Miami Acupuncturist

Carolyn Cook has a Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine, acupuncture physician state of Florida ,diplomat in acupuncture NCCAOM, diplomat in Canonical Chinese medicine and a licensed massage therapist. She has been in private practice for over 25 years in the Miami/Kendall area. It has been an interesting and complex journey that has brought her to her love of Chinese medicine.

Carolyn’s first exposure to Asian culture was during her teen years when her father, a military man, moved the family to Taiwan and Japan. An acquaintance, an old Chinese woman, helped her one day by treating her with folk medicine for a bad headache. To Carolyn’s surprise, relief and curiosity, it worked. She believes her young life spent in the oriental culture subtly set the stage for her future interests.

As a young adult she went to college with the intention of becoming a physical therapist. After graduation she was encouraged to learn massage as an adjunct therapy. That encouragement led her to an entirely new path in the healing arts. She enrolled at Educating Hands in Miami, Florida where she studied massage. As a prerequisite to graduation, Carolyn had to submit a term paper. Her chosen topic was Shiatsu, the manual equivalent of acupuncture, and another portent of her future life’s focus.

After graduation she traveled to China to further her massage studies; a trip that proved to be another major turning point in her career. She studied at the Xi Yuan hospital in Beijing where, one day, her class was given an unexpected tour of the hospital and they observed patients being treated with acupuncture and herbal medicine. She felt a deep connection to this traditional Chinese practice and the fascination led her to again pursue a new direction in her studies.

Upon her return to the United States she immediately enrolled in a master’s degree program at the Southeastern Institute of Oriental Medicine and later extended her studies another year to graduate with a Doctor of Oriental Medicine degree. During her acupuncture training she continued to upgrade her skills in massage therapy by studying the Kurashova method of rehabilitative massage with Zhenya Wine. She also traveled to Moscow, Russia with Zhenya to study at a rehabilitative center whose patient base includes cosmonauts and Olympic athletes. With her extensive education, she was asked to teach in the massage department of her acupuncture college. The courses she taught were kinesiology and massage technique.

Carolyn practiced Traditional Chinese Medicine for several years after graduation but was nagged by the feeling she was missing some key knowledge. A personal quest ensued to find this missing piece and perfect her skills through higher education. She studied the Hunyuan method for infertility with Dr. Yaron Seidman, a successful practitioner in Connecticut. He was the one who introduced her to the concept of Classical Chinese Medicine. Which lead her to teach with his teacher Liu Lihong. Dr. Liu Lihong’s lecture fueled her interest in the ancient style of Chinese medicine. She discovered that Classical Chinese Medicine (Shang Han Lun) differs in philosophy from Traditional Chinese Medicine and sensed this was the key she had been searching for. Her fascination with Shang Han Lun, ancient teaching over 2000 years old, launched a search for a mentor and teacher. Her research led her to Belgium Dr. Arnaud Versluys with whom she is currently studying and continues to study for the past 15 years. His brief bio may be found under “education”. She began her studies with Dr. Versluys in the spring of 2008 and traveled to San Francisco monthly for three and a half years to study with him. Dr. Versluys teaches worldwide and Carolyn attended his seminar in Germany in June 2010 and plans to attend his London seminar in November 2010. She continues to travel and study with him on regular bases to get the deeper rich knowledge of the Classics that she is so passionate about.