Testimonials

Bob Quinn reviews Engaging Vitality: Fundamentals in the Journal of Chinese Medicine Issue 140 February 2026

Engaging Vitality: Fundamentals is a detailed report and roadmap of the efforts of Bensky and Chace to import their palpatory and perceptual sensitivity, gained across decades of work in osteopathy, into TEAM. It is thrilling reading, and I would hope that many practitioners in TEAM will purchase a copy and take on the mission of exploring what they propose. I feel it is a revolutionary book, but the revolution it offers is a quiet one, a humble one – quiet enough and humble enough that it could conceivably be overlooked and passed over. In this book review, I will do my best to ensure that does not happen, because this book could be a needed sea change for our profession. Engaging Vitality (EV) is the name given to the set of palpatory and cognitive-perceptual tools that, taken together, lead to an entirely novel way of working with acupuncture. These tools come from osteopathy, but the authors establish clearly that they are not distant to TEAM foundational concepts; for example, they refer to the cranial rhythmic impulse (CRI) as the yang rhythm. Please note that I did not call it an acupuncture style. Calling it a set of tools rather than a style is not a small difference, and the implications are important. There are six sample cases included in Chapter 12, and they clearly illustrate how widely varying the application of these tools can be. One case, for instance, is from a group acupuncture setting and includes auricular points, while another includes gua sha, cupping and dry needling. This license to apply the tools in multiple ways is one of the most appealing aspects of EV. These cases also illustrate that EV does not supplant Chinese medical theory, ie it is not just a system of palpation and perception that does away with the need for TEAM theory, but rather EV gives needed clarity, precision and direction to our treatments. Hallelujah.

Michael Max L.Ac., host of the Qiological Podcast

"One of the things about Engaging Vitality that I think is worth pointing out is that it's not a method of "how to" but more a set of tools that allows you to find out how it is for our patients.

It's a way of using your attention, sensing, and touch to see how a treatment is being received by your patients.

Regardless of the acupuncture technique or tradition that you follow, the EV skills will help you to calibrate and understand how your patient is responding.

This kind of cultivation of attention, it's radical in a way, as it allows for you to deeply engage in ways that will surprise you and perhaps shake up your mental models of the world."

From a Fellow Practitioner

"During my 25 years in private clinical practice, I have strived to “do more with less” in my treatments.  I have practiced for the last ten years in the traditions of Japanese style acupuncture and trained to palpate and listen to the subtle energies of the body.  

Learning the Engaging Vitality tools has taken my palpation skills and the efficacy of my treatments to a much higher level. I find my treatments to be thought-provoking, surprising, elegant and beautifully serene.  

Rather than starting with a diagnosis and then treating with prescribed points, I now use the EV tools to assess by exploring, inquiring and appreciating what the patient’s body tells me.  

I then let the findings guide me to the channel and the point on that channel that has the greatest systemic “tong” effect of settling the Qi, opening, connecting and unblocking multiple channels.  

The points selected provide me with a deeper understanding of what is actually going on with the patient’s health condition.  

The EV assessment toolbox helps the practitioner tap into the intelligence of the body and to facilitate the body’s innate healing ability.  Studying EV has re-ignited my passion for practicing Traditional East Asian Medicine."

- Susan Eng, L.Ac., New York, New York