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Welcome to
Natural Life Therapy Clinic

We, of Natural Life Therapy Clinic, are dedicated to providing you with the highest quality of Natural Medicine, Acupuncture and Meridian Therapy in St. Louis, Missouri.

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2011 is coming to a close. For many it has been a challenging year, and we are grateful to all of you who have involved us in helping you to recover your health and to be part of your healing.

There have been many hardships across the world over the past couple years. There has been much talk over the years of the coming of 2011-2012 and what that may mean for the world. There are those that believe that this will be a time of serious physical change on our planet, perhaps even the occurrence of more catastrophic events. Of course, none of us ever know what may transpire, but we at Natural Life Therapy, tend to focus on the notion of a beginning shift of consciousness merging the material and spiritual worlds, causing the greater possibility of personal, communal and global change and healing.

So as we head into the winter of 2012 we wish for all of you much peace and continued healing and it is our plan to continue to offer you and your families the highest standard of Meridian Acupuncture care. In the most recent edition of our favorite professional journal, North American Journal of Oriental Medicine, Dr. Duckworth and I each had an article published about our journeys through apprenticeship training. I personally am experiencing deep gratitude for having been shown the way of the medicine by my teacher, Thomas Duckworth.

As the cold rapidly ascends on us, check out our recipes on our website (www.nltclinic.com), especially Dr. Duckworth’s informative article on the medicinal uses of ginger, a miso soup recipe as well as Winter Root Soup, a recipe from one of my wife’s favorite cookbooks, Nourishing Traditions.

Stay tuned for continual classes offered at Natural Life Therapy Clinic sponsored by the Institute of American Acupuncture and Life Medicine:

On the first and third Thursday evenings of each month, IAALM will provide an on-going practice “Enhancing the Spiritual Journey”. (6:30pm-7:30pm)

On the second Thursday evening of each month, lessons and discussions on Self-Health Care will be provided. (6:30pm-7:30pm)

The fourth Thursday evening of each month IAALM will continue with its “Oriental Medicine Roundtable” continuing education activities approved by the National Commission on Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM). (Hours from 6:30pm-8:00pm) The approved courses will also be listed on the IAALM website (www.iaalm.org).

On the second Saturday of the month before clinic we will be offering again ‘Stress Arrest’(learning and practicing getting quiet with breath, sound, and self- handwork). Hours from 8:30am-9:15am.

And, of course, we continue with the celebration of cosmic consciousness, Jizo Bosatsu Ceremony, on the Sunday closest to the 23^rd of each month at 10am. This coming month it will be held on January 22, 2012. Please visit our blogsite(www.naturallifetherapy.blogspot.com) for ongoing articles, videos, discussions, class schedules and updates.

Lastly, as we move into the New Year, keep in mind that healing takes time, perseverance and patience. We often make our healing process too complicated, so don’t be afraid to trust your body and keep it simple. As Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Wishing you all a very Happy Holidays and New Year!

With gratitude,

Thomas E. Duckworth, DKM, L.Ac.

Jason R. Hackler, L.Ac.

Sharon Reed

“Doctor, I’ve become ill and you are fired.”

This isn’t Donald Trump speaking. This is what a physician in the Far East, 1500 years ago, would hear if any of his patients became ill. The doctor was an acupuncturist and preventive health care was his specialty.

In that era, a physician was hired by an extended family, a village, a tribe or some collective group as their primary provider. It was a HMO system with quite a different point of view; fees were paid for health maintenance and preservation, not health restoration or fighting illnesses. The doctor was paid his fees as long as everyone in the group was healthy. If anyone in the group became ill, all payments, by all members of the group, to the physician were halted. If disease or dysfunction happened too often, the doctor was unemployed. Any physician unable to guide a patron in sustaining good health or unable to serve as a teacher or conduit of sound health practices or incapable of diagnosing and correcting actions which might lead to illness was not fit to be employed.

An Acupuncturist is trained to Look, Listen, Touch, and Question so as to ascertain anything and everything that might cause a person to lose balance with their physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

Acupuncture, licensed in 42 States, is recommended by the World Health Organization (www.who.int/en) for addressing many different health concerns ranging from respiratory and digestive issues, reproductive problems, endocrine system disorders, pediatrics; most chronic conditions, including arthritis, allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, and stress. It has been demonstrated to be helpful for post-surgical pain and recovery, both medical and dental. It is employed in infertility clinics, used in obstetrics, and employed in professional sports, including the Olympics.

The National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (http://nccam.nih.gov) has funded research that has confirmed the success of acupuncture to turn breech babies, treat carpal tunnel syndrome, low back pain, headaches, sports injuries, insomnia and hysteria.

Approximately 36% of U.S. adults use some form of complementary alternative medicine; an estimated 83 million American adults have received acupuncture. A recent survey found that 42% of those surveyed used acupuncture for existing illnesses and 58% used acupuncture for preventive care and health maintenance.

Over 300 years ago, a system of pediatric medicine termed shonishin was developed in Osaka, Japan, and is now gaining popularity in the United States. It is a non-invasive therapy based on the laws and principles of acupuncture but no needles are used. It is quite gentle on the child who often falls asleep while being treated. The practitioners at Natural Life Therapy Clinic are experts in Pediatric TJM (Traditional Japanese Medicine) with over a half a century of combined clinical experience in specialized children’s care.

Receiving acupuncture treatments is not a painful experience if the practitioner is properly trained and uses Japanese needles and Japanese-style needling techniques. The needles are planted in rhythm with the patient’s breath pattern; they are extremely thin (34-40 gauges) and are planted quite shallow. The sensation of acupuncture needles has no relationship to the sensation of getting a shot with a hypodermic needle.

While various licensed health care providers may be allowed to stick acupuncture needles in people, only adequately trained professionals who have completed three to four year post-graduate master programs are eligible to be tested by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) (www.nccaom.org). This is the only certification agency recognized by the Federal Government and the professional practitioners of Oriental Medicine. Those who successfully pass this very stringent examination are granted Diplomate status; most States require NCCAOM certification as prerequisite for licensure as an Acupuncturist. Missouri is such a State but Missouri also allows Chiropractors without adequate training to stick needles in people and call it Acupuncture. It is not.

Acupuncture is considered part of “complementary” or “alternative medicine” but the four out of ten Americans who use acupuncture regard it as fairly mainstream. Many utilize acupuncture as their primary approach to healthcare. After all, it is thousands of years old and far better studied than the biomedical models (medicine, chiropractic, osteopathy) which are still in their infancy. Make a resolution to stay healthy; stick to it.