Wonderful news

Today I received news that I have been accepted as a student in the International Chinese Language Program at National Taiwan University in Taipei. This is one of the most prestigious and rigorous such programs in the world. It is a tremendous honor for me to to be in this program.

I am especially excited that this will provide me with even more training to help the many students who are learning Chinese via the Michel Thomas Mandarin Chinese language course published by Hodder ( UK ) and McGraw-Hill ( North America).

My hope is that I will learn even more to amplify and improve my teaching of Chinese.

Stay tuned for more details.

Prediction - US elections

I have developed a method whereby I check in via my body to get some feedback on items for my patients. Over the years I have learned that a feeling of expansion correlates with a positive response and a feeling of contraction correlates with a negative response. I originally got this idea from the work of University of Chicago psychologist Eugene Gendlin, the developer of Focusing. When I was studying at the University of Chicago in the mid-1970's I took a brief course with him and learned about getting feedback in this way. I subsequently took more courses and refined the method on my own during over 17 years of patient contacts in my medical practice.

The day of the New Hampshire primary the polls showed Barack Obama ahead of Hillary Clinton by anywhere from 10-13 points. The Clinton camp was already sending signs of spinning the impending defeat. A few days before I had asked my body sense who would win. The answer was consistent: Hillary. I couldn't make sense of this. How could such a large advantage in the polls be wrong? It was impossible for Clinton to win. Yet every time I checked I got the identical answer; Hillary would win New Hampshire.

The night of the NH primary I kept checking the question. The response was consistently the same; Hillary wins NH. In the end she won by a few points.

I had long learned that this body sensing seemed to trump my logical conclusions. So I used the same process to skip forward.

Here is what emerged over and over again over the last few weeks and up until the time of this writing:

Michael Bloomberg will enter the race as an independent at the end of February.

Obama will win the Democratic nomination.

McCain will win the Republican nomination.

McCain will be elected president.

After two years he will no longer be president.

I hesitated to post this since I don't want to interject politics into this blog but I thought that it would be interesting to see how these predictions stack up based on what happens in the future. Hence, this post.

This actually happened.

Last night I watched John on the telephone attempting to place an
order.

He got some automated program where you speak to a computer and
it processes your order. He read out the order number, the address,
etc. etc. At some point he became exasperated because the computer
voice kept saying, ' We are sorry but we cannot understand what you
are requesting and cannot process your request. Please repeat your
request again.' Finally, he started screaming, 'Operator! Operator!'
Then he began yelling, 'Assistance! Assistance! ' At this point I
suggested saying customer assistance. He said this several times. Each
time the automated voice replied, 'We are sorry but we cannot
understand or process your request.'

Then, at his wits end ,he screamed, 'Asshole!'

The voice replied, 'Thank you. We shall transfer you immediately to one
of our customer representatives.'

We both laughed. And, yes, the customer representative was a real asshole!

I welcome your feedback

Please contact me at the e mail link below.

Or contact
us at hrpharold [at]gmail{dot) com

How would your life be different if you spoke Chinese - effortlessly?

Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated with foreign languages. At age 13 my parents told me I could have anything I wanted as a bar mitzvah present. Without any hesitation I requested a short wave radio. I bought it at Lafayette Electronics in Newark, NJ. It was a large, blue, metal box with several dials for tuning. From the back I was able to peer inside and see the glowing tubes.

I am not too sure how my siblings spent their evenings and nights. Mine were spent in the basement of our house, my bedroom, endlessly turning the dials and happily listening to strange voices speaking in foreign languages from far away places. I quickly became adept at distinguishing between the various tongues. If you needed someone to distinguish between Ukrainian and Polish, Estonian and Finnish, Yiddish and German, Cantonese and Mandarin, then I was your man. Any new language which I couldn't identify ( the missionary stations were good for these) became an obsession. Then, once catalogued, I would move on.

Each language, I discovered, had it's own cadence, it's personal signature. There were spoken and written patterns to the various languages and these, I noticed, made it so that without understanding a word I could still easily identify the language. It is like picking up the phone and hearing the voice of someone you know. Maybe you don't know them too well. However, intentionally or not, you have caught on to the underlying voice signature. This is unconscious, both on the part of the speaker and the listener. Hence, its power and ease of being learned.

The speaker may only utter one word. You instantly know who it is. If it is not someone you know well you may not recall their name but you do know that " I know him." This is a primordial form of learning, one which sticks forever, effortlessly. If you can do this ( and I know that you can, we all can) then, as you will soon learn, you can do it with spoken Chinese. Effortlessly. Just as effortlessly as you learn to recognize a familiar voice.

In 1995 I had the good fortune to meet Michel Thomas. How this happened and what resulted I shall explore in future posts. Mr. Thomas was a teacher who had developed a method to teach foreign languages with a minimum of effort on the part of the learner. The entire period of study usually was no more than a few days. Everything was done orally, usually one on one or in small groups. Over a period of close to fifty years he taught more than 8,000 students in this way. From 1995 until shortly before his death in January, 2005, I was fortunate to study under him. Besides illustrating his method by teaching me two languages he agreed to help me understand just how he was able to achieve his remarkable results. In essence, he imparted a practical understanding of his teaching and course development methodology.

The Michel Thomas method became famous in the UK in 1997 when the BBC broadcast a documentary of Mr. Thomas teaching French to a group of English students. These were young people who had displayed a singularly difficult time learning foreign languages. Some had even been told that their lack of aptitude insured that they would never learn a foreign language.

Within a week Michel Thomas had them happily chattering away in grammatically correct French. They were subsequently tested and it was announced that they had successfully achieved a level that might be possible after two years of formal study.
Impressive, to say the least.

Prior to this Mr. Thomas had told me about his tapes which he rented out for in office use only. They were never to leave the office since he was concerned that someone might use them to copy his work. Over a period of several years I persuaded him to agree to release them publicly. Finally, in agreement with the British publisher Hodder, Michel Thomas courses in French, Spanish, German and Italian were published on CD and in cassette form and released to wide acclaim.

Following the death of Michel Thomas I was approached by Hodder to work with them on related projects. What resulted was the development of a course for English speakers to learn spoken Mandarin Chinese. I have spent quite a bit of time in the design of this course and, after several trials with various students ( from age 16 to 70) ,now expect a student who undertakes this course to emerge with the ability to speak basic Mandarin Chinese. This will take place in a matter of hours which, as far as I know, is unheard of .

Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and several other languages are, in part, distinguished by their use of tones. This factor as well as the sheer foreignness of the languages have traditionally been a real stumbling block for non-native learners. I recently read an essay by a distinguished professor from Princeton University who has spent most of his career teaching Chinese. He wrote that even though he was under no obligation to teach basic, spoken Chinese, it gave him so much pleasure that he continued to do so. However, he noted, when it came to tones this was an area which very few teachers could successfully impart.

Mindful of this I have developed a method to teach tones which, to date, has been even more successful than I had anticipated. It is based on the understanding that each of us has a very personal learning style. The method used (patent pending) manages to utilize unconscious learning styles in a way that makes the tones and their association with specific words stick effortlessly,forever and without repetitious practice . I still am in awe of the results I am seeing with students.

In addition to my years with Michel Thomas I have learned much from many other teachers in various disciplines. For the last seventeen years I have worked full-time as a physician. The nature of my practice is such that I employ innovative approaches to help patients who present with a myriad of disorders. From doing this on a daily basis I have learned many aspects of practical problem solving. It's just another example of the maxim, Necessity is the mother of invention.I have tried to meld as much of all of this as possible in the Chinese course.

My co-teacher, Jingtao Deng, a native of Beijing, China, speaks a beautiful, clear, traditional Mandarin. It has been a real pleasure to work along side her in the creation of this course in Mandarin Chinese. I look forward to develop many more courses for languages and other subjects.

Just imagine accomplishing something that you had assumed was impossible. It is such a high, such an empowering experience. Some people have gone to seminars ( popular a number of years ago in the US) where they experienced this by fire walking. The very idea of walking over a bed of hot coals without any adverse effect was unimaginable. So, of course, when they successfully completed it ( without burnt feet!) they were delirious with joy. "I did it! I achieved the impossible!" It just opens up so many doors psychologically. The thought arises, "If I can do this then I can do just about anything."

This is how I feel about the Chinese course.. In less than an hour with the assistance of Jingtao and me you are speaking sentences that you create on your own, sentences which any fluent Mandarin speaker will understand perfectly. They will also assume, from your mastery of the tones and sentence patterns, that you have been studying the language for quite some time. No one would ever believe that such a thing can be accomplished in a few hours and without any memorization, homework, or trying.

Even Jingtao told me that she couldn't believe what she was witnessing. It was so bizarre, so unbelievable that even though she was the co-teacher she still couldn't, wouldn't believe it! Now she believes it ,though, as she repeatedly mentions, it is still hard to accept. It has altered her entire worldview. One of our trial students, a 22 year old woman who didn't know a word of Chinese when she began and had never studied a tonal language, told us after two days, " Its a miracle."

When,after a few short hours, you discover that you can effortlessly produce complicated sentences in Mandarin Chinese you will find that now anything in any area of life is possible. And the great part is that you can take this as far as you wish. If you wish to continue on in Chinese ( possibly more rewarding than walking over hot coals) this is your choice. This foundation is solid and will support you in any direction you may go in your Chinese studies. Should this give you the boost and confidence to tackle something else - go for it! For me, true learning, which you will experience in this course, is totally unique and amazingly empowering. I love it.

It is the ultimate high.

How I treat asthma

One of the conditions which I love to treat is asthma. Why? Because traditional medicine considers this a chronic, life long problem which can never be cured. It can only be held in bay with medicines. These medicines, essentially different varieties of steroids, are administered via nebulizers and many other ways. They help keep things from getting out of hand.

An asthmatic attack is frightening for everyone involved. The patient is gasping. They can't breathe. They feel like they are suffocating. It's horrible.

Recently, I had a child brought in who was a few months old. The wheezing could be heard across the room. When they left the wheezing was no longer to be heard. I had a medical student with me. We both listened with a stethoscope. No more wheezing. The child had also been pulling at one of its ears. Examination revealed a nasty ear infection. At the end of the treatment - no more ear pulling.

How can osteopthy not only help but actually cure conditions like asthma? What I did was carefully examine the child. Besides the regular exam that any well trained physician would perform, I also do a detailed osteopathic exam. I put my hands on the patient and feel for how the body is actually, at the moment of examination, functioning. If there is a problem in function I can often spot it. If you have read my earlier post on sprained ankles you will be familiar with the reality of sprains and strains which, unless removed, really limit the way the body functions.

To get to that post go to: http://www.healthresourcespress.com/harold_goodman_do.htm

They are present in 100% of asthmatic patients whom I have examined. The same can be said for all of my patients with ear infections.

I remove the strain and the symptoms are gone. This after untold time on nebulizers, inhalers, etc. At some point the patient no longer needs these medical crutches. The problem is solved. There is no nebulizer in the world that can remove a strain. There is no blood test or X ray, CT, MRI in the world that can detect what the skilled hands of an osteopathic physician specializing in osteopathy in the cranial field can uncover - and successfully treat.

So, people get better. The patient is not only free of symptoms, they feel better overall. More vitality, more energy.

For me, it's a no brainer. Osteopathy is my love. I also practice acupuncture, I am trained and licensed in traditional medicine and surgery. I am board certified in homeopathy. However, I am an osteopath in my bones ( no pun intended). After 17 years of treating thousands of patients I know what works. I only wish that more people knew that such an option is not only available but covered by most insurance. People just don't need to suffer from asthma and other so-called chronic respiratory diseases.