Acupuncture in Kelowna

General information

As a dedicated Chinese Medicine Practitioner, I have come to understand that the human body is a complex thing. One of the underlying principles of Chinese Medicine is the recognition of patterns within complexity. Large amount of complex information can be synthesized, and viewed with a sophisticated simplicity. A Chinese Medicine Practitioner can utilize the same methods of diagnosis, pattern differentiation method and treatment that Practitioners have been using for thousands of years, to treat that very same pattern often with profound results. One of the big differences between Western medicine and Chinese Medicine is that Chinese Medicine is focused on restoring the functional mechanisms in the body versus

After graduating from the Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine school in 2005, I sought out work in a setting where I could have as much exposure to as many different approaches to treatment as possible. I landed two jobs in Calgary: one as a practitioner in a multi-disciplinary clinic inside of Mount Royal University (Optimal Therapies) and other at the polar opposite end of the healthcare spectrum as a Unit Clerk on an Acute Neurosciences unit at a large hospital.

Those years were full of so many valuable experiences of such a wide variety of patients and approaches from the treatment of pain and neurological issues, to infertility, digestive and emotional issues.

When I moved to Kelowna to start a family in 2011, I sought out a similar clinical environment where I would get that exposure to a variety of healthcare approaches under one roof, and I joined the healthcare team at Okanagan Health & Performance in 2012.

My passion to delve deeper into the roots of Chinese Medicine led me to pursue post graduate studies in 2012 with the Institute of Classics of East Asian Medicine in Portland, Oregon (www.iceam.org); which is an worldwide institution dedicated to the study and clinical application of important Chinese Medical texts from the Han dynasty. I am in the final stages of becoming a diplomat of ICEAM and will be continuing on to obtain fellowship status from this institute.

These Han Dynasty texts, (the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue) are considered to be among the most important texts in Chinese Medicine history, influencing most of what has come after it. They are also practical clinical manuals which can be considered a system for treating nearly every possible health condition - and in spite of advances in Western Medicine - the fundamental reality is the human body has remained the same over the past few thousand years. The original author, Zhang Zhong Jing - is considered the grandfather of Chinese Herbal Medicine.

In addition to my ICEAM studies, I am also committed to formal studies with the Xinglin Institute (www.xinglininstitute.org) which also has a focus on research into the origins of Chinese Medicine - specifically focusing on a text known as the Nei Jing. The Nei Jing preceded the texts of Zhang Zhong Jing, and its is considered the these writings provide the theories and terms that have sustained the practice of Chinese medicine to the current day. It is considered the primary text of Chinese Medicine theory.

The core purpose for these studies is to gain a better understanding of the root principles of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, beyond the basics that are taught in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine schools and back to the roots of this powerful medicine.

Some of the other continuing education I have completed includes:
2012 Certification by the Society for Acupoint Injection (trigger point injection, Prolotherapy injections, high quality B12 shots)
Acupuncture for sports injuries: anatomical and structurally based needling therapies such as Motor Point needling (Whitfield Reaves/Matt Callison)
Pregnancy, labour and postpartum treatment (Deborah Betts, Jean Levesque)