Project Pulse: A Dance Research Experience
Developed in collaboration with Michael Broffman, LAc at the Pine Street Clinic in San Anselmo, CA
Abstract: Project Pulse: A Dance Research Experience offers a systematic training methodology for students and licensed Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners to learn the clinical art and science of pulsology through dance. One of the greatest hurdles in learning pulse palpation is a TCM practitioner’s inability to feel the pulse with a degree of certainty that adds value in a clinical setting. Through inter-operator reliability testing, our research indicates that if practitioners learn and repeat pre-choreographed movements that represent pulse imagery, there is increased agreement amongst the group as to what pulses are being expressed in the bodies of patients. The implications of our research are that TCM practitioners are able to increase their ability to feel pulses in their patients by dancing the pulses, thus making more informed diagnoses in a clinical setting.
*Published January 25th, 2021 by the Journal of Dance Education
Dance, Education, Scholarship 