Acupuncture & Chinese medicine

Why I Studied Acupuncture

I first encountered acupuncture during my study of Tibetan medicine, where I was also taught Chinese five-element theory. Tibetan styles of acupuncture differ from Chinese theory and practice, with a stronger emphasis placed on moxibustion therapy over needle therapies. The research of Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche establishes the origins of moxibustion in Tibet, the word “moxibustion” even deriving from the Tibetan word metsa (not the Japanese mogusa as has been otherwise proposed).

My interest in acupuncture and Chinese five-element theory led me to study a five-element style of acupuncture at the Worsley Institute. This style is a modern synthesis by J.R. Worsley who variously refers to his style as “traditional acupuncture” or “classical five-element acupuncture”. Worsley studied acupuncture in the 1950s, at a time when the cultural revolution in China was re-shaping the tradition of Chinese medicine in the molds of dialectical materialism. Worsley learned from Japanese, Korean, and Chinese teachers who were living in the East Asian diaspora and who had preserved classical lineages of acupuncture. In my master’s thesis, Spirits of the Unconscious: Possession and Resurrection in Acupuncture Therapeutics, I proposed that European streams of acupuncture (originating in early twentieth-century France) absorbed the cultural milieu of their times, including psychoanalysis, homeopathy, and naturopathy. Worsley’s propagation of five-element acupuncture was thus a syncretic tradition that not only represented Japanese, Korean, and Chinese styles of acupuncture but Western therapeutic notions of the unconscious and the vital force.

My Style

Although I am trained in Worsley’s five-element style, my approach is also influenced by Japanese needling techniques and Tibetan moxibustion methods. I practice acupuncture at the intersection of psyche and soma, and thus seek to tonify the vital force of the unconscious. My treatment style is gentle, minimum-optimum, and bespoken to each person. Unlike most acupuncture treatments, I do not retain needles or spend most of my time in the treatment room working with you. I am fond of using moxibustion for its gentle, rejuvenating heat, and use direct cone moxibustion (or chinetskyu). I am passionate about understanding the therapeutic function of acupuncture points by examining their Chinese names and ideographic forms. I see the meridian network as a symbolic order of the psyche and an esoteric anatomy of the body. Rather than opposing symptoms, my approach seeks to understand the causative factors behind symptoms and to re-discover their vital significance. I naturally integrate my training in Ayurveda and Tibetan medicine with Chinese acupuncture, drawing on diverse sources for dietary recommendations, lifestyle counseling, and herbal medicine.

Neeshee Pandit, LAc is a Licensed Acupuncturist, Ayurvedic and Tibetan Medical Doctor, Vedic Astrologer, and Psychoanalyst. Neeshee trained in five-element acupuncture at the Worsley Institute from 2021-2022. He completed his master’s degree in Acupuncture at Middle Way Acupuncture Institute in 2024. Neeshee is an adjunct faculty member at Middle Way Acupuncture Institute, where he teaches five-element acupuncture and Western psychology.