About Richard

Peto gardens 5 - Version 2

My first experience with Five Element Acupuncture

I first came to acupuncture in the early 1980’s when I received treatment from an experienced American lady practitioner who had trained in England under Professor J.R. Worsley*.

I was so struck by this approach to healing and its beneficial effect on me that, not long after, I applied to join the same College – The College of Traditional Acupuncture in Leamington Spa, where students were taught the beauty, depth and wisdom of Five Element Acupuncture, treating body, mind and spirit as a whole.

Over a period of five years in total during the 1980’s I qualified with the Licentiate of Acupuncture (1984) and then the Bachelor of Acupuncture (1988), by which time I was thoroughly imbued with this system of medicine that derives its principles from the observation of Nature and the cycle of the seasons although, in truth, it is a lifelong learning of how we as human beings can live healthily in harmony with Nature – our own nature and external Nature, one a reflection of the other. In 1984 I joined the Traditional Acupuncture Centre in Waterloo, London which had been opened a year earlier by six acupuncturists trained in the Five Element tradition. It became the largest Acupuncture Centre in Britain, with a particular atmosphere that derived from this commonly held understanding of our work – addressing the unique needs of each individual as a whole person in body, mind and spirit. My long term involvement there – until its closure in the autumn 2010 when the directors decided to retire – was of great value from the very fact of it being a Centre dedicated for such a purpose. This provided us with the opportunity to enjoy regular interaction with fellow practitioners of like mind on a weekly basis throughout all that time. This was a source of valuable support in practice over those many years. (cont.)

* See: ‘Influential Teachers’