Very interesting regarding the hesitant pulse. Again, I've found it to be highly

correlated with earth constitution or significant imbalance. I think of it as

pointing directly to the Yi as the spirit of earth (thought as the digestive

aspect of mind) and it's relationship to si, worry, obsession.

Hi Peter, Lon, Will...

Sorry for the delay.  Busy with patients.



In terms of the Hesitant pulse wave, we generally consider this to be a Heart

yin deficient sign, not Spleen/Stomach.  According to Leon, he has stated that

Dr. Shen associated this with obsessive thinking (Heart Yin deficiency) and

totally unrelated to the Spleen involvement with the mind except in that it

supplies blood to the HT. The role of the Spleen (Yi)in this regard is to assist

the Heart in its job of controlling the mind.  We have never considered this to

be related to an earth constitution.  As far as I know, this was a Dr. Shen

finding from the many years of his experience with an enormous patient base.



I know that Kiiko calls this same pulse the 'pecking' pulse and uses the 'ST qi

line' to treat it.  From my understanding of this, her description is more akin

to HT and circulatory functions, ie arterial flow and veinous return.



Warmly,

Ross









--- In PulseDiagnosis@yahoogroups.com, William Morris <wmorris33@...> wrote:

>

> Hi Peter and Lon -

> The term hesitant arose in the Essential of Acupuncture and is, I believe

> still used in Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion. The California

> Acupuncture Board continues to use the term hesitant as a translation of

> the rough pulse (*sè mài, *澀脈)

> http://www.acupuncture.ca.gov/students/exam_preparation.pdf. In this

> instance, the notion of hesitant sprang from what I consider to be an

> excessive focus upon time based distortions in the wave: "faltering and

> balking".

>

> I describe Leon's hesitant pulse as a wave with such a rapid arrival and

> departure that it feels like a line straight up and down. If we apply the

> Pulse Classic and divide the arrival into the yang portion and the departure

> into the yin portion of the wave, then Hammer's hesitant suggests both both

> yin and yang are affected. It is one of Shen's push pulses related to

> obsessive overworking and we can see it in government and stock market. It

> reminds me of the trader who has monitors in the kitchen and the bathroom so

> as not to miss a trade.

>

> Ross, what are your thoughts on this matter? It has been 9 years now since

> my years of co-teaching masters courses with Leon. I wonder if that the

> dialog has developed.

>

> Warmly,

>

> Will

>

>

>

> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 9:16 PM, sppdestiny <revolution@...>wrote:

>

> >

> >

> > Hi Peter,

> >

> > Now that you mention, I vaguely remember having discussed this before. I

> > meant deep for the water pulse. Leon uses the term "hesitant" to describe a

> > pulse with predominantly vertical movement. It's about the only term he uses

> > which doesn't really describe directly what the pulse feels like (as far as

> > I'm concerned). I don't know what Chinese character it corresponded to.

> > perhaps only Dr. Shen knew. I'm never able to get constitution from pulse

> > only physiology, but the weakest/strongest (most functional/least

> > functional) does seem to apply.

> >

> > Warm regards, Lon

> >

> >

> >

>

>

>

> --

> William R. Morris, PhD, DAOM, LAc

>

> http://www.aoma.edu/

>

Ross,



    I appreciate the context you're providing here. Still, I have to stand by my

observations over quite some time that the earth element is strongly implicated

in the hesitant pulse. Of course the heart radical is the foundation foe the yi

and si so there would seem to be an interesting relationship.-Lon

I can definitely understand that.  To some degree it is contingent upon

perspective.  For example, one can see the representative formula for treating

Hesitant and HT yin deficient pulse as Sheng Mai San (which also treats HT shock

which is almost always found with a Hesitant wave).  Sheng Mai San can be

analyzed to be a ST yin supplementing formula (Ren Shen nourishes fluids, Mai

Men Dong nourishes ST yin; Wu Wei Zi astringes fluids and sometimes referred to

as the 5 flavor herb to affect all zang) and indeed HT shock can be seen as

affecting the Emperor which impacts the rest or the empire, or, significantly

affecting one's center (stability/groundedness) rooted in the SP/ST and source

of post-natal qi.  It all comes down to experience and clinical success in that

regard.



Ross





--- In PulseDiagnosis@yahoogroups.com, "sppdestiny" <revolution@...> wrote:

>

> Ross,

>

>    I appreciate the context you're providing here. Still, I have to stand by

my observations over quite some time that the earth element is strongly

implicated in the hesitant pulse. Of course the heart radical is the foundation

foe the yi and si so there would seem to be an interesting relationship.-Lon

>

Ross,





      I can see the heart yin component that you are pointing to and it makes

perfect sense. With herbs I've often used Gan Lu Yin when hesitant is seen in

combination with a predominantly tight pulse on the right side. Back in the day

Leon described the Hesitant pulse to me as "a push pulse where the person is

overthinking more than overworking physically."

       I see the Hesitant quality nit just on tight (yinxu) pulses but also

frequently on tense (Qi stagnation/heat) pulses. Of course, yin is being

depleted but stagnation is still the primary issue. I notice addiction to

thought, worry (si), perhaps even anxiety, insomnia etc. Formula's such as Gui

Pi Tang, Gan Mai Da Zao Tang, Bupleurum and DB, can all be helpfull depending on

the rest of the pulse picture etc. Of course I'm using acupuncture to calm the

mind adn ease the nervous system. In this regard I often find the "Calm the

Nervous System" protocol helpful that I published in Clinical Practice helpful.

It's derived from Dr. Shen's 4 system theory and works quite well. If you have

the text, take a look.

Ross,

I can see the heart yin component that you are pointing to and it makes perfect sense. With herbs I've often used Gan Lu Yin when hesitant is seen in combination with a predominantly tight pulse on the right side. Back in the day Leon described the Hesitant pulse to me as "a push pulse where the person is overthinking more than overworking physically."
I see the Hesitant quality nit just on tight (yinxu) pulses but also frequently on tense (Qi stagnation/heat) pulses. Of course, yin is being depleted but stagnation is still the primary issue. I notice addiction to thought, worry (si), perhaps even anxiety, insomnia etc. Formula's such as Gui Pi Tang, Gan Mai Da Zao Tang, Bupleurum and DB, can all be helpfull depending on the rest of the pulse picture etc. Of course I'm using acupuncture to calm the mind adn ease the nervous system. In this regard I often find the "Calm the Nervous System" protocol helpful that I published in Clinical Practice helpful. It's derived from Dr. Shen's 4 system theory and works quite well. If you have the text, take a look.

The pulse is middle-sited with rapid rhythm . After three or five beats , the pulse pauses suddenly for a long interval, then the pulse appears again as if a bird pecks food . It indicates that primordial energy of spleen and essential substances from cereals exhaust inside body.