Karen Johnson's Training and Credentialing

I first became interested in acupuncture while I was in nursing school at Georgetown University in the late seventies. All the the "New Age" concepts of health and healing were suddenly available and I found them intriguing. I attended all the conferences and workshops I could manage along with my full time nursing studies. It was at one of these conferences that I met a man named Shyam Singh. He was was a wonderful healer from England (His native country was India). He was an acupuncturist, an osteopath and a meditation master. I began to work with him, attending his classes when he came to the States and assisting him when he ran his clinics. I was fascinated with his treatments and the miracles he seemed to perform on his patients. I wanted to follow in his footsteps. When I graduated and obtained my nursing degree, I got his permission to come to England to study with him. I learned a great deal in those next few months, but wasn't able to complete my hoped for apprenticeship. Little did I know that I was very near the source of my future studies. JR Worsley, also an Englishman, had in that same period, consolidated a variety of oriental teachings into what is now known as Five Element Acupuncture. His school was in nearby Leamington, England and his students would one day be my teachers.

Back in the States, I got busy learning a great deal about health and health care through nursing opportunites at hospitals, clinics and private homes. I worked in general medicine, a kidney transplant unit, dermatology, cardiac care, labor and delivery, psychiatry, hospice and home care. On the side I studied massage, diet and nutrition and energy work. In hindsight, I can say I recieved a wonderful, practical education in "modern" as well as "alternative" medicine.

In 1994, I discovered the Traditional Acupuncture Institute (now called TAI Sophia) in Columbia, Md., and finally embarked on the full time study of acupuncture. In 1996 I received my Masters of Acupuncture, passed my national board exams, received my state license and opened my practice.

My ongoing philosophy is that there is a great deal of potential in the combination of our modern, western, bio-mechanical health care model, and the ancient, time tested oriental model. Both have areas of clear superiority as well as areas of overlap. Read ahead to see how acupuncture works and what can be treated.