Nurturing Our Nature 養性

Sun Simiao’s Teachings on Cultivating Health and Longevity, Translated for Today

A 3-Month On-Line Course by Leo Lok and Sabine Wilms

  • Do you dream of going beyond treating illness, to facilitate true health and well-being in your own life and that of your family, community, and patients?

  • Are you a practitioner, student, or teacher of East Asian healing arts and are looking for the roots of your tradition?

  • Do you feel drawn to the teachings of the 7th-century medical sage Sun Simiao 孫思邈?

  • Are you prepared to have your heart and spirit and body transformed by ideas and practices from a far distant time and place?

  • Are you interested in the creative interplay of religion, science, and medicine; of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism; and of joyful living, healing, and alchemy?

  • Do you want to cultivate virtue and alleviate suffering by improving spiritual, physical, and emotional health?

Course Description

  • In this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, two internationally respected experts on Chinese medicine combine their unique skillsets, experiences, and professional training in translation, clinical and personal practice, and academic research in history, philosophy, and religion. Join us, Sabine Wilms and Leo Lok, as we explore the writings of the great medical ancestor Sun Simiao 孫思邈 (581-682 CE) on his most esteemed, deepest, and undoubtedly most challenging subject: “Nurturing Our Nature”!

  • Through the lens of Sun Simiao’s writings (vol. 27 of the Beiji qianjin yaofang in particular) and supported by other traditional Chinese medical and religious texts and our own life experiences, we consider how to help ourselves and those in our care to live more balanced, healthy, and virtuous lives, thereby preventing premature aging and unnecessary suffering.

  • In a dynamic, engaging, and inspiring interplay of prerecorded video and audio lectures and live discussions, we shall create a collective learning community devoted to the alleviation of suffering through a synthesis of traditional Chinese medicine, philosophy, and religion, translated into the context of our contemporary lives and practices.

  • Specific topics include daily lifestyle and preventative medicine, spiritual and ethical cultivation, meditation, sleep hygiene, physical exercises and breath work, alchemy and dietetics, and sexual cultivation.

  • This course is bound to blow all of our minds and hearts by introducing and exploring material that has never been shared in a Western language before, brought to you by two scholar-practitioners with perfect complementary backgrounds and a solid decade-long history of collaboration. We are determined to make this a life-altering experience for all of us.

  • No background in Chinese is required, and the entire course will be taught in English. We are always happy to share original Chinese sources and can go into translation issues in the discussion forum. We both love reading and translating classical Chinese, but this course is about cultivating life, not translating texts.

What you receive…

In nine units over three months, we share our knowledge in a unique structure developed by Dr. Wilms over decades of teaching to facilitate engagement, creativity, joy, and personal growth. Next course date TBD…

  • In a creative combination of video and audio recordings, we present a combination of literal translations, complementary quotes from historical and contemporary secondary material, and our personal and professional commentary.

  • We meet once for each unit for a live Q&A session on Zoom. If you cannot attend, you can always submit questions ahead of time and watch the recording afterwards.

  • We shall post original translation excerpts and complementary primary sources (in translation) and seconday resources, always in convenient pdfs for easy reading or downloading.

  • For each unit, you are encouraged to engage with your colleagues by sharing your personal and clinical insights, questions, concerns, and additional resources you may have, as we develop a community of engaged learners. Leo and Sabine will monitor and respond to comments and questions generally within 24 hours.

  • As in Dr. Wilms’ memberships and other online courses, here too you will find all relevant information, recordings, Zoom links, the discussion forum, and other resources on a single platform, easily accessed with the same password you use for her other offerings.

  • In nine units of 3 hours each, plus 3 hours of introduction and conclusion, you gain a total of 30 credit hours for continuing education. This course is NCCAOM approved, and we may do California CEUs, based on demand. We will issue graduation certificates to fulfill other countries’ requirements.

  • The price for the course is $2,500 if paid in full, or 3 monthly installments of $900 each.

Your Guides

In a truly unique constellation of backgrounds and skills, you get to watch the internationally famous podcasting and research team of Leo Lok and Sabine Wilms collaborate in real time, as they plumb the depths of one of the most important and challenging texts in the history of Chinese medicine.

  • Writer, translator, professor, publisher, and goat herder.

  • Leo is a practitioner and independent scholar of Chinese Medicine. A native speaker/reader of Chinese languages, Leo is one of the rare clinician-scholars in the world who excels in researching and translating ancient Chinese medical literature into the English language.

    Since 2015, he has been a top contributor in the 6432-member Facebook group - Scholars of Chinese Medicine. Leo has helped research and answer more than 2000 questions on the historical development, interpretations and translations of Chinese medical topics for colleagues worldwide.

    He has also been consulted for numerous translation projects for his expertise, e.g. Dr. Sabine Wilms's ‘The Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica’ (2017)《神農本草經》and "Hundred Questions on Gynecology" (2019)《女科百問》.

    He is also a contributing translator for the Chinese Medicine section of an upcoming anthology of historical Asian literature on meditation related illnesses (a project by Dr. Pierce Salguero at Pennsylvania State University).

    Leo also shares his unique perspectives and clinical insights through his online courses at http://vooma.thinkific.com

““To nurture our nature: If we strive to complete it with daily practices, it becomes perfect on its own….Then no internal or external illnesses could ever arise, and turmoil and disasters also have nowhere to start from. This is the guideline for nurturing our Nature.”

— Sun Simiao, Beiji qianjin yaofang, vol. 27

Schedule and Outline in 2024

  • Sept. 11: Introduction to the Course

  • Sept 18: Sun Simiao and his Work and Time

  • Sept 25: Sun’s “Preface on Nurturing Our Nature”

  • Oct 2: “Daolin Teachings on Nurturing Our Nature”

  • Oct 9: BREAK

  • Oct. 16: “How to Live a Healthy Life”

  • Oct. 23: “How to Practice Self-Massage” (Including Yogic Exercises and Breath Work)

  • Oct. 30: “How to Attune the Qi”

  • Nov. 6: BREAK

  • Nov. 13: “Dietetics and Alchemical Elixirs”

  • Nov. 20: “The Yellow Emperor’s Prohibitions on Sexual Intercourse”

  • Nov. 27: “Supplementing and Boosting in the Bedroom”

  • Dec. 4: BREAK

  • Dec. 11: Conclusion

Are you ready to emerge from the chrysalis?

If you feel like spreading your wings and exploring the beautiful butterfly that is your true nature, we welcome you!

Let’s work together

Are you interested in our course, willing to share some information with us, and want to make sure you get a seat? In that case we invite you to fill out this form, and we shall give you priority access to registration, in the order received. We love to get to know our prospective students, and the information you provide here helps us create a more inclusive and engaged learning community, so we really appreciate all the information you are willing to share with us. We look forward to connecting with you.