SECOND EDITIONThis book is a beautiful synthesis of Marlow's decades of internal cultivation and study of the Five Element system of medicine. This is most poignantly illustrated by her inclusion of the works from her students. Chinese medicine has always been a collective endeavor. For thousands of years, human beings have drawn upon a deep desire to know themselves and how to apply those discoveries to the process of healing. This is how Chinese medicine evolves and grows to continuously meet the needs of the current era. The sign of a wise and cultivated teacher, in my opinion, is one who creates spaces for his or her students to discover their own wisdom in ways that vitalize and perpetually transform the field of medicine. In this endeavor, Chinese medicine continues to evolve through the eager hearts of empowered leaders. The multiplicity of voices forms a larger melody that contains a kind of beauty, elegance, and potency only available through collective expression. This book is an exquisite example of a collective offering that will add to the development of Chinese medicine as a healing art.-Alexander LoveM. Ac., Acupuncturist & Coach, Professor, Academy for Five Element Acupuncture, Associate Professor, Southwest Acupuncture College Marlow Brooks has taught Five Element Plant Spirit Healing to students at Naropa University in Boulder, CO for twenty years. Singing Our Heart's Song includes the fresh and lively voices of students from as far back as 1998, woven together by a thread of Marlow's voice and her artwork. May it open doors to a new way of knowing and being human, and provide a path for greater transformation within ourselves and our community.
About the Author: Marlow Brooks graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota with degrees in both Humanities and Studio Arts. She received degrees from both the Worsley Institute of Classical Acupuncture in Leamington Spa, England and the Academy for Five Element Acupuncture in Florida while studying Plant Spirit Medicine with Eliot Cowan at that time. She went on to study many other healing modalities over the years. She has taught the Psychology of Five Elements at Naropa University for the past twenty years, as well as other courses. She conducts private workshops in Five Element Plant Spirit Healing and Chinese Calligraphy in Boulder, Colorado and throughout the world. She has been a senior teacher of the Shambhala Buddhist teachings since 1984 and deeply honors her teachers, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, for their inspiration in bringing the power of art, nature and healing together with the wisdom of the dharma. Her art has been shown in exhibitions throughout North America, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Europe for over 25 years. She finds great delight in her students who, year after year, share their generous and brilliant inspiration with the world. She has complete confidence that they are and will continue to be beacons of light in the challenging years to come.