Engaging Vitality

Shownotes

Engaging Vitality is a combination of East Asian Medicine with mostly palpatory tools from osteopathy. Dan Bensky who has degrees in both disciplines, began to develop this kind of embodied medicine in the 1980s and in the 1990’s. He started to work on it with Chip Chace. Joined by Marguerite Dinkins in the 2000’s it has been taught as “Engaging Vitality” since 2010.

In the podcast, Dan Bensky explains some of the core concepts of Engaging Vitality. One important attitude is to be in a Wuwei state of mind. This means: paying attention in a loosely focused way instead of looking for things. Separating sensation from interpretation. “You want to feel what’s there. Not what’s there in response to you”, says Dan.

To get the most out of Engaging Vitality, Dan recommends to do the palpatory exam before knowing anything about the patient. His aim is to find the area of the body that is not working well and has the biggest impact on the rest of the body. Thinking and trying to make sense of what you have noticed is the second step. Dan has experienced that even if in some cases he didn’t understand what was going on, he did his treatment and could later see why it had worked.

Dan says: “When I palpate or talk to people and find that my original idea was wrong, I’m very happy because it means I’m paying attention. Then I can correct myself.”

At the TCM Kongress Rothenburg, Dan Bensky and his team will give a hands-on class on Engaging Vitality on Saturday, May 31st 2025. https://www.tcm-kongress.de/de/programm/engaging-vitality.htm

Dan Bensky will also give a workshop on the Shang Han Lun on Wednesday, May 28th 2025. https://www.tcm-kongress.de/de/programm/shang-han-lun.htm