCVM journal in the world. He is currently an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Murdoch University's School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences in Perth, Western Australia. For more information and to register, please visit our Lectures, Workshops and Events page.

Robert Rogers returns for two Workshops

After rave reviews, Robert Rogers returns to PRC on October 29-30 for 'Medicinal Mushrooms of Western Canada'. In this weekend course, students will explore the world of medicinal mushrooms and lichens, learn how to prepare tinctures, identify mushrooms in the wild, and examine the top 20 mushrooms and their use in a clinical setting, including contraindications and positive drug interactions. The course will be presented from the perspective of a registered herbalist with 18 years of clinical practice, and include case studies involving chronic disease, including auto-immune conditions.

Robert then returns on December 3-4 to present 'Materia Medica of Northern Canada'. Participants will look at over 50 medicinal plants from the northern plains and boreal forest. Each plant will be fully examined, looking at traditional use, energetics, preparations and clinical application. Some of the herbs include Acorus americanus, Monarda fistulosa, Actea rubra, Heracleum lanatum, Coptis groenlandicum, Epilobum angustifolium, Myrica gale, Solidago species, Syringa vulgaris, Populus species, Rhodiola rosea, Oplopanax horridum, Aralia nudicaulis and Scuttelaria galericulata to name a few. For more information and to register, please visit our Lectures, Workshops and Events page.

Workshop on Traditional Western Herbal Diagnosis

PRC is pleased to host a weekend workshop with renowned herbalist and professor Margi Flint. On November 5-6, Margi will teach students how to read the face, nails, tongue and body to understand indications of lines, blemishes, marks and colours. Indications of hot, cold, damp dry and wind conditions can easily be read once you train your eyes to see. Margi Flint shares the knowledge learned from her teachers and clients over the past 3 decades. For more information and to register, please visit our Lectures, Workshops and Events page.

Book of the Month

Patterns and Practice in Chinese Medicine is a clinically-oriented presentation of differential diagnosis and treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This volume consists of 8 series of case studies (40 in all), each focusing on a variety of patterns associated with a common clinical disorder. Each case provides a systematic analysis of the patient's presentation, from the cause and site of the disorder to the underlying theory of the case. The pathogenesis, pattern of disease, treatment principle, and modalities of treatment (including both herbs and acupuncture) are described in illuminating detail. More than a hundred charts organize and present in graphic form what is explained in the text. Each chapter concludes with a diagnostic overview or "tree" that summarizes the process of differential diagnosis for the patterns associated with that disorder. This book will be of particular value to the developing practitioner, as well as the student who is making the transition from the classroom to the clinic. This book is available from the PRC Bookstore for $44.95.

Report from Moxafrica

Moxafrica continues to produce powerful and tangible results in its quest to treat drug resistant tuberculosis with the ancient technique known as moxibustion. Moxibustion is a herbal preparation made from the leaves of mugwort and used in traditional healing systems including those from Japan and China. As the second most lethal infectious disease in the world today, TB has reached catastrophic proportions in many parts of the developing world. Not only has moxibustion shown great results in the battle against TB, but it is completely safe, non-toxic, and administered at a cost of only a few pennies. Moxafrica has been conducting research on the ground in the hardest hit parts of Uganda, and is now spreading its reach to South Africa. To learn more about this organization and to support its cause, please click here.

Acupuncture Relief Project

The Acupuncture Relief Project is offering an opportunity for one student intern to participate in its Winter 2012 clinic program in Nepal. This program is designed for students interested in a training experience to learn all aspects of practicing in the third world. ARP has put together a supervised, 7-week program that combines an intensive clinic practice with a unique curriculum. For practitioners this is an opportunity to perfect and learn new skills while serving a community that desperately needs help. This Program offers 40 PDAs certified by the NCCAOM and potential clinical credits through Pacific Rim College. The program runs from January 5th to February 26th, 2012. The cost is $1400, which includes lodging, food, clinic supplies, interpreters and clinic staff. It does not include airfare, entry visa and personal expenses outside of the clinic. For more please www.acupuncturereliefproject.org.

To Advertise in upcoming newsletters, please send your requests to admin@pacificrimcollege.ca.

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