Woke up at 1:30pm, ate Cheerios and crawled back to bed. Turned on my itunes, listenig to Vivaldi Concerto in G for 2 Guitars; reading ‘Ten Lectures on the Use of Medicinals from the Personal Experience of Jiao Shu De’ and ‘Case Studies on Pattern Identification from the Personal Experience of Jiao Shu De’.  I am stunned and amazed at this Master herbalist and physician; what knowledge and insight; utterly brilliant!  Reading these books makes me realize what an amature I am, how lacking I am, how much farther I have to go before I can truly call myself a good doctor.

Chinese medicine is all about understanding subtleties and basics. These are two very different things.  Without a very strong foundation in basic knowledge one can never hope to unearth the subtleties of this medicine.  It is my contention that one gains mastery only by studying and restudying (perhaps forever) the basics.  Then the subtleties become apparant and appear like visions out of the air; one can call them epiphanies. 

So, it is via this revelation that my knowledge is infintesimal that I have become inspried. I am inspired to continue to study herbal medicine diligently so that I can hope that one day I can be a truly effective physician, an effective interpreter of the language of Chinese medicine with all its subtle intonations and multi colored phrases. 

I have come to understand that being a good doctor requires a lifelong commitment to arduous study and great sacrafice.  But is it really a sacrafice to engage wholeheartedly on a journey which will enable one to arrive at a destination where the true service of others can be realized? I think not!

I bid you all well on your collective journey to parent-hood. Enjoy your meal, your family, your friends, your lives and know, deep in your heart and feel the comfort that comes from the warmth of this knowledge that I am home in bed on Christmas day studying medicine because I am commited to serving you.

Peace and love.

mike berkley

Most acupuncturists treat patients after intercourse in the ovulatory phase with treatment protocols that try to ‘calm the uterus.’  ‘Calming the uterus’ means to reduce spasm in the uterus. As with all other Western medical or complementary medical protocols, one cannot treat ‘across the board’.  In other words, all treatments should be individualized and based upon pattern differentiation.

We know that sperm motility is not as important in transmitting sperm to the fallopian tubes as is female orgasm. In fact, the the main purpose of female orgasm is to facilitate conception by improving the forward progression of sperm.  Female orgasm causes uterine contractions which facilitate the movement of sperm through the uterus to the tube where the egg is waiting to be fertilized.

So, when I treat a couple where the male partner has poor motility, I schedule the patient to have intercourse in the morning and then present to my office within the hour.  When treating this patient, I specifically cause uterine contractions with my protocol.  This will help move the poorly motile sperm through the reproductive tract and help facilitate entrance to the tube.

This is not the typical thinking in the community of acupuncturists but I have had many successful cases in couples with male factor motility issues using this method.

Dr. Berkley

I sit here in my upper west side NYC apartment, Sunday, December 14, 2008, 9:45am feeling like the lucky guy. My chest is full, my face warm, my mind calm but with an undercurrent of anticipation and excitement.  I am humbled and filled with gratitude.

I have been blessed and fortunate enough to have so many wonderful people pass through the doors of The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness and trust me with the most important thing in their lives: helping them get to pregnant.  How can I ever thank them for their confidence in me? How can I ever recover from cases in which my intervention was unsuccessful?  How can I ever find the words to express the joy I feel when success is achieved?  The truth is, words are too weak to express these feelings and feelings such as these are too powerful to communicate verbally. So, in all cases, a warm hug must suffice.

Tissues are brought out for those who did not (yet) conceive and for those who did. Tears: the common denominator for all those who enter The Berkley Center. Tears of joy or those of sorrow. Tears: either clearing the vision for future attempts or washing away years of pain in the face of the reality that “I am pregnant!”

I want to thank each and every one of you who entrusted me and the staff at The Berkley Center. We have tried hard for you and we will continue to advocate on your behalf; advocate by informing you with the latest knowledge in the field of reproductive medicine both from the Western and traditional Chinese medical knowledge-bases. We will advocate for you by becoming more knowledgable ourselves, by constantly sudying and drilling deeper into theories and techniques so as to be able to parse out the best from the good and pass it along to you.

It is becasue of you, my patients that I get up in the morning and run to work. It is because of you that I gave birth to The Berkley Center; a safe and reliable place for those suffering with the heart breaking thing called ‘infertility’ to come and be treated, nurtured and helped; a sanctuary from the crammed and loud waiting rooms and a break from clinicians who treat you but who can’t remember your name. A place where care is real.

For those of you who are pregnant or who have given birth to your bundle of joy I offer my most heart-felt congratulations.  For those of you who are still trying, be it known, here today, right now, that I personally will be by your side, fighting the fight until you too ask for the tissues to wipe away the tears of joy.

With all my love.

Mike Berkley, L.Ac., FABORM

Doctor of Acupuncture (RI)

Founder and Director, The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness

You’re invited! 

Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/6rfu8y

Dr. Berkley