Jung Tao School offers a four year graduate level Diploma in Acupuncture program. The goal of this program is to train students to be highly educated and compassionate health care practitioners. Graduates of Jung Tao School are firmly grounded in the Classics of Chinese medicine, providing a strong foundation upon which they may build their career as a healer. In addition, graduates are well versed in Western medicine, so as to include the "other half" of the picture presented by their patients, as well as having the ability to confidently and accurately communicate with health professionals from all fields of medicine. We feel this integrated approach to medicine is the most effective for diagnosing and treating the patient as a whole.


the teaching method

Chinese medicine is not about linear phenomena. The forces and energies of life, dance and interact in a simultaneity that reminds us of the contiguous gravitational relationships that stretch across the cosmos. This biological ballet of Qi cannot be understood in a linear fashion and so, cannot be taught in a linear fashion. Thirty five years of accumulating and perfecting this curriculum has resulted in a somewhat circular method of teaching that gradually adds increasing depth and breadth in each pass through increasingly complex information. The student acquires and apprehends Chinese medicine the way one acquires and apprehends language. Words, phrases, and sentences with ideas, knowledge and wisdom evolve simultaneously. The exploration of this science becomes an exciting and organic experience that is as natural as the science itself.


the program structure

The structure of the Diploma program at JTS is quite different from other programs of higher education. Rather than courses being broken up into small one or two hour components, with students "picking and choosing" courses according to what fits their schedule, our program is taught as one contiguous piece, with all students in a class remaining together through the full program. There are no quarters, trimesters, or semesters at Jung Tao School. Each course lasts ten months, with each year of study focusing on a broad area of coursework.

The program has been carefully designed so that no one course or component can be taught in isolation of the other components. The focus of our program is "integration" of all aspects of the human being, so it is only natural that the structure and schedule of the courses are all integrated and intertwined with each other. By using this method of teaching, our goal is to have the student acquire the ability to synthesize information which may have before appeared to be very disparate in nature.


the schedule

Didactic classes are held five full consecutive days per month, Wednesday - Sunday. These five day sessions occur ten months per year for the first three years, with breaks occurring in January and July. Didactic classes generally run from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

In addition to this five day per month didactic schedule, each student must complete two 90 hour clinical observation rotations according to the following schedule:

Clinical internship is performed in the fourth year, with students working in the clinic for five consecutive days per month for the entire 12 months of the final year. All internship training is conducted in the school’s onsite intern clinic.


program of study for year one: what causes health?

Year one of the training focuses on the energetics of the human body in its healthy state, and its relationship to the universe as a "microcosm of the macrocosm". A shift in the student’s perspective to not only view phenomena in the linear, quantitative view of the West, but to include the more Daoist, simultaneous, qualitative vantage point of the East, is discussed and explored. The biomedical sciences are fully integrated into the year one training as well, so the student may begin to synthesize the two distinct modes of cognizance.


program of study for year two: diagnosis and pathology

In year two the student is introduced to gathering patient information and diagnosis. Students are taught the importance of sharpening the awareness of their five senses and using these as tools to receive undistorted diagnostic information. Intellectually categorizing patient symptoms into memorizable syndromes and patterns is discouraged, as each patient is a unique, constantly changing individual. The study of taijiquan, which is taught during the entire duration of study at Jung Tao School, is utilized here as a way of heightening the sensitivity and receptivity of the student, so more and more subtle diagnostic information may be obtained. Students also learn to use this sensitivity in the location of acupuncture points in the second year of training.

In addition to the introduction to diagnosis, the origin and progression of disease in the context of Energetic and Western medicine is thoroughly discussed. Students are introduced to the diagnosis of live patients in diagnostic clinique, a forum in which the class as a whole takes the history of the patient, discusses the origin and progression of the disease, and arrives at a diagnosis.


program of study for year three: clinical skills

Year three is the final year of didactic study. Students are thoroughly grounded in energetic treatment modalities, strategies, and acupuncture point energetics. The student is encouraged to view each treatment as a work of art, unique to that patient at that moment. "Cook book" type formulaic treatments are discouraged. Treatment clinique exposes students to live patients and gives the class an opportunity to discuss treatment options and point selections. Development of clinical skills are also a major component of year three, including needle technique, physical examinations skills, methods of cleanliness and safety, counselling, medical ethics and jurisprudence are just some of the topics presented.

Finally, students will learn to synthesize the information learned in both the Eastern and Western medical courses in the Integrative medicine course.


program of study for year four: clinical internship

The final year of study is student clinical internship. Students must complete 600 hours of internship by scheduling 50 hours per month for the entirety of the year in the Jung Tao School clinic, to perform treatments under the supervision of licensed clinicians. Increasing responsibility is given to the student until he or she can satisfactorily interview, diagnose, and treat patients without supervision.


educational objectives

To facilitate the attainment of the primary goals of the program, broad educational objectives have been developed which define the parameters within which the program’s instructional activities can be verified. By the end of the published curriculum, each student will be able to:

• Demonstrate a mastery of the subject of Classical Chinese Medicine through the successful completion of all energetic medicine courses.
• Demonstrate a thorough knowledge of Western medical scientific principles and practices through the successful completion of all biomedical courses.
• Demonstrate the embodiment of the fundamental Daoist principles requisite to living in resonance with natural law through the successful completion of all taijiquan courses.
• Demonstrate an integrated understanding of Chinese medicine and Western medicine, through the successful completion of the Integrative Medicine course.
• Demonstrate the ability to synthesize the skills obtained in the energetic medicine, biomedical and taijiquan courses, to individualize treatment specific to each patient, and to independently operate as an acupuncture practitioner through the successful completion of all affective and clinical competencies required during clinical internship.

accreditation and licensure

The Diploma in Acupuncture program of Jung Tao School of Classical Chinese Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM), which is the recognized accrediting agency for the approval of programs preparing acupuncture and Oriental medicine practitioners. ACAOM is located at Maryland Trade Center #3, 7501 Greenway Center Drive, Suite 820, Greenbelt, MD 20770; 301-313-0855: fax 301-313-0912. Their website is located here.

As an accredited institution, graduates of JTS are eligible to sit for the national acupuncture examination offered by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM), and to receive licensure as an acupuncturist in the state of North Carolina. Residents of other states are urged to check their acupuncture laws for licensure to determine requirements and eligibility.

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