Taxation and Exhaustion

During these four classes, we will explore how classical Chinese Medicine deals with fatigue and exhaustion – two problems increasingly present in modern life. We’ll look at how to address deep chronic fatigue, but also how to build an efficient prevention. We’ll also explore the causes of imbalances and the techniques for restoring harmony to the person. 

Imbalances affecting the body have repercussions on mental function resulting from an upset of the emotions and the spirit. It can lead to a person conducting their life in such a way that leads to exhaustion. The emotions are often responsible for the exhaustion becoming chronic. 

We will examine how the symptoms point to a specific organ, why there is always a diminution of the essence (jing) along with the weakening of the yang qi and often an inner heat which can be more or less hidden. Spleen and kidneys always hold a key role in fatigue, but all of the organic functions are involved. 

As well as the fundamental teaching that we find in the canonical texts, the Suwen and the Lingshu, we will study excerpts from the Jingui yaolüe and also a comprehensive text on exhaustion written by the great physician Zhang Jiebin (1563-1640). Zhang Jiebin put the heart-mind at the core of taxation and believed it was always involved, along with other causes, in cases of fatigue, alongside other causes that he presents in great detail. 

Excerpts from a book published in the beginning of the 13th Century offer an interesting choice of points for treating the various kinds of exhaustion. 

Part 2 – Principles in Practice

A second series of 3 classes, 90 minutes each, 6-7.30pm (London time)

Tuesday 3, 10 and 17 March

The practitioner faced with an exhausted and often exhausting patient.

How do we give a treatment and give of ourselves without be emptied of our own vitality? To be open to the patient whilst at the same time protecting ourselves?

If the practitioner does not pay enough attention to their own exhaustion, they lose the clarity of mind and the discernment to make a diagnosis. In the diagnosis, the practitioner must ask the patient questions about any event or change in their life that may have started a process of exhaustion.

Since lifestyle (activity, rest, diet, emotions, etc) is important in exhaustion, the practitioner has a duty to educate their patients; but how do we educate without imposing our own convictions, to speak with legitimate authority without giving orders, to explain without trying to convince at all costs?

As in the Daodejing 51:

Way-making gives things life Yet does not manage them.
It assists them Yet makes no claim upon them.
It rears them Yet does not lord it over them.
It is this that is called profound efficacy.

(Trans. Ames & Hall)

Finally, the only/best way, for the practitioner to avoid exhaustion is to cultivate their own heart-mind and the vacuity to empty the heart, to purify the intent (yi), to nurture their “essential sincerity” (jing cheng) in order to be a great practitioner and the one able to grasp the heart of heaven.

Dates

Part 1 Tuesdays (January 20, 27, February 3 & 10 2026)

Part 2 Tuesdays (March 3, 10 & 17)

Time

6-7.30pm (London time) 

Cost

Part 1: £140
Part 2: £105
Both Parts: £245

Venue

Online

Eligibility

This course is suitable for Acupuncturists and those with an understanding of classical Chinese Medicine.

About Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée

Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée is a well-known researcher and translator of ancient Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, and author of numerous influential books in several languages. She is Dean of Study and Senior Lecturer in the European School of Acupuncture and a Member of the French Association of Chinese Studies (AFEC).

After studying  philosophy, literature and classics at the Paris University where she completed her Masters degree in Classics and Philosophy, Elisabeth met Claude Larre s.j. who was working on his PhD thesis on the Huainanzi and translating the Laozi. As a result of his influence, she began to study Chinese and work with him on Chinese classical texts. She also studied modern Chinese with a native speaker and in 1974 spent a year in Taiwan to further her studies. She holds degrees in Chinese at the Paris University.

In the early 1970s she embarked on a study of Chinese medicine, together with Father Larre and Dr. Schatz, a western physician with an interest in oriental medicine and the classical medical texts, beginning the first study group of the classical medical texts in Paris which led to the foundation of the European School of Acupuncture in Paris in 1976.

Elisabeth and Father Larre started to offer lectures, seminars and conferences on Chinese classical thought in France and several European countries. In the mid 1980s, Elisabeth began to accompany Father Larre on his teaching engagements in both the UK and the US. Her knowledge of the medical texts combined to Father Larre’s subtle understanding of the background culture and philosophy produced a unique teaching team. They also worked together on the Grand Ricci dictionary, completing the first publication – two volumes of single characters – in 1999. The complete work of seven volumes was finally published, under her direction, just before Father Larre’s death in December 2001. Elisabeth has continued to teach worldwide, working with both medical and philosophical Classics.

Read more about Elisabeth on her website. 

Other previously recorded CPD sessions with Elisabeth are also available for download.