About Dr. Bruce McFarlane
Dr. Bruce McFarlane, BA, MD, CCFP, FCFP
Dr. Bruce McFarlane is a medical advisor to the Taoist Tai Chi Society of Canada and a member of its Central Region Management Committee. He helps coordinate the Health Recovery Program of the International Taoist Tai Chi Society.
Dr. McFarlane was born in Saskatoon and lived in Newfoundland and several other provinces before moving to Winnipeg. After high school, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree at United College before entering the faculty of medicine at the University of Manitoba, graduating in 1969. Dr. McFarlane obtained his CCFP in 1981 and later his FCFP.
Following internship at the Toronto General Hospital, he spent his first year of practice in the central Arctic, travelling by small plane to 6 communities spread across a thousand miles. He then settled and worked in rural Ontario as a family doctor and emergency physician until 2003.
Since then, he has divided his time between working as a general practitioner in Cambridge Bay, Victoria Island, Nunavut and serving as a volunteer instructor, advisor and administrator for the Taoist Tai Chi Society.
Dr. McFarlane joined the Society in 1993 and has been instructing the Taoist Tai Chi™ internal arts of health since 1996. He attended a number of workshops led by the organization’s founder, Master Moy Lin-shin, before his death 10 years ago.
He quickly became interested in the development of programs designed for those dealing with impaired mobility or deep illness. In 1999, Dr. McFarlane was invited to help coordinate the Health Recovery Program offered by the International Taoist Tai Chi Society. Along with others, he remains actively involved with this unique program.
Dr. McFarlane has also been asked to lead workshops and training sessions for the Society’s volunteer instructors in Canada, Europe and the USA. He is regularly called upon to make connections between western anatomy and physiology and the Taoist Tai Chi™ internal arts of health.
Dr. McFarlane has been married 43 years. He has 4 children and is the proud grandfather of Montgomery who is now 3 years of age.
We’ve concentrated a lot lately on the upper limbs. We’ve emphasized that, because the hands form one end of a number of continuities running through the body, their proper use has a significant impact on all our movements. But the … Continue reading →
For awhile now, we’ve been delineating hand to foot continuities that run throughout the body, providing strength, flexibility and a more developed sense of one’s body in space as they unfold. These patterns of uninterrupted flow, created by sequences of muscle, … Continue reading →
Filed under Anatomy and Physiology, Health Watch
Tagged as adductor longus, anterior oblique sling, Back Functional Line, Front Functional Line, gluteus maximus, iliotibial tract, latissimus dorsi, myofascial meridians, pectoralis major, posterior oblique sling, pubis, rectus abdominis, thoracolumbar fascia, vastus lateralis
In the tor yu, the hands draw out the spine – as the body sends out the hands. To better understand this interplay, let’s examine further the whole body continuities that tether the upper limbs to the rest of the … Continue reading →
In an earlier article, it was mentioned that we are often asked in class to open Tiger’s Mouth, bring fingertips up, drop elbow, turn wrist or send out the hands. Why is that? What role do the upper limbs play … Continue reading →
Filed under Anatomy and Physiology, Health Watch
Tagged as anconeus, biceps, brachialis, brachioradialis, elbow extensors, elbow flexors, extensor carpi radialis brevis, extensor carpi radialis longus, extensor carpi ulnaris, extensor digitorum, extensor indicis, extensor pollicis, flexor carpi radialis, flexor carpi ulnaris, flexor digitorum superficialis, myofascial meridians, one big tendon, palmaris longus, tiger's mouth, triceps, wrist extensors, wrist flexors
Last time, we looked at how the bones of the elbow-forearm complex are designed so that the elbow bends and the hand turns. To better understand the influence of the hand and elbow on the strength and balance of our … Continue reading →
In practicing our art, one of the things we discover is the steady rhythm of the body as it turns up and then down. Surprisingly, we also learn that attending to the placement of the hand and elbow helps us … Continue reading →
Filed under Anatomy and Physiology, Health Watch
Tagged as elbow flexion-extension, elbow-forearm complex, forearm supination-pronation, humero-radial joint, humero-ulnar joint, humerus, lunate, olecranon, point of the elbow, radio-ulnar joints, radius, scaphoid, ulna, wrist
Taoist Tai Chi™ internal arts of health introduce a way of moving that is novel for all students. Because the focus is on balance in all its dimensions, we develop over time a newfound sense of comfort and ease as we … Continue reading →
Filed under Anatomy and Physiology, Health Watch
Tagged as anatomical position, appendicular skeleton, axial skeleton, distal, drop elbow, elbow-forearm complex, extension, external rotation, flexion, frontal plane, horizontal plane, internal rotation, lateral, medial, proximal, sagittal plane, tiger's mouth, upper limbs
Not quite seven years ago, a well-known Australian geriatrician and member of the Taoist Tai Chi Society, Dr. Dick Lefroy, sent me a tape of people practicing the Taoist Tai Chi™ internal arts of health. All were residents of a … Continue reading →
We’ve spoken recently of how the body makes use of tensegrity to help hold itself together. We stretch out our soft tissues and they resist further expansion and create a sea of continuous tension that tugs on and supports the … Continue reading →
In the last note, we learned that bending forward with the low back in Step Up and Punch or Push Needle to Sea Bottom reverses the normal lumbar lordosis, lengthens the thoracolumbar fascia, tautens its fibers and stores elastic energy. We saw that … Continue reading →
Filed under Anatomy and Physiology, Health Watch
Tagged as cell function, cell structure, cytoskeleton, dynamic equilibrium, elastic recoil energy, kinaesthetic sense, position sense, proprioception, tensegrity, thoracolumbar fascia, viscoelasticity
Mitchell Davis
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TTCS Editors
Dr. Bruce McFarlane
David Draper
L'équipe de la rédaction
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