I grew up in Lancaster County PA on the outskirts of a small town surrounded by forest and fields of corn, soybeans and alfalfa. The land and the creatures who inhabited it were always important to me. In high school I became fascinated by books and how stories could transport me to places I had never been. In college I studied painting and liberal arts. After earning my bachelors degree I returned to Lancaster, eventually discovering sculpture as a medium that resonated with me.

 

During those post undergraduate years I found my way to acupuncture the way most people do, through pain. For years I had been experiencing an ache that radiated down my leg. Sciatica. I wanted to know why and I wanted it to be gone. When a new friend suggested acupuncture I was skeptical but curious. At 29 I had begun to carry a cane in my car just in case I had a really bad day. It occurred to me that this was ridiculous. I was young, much too young to be thinking about a cane! I decided that it was time to try something new and I took the leap and made an appointment.​​

 

It didn’t happen immediately. Although I felt better, clearer and calmer almost immediately. It took 10 or 12 treatments before the pain was gone and it happened gradually, almost without my awareness until one day I realized that it wasn’t there. Chronic pain is sometimes like that. I worried it might come back and it did, but so very quietly and it didn’t last. In the 20 + years since I have rarely felt that pain and then a treatment or two is enough to vanquish it.

 

Freed from the pain and inner tension that had been such a part of my fabric, I applied to graduate programs in sculpture. That process landed me in Hadley, MA at UMass Amherst's MFA Sculpture program. There I met my wife, Inga. It was a wonderful and intense 3 years. Post graduation I taught in the Art Department at Mount Wachusett Community College as an adjunct professor.  After 7 years of teaching I realized that I wanted to work more intensively with individuals who were struggling and needing support. I decided to return to the other side of the classroom. I needed to know what this mysterious practice was that had left me pain free and feeling lighter, calmer and more grounded in myself. Four intensive years and 180 credits later I completed my Master degrees in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine at New England School of Acupuncture.

 

When I began the study of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, I thought that I would learn something magical and mystical.

What I found instead was a tradition grounded in science, in observation, hypothesis and experimentation over thousands of years. Although there is something that feels “magical” about an acupuncture treatment, it is not without a foundation. And as my first acupuncturist, Dianne Connelly said “you don’t have to believe in it for it to work.”