Acupuncture treatement goes deeper than the relief of symptoms. Your entire being – physical, mental, and emotional – will feel healthier and more in balance.

My style of acupuncture is very gentle, from Japanese traditions. I use extremely thin needles, several forms of heat therapy (moxibustion), and gentle bodywork. Acupuncture is a deeply relaxing experience. Many people fall asleep during the session.

Our first time together, I will explore your health history and current concerns. I will then feel your wrist pulses, and gently palpate your abdomen, arms, and legs in order to confirm a diagnosis. After the acupuncture, we will examine how lifestyle choices affect your condition. My aim is to provide you with tools you can use to improve your own health. These may include medicinal tea, dietary changes or exercises, home moxibustion and other self-care measures.

The overall picture the West has of acupuncture is derived from Chairman Mao's condensation of hundreds of styles and thousands of years of the art of Chinese Medicine into a unified State-approved standard. The phrase "Traditional Chinese Medicine" first appeared in 1955. The first acupuncture colleges in the U.S. only had one or two officially-approved translated texts to teach from. It is not surprising that there are many misunderstandings in the U.S. about acupuncture. One popular notion is that acupuncture is for 'external' (mostly muscular-skeletal) problems, and herbal medicine is necessary for chronic, 'internal' (mostly visceral) disorders. But Japanese & earlier Chinese works both clearly document (often very poetically) the usefulness of acupuncture for a wide variety of long-term and internal, as well as muscular and short-term problems.*

My approach to acupuncture is a combination of the 'Traditional Chinese' acupuncture I learned in school & in China, with various styles of Japanese acupuncture I have been studying ever since. In addition to palpating the pulses, Japanese diagnosis is heavily based on palpating the abdomen and meridians for weak, tight, or tender areas. The acupuncture tends to be gentle, using very thin needles.

With each new patient, I prefer to see how effective the acupuncture and moxibustion can be before deciding whether herbal medicine is necessary.

Health problems which cause pain or distress, from tight muscles to tumors, first begin as energetic imbalances or blockages. Acupuncture and moxibustion revitalize energy and restore its smooth flow throughout the body. This enables the circulatory, lymph, and nervous systems to flow smoothly as well, which maximizes the body's ability to heal. The patient's body often regains a large degree of balance and health with less need for herbs or supplements.

The best success comes when treatment is highly individualized, and when the patient is eager to get better. I love teaching patients how to improve their own health, at whatever pace they are ready to take. Some are slow to make changes, while others are ready to fully dive into diet change, exercise, and home-moxibustion. Progress is definitely faster the more motivated the patient, but slow steady progress is just as effective long-term. I consider my relationship with my patients to be a partnership; we work together for the best results.

If you are living with any kind of health challenge, minor to severe, call me at 206.323.3277 to discuss how acupuncture can improve the quality of your life.

*For an enlightening summary of acupuncture during the Cultural Revolution, see:

A Great Treasure House, Brady T. Chin, CJOM Vol.17 No.2