About
My academic interest has always been in biology both in school years and at university where I got a degree in microbiology. It was then that I first met acupuncture, as a patient; it sorted out chronic sinusitis to my surprise. A few years lumberjacking in Scotland, then work in commercial computer systems which ultimately funded the five years that I needed to retrain in Chinese medicine theory with acupuncture, and then herbalism, as the treatment methods. Fortunately the computer systems work also trained my chaotic mind in logic problem solving; a skill which you need to succesfully practice Chinese medicine. I started working in the osteopathy practice established by Roger Giddings and we developed ways of integrating acupuncture and osteopathy in chronic back pain; also learning the relative strengths of the two modalities. Since then the practice has grown significantly but this ethos of integration has grown with it. Chinese medicine allows us to work towards understanding complex patterns of illness; I studied pulse diagnosis under students of Dr John Shen who was a renowned diagnostician, having himself studied in a lineage of pulse masters in pre-revolutionary China. Recently I’ve been fortunate to be able to study classical Chinese Medicine with a scholar of the foundation classical texts. Arnaud Versluys (see link to his website on right) was the first westerner to study in China right through from batchelor then masters degree through to doctorate. He was most fortunate to also be able to study with a ‘lineage’ teacher and clinician who taught him the theory and use of the classic formulae from the writings of the Han Dynasty master Zhang Zhong Jing, who is still regarded as one of the greatest physicians ever to have practiced Chinese Medicine.
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