FLOW Symposium 2027 SAT Mar 20

The Five Walks of Life (wuxing 五行) described in the Classics is a practical framework for how to relate to the world around us (and within.) This is the journey (dao 道) of growing our powers (de德). In this workshop, Dr. Stephen Cowan will show you how he plays with this model in clinical practice to promote relational health in growing children and their families.

What you’ll learn:

• How to create an individualized “Hero’s Map” to explain principles of East-Asian medicine to children and their parents
• How to harmonize areas of strength and weakness through practical games that improve resilience and enable any child to successfully share their gifts with the world.
• Ways to use five-phase dynamics to optimize relationships and lovingly parent your kids

This session introduces the convergence of visceral referral and musculoskeletal referral in the pelvis and hip. Attendees will learn why structural sources of pain, particularly the deep hip rotators, can present clinically identical to pelvic floor dysfunction. This class will provide an introduction to the role of acupuncturists in pelvic care.

Lasers. Red light therapy. LEDs. Class IV systems. Home-use devices. Every year the market becomes more crowded—and the claims become more ambitious. But which technologies are supported by research, and which are driven primarily by marketing?

Join internationally recognized laser educator Philipp Weider for an evidence-based exploration of modern photo-biomodulation. This presentation will explain how therapeutic light works, why wavelength and power matter, and the key differences between laser and LED systems. You’ll leave with the knowledge to critically evaluate new technologies, understand where the science currently stands, and confidently decide when—and when not—to recommend light therapy in clinical practice.

The classics of Yin-Yang medicine have, for centuries, defined what health looks like based on the quality of our connection to day-night, heaven-and-earth cycles. Technological advances like social media and smart phones have only added to distraction and disconnection from these primal rhythms and have led to the rise of chronic alienation-inflammation, the underlying cause of many of the current medical conditions plaguing modern industrial culture. Emerging research in circadian biology seems to be slowly edging nearer to what the ancient sages of China have been telling us. In this workshop we will explore the modern biological evidence for our medicine and discover the many practical ways we can turn off the static and tune in to what Nature has always been here waiting to teach us.

This course provides a full clinical framework for treating structural contributors to pelvic pain, with focus on the piriformis, obturator internus, superior gemelli, inferior gemelli and the quadrates femurs. Attendees will review referral patterns, TCM pattern differentiation for presentations that appear structurally identical but differ in underlying pattern (stagnation, deficiency, and damp presentations), and current research on acupuncture for myofascial and referred pelvic pain. A live model demonstration of point location and needling technique will be followed by extended small group hands on practice, giving attendees direct experience locating and needling these structures before returning to clinical practice.

Whether you already use therapeutic lasers or have been considering adding one to your practice, this workshop is designed to bridge the gap between theory and confident clinical application.

Beginning with the fundamentals, Philipp will compare today’s handheld laser systems, explain the technologies behind them, discuss appropriate indications and contraindications, review laser safety and eye protection, and outline practical strategies for avoiding treatment complications.

Building on this foundation, the workshop moves into real-world clinical practice. Through live demonstrations and detailed treatment protocols, attendees will see how handheld lasers can be integrated into everyday patient care for a variety of musculoskeletal and pain-related conditions. Volunteer demonstrations will allow participants to observe treatment techniques, patient positioning, dosing strategies, and clinical decision-making in real time.