Where did Five Element Acupuncture come from?

Where did Five Element Acupuncture come from?

Professor J.R. Worsley is credited with introducing Five Element Acupuncture to the West.  It is also know as Classical Five Element Acupuncture.  Professor Worsley was grounded in body therapies in post-war Britain.  In 1950 he traveled to Taiwan, Korea and Singapore eventually.  earning the Master of Acupuncture title in 1955. He opened a number of Acupuncture schools and continued to refine and develop his Mastery, continuing to explore techniques from Japan.  His Mastery with the Five Element system has yet to be rivaled in this author's opinion.  He entrusted the lineage to his wife, Judy, before he passed in 2003.  

My own introduction to acupuncture was in 2001.  There is a distinct moment in my very first treatment.  I remember the acupuncture point, Yin Tang, that inspired my studies.  Beginning in 2002, it is a lifetime's learning and healing journey.  

Though Five Element Acupuncture is included as a Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is reductive and inaccurate in my opinion.  Oriental Medicine is more inclusive and honouring of the body of medicine and traditions from China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, that we in the West commonly refer to as Chinese Medicine.  

Western trained practitioners undergo 3 or 4 years training, in Oriental Medicine Theory, Western Medicine, Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology, conducting consultations, treatment planning.  Alongside your training there are regular treatment, clinical supervision, qi gong, tai chi, observing nature and the changing seasons, to help deepen the awareness of our own emotional, energetic and physical and understand how those cycles are reflected in nature.