Deborah Woolf

I am crazy keen acupuncturist and super enthusiastic lecturer, who, by chance, have discovered and loved the cosmology and numerology inherent in Chinese Philosophy and Medicine. I was lucky to study at the International College of Oriental Medicine, the oldest acupuncture college in the UK, which teaches all the acupuncture points, as well as philosophy and theory, based on Five Phases, wuxing 五行, and Stems and Branches, wuyun liuqi 五運六氣. My course was a 5 year long extravaganza, and I came out the other side, exhausted, changed and driven. Since then (more than 20 years ago) I have not stopped treating, teaching and studying: these three activities interact fruitfully with each other, allowing me to deepen my understanding and practice of this amazing approach to health, the body and the cosmos.

As I am the daughter of academics I took what I was taught and read around the subjects, to immerse myself more fully in ancient Chinese culture. I continue my education in classical Chinese medicine and philosophy and have studied classical Chinese for over 15 years. I may not be able to ask for soup, but I can make a stab at translating very obscure classical Chinese texts! This immersion alongside reading, studying and teaching has allowed me to apply my ‘apprentice' style learning to my practice. I thoroughly appreciate and love what I do and am grateful daily for the opportunity to learn more and more and so be able to help my patients and students ever more!