Professional Experience in Chinese Medicine
Ian’s first experience with the healing power of Chinese Medicine was when he first learned Tai Chi and Qigong in the Mid-1980’s
From 1996 through 2013 Ian founded and ran the Full Circle Synergy School of Tai Chi Ch’uan in Portland, Maine. FCS eventually grew to be the largest Tai Chi school in Northern New England. But life changed and in 2014 Ian and his family moved to the Boston area as described below.
In the Spring of 2019 Ian was hired by the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network to work in their Medford, Malden, and Cambridge out-patient centers providing acupuncture therapy to treat many different aliments, including a broad range of chronic pain conditions. After four years working at Spaulding, Ian went into private practice through FireLight Acupuncture to Specialize in the treatment of acute and chronic concussions and whiplash.
Ian’s passion for this specialization comes from his desire to help guide patients back to re-experience the joys of movement.
Celebrating the Joy of Movement
Ian first learned to appreciate joy in movement with Jackie Curry in ballet and modern dance in High School at Commonwealth School in the late 1970’s
Joy in movement led Ian to study with Maurice Haltom in Ithaca, New York in the early 1980’s learning Tai Chi, Meditation and Qigong and Kung Fu, and a little African dance. Maurice’s enthusiasm for the mysteries of these arts continues to inspire Ian.
Ian later studied William CC Chen’s Yang Style Tai Chi, push hands and boxing, first with Gene Golden, and later from William CC Chen directly. Master Chen’s focus on the simplicity of efficient body mechanics led directly to understanding both Tai Chi’s martial power, as well as profound healing benefits. Efficient body mechanics allows anyone’s movement to feel easier, smoother, more graceful and joyful, and at a minimum helps to heal a student’s relationship to their own physical movement.
Credentials and Training
In 2014 Ian and his family moved to the Boston area from Maine so he could enroll at the New England School of Acupuncture.
In 2017 he earned his Masters in Acupuncture from NESA which by then was a part of MCPHS University. Also in 2017 Ian was nationally Board-certified by NCCAOM and licensed in acupuncture by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In 2018 he earned a Master of Science degree in pain management from Tufts School of Medicine.
In the Spring of 2022, Ian earned a certificate of completion for a 150-hour training course in Kiiko Matsumoto Style Acupuncture, after training directly with Kiiko and her assistant and protégé Monika Kobylecka, as well as prior training with Kiiko’s apprentice, Grace Rollins.
Ian has also received specialized training in acupuncture for the treatment of concussions and neurological dysfunction from Clayton Shiu in his Nanopuncture method of acupuncture for stroke snd neurological rehabilitation.
Ian’s primary influence in the martial and healing arts was his more than 20 years learning Tai Chi, Qigong, and Kuntao Silat from Don Ethan Miller, and Willem De Thouars. Don is perhaps the finest teacher of any discipline Ian has ever studied learned from, with huge heart, exacting methods and endless commitment. Uncle Bill’s methods and skills in the internal and external martial arts are incomparable to most anyone in the world. Don and Uncle Bill’s out-of-the-box intuitions, skills, insights, and teaching methods of these ancient practices, combined with humility, humor and tenacity, continue to guide Ian’s daily explorations in his own Tai Chi and Qigong practice and in acupuncture healing.
In addition, Ian is grateful for the powerful healing Qigong forms he learned from Ken Cohen.
One of Ian’s great joys in life was founding and running the Full Circle Synergy School of T’ai Chi Ch’uan in Portland, Maine from 1997 to 2013. With numerous other instructors and assistants, he built a community celebrating meditation and movement, while teaching the full spectrum of martial and healing arts to people aged 15 to 80. Finding the joy of movement has always been a key touchstone in all his teaching and healing. Within this community, Ian learned so much about the healing potential of mind-body movement, internal energy cultivation and the huge spectrum of ways that movement can be joyful .