British acupuncturist Oran Kivity trained in Europe, China and Japan, and now practices in Taiwan. In continuous practice since 1987, he has specialized in Japanese methods and in 2000, was a founding member of Toyohari U.K., the British branch of the Toyohari Association of Japan. In recent years, he developed the Ontake Method, winning awards in 2014 from Harper's Bazaar magazine and in 2019, from Global Health Pharma for the most innovative new healing method. He is also the author of two recent books on the subject: Moxa in Motion With the Ontake Method: Rhythmic Moxibustion Methods from Japan for Mind-Body Healing (2020) and  Hirata Zone Therapy With the Ontake Method: Repurposing the Lost Art of Japanese Dermatome Moxibustion for Contemporary Practice (2021).
Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) affects more than 15% of the U.S. population but evades most practitioners’ radar. Just five years ago, it wasn’t even on my radar, despite already having 20 years of experience as a clinician at that time. The more I dug (similar to leaky gut and post-COVID syndrome), the more I found my patients were suffering from this disorder.
Research supports the effectiveness of selecting the distal acupuncture points for the treatment of microtrauma and for relieving pain, particularly in cases of chronic shoulder pain. But to make the treatment results long-lasting, clinical experience and research suggest that instead of treating the most painful structure first, we identify the inhibited driver, restore reliable recruitment, confirm it with immediate re-testing, and only then address the painful area as a branch of a deeper pattern.
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The motivation behind our practice of medicine is important, impacting not just our experience but also the experiences of those we treat. It is perhaps for this reason that the aspiration to help not just some, but all beings heal, has historically been an important part of the medical tradition. To explain this, we need to consider how medicine is interwoven with other social domains.