Traditional Japanese Acupuncture is named for its dedication and adherence to concepts originating in early classical texts of Chinese medicine, which came to Japan in the 7th century A.D. These texts, the Nan Jing, Ling Shu, and Su Wen, are at the heart of Chinese Medicine, but are not emphasized in modern Chinese acupuncture and herbal training, having been dismissed in the 1960’s “Cultural Revolution” for not being “modern” or “western” enough. In Japan there was a revitalization of these texts in the 1920’s amongst a group of primarily blind acupuncturists. They attracted a following because of their clinical success, which had much to do with the exquisite sensitivity and ability to “listen” with their hands and bodies, born out of an inability to see with their eyes. The method developed by this tribe of blind acupuncturists laid the foundation for Meridian Therapy, which blossomed in the ’50s and ’60s. Now it is one of most practiced styles of acupuncture in Japan, and is what distinguishes our team of practitioners at Aloha Wellness Associates from other acupuncturists in the community.
Japanese Meridian Therapy offers deep and lasting results with gentle insertion and needling techniques, moxibustion, non-insertive Meridian Therapy Tools (such as teishin, enshin, and guasha) and manual approaches.
This is especially valuable in treating more sensitive people who do not tolerate the strong “de qi” sensation at the point of needle insertion used in TCM style acupuncture, which is practiced by the majority of acupuncturists in the U.S.
As practitioners, Meridian Therapy allows us to explore and engage with the patient, their tissues, organs, and nervous system in a more dynamic way than the TCM method of treating.
Aloha Wellness-style Treatments: What makes us unique
All of our associates hold their foundational training and primary treatment style in Japanese Meridian Therapy. Additionally, each of us have branched out to study and practice other complementary modalities and techniques which we incorporate into our treatments. During a Japanese Meridian Therapy based treatment, we practitioners do not simply insert needles and leave the room for patients to “cook” for 20 minutes. Rather, the treatment becomes a dialogue with the patient, whereby we ask the body to show us where it is struggling, then give “suggestions” or “input” with various treatment techniques (needling, moxa, teishin, east Asian and osteopathic manual work ), and assess the body’s response by monitoring changes in the pulse, abdomen/viscera, tissue texture and coloration, breathing, facial expression, etc. The treatment becomes an active process which can initiate shifts in the patient’s system that cascade into a state of greater health and vitality.
Our practitioners are also well versed in the musculoskeletal and structural aspects of Meridian Therapy and East Asian Manual Medicine.Jeffrey Dann is our most senior practitioner and founder of Aloha Wellness Associates. All of our associates have studied and trained extensively in the integrated body of work that Jeffrey has developed and perfected over the past 40 years, which we refer to as Structural Acupuncture.
In more recent years, Jeffrey Dann has focused on the integration of Japanese Meridian Therapy and Osteopathic Manual Medicine. He is helping to pioneer a new way of combining osteopathic palpatory diagnostics and treatment with Meridian Therapy Acupuncture. We are calling this Osteopathic Acupuncture. All of the practitioners at Aloha Wellness practice and incorporate this approach in their treatments.
We combine the systemic elegance of Japanese-style Acupuncture with the deep listening of the Osteopathic tradition and the pragmatic clinical effectiveness of Structural Acupuncture.
We then pepper our treatments with a diverse array of other healing arts modalities that speak to us as individual practitioners. This is what makes our treatments successful and exceptional. Our bodies are all so unique, and what resonates with one system may elicit a totally different response (or non-response) in another. Our adherence to a common foundational treatment style, coupled with a broad and eclectic array of other treatment modalities, allows us to effectively treat a huge cross section of patients with a variety of conditions both simple and complex.
