Our Philosophy
At Midwest Acupuncture Clinic, we promote optimal wellness and preventative medicine by providing our patients with high quality holistic health care through acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, nutritional consulting/education and adjunctive therapies. We guide and educate our patients to make informed choices about their health and well-being, thus empowering them to lead, happy, healthy and balanced lives.
Our clinical philosophy has been greatly shaped by the masters of Chinese Medicine. One of the greatest physicians within Chinese Medicine’s long history was Sun Simiao, 581 AD- 682 AD. He was a physician, philosopher, and educator. He wrote extensively on the ‘role of the great physician’. It is his words that have guided our clinical philosophy and approach to preserving this amazing medicine.
“Whenever a physician treats an illness, he must quiet his spirit and settle his will, he must be free of wants and desires, and he must first develop a heart full of great compassion and empathy. He must pledge to devote himself completely to relieving the suffering of all sentient beings. If patients suffering from disease come to him seeking help, he may not inquire whether they are nobility or low class or poor or wealthy, [or consider their] old age or youth, beauty or ugliness, or whether he detests or likes them or whether they are his friend, whether they are Chinese or barbarian, a fool or a sage. He must treat all of them exactly the same as if they were his closest relative. Neither must he “look to the front while turning around to cover his back”, worry about his personal fortune or misfortune, and guard and cherish his own life. When seeing the suffering and grief of others, he must act as if it were his own and open his heart deeply to their misery. He must not avoid dangerous mountains with rugged cliffs, any time of day or night, the cold of winter or heat of summer, hunger or thirst, fatigue and exhaustion. He must singlemindedly attend to their rescue without thinking of efforts or appearances. Acting like this, he can serve as great physician for the masses; acting against this, he is a gigantic thief to all sentient beings.”
-Sun Simiao, Bei Ji Jin Qian Yao Fang 1.2 (translation by Sabine Wilms, PhD)
It is often said in Chinese medicine that “a healthy individual brings about a healthy family; a healthy family brings about a healthy community; a healthy community brings about a healthy country; and a healthy country brings about a healthy world”.
Dr. J. Heaverlo, DACM, L.Ac.
I am an Iowa native that has been studying and practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)since 2002. I underwent my graduate program in TCM at the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences in Oakland, CA. I received my Doctorate of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (DACM) from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, San Diego, CA. I frequently travel to Hangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai, China to complete more advanced studies in the hospitals with senior practitioners of the medicine.
In addition to my studies of TCM, I have also studied the Chinese language since 2001. I find that this has greatly benefited my deeper understanding of the medicine by enabling me to access 3,000 years of medical writings.
I have chosen to practice Chinese medicine because I found it to be the most complete, well-rounded, holistic form of health care available. It seeks to treat the underlying cause of disease and poor health, not just the symptoms, using diet and supplements, herbal medicine, acupuncture and qi gong and tai chi.
In Chinese medicine, we use the concept of roots and branches. Instead of treating a variety of symptoms separately, we look for a root cause. While some treatments might be used to relieve symptoms such as pain, TCM practitioners always seek to address the cause. Once the root is treated, the branches become healthier. This leads not only to treatment of current health problems, but also to prevention and better quality of life along the way.
The Doctorate of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine is the four-year professional graduate degree curriculum in TCM includes approximately 3300 hours of didactic training in Chinese and Western Medicine and 1000 plus hours of clinical training. Students receive training in the following key areas: TCM diagnosis and treatment which include Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology, Tai Ji and Qi Gong, nutrition, and Western medicine including diagnosis and pharmacology.
To become a Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac.) one must complete a four-year TCM graduate program in an accredited college of Oriental Medicine and complete national board exams with the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Licensed Acupuncturists are also qualified to prescribe Chinese herbal medicine.
