Japanese lineage acupuncture
Most of the needles never go in.
Japanese lineage acupuncture is acupuncture handed down in person from teacher to student. David was taught by Anryu Iwashina, known to his students as Dr. Bear, whose diagnosis and treatment were guided by the pulse and the abdomen. The exam is done by touch, and so is most of the treatment. That's how Dr. Bear practiced in Morioka, Japan, for more than forty years.
Reviewed by David Toone, L.Ac., Dipl. AHM, FICEAM ·
Diagnosis by touch
"My hands are my eyes."
The pulse at your wrist and your abdomen tell us what to do and where.
You'll hear what's being checked while it's being checked, and why.
Needle and moxa
Most of the needling rests on the skin rather than entering it. We stay in the room with you, and the time on the table is yours.
Two of the nine needles described in the Lingshu, the oldest surviving acupuncture text, were made to work without entering the skin. Those are the tools we use most. Dr. Bear, David's teacher, taught him the needling techniques we now call the Dr. Bear Method.
Some needling does go in. You'll know which, because we say what we're doing as we do it.
We ask before we work anywhere new.
In China and Japan, the word for this medicine means needle and moxa, two sides of one coin.
Moxa is dried mugwort. A small cone of it brings warmth to a point.
Mostly, the cone is lifted away as soon as you feel the heat. Sometimes it rests on a slice of ginger or a thin herbal cake instead of the skin.
In most treatments, we'll ask you to try out what brought you in. Walk across the room, lift the arm, turn your head. What you notice tells us where to keep working.
Where this acupuncture comes from
We modeled the clinic and the treatment process after our teacher's clinic in northern Japan.
David's teacher was Master Anryu Iwashina of Morioka, Japan, known to his students as Dr. Bear. Dr. Bear was taught the same way, by a teacher who was taught by a teacher.
David began studying with Dr. Bear in 2004, in his first semester of school in California, outside the curriculum. He trained in Dr. Bear's clinic in Morioka, assisted his teaching in the United States until Dr. Bear's death in 2022, and now assists in teaching Fukushin, Dr. Bear's abdominal diagnosis, for ICEAM in North America.
Practitioners →How the visits go
Even the gowns are patterned on the ones in his clinic.
Treatment here starts weekly. Then the gaps between visits widen on purpose, a step at a time. The goal is graduation. After that, you know where we are.
Your plan is set by how you respond, so we don't sell treatment packages. Too much treatment gets in the way of you becoming independent. Too little leaves you on your own before you're ready.
Care here can be acupuncture, herbs, or both, and it moves between them as your pattern changes.
We start with one method at a time. Once we have a baseline, we add another if your care calls for it.
What a visit costs, and what a full course adds up to, is on one page.
Care & pricing →Ask about the needles at a free consult
Bring your questions. In about fifteen minutes you'll know whether this is the right place for you, and so will we. If it isn't, we'll suggest where to go instead.