A Brief History

Acupuncture is an enormous field of accumulated knowledge and observation spanning over 5000 years. In practice, acupuncture can take many different forms and has evolved over the centuries through different schools of thought with each school having a distinct treatment style. For thousands of years it has been taught in a master-disciple relationship with the student following the master around the clinic and studying in an immersive way. Only in the last half century has this changed.

When China underwent a cultural revolution in the middle of the 20th century, the practice of acupuncture took a turn. Many classical concepts were discarded, and many doctors of Classical Medicine were persecuted. In order to better harmonize Classical Chinese Medicine with the modern hospitals, Herbal Medicine was adopted as the primary form of treatment. Subsequently, acupuncture theories were streamlined in order to match the herbal diagnosis.

What is taught in most acupuncture schools today around the world is TCM, or Traditional Chinese Medicine. TCM, which was developed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, is the synthesis of over 3000 years of documented Oriental Medicine books and includes Herbal Medicine, acupuncture, nutrition, and qi gong. TCM based acupuncture is based on herbal concepts and does not accurately reflect the dynamic energy shifts and relationships of meridian energy networks. This is not to say that TCM based acupuncture does not work well because it is effective for many things, but in my experience Classical Acupuncture works much more consistently and often the results are more immediate and profound.

In case there was any doubt after reading this, we practice classical forms of acupuncture at the clinic. The two systems of acupuncture that I draw from are Traditional Japanese Acupuncture and Master Tung’s Acupuncture. They are both powerful systems of healing that can achieve remarkable results in only a few treatments.

Master Tung’s Acupuncture

Tung’s Acupuncture can be traced back over 500 years and was a closely guarded family style that was handed down through the generations. Kept secret until the 1970’s, Tung Ching Chang fled China during the cultural revolution to Taiwan where he set up his practice using his previously secret family acupuncture knowledge. While in Taiwan he took on many students and for the first time this knowledge was given to practitioners outside the family.

The acupuncture points used in Tung Style are completely unique both in function and location. There are many points in this system, unknown to most acupuncturists, that trigger very powerful changes in the body. Tung Style is known for achieving big results with only a few needles. The needles are inserted deeply and retained for longer periods of time. Often the treatments are supplemented with cupping and moxibustion.

Traditional Japanese Acupuncture

Japanese Acupuncture is based on classical ideas and methods which date back 2500 years. In the 700’s Japanese priests went to China and brought back with them the classical system of Chinese Medicine. Over the next 1200 years acupuncture evolved in Japan separately from China. Out of that evolution sprang a system rooted in the classics but adhering to Japanese customs and traditions. Today we call this system Meridian Therapy or Traditional Japanese Acupuncture.

Meridian Therapy distinguishes itself from other forms of acupuncture by being exceptionally gentle yet profoundly effective. The needles are inserted very superficially and often are not retained. Sometimes the needle is simply touched to the skin to promote the circulation of energy. This form of acupuncture is non-invasive and very pleasant to receive.

Meridian Therapy seeks to find the root or core imbalance that causes illness and perform needling techniques on certain points to bring that into harmony. This causes a healing response to occur in the body which can have wide ranging effects. Often multiple and seemingly unrelated symptoms can resolve in the same treatment despite only treating a single imbalance and this occurs because the innate healing potential of the body has been activated.