What is advanced acupuncture?
The vast majority of the acupuncture that is taught and practiced around the world is what is called TCM—Traditional Chinese Medicine. This is a modernized version of classical acupuncture that uses only the primary channels rather than the entire system, which is the complement channels plus the primary channels. Primary channels govern the day to day functions of our organ system, which includes emotional expression, but the complement channels literally exist to protect our organs and engage when the primary channels fail.
We cannot expect to heal simply by treating the channels that have already failed.
In China, acupuncture is often practiced differently, where patients are seen multiple times a week—and in some cases, multiple times a day. This is appropriate, because practitioners are only using the primary channels, which, as mentioned above, govern the day to day functions. If you have the opportunity to get primary channel treatments multiple times a day/week, eventually, there’s a good chance that the primary channels will operate so smoothly and efficiently, that you might be able to clear the pathology that has been shunted to the complement channels.
However, if you’re getting a primary channel treatment once a week, as is common in the western world, it’s unlikely that you’re going to be able to unearth the depth of the problem.
Community acupuncture clinics in the western world have presented themselves as a “more affordable” alternative to a one-on-one treatment, which again, definitely offer some value in symptoms management, but unless you are going to community acupuncture multiple times a week, it’s unlikely that you’re going to clear the pathology that has been created as a result of the failed primary channels. This is the territory of the complement channels, and it’s important to understand this distinction in order to manage expectations and understand the differences between the services for which you’re paying.
Sometimes you will see the term “advanced acupuncture” used by a practitioner to simply designate that they believe what they are offering patients is more advanced than what they learned in school or what they knew when they first started practicing. There’s nothing wrong with that.
When I use the term Advanced Acupuncture, what I’m referring to is the complement channels, and the reason I use this term is so that as patients learn about its depth and look for a practitioner, they will hopefully recognize the designation, unofficial though it may be.
There is a growing faction of acupuncturists world wide who are committing to learning how to apply these channels, complexly described in the classical acupuncture texts and expertly clarified by Ann Cecil-Sterman in her landmark book Advanced Acupuncture, which is the culmination of twenty years of studying and practicing with Master Jeffrey Yuen.
Ann has said that she named it as she did because it is beyond the scope of what is taught in most acupuncture schools (& also not tested on any board exam). It’s fully accessible to any practitioner who wants to commit to learning it, though; it does take persistence and patience to truly learn, rather than the memorization that is required by acupuncture schools and TCM practice.
There are a variety of acupuncture traditions, all with their unique benefits, but it is an important distinction to understand that there is a remarkable difference between TCM and the complement channels and an important component in in deciding who will best be able to support you on your path.
