I grew up in a small New England town. My family trekked to the local Unitarian Universalist church with a love for singing, an intellectual fervor for ethics, and a solid commitment that many paths lead to the Divine. The liberal arts college I attended focused on the interconnectedness and common ground among disciplines, and although my undergraduate and first masters degree are both in studio art, Chinese language, Eastern philosophy, and martial arts training all pulled at me in unexpected ways during those years.

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I found Qigong by happy accident when a friend signed us up for a class in a studio owned by a Daoist priest. I was also practicing a peer counseling system focused on anti-racism and social justice work, and from these two paths I began unwinding the homophobic, sex and body-shaming messages of my youth.

 

At a crossroads with my career in art and teaching, I met with a skilled psychic. She saw me surrounded by thin, silver, falling objects pilling up by the thousands without harm. She told me the spirits were calling them 'needles,' but they were not like any needle she'd ever seen. If I ever found 'those needles' she said, I would have found my Destiny.

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As my passion for Feng Shui and Qigong grew, I wanted to learn more about the other branches of Chinese Medicine (acupuncture & moxa / heat, herbs & nutrition, bodywork & physical manipulations). My master of acupuncture program in Tucson incorporated year-long studies in Medical Qigong (healing others), self-cultivation Qigong, Tuina, Japanese acupuncture, and Worsley 5 Element theory. Covering the breadth of East Asian Medicine in general rather than focusing heavily in Traditional, Classical, or Five Element forms of Chinese Medicine was unique; the school also had a strong relationship with Andrew Weil’s Integrative Medicine program, and the ‘defining principles' of his program are a good basis for how I still think about medicine.
 

It was a Zen Priest that confirmed my Feng Shui Mastery in 2004, the same year I began teaching Qigong. My Qigong Mastery was confirmed in 2012 when my final teacher asked why I wasn't listening to my own students. They'd been calling me Master since 2010; "Did you not train them well enough to see?" he asked.

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I am a specialist in the impact of emotional trauma, with my own published framework for recognizing and unwinding trauma from the body. This expertise, combined with a special interest in helping my LBGTQ+ community, led to my first book, Gender and Sexuality in Chinese Medicine (Singing Dragon, 2020), an empowering and gender fluid / non-binary take on all aspects of sexuality, relationships, and the emotional consequences of oppression. In 2021 I completed my Doctor of Acupuncture in Integrative Medicine through Five Branches University, focused on 'bridging the gap' between eastern and western thinking in healthcare. In 2024, Ethics for Acupuncturists was released, in which I am a contributing chapter author.

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I maintain a small private practice in rural Vermont on the eastern slope of the Green Mountains. Qigong remains my foundational root, as evidenced in my teaching, my treatments, my writing, and in how I live my every day life. But every time I open a package of acupuncture needles, I remember my psychic's words, and am grateful to have found my Destiny.

 

Thank you for visiting.

- Captain

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