Julie: Would you talk about pulse diagnosis?

Dr. Simon: I take everyone's pulse and I have witnessed amazing pulse diagnosticians. It's a talent that can be learned but I think there are people who are just naturally better at it. I have studied many different systems on pulse and I think that being too intellectual about the pulse gets in the way of actually perceiving something.

I use the pulse at the beginning of every examination as a way of really quieting down. I have everybody close their eyes when I do their pulse and I feel their pulse with my eyes closed. And what I notice is that the person's attention goes to the pulse and my attention goes to the pulse in complete silence and in that place where there is this meeting of attention and this deep silence, information gets transmitted. Although I could probably go back and rationalize and say 'oh there is some imbalance in the upana vayu portion of the vata pulse or the second layer is suggesting some difficulty in dhatus', it doesn't work like that for me. What works for me is when something comes into my awareness that wasn't in my awareness before I engaged in that ritual. And I've come to trust that awareness.

Julie: What would you like to say in closing?

Dr. Simon: Thank you.