Origin is Destiny: The Ba Zi as a Way to Understand Internal Causes of Disease

Description

In this seminar we will look at how the Day Master (日元 ri yuan) of a八字 ba zi chart is affected by the season of birth, its root and formation. We will explore the five factors and the ten gods – (十神分析 shi shen) and how they affect our journey through life.

More than 2000 years ago, East Asian physicians started to explore the equivalence between microcosm/human and macrocosm/nature (exemplified in the principle天人合一 tian ren he yi). They were trying to understand how the cyclical rhythm of time influences our existence and determines how we encounter and look at the world.

Incidentally, in 2017, Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of the molecular machinery underpinning a biological clock: a vast number of neurons in the hypothalamus responding to light signals received through the eyes which synchronise human internal processes/ microcosm with the cycles of nature/macrocosm.

East Asian Medicine describes time alterations using 22 symbols (10 heavenly stems – 天干 tian gan – and 12 earthly branches – 地支 di zhi), so that a unique signature in terms of 5 elements (五行 wu xing) is associated to any double hour in time. Since the Tang dynasty, this signature has been portrayed in a chart called 八字 ba zi, literally 8 characters, with the idea that the starting point of a life cycle dictates the development of any chronobiological transformation along that cycle.

This unique signature or blend of five elements at the time of birth of an individual may provide important information about their constitutional traits (how they encounter and look at the world) especially when related to the climatic environment they live in.

The teacher, Elio Basagni has studied these concepts deeply for 15 years. He says:

“In the last 10 years I have calculated and interpreted thousands of ba zi charts, which I found incredibly helpful to understand my patients’ fundamental drives. Therefore, I am pleased to have the opportunity to share with you my findings and present clinical cases which will highlight the introspective power of this approach to our patients’ roots and their internal causes of disease.”

Eligibility

Origin is Destiny: The Ba Zi as a Way to Understand Internal Causes of Disease

Introduction Course

About Elio Basagni

Elio is an acupuncturist trained in the tradition of the classical Chinese writings of the yellow emperor inner canon 黃帝內經 and a practitioner of Tai Chi 六合八法 which he started studying more 30 years ago under the guide of Daoist Master J.W. Shadow. He strongly believes that acupuncture can be the answer to the crisis affecting all evolved health systems globally; a modern answer with old roots; a medicine that put patients again at the centre of the clinical stage, treating them as individuals and consequently guiding them towards taking responsibility for their health needs.

Elio has spent the last 18 years deepening my understanding of the classics and feels part of the variegated movement defined as Classical Chinese Medicine, led by scholars like Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée and Dr. Liu Lihong. He was awarded a BSc degree with First-Class honours in Oriental Medicine – Acupuncture by the University of Brighton, having completed a four-year full-time course at the International College of Oriental Medicine (ICOM), where he also gained his Therapeutic Massage Diploma.

In the last decade, he has contributed to the design and development of the academic and clinical curriculum of the ICOM Acupuncture programme, working together with the University of Greenwich and the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board. At the college, I held the position of Director of Studies from 2013 to 2018 and Principal from 2018 to 2023. The College, founded by the healer and physician Dr van Buren is the oldest acupuncture academic institution in the United Kingdom and the only place where the five phases are studied in relation to the wuyunliuqi 五運六氣. Elio has been studying how to employ the Ba Zi in an acupuncture clinic settings (in particular how different yearly climatic presentations interact with patients’ constitution) over the last 10 years.

He is currently sitting on the college Academic Advisory Board and leading the ICOM clinic module. Since 2012 he has been part of the Acupuncture team working at the Macmillan Cancer Information and Support Service at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead. In June 2013, having completed a Masters in higher education at the University of Greenwich, he became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). In 2019 he was one of the international peer reviewers of the draft document produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the Standardisation of the Terminology used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. He is a member of the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC).

Cancellation policy for CPD course bookings at ICOM

• Refunds for cancellations two or more months before the course commencement will incur a 15% administration fee. 
• Refunds for cancellations between two months and two weeks before the course commencement will incur a 25% administration fee. 
• Refunds for cancellations two weeks before the course commencement will incur a 50% administration fee. 
• No refund will be given for no shows or cancellations upon the course commencement. 
• Any amount overpaid by the student will automatically be refunded to the student’s account.