Biography

My acupuncture adventure starts when I was 12 years old. Having seen my parents undergo three hip operations, 2 cancer treatments, and being diagnosed as diabetic in a period of three years I was confronted at this early age with the need to find a better way to help people live a healthy and full life. The symptomatic treatments that my parents underwent brought me to the realisation that a holistic approach to health would be more beneficial. At the same time being confronted with ones parents being in ill health also leads to questioning of ones understanding of the world around us. A philosophical undertaking of understanding started at the age of fourteen and took me on a journey that eventually led to ancient Chinese philosophy.
Against this backdrop of searching for meaningful ways to help people live a healthy balanced life and coupled with an attraction to ancient Chinese thought, the acupuncture world became the obvious career path.
Having the opportunity to study under Daniel Deriaz at the start of my academic career introduced me to the various types of acupuncture that existed and opened my eyes to the limitless possibilities. Upon completion of my formal acupuncture training I went on a quest to learn and acquire as many different styles and techniques that I could. This ranged from Worsley style 5 element, to Manaka Japanese style acupuncture, to Master Tung acupuncture, to Korean Sa’am 4 needle technic, and finally to Dr. Teh-Fu Tan and his balance method. It was with Dr. Tan that I was able to find a common thread between these different styles and allowed me to combine them into practical clinical treatments.
Parallel to my acupuncture career I develop a teaching career first as an English language trainer and then as head of the academic department of a language school. Having over 15 years of teaching experience in various fields (language, teaching tools, teaching approaches, etc.) has allowed me to create a teaching style that motivates and engages participants to acquire the information being taught in a very natural way.
I currently reside in Lausanne, Switzerland where I have my own private practice and am the trainer for professional development courses at the Academie des Arts-Therapeutic in Geneva where I teach acupuncture and Chinese medicine as well as clinic management and patient-therapist relationships.
For CEU/PDA Courses by Jonathan Shubs click here