Ken Bendat has maintained a lifelong interest in Asian culture and medicine – stemming from discovering the limitations of modern medicine in treating illnesses in his family and a deep appreciation for the role of the mind and spirit in fully healing chronic illness.
While completing a bachelor’s degree at UC Santa Cruz in Biology and Environmental Studies, Ken briefly attended a Chiropractic college, apprenticed on an organic farm, and lived in a Tibetan Buddhist center. Through these experiences he discovered that a career in Chinese medicine was the path that made sense. At 24 he began his education at Five Branches Institute school of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in Santa Cruz, being in their first graduating class in 1986. While studying he completed several internships with private practitioners as well as received his Diplomate status degree and California license. During this time he also began his study of yoga and Daoism with Charles Belyea (now ‘Liu Ming’), the founder of the Five Branches.
After practicing in California for 5 years, Ken travelled to Southeast Asia and China for 7 months in 1991-1992. After opening up a free clinic in Penang, Malaysia, Ken travelled to Hangzhou, China – a town famous for its West Lake (“in heaven there is paradise, on Earth there is Suzhou and Hangzhou”) While on the way to the TCM teaching college his first morning off the train, a passerby took him to the local peoples’ TCM hospital – the Zhejiang Provincial hospital near the famous lake. Ken spent 3 months there – interning with a reknown Lung/Stomach herbal doctor and a Gyn/fertility herbal doctor, as well as studying acupuncture and infant tui-na (massage) at the teaching college. He also was invited to play his guitar at a local university.
On returning to the U.S., Ken established his practice in Ashland in 1992 and has been practicing consistantly since. Annually chosen “best acupuncturist” by the Ashland Sneak Preview, he carries on the tradition of informal, relaxed style with precise and educated application of theory that he learned from his Chinese teachers.
Ken has always felt it important to maintain a full Chinese bulk herbal pharmacy as well as make use of modalities such as moxibustion and cupping – knowing that in Asia these are the gold standard of traditional treatment. Ken views himself as a family practitioner of TCM rather than a ‘specialist’, appropriate as Chinese medicine at its classical root is not a medicine of ‘specialization’ but rather the focused clinical and well-read application of the study of ‘qi’ and ‘blood’ to the condition of the clients body, energy, and mind. After 22 years of experience since licensing, he prefers an initial consultation to determine how well a particular person with a chronic medical condition will respond to acupuncture/moxa and/or herbal therapy.
In previous historical times, when conditions didn’t respond to treatments, the doctor also knew or recommended a practitioner that worked with ‘ancestral’ causes. To this end, Ken has studied and applied astrogeomancy in its relation to healing – apprenticing in both Vedic and Chinese systems in order to understand how to find freedom from conditions that seem to be ‘fated’. When appropriate, having an understanding of those deeper cycles can unlock what appears to be a blocked body/energy state and lead to different strategies as well as acceptance (and thus relaxation) of the condition.
Ken enjoys educating clients who are interested in not only understanding their personal ‘clinical’ Chinese medicine condition from a TCM perspective, but more importantly be able to transfer that diagnosis into the ‘folk’ level of being their own doctor. For further and more focused information, classes are available on a seasonal basis. Ken teaches about the role of movement (qi gong), eating (the role of seasonal diet and nutrition, herbal supplementation), and sitting (meditation, sleep, letting go) in the development of a personal path towards wholeness, happiness, and longevity. By following the ancient principles of eating, moving, and exercising according to the flow of the seasons the student can ‘economize’ – alleviating the need for ‘special’ supplementation therapies.
Ken is licensed by the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners as a Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac.) as well as holds a Diplomate by the National Certification Board (NCCAOM). His classes in 2009 are planning to be available for CEU credits.