How can you feel healthy in the best possible way?
If you have to believe the newspapers, it depends on the amount of alcohol, coffee, vegetables, fruit, meat. Or the amount of stress you get on your plate and the amount of mindfulness or yoga that you can set against it. Or of the effort you make in the gym, the social network in which you feel at home, the social success that you are part of.
Science conducts research into hypotheses, whether subsidized or not, while schools and universities state realities, whether politically correct or not, and experts take it a step further by means of countless media and lobby channels, whether with a coloured view or not.

So what about me? How much sense do I have of it myself?
Or is it perhaps better to ask the question: what do I really think of the world around me, of the world that I am?

This immediately raises other questions, for example: Who am I then? What does it mean that body and mind are one? What does it mean that we should live in harmony with nature? What does it mean that existential fear and eternal wisdom are one? What does it mean that wuji is all that is nothing, where space and time are not connected yet? What does it mean that taiji is the state of perfect harmony of opposites, and also the first vibration in space and time?

It means that we are vulnerable in this life. That we are separated in space and time from the perfect harmony without contradictions, but at the same time are connected with it all our life in all eternity. Could it also be one of the explanations that, after being continually brought out of balance through our daily actions, we can end up in a new temporary homeostatic balance every time? Is that what we experience as being healthy?

Does that make health something general or individual? It is true, that this homeostatic balance is not someone else's, it is our balance. The balance in which we have come to believe unconsciously from our enlightened state - where we were in when we were born - the balance of which we can say we feel healthy at.

It is the balance that we hope to recognize in the words we face every day, from the world around us in the world that I am. It is also the balance that you move as a therapist, allowing your patient to reconnect with the everlasting vibration of harmony that is manifesting everywhere in the world around him and the world that he is.

This requires a harmonious and healthy balance of the world around you, and thus of the world that begins with you. Think globally, start locally. That requires a different way of thinking of the world around you, and again: of the world that begins with you.
And that world has begun the moment you have taken shape in the space and time that we call "the world around us". The world that consists of more than alcohol, coffee, vegetables, fruit, meat, stress, mindfulness, yoga, gym, the social network and social success.
It is the world that is bound to eternity in perfect harmony, and where our self-healing ability brings us back again and again when we are unbalanced.

The world around us should only learn to think about it that way. That requires a change of thinking. In the world that begins with us.

Hopefully the International Lectures courses can help you with that. We try to offer you teachers and courses that go beyond just refining your existing knowledge. We hope to inspire you time and time again with new insights or shared personal experiences so that you can enrich your own insights. Both as a therapist and in your personal life.

During the course Tao of Love and Sexuality (March 8, 2019) Yan Schroën will explain to you what role Qi plays in the field of sexuality and how in your practice you can treat problems such as infertility, impotence and frigidity with simple exercises.

Tuvia Scott will explain to you the Abdominal Acupuncture therapy on 15, 16 and 17 March 2019, which is particularly effective in the treatment of chronic, long-term diseases. A not unimportant aspect of this treatment method is that the needle use is superficial and without "de qi". This makes the treatment painless and therefore ideal for patients who have a fear of needles. The treatment is also called the "wonder therapy". After this three-day event you will understand why, and you can immediately apply it in practice.

With the very interesting three-day Effective pain relieving needling techniques - Trigger points and beyond (5-7 April 2019), Nicholas Van Bergen Garner gives you a glimpse of the world of pain and how to look at pain from an Eastern and Western perspective. All points and techniques are explained from a scientific point of view with the associated anatomical and physiological characteristics and also from a Chinese medical perspective. Nicholas will discuss the muscles, trigger points, nerve innervations and relevant acupuncture points of the different body regions, as well as the effective needle techniques in relation to Zang Fu, five elements, the climate, etc.
Students find it a very enjoyable, educational and highly useful course and indicate that they can apply the treatments and needle techniques immediately in their practice.

For students who have followed the 9- or 12-day Shen Hammer pulse diagnosis course in the past, Sybill Huessen and her team from 10-12 May 2019 will be presenting The ABC of Shen Hammer Pulse Diagnosis - Advanced Course for the first time. A unique opportunity to improve your skills and to go a step further in the field of pattern differentiation in different diagnostic systems, such as Zang Fu, Substances, Liu Jing or first impressions.

The Australian teacher David Hartmann will give the course The Power of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Treating both Spiritual and Physical Complaints from 24-26 May 2019. Central to this course is the concept 'body and mind'. What does it mean that body and mind are one? What are the similarities and differences? What is the role of Qi in life? What is the role of Qi in our diagnosis and treatment? How can we find these insights in the different Chinese medical concepts?
At the end of the workshop it will be clear to you how you can use this knowledge if the various acupuncture point combinations are discussed that you can use for both mental and physical complaints.

David Hartmann also gives the workshop series Master the Point Combinations Part 1, 2 and 3. What makes point combinations such a powerful therapeutic tool? Why do acupuncture point combinations work? How do you know which combination to use? What role does diagnosis play in this?
David Hartmann has specialized in acupuncture point combinations in recent years. In September 2019 his book Principles and Practical Application of Acupuncture Point Combinations will be published by Singing Dragon. He will present this knowledge to you from different perspectives within Chinese medicine and he will also practice this knowledge a lot with you.



You can register separately for all three parts, but it is clear that you will learn to master the point combinations better if you follow several weekends. In order to accommodate you, International Lectures gives you a discount if you want to attend two or three weekends.
The book Principles and Practical Application of Acupuncture Point Combinations can also be purchased during the course for a special discount price.

For those who want to learn how to manage pulse diagnosis, from September 2019 to May 2020 we will once again organize the successful 12-day ABC of Chinese pulse diagnosis from Sybill Huessen and her team. A maximum of 16 students are given the opportunity to master pulse diagnosis in all its facets under the personal guidance of several assistants. The model that is taught is of Dr. John Shen and Dr. Leon I. Hammer. It is developed from the classical pulse diagnostics, but is more in line with the patients in today's society, where psycho-emotional aspects are particularly important. With simple palpation techniques many important details for the differential diagnosis and the treatment plan can be discovered. Essential for the success of TCM therapy!

In September and December 2019 Nicholas Van Bergen Garner will be giving the course Uncover the natural beauty of the face - The magic of facial and cosmetic acupuncture for the second time at International Lectures. You will learn how to recognize and treat physical imbalances in the face by loosening underlying deep emotional stagnations and taking advantage of the patient's inner joy and external beauty. This creates a harmonization on a physical, mental and spiritual level. Patients literally get their own face back, a face that shows their personal inner harmony and natural beauty.
The students who followed the course for the first time with us were extremely enthusiastic about this course as well as about the teacher.

From 8-10 November 2019 we welcome Amos Ziv again with his Meridian Wave channel theory application for pain management. This highly effective pain management method is based on TCM Channel Theory and the activation of the Jing Well points and is now used in thousands of patients worldwide by countless practitioners. The method is especially effective with common musculoskeletal complaints, such as chronic or acute back and neck pain or reduced mobility, radiculopathy due to bulging disk or hernia, joint pain, frozen shoulder, carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis and golfer's elbow, trigger finger, The Quervain syndrome, and postoperative pain.
Students are very enthusiastic about the teacher and the direct applicability in their practice!

Finally, we are currently busy planning for the end of 2019 and 2020, hoping to continue to surprise you with interesting and inspiring courses very soon!
Thank you very much for your attention. We hope to welcome you at one of our courses.