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Kwan Yin, the female Buddha of Compassion, often appears with 1,000 arms and hands, and in the palm of each hand, an eye. One thousand eyes scan the universe, ready to respond wherever suffering is found. When I reflect upon the work of Acupuncturists Without Borders (AWB) in New Orleans…

An increasing number of Americans aren’t sleeping, and they’re tired of it! Insomnia is a complicated and all-too-common disorder affecting between 10 percent and 34 percent of the U.S. population, 1 representing a virtual epidemic - and a colossal market in the eyes of drug companies. In 2005, drug-makers spent…

Last month, the AOM community came together to commemorate AOM Day for its fifth year. Since its inception in 2002, AOM Day has given the profession a way to promote, support and celebrate a tradition that has been around for more than a thousand years. Groups have used this day…

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), avian influenza is an infection caused by bird flu viruses. These influenza viruses occur naturally among birds and, although wild birds worldwide carry the viruses in their intestines, they do not usually get sick from them. However, avian influenza…

We are presented with an array of violence, pain and suffering on a daily basis. Our profession seeks to help those who are experiencing disharmony and pain on many levels: physical, emotional and spiritual. How do we deal with this turbulent sea of trouble? How do we work toward a…

Allergies are a malfunction of the immune system; therefore, any discussion about allergies has to start there. Reduced to its most basic terms, the immune system differentiates between cells that are harmful and those that are favorable or benign. After making this identification, it then seeks out the harmful cells,…

If you practice a form of cosmetic acupuncture, you have most likely had a conversation with your malpractice insurance company about liability coverage. One of the authors of this article has already had this sort of experience with her insurance company. The insurance carrier required a signed exclusion for “cosmetic”…

Having just observed the fifth anniversary of 9/11, it has been fascinating to watch the entire country respond to the traumatic events of that day through the perspective of OM theory. Trauma response is one of many subjects that our hard-working schools do not have time to teach, so it…

Before I moved to Japan, nearly everyone I knew basically made the same comment: Oh! What a wonderful opportunity for you to study more Oriental medicine! It was a natural remark. I have always been drawn to healing arts from Japan. My practice for nearly 20 years has been in…

The American Association for Teachers of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AATAOM) will be holding a meeting to establish the direction and future goals of the organization. New-member enrollment and participation will also be a topic of discussion. The agenda will cover setting up future meeting/conference schedules, selecting important topics of…

In my last article, I wrote about how practitioners can tap into the unlimited power of positive intent to amplify the results of their treatments. This article discusses a very popular treatment called facial rejuvenation, and why there has sometimes been a wide variance in results and client satisfaction reported…

I have heard that health care providers will have to have something called an NPI number. Is this something an acupuncturist must have? And if I do need one, how do I get it?

Shifting the paradigm of private practice, new models of practice and service delivery are continually being developed and evaluated by the acupuncture community. In this month’s column, we interview Michael McCoy, executive director of the AOM Alliance.

In the first article of this series, we examined theories regarding the biomedical mechanisms involved in facial acupuncture and likewise considered skin aging from the standpoint of Oriental medicine. We discovered that, despite the seeming disparities between the two perspectives on reality embodied in these approaches, the reductive paradigm of…

Dave Fisher, LMT, is one of the most caring men I have ever met. He has been gifted in this life with remarkable ability as a healer and as a computer systems analyst - not the usual combination of talents. I had the pleasure of working with him in a…

Many people used to call vascular disease “the silent killer,” because individuals had no knowledge of its accumulation until the fatal event occurred. We now have a much broader dissemination of knowledge and equipment to allow many more people to survive their acute crises, yet the insidious accumulations that create…

In early August, my family and I had the good fortune to be able to spend a week on the Big Sur coast. It was there that we met Lee Klinger, PhD. Dr. Klinger is an ecologist who is a leading scholar in earth systems science and Gaia theory. He…

I am writing to applaud an article you published by John Scott, DOM, called ” What Are We Doing Anyway? ” in the July 2006 issue of Acupuncture Today . Dr. Scott’s summary of where our current American health care system developed from is enlightening. Out-lining the multiple advances in…

The Acupuncture Poll’s question for September 2006 was: What is the most significant benefit of the unification of the complementary medicine professions?

One person really can make a difference. I know that sometimes our readers are more concerned with what is happening on a national level and do not want to read about events that are happening within any single state. However, the most recent turn of events involving acupuncturists in California…