Randine Lewis - The Spirit of the Blood: Interpreting Laboratory Tests Through the Lens of Chinese Medicine

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The SPIRIT
of the BLOOD

Interpreting Laboratory Tests Through
the Lens of Chinese Medicine

RANDINE LEWIS

Foreword by Dr. Jeffrey Yuen

First published in Great Britain in 2022 by Singing Dragon, an imprint of Jessica Kingsley Publishers An imprint of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

An Hachette Company

Copyright Randine Lewis 2022

Foreword copyright Dr. Jeffrey Yuen 2022

The right of Randine Lewis to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library and the Library of Congress

ISBN 978 1 83997 053 5

eISBN 978 1 83997 054 2

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Just as Dr. Randine Lewis was asked to undertake the arduous task of writing Spirit of the Blood a comprehensive text on blood lab analysis from a Chinese medical perspectiveI too was invited and honored by its author to provide a foreword for what I consider will be a seminal work in the field of integrative healthcare. Though our interactions have often been brief during my visits to Daoist Traditions College as a guest faculty, I have enjoyed our moments together and have been moved by her genuine concern for the direction of many doctorate-level training programs in Chinese medicine. Im delighted that her reflections have cumulated in this compendious work.

Within Chinese medicine, it is said that Xue- Blood is the mother of Qi ( xue wei qi zhi mu ) , arguably construed as the constructive matrix responsible for the materialization of the intangible (Qi). Following such a premise, we can contend that all substance is simply the embodiment of an emptiness motivated by a consciousness (Shen) to solidify the tangibility that defines our physiological, psychological, social, genetic, and perhaps even spiritual activities. Measures of Xue- Blood can be then understood as a snapshot of our current efforts and prioritiesdriven by survival, interaction, and identitythat become conversational impressions reflecting our struggles, nourishments, and wounds (reframed within the parameters of leukocytes and lymphocytes, erythrocytes, and thrombocytes), in addition to aspects of our lifestyles that are portrayed through the profiles of our internal organs, bodily humors, and metabolites. As such, Xue- Blood is the personification of our experiencesinfluenced by nature, nurture, and our awareness (at times, lack of awareness) of the choices made that have manifested within the Blood, as skillfully highlighted by Dr. Lewis. Yet nothing in the blood work is static and the analysis only imparts an overture for us to either continue engaging our lives in our normal manner or to consciously shift our choices that would serve to enliven our spirit and to live a rich, meaningful, and healthy life.

In addition, Dr. Lewis emphasizes the interdependency of the various measures and guides the reader to recognize the fallacy of simply reducing a patient to the abnormal scores. By comparing and evaluating the correlations, even when other markers may not have extended beyond their normal limits, the author reminds the clinician, Where does a blood test begin and where does it end?, with all its intricacies. For example, there are many incidences where patients have normal or unremarkable blood scores, though they are suffering from dire conditions outside the jargon of mental illness. Reductionistic clinicians, who often select a few abnormal markers to begin their sessions with patients, are almost at a loss for words, diagnosis, and sometimes connection, where there is nothing significant to report to patients. Dr. Lewis is keen to remind the readers that blood work is not necessarily the arbiter of our health and wellness.

It is such insights and humility as a clinician that permeate the text. Along with rigorous intellectual and clinical discipline, the author has broadened the scope of knowledge for students and clinicians of Chinese medicine to deepen the integration and therapeutic partnership with Western medicine. While Dr. Lewis may also squirm at the notion of being referred to as a sage, I nevertheless would like to render such an accolade to her as I do believe Spirit of the Blood will provide patients, students, and clinicians alike with a deeper and richer understanding of the nature of Blood, along with its nuances, interpretations, and possibilities.

Dr. Jeffrey Yuen

88th Generation Daoist Priest, Jade Purity Tradition, Lao Tzu Sect

26th Generation Daoist Priest, Complete Reality Dragon Gate School

In the initial stages of writing this book, I lost my brother. A trickster and a wise old fool with an enormous heart, he moved from an earthly ally to a spiritual beacon, taking a part of me with him. His death was his healing, and somehow part of mine too. This book is dedicated to his memory as he navigates the eternal realms of the Great Mystery.

With profound gratitude, I honor the teachers who have shared their wisdom before me. My view has been highly influenced by Master Jeffrey Yuen, who continues to impart the ancient wisdom of the Taoist oral tradition so eloquently into our modern mindset. Much of this work is my personal interpretation of his teachings.

Id also like to acknowledge Daoist Traditions College of Chinese Medical Arts, which offers classical teachings in its curriculum, and whose president, Cissy Majabe, asked me to teach this material.

While the list could be endless as this vast field of shared wisdom cannot be imparted by any one of us, these friends and colleagues have each played a synchronistic role in allowing me to write this work: Inna Lozinskaya, MD, whose brilliance has been of immense help in ensuring medical accuracy of the content; Browning Smith, DACM, L.Ac., who evaluated each section for Chinese content, flow, and grammatical correctness; Lorie Dechar, who dares to shine her alchemical spirit in the world (in writing the foreword to her book, Kigo, I became known to Singing Dragon Publishers); Lorne Brown, who first invited me to teach this material through Healthy Seminars, and who connected Claire Wilson with me; and Claire Wilson from Singing Dragon, who invited me to write this book, and without whose promptings it would not have been attempted.