RESOURCES
HISTORY
Five Element Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM), Stems and Branches, Electroacupuncture and dry needling to name but a few, are all currently being practised in the U.K. and around the world all under the auspices of being called acupuncture. All of these systems have their own ways of diagnosing, treating, and relating to illness, both in their unique approach to needle technique and handling of the client. Furthermore, there are thousands of practitioners of acupuncture in the U.K., all of whom will have their own personal perspectives, life experience, philosophy and degree of integrity in regards to their practise. As this is the case, clients who are interested in receiving acupuncture would be prudent to understand the many kinds of acupuncture there are, as well as their differences, in order to best choose what is right for them in relation to their intention for having treatment.
Alongside this, what can also be a challenge to navigate through is the maligned historical context within which acupuncture and Chinese Medicine has been packaged to the West. It is a common misunderstanding that acupuncture and 'Chinese' Medicine exist as an unbroken oral lineage that stretches back thousands of years. The reality is that due to Chinese Medicine's complete enmeshment with culture and politics, most, if not all acupuncture that is practised in both the East and West has undergone massive transformation as a response to the shifting perspective of medicine at the time. In other words, it sounds really good as a practitioner, as well as a nation, to present and advertise their mysterious and unfamiliar medicine to the world as one being drawn from a consolidated and ancient cultural treasure trove when in fact it is one that is the product of centuries of internal debate, contention and appropriation.
As for Five Element Acupuncture, it is widely known that Professor J.R. Worsley brought it to the West after his experiences in Japan and Korea. The lineage holders of this particular style of acupuncture can be traced back to Honma Shohaku (1904-1962) and Yanagiya Sorei (1906-1959), however who Worsley's actual teachers are remains to be a mystery, as well as whether or not his teachings are a true representation of this lineage. The major draw regarding Five Element Acupuncture is that it is a system that supposedly migrated into Korea and Japan before the cultural revolution of China; a time where Chinese Medicine was forced to alter its philosophy and integrate with Western allopathic medicine as a way of appearing as a product of a united China that was technologically advanced and up-to-date. I have yet to find the academic material that traces the relationship between pre-cultural revolution acupuncture and its migration into Korea and Japan, however Japanese acupuncture from this lineage has been well documented by writers such as Stephen Birch, who continues to teach Japanese Acupuncture in New York. Somewhat furthermore, as acupuncture and Chinese Medicine is an oral tradition, some historians and practitioners also doubt the integrity of the classical literature upon which Chinese Medicine draws its philosophy and technique from as it could have easily been re-written during China's first attempt to standardise the medicine during the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
As a passionate advocator for transparency and authenticity within my own acupuncture practise and journey of a practitioner, I am constantly studying and reflecting as part of my process of personal development. In this time I have come to find that Five Element Acupuncture is a sophisticated and beautiful system of medicine that it is a partial aspect of the Chinese Medicine system as a whole. It
greatly emphasises the importance of the human spirit in the process of expeirencing the authentic self and achieving personal destiny. I would argue that health, without the wholesome orientation of the spirit, is just living, and that Five Element Acupuncture is particularly beneficial for those suffering from a such a reductionist and materially dominanted society.
For those seriously interested in learning more about the journey of Chinese Medicine throughout history I can recommend the following reading:
Heiner Fruehauf's Introduction to Liu Lihong's book Classical Chinese Medicine
In The Footsteps of the Yellow Emperor: Tracing the History of Traditional Acupuncture - Peter Eckman, M.D., Ph.D., M.Ac.
Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China - Volker Scheid, Ph.D. FBAcC, FRCHM
The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine, 1850 - 1960 - Birdie Andrews, Ph.D.