I studied Traditional Chinese Acupuncture in the UK and graduated in 1981. Feeling that my training was not sufficient and moved by the desire to read original sources i enrolled in a Degree Course in Chinese Language at S.O.A.S. (School of Oriental and African Arts, University of London) and, then i spent 4 years in Beijing (China) where i followed further education in Chinese Medicine, both at the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and with an old Taoist teacher, Pang Yi Wu. As i became more and more able to read chinese classical text by myself, i realised that a lot of the information that i had been given was partial or camouflaged. I started then to study by myself, spending most of my time in the University's library, reading Chinese Classical sources in their original language. As early as 1986 i realized that the so called TCM was not following the classic school, but was a modern brand that used principle mainly related to Chinese herbal medicine, across the spectrum of other areas of Chinese Medicine e.g. acupuncture. I started to research in the field of Chinese Medical Physiology and 'fell in love' with its view of the beginning of life and the concept of Ming Men (the door of destiny), as the foundation tenet of all physiological functions. This understanding not only brings new levels of depth to the medical field, but also sets the basis for the understanding of the human being as 'spiritual' being and therapy as 'spiritual' therapy.
The training (which encompasses also the modern version of Chinese Medicine as 'one of the schools of thoughts' and not as the only one, leads to a view of the client that encompasses at the same time the therapy of the physical , emotional, mental and 'spiritual' level.
Almost 30 years after embarking on this path, i am glad to see that many more colleagues are starting to embrace Classical Chinese Medicine and open its door to students by translating old text, commenting on them and teaching them.
I hope that people wanting to be trained in this field will be willing to embrace this path with enthusiasm and a deep commitment to understanding what this means in their life and in that of their future clients.