The Grove Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture

20/05/2024

We are very pleased to announce our new practitioner, Si Hwan Jin, will be practicing Wednesday's & Saturday's at The Grove Chinese Medicine. He has written an in-depth blog post on one of his specialties, SAAM acupuncture 🔥

Here's a little snippet:

🌿 My introduction to SAAM acupuncture began through a family TCM practitioner, a disciple of renowned Korean Medicine practitioner Master Kim. Intrigued by SAAM acupuncture's principles and effectiveness, as well as its understanding of the theoretical connection between the elements of Earth, Qi, and the human body, I found myself drawn deeper into its practice.

📚 I decided to further enhance my understanding by attending SAAM acupuncture classes with Master Kim's disciple (my TCM Practitioner) and studying textbooks on Traditional Korean Medicine.

☯️ With my further studies in TCM acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, SAAM acupuncture provides a complementary framework through which disharmony and imbalance in the body can be identified, diagnosed, and treated.

So, what is SAAM Acupuncture? 🤔

🌌 SAAM (舍岩) acupuncture is thought to have originated 300 years ago during Korea’s ChoSun Dynasty. There is a touch of mystery and legend surrounding the origin of SAAM acupuncture. However, the common story is that a Korean Monk who was a traveling healer had stopped for a time in the shelter of a cave to pursue a deep study of two ancient texts - the I Ching and the Huang Di Nei Jing (one of the founding Chinese medicine texts).

Taking the principles of Yin and Yang and five elements (🌲🔥🌍⚙️🌊) from the I Ching as well as the theoretical understandings of Chinese medicine from the Huang Di Nei Jing, the monk came to an understanding of Earth, healing, and the body. 🤯 It is from this understanding that SAAM acupuncture was born, with ‘SA’ in Korean meaning house and ‘AM’ meaning boulder to represent the cave from which the style originated.

🤓 Want to learn how SAAM acupuncture uses Five Elements and Six Qi to heal the body? Head over to our blog -

My introduction to SAAM acupuncture began through a family TCM practitioner, a  disciple of Master Kim. Intrigued by its principles and effectiveness, as well as its classical worldview of Five Elements and Six Qi, I found myself drawn deeper into its practice. I decided to further enhance my u...

24/03/2024

A gorgeous herbal prescription by our practitioner Lior Kedem 🥰

29/02/2024

Another beautiful prescription 🥰

10/01/2024

The Grove Chinese Medicine is back this week! 🤓 Give yourself a 2024 health boost and book an appointment with our expert herbalists and acupuncturists!

Want more information about what Chinese medicine can do for your health condition? There is a wealth of information on The Grove website (link in bio)!

Check out our info on:
🌿 Endometriosis
🌿 Menopause
🌿 IVF
🌿 Skin Conditions
🌿 Pain
🌿 Respiratory Disorders
🌿 Digestion
And lots more on our website! Want to chat to somebody instead? Give us a call on 9654 7181

22/12/2023

Wishing all of our wonderful patients a restful holiday period! We’ll be closing up for a little R&R from today 🏖️ and reopening on the 8th of January with plenty of exciting plans in the works 🤓!

Thanks as always for all the support, kindness, and friendship we are blessed to have such a wonderful community and it means a lot to us to see patients that we treated 25 years ago getting in touch again, and new patients who are friends, colleagues, sons or daughters and getting to know all the little connections that bring is together.

We can’t wait to see you all in 2024.
Steve, Davina, Anna, Lior, Jade, Maureen, Kate, Jin, Jack and Ren 🥰

13/11/2023

🐶 Manager of the Welcoming Committee 🐶

12/10/2023

More happy formulas 🥰

16/08/2023

We have hot tea brewing all the time at the clinic, perfect for taking the chill out of these frosty mornings (seriously how cold was it 😄)!!

This tea is made of organic chrysanthemum and go ji berries and is great for brightening the eyes and calming 🌼🫖

Are you feeling in need of a bit of maintenance? Our practitioners are amazing at integrating herbs and acupuncture to restore your natural balance. If you have seen us before or are looking for a practitioner for an initial consult give us a call on 9654 7181 or jump onto our website for online bookings 🤓

03/06/2023

🔥 Less than 24 hours to go until our June 4th Li Dongyuan and Atopic Eczema seminar/ webinar.

Sign up now to avoid missing out!

A recording of the event will be available for all ticket holders.

Part 1: Hidden Insights of Li Dongyuan
With Steven Clavey

What we'll be covering:

Li Dongyuan's Unique Formula Structure:
- Li Dongyuan’s History
- The unique way in which he structured his formulas
- Why they were so effective
- How to apply this formula structure to your own formulas

How Li Dongyuan Used His Formula Structure to Manage The Following Conditions:
- When and how to lift clear yang?
- Which formulas are better for deficiency?
- Which for dampness?
- Which for heat?
- What to do about a combination of deficiency, dampness and heat?

HEAD FACE AND SENSE OR***CE PROBLEMS
- Ulceration of the lips due to xu-fire
- Sinus obstruction, poor sense of smell, allergic rhinitis that keeps relapsing
- Ménière’s when the usual treatment does not work
- Treating tinnitus, deafness, and headaches due to qi deficiency,

EYES
- Cataracts, central serous retinopathy with leaking behind the eye
- Retinitis with detached retina
- Ulcers on the cornea of the eye

SKIN
- Weepy eczema with fluidy exudate and ulceration
- Dermatitis and eczema, especially if the patient ALSO has a) weak cun pulse, low blood pressure, lightheadedness or loose stool
- Using the same herbs for taking internally and as a wash

GYNE
- Profuse or ceaseless leukorrhea
- Beng Luo
- Habitual miscarriage
- Exhaustion with the periods
- Dragging period pain

SECOND Section: HEAT FROM INTERNAL DAMAGE (“YIN FIRE”)
- What did Li Dongyuan mean by “yin fire”?
- Heat due to excess vs heat due to deficiency, and mixtures of the two
- Heat due to blood deficiency,
- Heat due to yang deficiency
- Heat due to qi deficiency
- Heat due to yin deficiency

Lifting to eliminate fire:
a) lifting yang and draining fire
b) lifting yang and dispersing fire
c) dispersing pent-up heat

Part 2: Treating Atopic Eczema
With Davina Mercuri

Davina draws on her nearly 20 years of experience building upon the work of her mentors Mazin Al Khafaji and Steven Clavey to explore the tcm treatment of atopic eczema. This seminar is a powerful opportunity to expand your knowledge and confidence when treating one of the most common and persistent skin conditions you will encounter in your clinical practice.

About Atopic Eczema
🌿 Statistics, Locations, Prevalance
A Visual Analysis of Eczema
🌿 How to diagnose atopic eczema from visual signs

The Appearance, Cause and Treatment of:
🌿 Blood heat
🌿 Damp heat
🌿 Wind
🌿 Toxicity
🌿 Deficiency

Main Patterns and Formulas for
🌿 Infants
🌿 Childhood
🌿 Adulthood

Case Studies:
🌿 9 Case studies with formulas and result at every stage of treatment

Additional Info:
🌿 Consolidating treatment
🌿 Diet and lifestyle advice for patients
🌿 External Therapies

Sign up now!
Webinar: https://www.trybooking.com/CGRRU
Seminar: https://www.trybooking.com/CFHTJ

This one day two part webinar is a must for practitioners who want to improve their raw herb skills. Learn how to create effective custom raw herb prescriptions using Li Dongyuan’s formula structure in Steve’s seminar ‘Hidden Insights of Li Dongyuan’ and treat your atopic eczema patients wit...

26/05/2023

The Herb Grove Seminar with Steve Clavey and Davina Mercuri is coming up on Sunday 4th June so it's time to get down to the nitty gritty!

Here's a detailed breakdown of what we'll be covering in each part of our jam-packed one-day two-part seminar.

PART 1: HIDDEN INSIGHTS OF LI DONGYUAN
With Steven Clavey

Steve will be looking at how Li Dongyuan dealt with all the following issues:

- When and how to lift clear yang?
- Which formulas are better for deficiency?
- Which are better for dampness?
- Which better for heat?
- What do you do about a combination of deficiency, dampness and heat?

HEAD FACE AND SENSE OR***CE PROBLEMS
- Ulceration of the lips due to xu-fire
- Sinus obstruction, poor sense of smell, allergic rhinitis that keeps relapsing
- Ménière’s when the usual treatment does not work
- Treating tinnitus, deafness, and headaches due to qi deficiency,

EYE PROBLEMS
- Cataracts, central serous retinopathy with leaking behind the eye
- Retinitis with detached retina
- Ulcers on the cornea of the eye

SKIN CONDITIONS
- Weepy eczema with fluidy exudate and ulceration
- Dermatitis and eczema, especially if the patient ALSO has a) weak cun pulse, low blood pressure, lightheadedness or loose stool
- How to use the same herbs for both taking internally and as a wash

GYNE CONDITIONS
- Profuse or ceaseless leukorrhea
- Beng Luo
- Habitual miscarriage
- Exhaustion with the periods
- Dragging period pain

SECOND Section: HEAT FROM INTERNAL DAMAGE (“YIN FIRE”)

- What did Li Dongyuan mean by “yin fire”?
- Heat due to excess vs heat due to deficiency, and mixtures of the two
- Heat due to blood deficiency,
- Heat due to yang deficiency
- Heat due to qi deficiency
- Heat due to yin deficiency

Lifting to eliminate fire:
a) lifting yang and draining fire
b) lifting yang and dispersing fire
c) dispersing pent-up heat

PART 2: TREATING ATOPIC ECZEMA
With Davina Mercuri

Davina draws on her nearly 20 years of experience building upon the work of her mentors Mazin Al Khafaji and Steven Clavey to explore the TCM treatment of atopic eczema. This seminar is a powerful opportunity to expand your knowledge and confidence when treating one of the most common and persistent skin conditions you will encounter in your clinical practice.

Davina will be covering the following areas:

About Atopic Eczema
- What is atopic eczema
- Statistics regarding the prevalence of eczema
- Impact of location and allergies
- Why atopic eczema is worse in Australia and particularly Melbourne
- Western medicines that can worsen or complicate eczema

A Visual Analysis of Eczema
- How to diagnose atopic eczema from visual signs
- Photos and detailed analysis.

Key Pathologies in Treating Eczema
- Appearance, cause and treatment of blood heat
- Appearance, cause and treatment of damp heat
- Appearance, cause and treatment of wind
- Appearance, cause and treatment of toxicity
- Appearance, cause and treatment of deficiency

Main Patterns and Formulas for:
- Infants
- Childhood
- Adulthood

Case Study Analysis of simple and complicated cases such as
- How to treat spleen deficiency with dampness
- How to treat blood deficiency with dry wind
- Handout with additional case studies

Additional Info
- Consolidating treatment
- Diet and lifestyle advice for patients
- External treatments

Seminar Details:
In Person, Live Webinar and Recording Available
Date: Sunday 4th June
Location: Level 5/111 Cecil St, South Melbourne
CPD Points: 6
Practitioners $490 (inc gst)
Students: $390 (inc gst)
Discount code: For Herb Grove Members 'herbgrove'
Book in person: https://www.trybooking.com/CFHTJ
Book Webinar: https://www.trybooking.com/CGRRU
More Details: https://theherbgrove.com.au/hidden-insights-of-li.../

Hidden Insights of Li Dongyuan with Steven Clavey While this seminar has been presented overseas, this is the first time Steve is presenting it in Australia! It is jam packed with clinically applicable knowledge and will be addressing how Li Dongyuan dealt with all the following problems: What We Wi...

05/05/2023

Did you know? | 🌿 Chinese Medicine is one of the oldest documented forms of medicine still in use today? Two surviving texts 📚 The Yellow Emperor’s Classic (approx 400 BC) and The Treatise on Cold Disease (210 AD) form the basis of modern Chinese medicine theory after twenty-some centuries of experimentation and discussion.

Current practitioners continue this legacy, building upon these foundations, keeping case studies and developing new methods to treat today’s patients!

So next time you are settling down for a cup of (admittedly not that nice tasting) Chinese herbal tea 😋 it might taste a touch better knowing that there are more than 2000 years of knowledge, development and care in every sip 🤓

28/04/2023

Did you know? 🤔 | Some well known pharmaceutical drugs have been inspired by Chinese Herbs!

📖 Ephedrine, called 'ma huang' in Chinese medicine, was first extracted chemically by two Japanese chemists in the 1880's and found to be an effective treatment for bronchial asthma. The herb was first documented in Chinese herbal cough formulas around 2000 years ago.

'Qing hao', used in Chinese medicine for fever for more than 2000 years and specifically for malaria from the 4th century onwards, has become one of the most important western malaria treatments. The extract is called artemisinin and its discoverer was recently awarded a Nobel prize in physiology. 🤓

📸 this photo is taken in our clinic of some recently prepared chuan lian zi, sang ye, mu gua and shan yao! We would have loved to have a photo of ma huang, however ephedrine (now that it has been 'discovered') has become a scheduled drug in Australia, unavailable in its raw form to Chinese medicine practitioners. We are working hard to have this changed!

25/04/2023

Early bird access for our June 4th Seminar for Practitioners is closing soon, book before the 30th of April to avoid missing out!

Hidden Insights of Li Dongyuan with Steven Clavey Li Dongyuan created many formulas such as Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang, Ban Xia Bai Zhu Tian Ma Tang and Sheng Yang Yi Wei Tang. Steve explains how underlying more than half of Li Dongyuans formulas is a particular structure that allowed him incredible flexib...

07/03/2023

Our Late Summer/ Autumn Newsletter is out now! Find out where the name 'The Grove' comes from, what Chinese medicine thinks of seafood, Davina's late summer good food list, and why you should avoid ice, plus join our word search competition to win some of Steve's famous Oolong tea.

We've packed a lot into this newsletter!

01/03/2023

A little bit of red goes a long way 😍

23/01/2023

🐇 Wishing everyone a prosperous and joyful Lunar New Year! The Year of the Rabbit is a time of peace, serenity and tranquility. At The Grove Chinese Medicine, we strive to bring these qualities to our clients through the healing power of traditional Chinese medicine. We look forward to continuing to serve you and help you achieve balance and harmony in the new year. Gong xi fa cai!

🎨 Mei Wang is the talented artist behind this artwork and the Imagines Animalium. Not only is Mei a skilled painter, but she's also Steve's niece! Mei specialises in creating custom pet portraits that capture the unique spirit and personality of your furry friend. Using gouache on quality acid-free paper or cotton, each piece is hand-painted by Mei in Melbourne and can be shipped worldwide.

23/11/2022

🌿 Chinese Medicine loves the idea of food for healing and quite a few of the herbs you might have in your pantry are also used in herbal formulas 🙌 This prescription is a great example. In the top tray you can see a large thin slice of fresh ginger which is lying on top of a stick of cinnamon. The green in the bottom left is fennel seeds, with the herb just to the right being very similar to turmeric and the red seeds being Sichuan pepper corns 🤓 As a further note turmeric is also used and is known for its pain stopping effects.

So next time you are in the clinic watching your prescription being made have a chat to our dispensers. There’s plenty of fun and interesting herbs in Chinese medicine and learning about them will certainly….well….maybe it won’t make them taste better, but it will make them more fun! 💁‍♂️

08/11/2022

Did You Know 🤔?

Not all Chinese herbs are native to China 💁‍♂️ Chinese Medicine has a more than 2000 year long history of development and over this time trade and interaction with neighbouring areas meant that new herbs were often arriving via the silk road or across the sea.

🌿🍂🌱 Herbs such as Gaoli Ren Shen (Korean Ginseng), Bu Gu Zhi (Psoralea which was used in India), Sha Ren (Cardamom from SE Asia) and American Ginseng feature in many commonly used formulas and form an integral part of the modern dispensary.

An interesting side fact is that the famous American pioneer Daniel Boone traded in Ginseng while living in the Appalachian Mountains🧔🏽‍♂️

03/11/2022

👩🏻‍⚕️Our practitioners all went to a 4 day Tung acupuncture workshop over the weekend, known for it’s unique points and precision 🤓 There are so many wonderful areas of Chinese Medicine to explore and our clinicians are constantly learning new techniques and skills! 🤔

You’ll find them bringing all the goodies they’ve learnt into the treatment rooms 🙌

01/11/2022

🎃 Throwback | With Halloween just passed it’s time to do a throwback to last years impromptu herby halloween competition between the dispensers.

Which do you think was the spookiest? 👻

19/09/2022

Always a treat to receive flowers from a patient 🥰

06/09/2022

Check out this formula 😍😍

20/05/2022

Dispensary Days 🙌🏼

28/03/2022

🌿 The Herb Grove | Did you know The Grove also dispenses raw herb Chinese herbal prescriptions for other clinics around Australia? ⁠
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Our dispensary has a complete practitioner online shop running behind the scenes, and our dispensers work double time to get prescriptions delivered to patients or clinics, sometimes as far away as Alice Springs 🚚 🛫⁠
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As you know we love our raw herbs here at The Grove and helping practitioners and patients who might otherwise not have access to raw herbs is one of our favourite things. Plus 🤓 it doesn't take much to convince Ren and Steve to expand the dispensary (we already have around 400 herbs and growing 😍 )⁠
⁠
So if you are a patient wanting to try out raw herbs and your practitioner doesn't usually prescribe them, tell them about The Herb Grove. Ordering online is simple, and we dispense, pack and deliver straight to patients around Australia. ⁠
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Practitioners can check out www.theherbgrove.com.au for more information. Or call Ren on 0450735428

08/03/2022

🌿 Happy International Women’s Day | The Chinese medicine community is brimming with inspiring women. From presenters in lecture halls, to expert practitioners, authors, patients and everyone in between. It is a myriad of backgrounds, experiences and stories. Here at The Grove we are honoured to be surrounded by more than a few 🙌

Each and every day we see their expertise, compassion and friendship. Strong & sensitive, loving & vulnerable, staying true to their beliefs, sticking up for what is right and fair, passing on traditions, inspiring others and inspiring me.
Their work always ties back to helping people create more fulfilment, meaning and connection in their lives.

And in a wonderfully appropriate nod to the fact that inspiring women can be, will be, your neighbour, your friends, your colleagues and of course your mother ☺️ Gabrielle Wang (Steve’s wife and my mother) has just been announced as the 2022/2023 Australian Children’s Laureate. Her art has adorned our walls and her books 📚 (pages dog earred by captivated patients) have graced our waiting rooms for more than 20 years and we couldn’t be more proud of what she has and will achieve as the next Children’s Laureate and beyond!

To all the women in our communities, we see you and appreciate all that you do 👩‍🦳👩‍🦰🧕

02/03/2022

🐯 What does the Year of the Water Tiger mean? | The water tiger is the picture of balance. The element of water in Chinese philosophy carries qualities of stillness, self reflection, introversion, deep thinking and is wholly Yin. In contrast, the tiger is vigorous, courageous, energetic and slightly impatient, a strong representative of Yang. Therefore the water tiger is balanced, wanting to move forward but stilled and required to flow in rhythm with the water in which it swims. ⁠
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Some may see this as internal conflict, and act by trying to swim against the natural flow, this could lead to problems in life or health 🌊 In the long term the current is inexorable and the combination of the two, when welcomed, leads to well considered choices, motivation and achievement. ⁠
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This is an older painting 🎨 by Steve's wife ⁠
which I've seen on the wall at home many times. The original was probably painted around 1995, 33 years after we last saw a water tiger year, yet the feeling is the same. Go with the flow, take time with your decisions and of course if a whale ever offers you a ride, take it! 🐋

16/02/2022

Bone Broths | Our friends delivered us some nourishing Chinese herb infused chicken broths yesterday to stock in the clinic! This one has snow pears, longan berries and red dates 🤗 so naturally I couldn’t resist taking one home for dinner!

We’ll be stocking a different bone broth every few weeks, so if you love the sound of this one let us know and we’ll keep one aside for you 😋

11/02/2022

Yin - Yang, Qi and Health |🌿 Chinese medicine theory considers the balance between yin, yang and the smooth flow of qi a necessity for good health. ⁠
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⚖️ Imbalance and qi blockages can be caused by changes in the external environment such as weather 🌧️ viruses or injury, or internally from emotions, poor nutrition, or a constitutional predisposition. The result can lead to a manner of illnesses, both mental and physical such as depression, reduced immunity, menstrual problems or infertility. ⁠
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Herbal formulas and Acupuncture help to resolve imbalances and blockages in the body. A well rounded herbal formula or some relaxing acupuncture can provide the support and assistance needed to return the body to a state of balance 🙌⁠