I started studying meditation when I was five, martial arts when I was six, and Chinese qigong when I was ten. It was pretty much all downhill from there. After I finished my undergrad in English I didn’t really have a clear sense of what to do with the rest of my life, so when a friend said he wanted to go to an open house at a school of Chinese Medicine I figured I had nothing to lose. The rest is, as they say, history.
Early in my studies I had the privilege to study with Dr. Robert Johns and his emphasis on needle technique as central to the practice of acupuncture meshed with my own background of physical practices in dealing with energy. In my practice of martial arts I had studied both Eastern and Western fencing and the needle was just another sword in my hand, to be wielded with skill. This remained a central focus of my practice, and I moved farther into the physical and energetic aspects of the medicine, studying Applied Channel Theory, and deepening my training in Medical Qigong. I eventually taught Medical Qigong for the Healing Tao Institute of Austin and then needle technique at the AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine.