Suzanne E. Sky, L.Ac., MTOM

Licensed Acupuncturist since 1989
   Masters in Traditional Oriental Medicine

   1989 (Hawaii) & 1994 (California)

   Many people ask me if I studied in    China. My response is that I made it as far as Hawaii, where I was fortunate to meet and to study as apprentice and student with 64th generation Taoist master, Dr. Lily Siou (Chang Yi Hsiang). She grew

up with the Taoist monks of Lung Hu Shan (Dragon-Tiger) mountain in Jiangxi Province, China. In Hawaii, she was instrumental in establishing the Acupuncture Licensing Board, in addition to founding her own school and Taoist monastary.

In addition, I've been blessed with a number of very special people as mentors and teachers over the years. I give thanks to each and every one of you. Below, I share part of my story.

  Mission Statement
    I work to facilitate the healing process by supporting and nourishing each person’s innate healing and regenerative capacity. With Chinese medicine as my framework, I integrate herbal, nutritional, dietary, and lifestyle recommendations along with gentle energy work (Jin Shin Jyutsu) or acupuncture as appropriate.

   I love offering self-help instruction to empower a person’s healing process and expand understanding.

   I look forward to working with you and encourage you to ask questions, both of yourself and me!

My healing philosophy
    In Taoist Chinese medicine, the concept of Heart (shen or spirit),  includes that of conciousness, our mind and emotions. As spiritual beings, our health is affected by mental/emotional expression of attitudes and our deepest healing is in our relationship with our Creator.

   While the essence of healing is rooted in Spirit, all levels must be addressed to restore health.  Our health rests on a foundation of physiological and spiritual vitality, strength and resilience.

   Healing is a process of growth and discovery; of creativity, balance, and harmony within ourselves in the context of loving relationships with Spirit, and with each other in the context of community.

   Ancient tradition teaches us and modern research now shows that as our hearts become clear, filling with gratitude and loving-kindness, this engages the higher cognitive functioning of the brain. This resonance of inner peace and love affects every living cell in our body and allows us to live life in harmony with grace.

     Our foundation of health & well-being is built upon

          four corner posts.

• Regular spiritual practice; consistently renewing our connection with our Creator. Giving creative expression of our gifts and heart.
• Healthy, loving relationships with our family, friends and in our community. Finding balance between work and play, between time with ourselves and our families, as well as time with others.
• Involvement in right livelihood - work that is financially sustaining, fulfills & expands our abilities and that benefits the community, whether local or global.
• Healthy lifestyle that gives us the support and fuel we need to fulfill all areas of life. This includes sufficient rest, regular exercise and a sound, nutritional diet .

My Background - Some short stories of my life and adventures in natural healing

1970s

In 1973, at the age of 18,  living in New Jersey with friends, I was introduced to the world of herbs, nutrition and natural medicine. Upon discovering a health food store, I came home with an armful of herbs and the classic book by Jethro Kloss Back to Eden.

Seeking good health for myself, I saw a Chiropractor, Colonic Therapist and Naturopath. Each of them spent time explaining to me what they were doing and why. The Naturopathic Doctor, Dr. Gerald Olarsch, in particular, taught me a lot about the principles and particulars of natural healing. On my own, I discovered the wonder and magic of herbs and the basics of nutritional medicine and applied the knowledge from my long hours of study and research to my own health and to that of my family and friends.

   Qi Gong in the Mountains

In 1975, I moved to Hawaii and almost immediately met Dr. Lily Siou who was offering Qi Gong classes at the Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu. The classes were small and often we would go on excursions to the mountains to identify herbs, learn Chinese medicine health practices and, of course, practice Qi Gong in the mountains and forests. I did not yet know that Chinese medicine was to be my calling.

Dr. Siou grew up in China where she lived with the Taoist monks on Lung Hu Shan mountain from the age of 6. In Hawaii, she was fascinated to find many of the same plants and herbs she knew as a child and young woman in China and she would teach us about them. In her practice, she combined local herbs with herbs from China.

Lily Siou established the professional Acupuncture Board in Hawaii, set up a school and clinic on Oahu that still exists today. I attended the opening ceremony of her Taoist monastary in the late 70s, which is now part of the school.

  Jin Shin Jyutsu and More!  

Almost every day I swam in the ocean. For a couple of years I almost daily went to the big downtown Honolulu library to study health, consciousness and healing. Many of the rooms were open air and so it is a cool place to be during the heat of the day and a joy to read whilst feeling the warm tropical air throughout.

  In the late 70s, I studied Polarity Therapy with Lawrence Weiss and Polarity and Jin Shin Jyutsu with Stan Kalson who came from the mainland to teach. I helped organize several classes with him as teacher and a group of us also put on complete raw foods dinners that were incredible and a lot of fun. I also studied Jin Shin Jyutsu with Mary Burmeister when she came to teach on the Big Island.

   My wholistic dentist, Dr. John Char, regularly travelled to Germany to study Dr. Voll's system. While getting my dental check-ups, he would often spend as much as an hour answering my questions and telling me about the relationship between teeth, the organ and meridian systems in the body. We would talk until his wife would come and pry him away for his next appointment! I learned a lot from Dr. Char over the years I saw him.

1980s

In 1981, I was awarded my Massage License in Hawaii as a practitioner of Jin Shin Jyutsu, a gentle, hands-on Japanese healing art which works on a deeply profound level to revitalize and harmonize body, mind and spirit.

I also did extensive research, study and did some writing as I designed my own course of studies and BA major in Wholistic Health studies. For a number of years, I assisted an author in researching and writing a manuscript on colon health (a hot topic in the 70s). We self-published several versions of this book, which was later picked up by Kensington Publishing in 1998.

  The Big Island!

In 1983, I moved from Oahu to the Big Island. There I soon met Dr. Angela Longo, L.Ac., PhD, a brilliant woman and practitioner. After initially exchanging treatments, Angela invited me to work in her clinic, offering Jin Shin Jyutsu to clients. This was quite successful and working with Angela opened me to the possibility of formally studying herbal medicine (my first love) and acupuncture.

At that time, while apprenticeships were the common way to learn, the tides were shifting. Angela asked if I would help her start a Chinese medicine school in Waimea on the Big Island. As Administrator, I interviewed prospective students and our starting class was about 10 dedicated students. Angela was a good and passionate teacher and laid a great foundation of knowledge and experience. The school is still in existence in a differant formation.

   Tai Hsuan Foundation in Honolulu

Through a long story that we'll call fate, my path again crossed with Dr. Siou's. I studied with both her and Angela for two years, and then moved to Oahu for my last school year to complete all 1200 required clinical internship hours in acupuncture in Dr. Siou's busy Honolulu clinic. Dr. Siou very kindly rearranged the clinic's hours so that a few of us could complete our 1200 hours in one year. This meant being in the clinic anywhere from three to eight hours a day, seven days a week. On top of that, our school program was rigourous and additionally, Dr. Siou required that we attend Qi Gong classes almost every day. We were expected to practice Qi Gong daily.

As I worked three jobs (herbal consulting, massage, and Jin Shin Jyutsu) and very long hours to put myself through school; it was meditation and Qi Gong, that indeed made it all possible and allowed me to keep my health, and clarity of mind, heart and spirit during this demanding but very exciting time of my life.

   Vipassana and Qi Gong

During this time, I was not only a student of Taoism, but also studied and practised Vipassana meditation, which I learned from a friend and Vipassana teacher in 1986.

In 1988 to 1989, when I lived in Honolulu, a Vipassana master from India stayed with a neighbor of mine for a number of months. A small group of us met every morning at 5 AM for two hours of meditation. After that, I swam in the beautiful clear blue ocean tidepool across the street from my house, did my Qi Gong and was at work or the clinic by around 8 AM. Most often my work and school day was over by around 11 PM and my nightly Qi Gong and meditation would help sooth and renew my system, allowing me to sleep well and awake refreshed!

In 1989, upon receiving my Masters degree from the Tai Hsuan Foundation in Chinese Medicine and being licensed to practice in 1989, I moved back to the Big Island (Waimea) and integrated Acupuncture and Chinese medicine into my practice.

   Qi Gong at the Beach and Sunset for Desert  

A friend and I started and ran a Chinese herb and medical supply practice. We did well but we also enjoyed ourselves immensely and usually had business meetings under the trees at the beach, along with a picnic and snorkeling. And almost every evening, we drove down to Mauna Kea beach (the locals side), did Qi Gong together and watched the sunset - looking closely for the green flash! Magical times indeed.

  Kiatsu with Nadao Honda

During my time at acupuncture school in Waimea on the Big Island, a frequent visitor was a very special teacher who was skilled with reading pulses and working with Qi. He later agreed to work with a small group of people weekly and about eight of us met with him weekly over a period of time. Later that evolved and he opened a center on the Big Island as his classes and good influence expanded. I am so grateful for having known him and been able to spend time with Nadao Honda; a truly humble and remarkable person.

1990s

  Southern California

Despite my intense Hawaii connection, I moved to Southern California to fulfill another strong connection, and married a long-time friend and professional associate. Although I had graduated from an accredited school, with more than enough academic and clinical hours, California required me to fulfill half of their requirements in-state in order to be licensed and practice there. This was a shock!

So, I practiced as a Wholistic Health Practitioner while I received a second Masters Degree in Traditional Oriental Medicine from the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in Southern California, where I experienced a totally different kind of educational system.

I enjoyed a varied and interesting practice in Encinitas and then in Cardiff-by-the-Sea for 7 years, successfully working with chronic and acute illness, pain, stress relief and women’s health.

I also started and ran a mail-order health-related business for my husband which he took over when I left. Southern California was a great experience, but was not the place for me. I longed for earth, rain, and to be surrounded by nature again. After a brief, intense stint on the Big Island , I travelled for a few months and, in 1998, landed in Ashland, Oregon which I'd had been considering for a couple of years and felt very drawn to.

Oregon!
Thanks to a couple of mutual professional associates, I was told that if I was moving to Ashland, I needed to meet and work with the herbalist and author Donnie Yance. We did meet and got along very well. When Donnie and his family moved to Ashland soon after, he called me up to come and start working with him right away in his new clinic.

Author of Herbal Medicine, Healing & Cancer, Donnie's work and focus is primarily complementary cancer care. Before meeting him, I had already begun studying this field and Donnie's approach and caring being really got my attention. We worked as associates for five years in his clinic, Centre for Natural Healing. My main focus was complementary care for cancer clients, integrating Western herbal and nutritional medicine with Chinese Medicine. The learning curve was immense and the work was demanding and fulfilling. We saw good results improving both quality of life and longevity with clients across the country and even other parts of the world.

Ashland Acupuncture

Though I loved the complementary cancer care work, I also yearned to expand my Chinese medicine practice and skills and missed my general and women's practice.

So, in 2004, I welcomed the opportunity to work in my own clinic, serve community and to focus on Chinese medicine with the ability to integrate my skills in working with a wider range of issues, as well as continuing to work with complementary cancer care.

I work with a referral network of wholistic health practitioners, massage therapists, yoga instructors, medical doctors and other health professionals.

I encourage clients to build a professional support team for best results with their healing process.

Currently, I live in Ashland where I love to garden, walk around town and through the parks or go on hikes to explore other nearby areas. My hobbies include Soul Collage, photography, writing and learning the violin and mandolin. I am a student of the enneagram work and the Diamond Heart Approach, attending the International Retreat Group with Sandra Maitri. I also continue to study, read and deepen in my knowedge and experiene of Chinese medicine, which is a lifelong exploration.

Training, Licenses and Professional Certificates
1999 Licensed Acupuncturist, Oregon
1999 Diplomate in Acupuncture, NCCAOM (National Certification
Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine)
1994 Licensed Acupuncturist, California
1994 Master’s Degree, Magna Cum Laude: Traditional Oriental Medicine
Pacific College, San Diego
1991 Holistic Health Practitioner, Encinitas, California
1989 Licensed Acupuncturist, Hawaii
1989 Master’s Degree: Acupuncture & Chinese Herbal Medicine
Tai Hsuan Foundation, Oahu, Hawaii
1983 B.A. University of Hawaii at Manoa
“Holistic Health Perspectives” Self-designed major including independent study & research
1981 Licensed Massage Therapist, Hawaii

Plant so that your own heart will grow…

                       ~ Hafiz