Āyurveda &
Tibetan Medicine
Moxibustion and Marma Therapy
“An uncomplicated way of looking at Tibetan Medicine is to see it as something that communicates with, rather than fights, disease. It makes peace with the disease. The sickness is there and you respect it. You understand it. After understanding it, you give the right medicine for the sickness, the medicine that puts everything in order. Our organs that are sick, and the system that is sick, are not our enemies. The body is out of harmony with itself, that is all. And that is why we experience illness. The purpose of medicine is to communicate respectfully with the body and to do the right thing to balance it.”
Initial Visit + Treatment
(New Patient)
2hrs | $295
The initial visit begins with with an inquiry into the reasons for your visit—your medical history, current concerns, and long-term goals. After the initial intake is concluded, I conduct a physical examination and traditional diagnostics—including pulse diagnosis, tongue diagnosis, abdominal palpation, and structural assessment. On this basis, dietary and lifestyle adjustments will be recommended alongside an individualized treatment plan including including Tibetan moxibustion treatments, Ayurvedic panchakarma therapies, and Tibetan herbal medicine. The initial visit concludes with a 60min Tibetan Moxibustion treatment.
Student Rates: Students, please inquire about our student rates.
Distance patients: For patients living at a distance, health consultations are offered via Zoom and are focused on dietary, lifestyle, and herbal therapies.
Tibetan herbs. 17th century medical thangka.
The Tree of Diagnosis. 17th century medical thangka.
Follow-up Visit
(Returning Patient)
1hr | $150
Follow-up visits focus on Tibetan moxibustion treatments with ongoing diet and lifestyle counseling, and adjustments to herbal prescriptions.
Package Pricing: Please inquire for package pricing on sets of 5 or 10 sessions.
Distance patients: For patients living at a distance, follow-up consultations are offered via Zoom.
Note: Re-fill of herbal medicines requires a follow-up visit to ensure appropriateness of formula and dosage and efficacy of formula per constitution and seasonal changes.
Medicine Buddha Mandala. 17th century medical thangka.
Methods of Treatment. 17th century medical thangka.
Tibetan Medicine (སོཝ་རིགཔ):
A Complete Healthcare System
Tibetan Medicine is one of the oldest medical systems of the world, originating more than 2500 years ago. Tibetan Medicine is known traditionally as "Sowa Rigpa" (སོཝ་རིགཔ), a rich phrase with several meanings—"the knowledge of healing", "the vision of healing", and "the healing arts".
While distinctly Tibetan in its presentation, Sowa Rigpa is a comprehensive healthcare system that transcends cultural barriers, historically integrating the indigenous (shamanic and folk) traditions of Tibet with the medical systems of neighboring countries over many centuries. Tibetan Medicine stands as a summary of the existing medical knowledge of the time—integrating Indian, Chinese, Greek, and Persio-Arabic medical systems with the shamanic traditions of the Himalayan region. Tibetan Medicine is currently the preferred medical system for treating chronic diseases in the Himalayan and trans-Himalayan regions, including Europe and North America, where it is especially valued for its intricate pharmacology and diverse treatment approaches.
The highly nuanced therapeutic approach of Tibetan Medicine views the body, mind, and spirit as an interdependent system governed by an innate energetic intelligence. Tibetan medicine is thus characterized by a holistic and systems-based approach that emphasizes the unique body-mind constitution of each individual. On this basis, Tibetan Medicine employs a multimodal approach to diagnosis—observation, palpation, and inquiry.
Observation refers to a perceptual diagnosis, established via observation of urine, tongue, color, sound, odor, and emotion. Palpation refers to a tactile diagnosis, accomplished via palpation of the radial artery of both wrists—assessing the state of twelve internal organs, five elements, and three humors. Inquiry refers to an investigative diagnosis based on interviewing the patient about their medical history and current concerns.
These three diagnostic modes rely upon the physician’s ability to perceive the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of the patient and thus characterize the person-centered approach of Tibetan Medicine. Once a diagnosis is formed, Tibetan Medicine employs four lines of treatment: dietary and behavioral adjustments, herbal medicines, and external therapies (moxibustion, needle therapies, massage therapies, and medicinal baths).
Anatomy of Marma Points & Internal Organs. 17th century medical thangka.
Herbal medicines. 17th century medical thangka.
“One who is established in the Self—who has balanced doshas, balanced agni (digestive fire), properly formed dhātus (tissues), proper elimination of mālas (wastes), properly functioning kriyā (bodily processes), and whose senses, mind, and consciousness is full of clarity and bliss—is known as a healthy person. ”
Tibetan Medical Thangka depicting marma points for moxibustion. 17th century.
Palm leaves of the Sushruta Samhita from Nepal.
Tibetan Moxibustion & Marma Therapy
60mins | $150
only offered in person
Marma therapy is an ancient form of Ayurvedic “acupuncture” that employs gentle non-insertive techniques for point stimulation. Treatment techniques include energetic stimulation (prana chikitsa), light massage, moxibustion, the use of metal tools made of silver or gold, and the application of essential oils or herbal pastes.
I learned marma therapy from my teacher, Vaidya R.K. Mishra, who was passionate about the therapeutic power of marma treatment. I have kept with his approach while integrating my training in Tibetan and Japanese moxibustion techniques. Marma treatment is offered as part of the Initial Visit and becomes the focus of follow-up treatments.
Marma and Acupuncture: Where Prāna Lives
A great majority of marma points described in classical texts are identical to acupuncture points, though Ayurveda does not describe marma points in relationship to energy pathways such as the twelve meridians of Chinese medicine. Ayurveda describes marma points as early as the 6th century B.C.E. in the Sushruta Samhita, several hundred years before the Han dynasty classics (Nei Jing, Ling Shu, Nan Jing). Despite subtle differences between the two systems of marma and acupuncture, marma points can be seen as having the same influence on the physiology as acupuncture points. It makes sense that Ayurveda would be the first tradition to describe points of energetic focus in the body, as the Indian philosophical concept of prāna (“natural life-energy”) pre-dates the parallel Chinese concept of qi.
The Nature of Marma Points
The seventeenth-century text, Bhav Prakash, describes the nature of marmā in Garbaprakarana, verse 223:
marmāni tesu tisthanti prānāh khaluh visesatah |
In the marmā points, prāna lives; prāna is established in the marmā points.
Bhav Prakash gives us a concise and meaningful definition. A more technical and medically precise definition is given by Sushruta in his surgical treatise dating to the 6th century B.C.E.:
सोममरुत तेजांसि रजःसत्वतमांसि च।
मर्मसु प्रायशः पुंसा भूतात्मा चावतिष्ठते॥
somamarūta tejāṁsi rajaḥsatvatamāṁsi ca|
marmasu prāyaśaḥ puṁsā bhūtātmā cāvatiṣṭhate||
Soma, marut, tejas (or agni), sattva, rajas, tamas and jivātman have their seats in the marmas.
In these verses, Sushruta is describing how various energetic, mental, and humoral aspects of the human physiology intersect at marma points. Sushruta’s statement is not made in passing, as he also classifies marma points based on their tissue depth, doshic function, and degree of vitality. Sushruta also discussed the implications of marma points for surgery stating that incisions should not be made in these locations due to the concentration of life-energy in these points. This understanding proceeds from the literal meaning of marma as “vulnerable point”. Sushruta’s caution may be a reason why Ayurveda did not develop insertive needling techniques in the treatment of marma points.
Sushruta describes a total of 107 marma points; Dr. Vasant Lad describes 117 marma points; and Vaidya Mishra describes 134 marma points (many of which he said were preserved in the oral tradition of his family lineage). This variance is point numbers comes as no surprise to those familiar with Chinese acupuncture, where different lineages present additional points and locations.
Dr. Lad beautifully summarizes the power of marma therapy in this excerpt from his book, Marma Points of Ayurveda:
In ancient Vedic times, marma points were called bindu--a dot, secret dot or mystic point. Like a door or pathway, activating a marma point opens into the inner pharmacy of the body . . . Marma points are an important element of Ayurveda's healing power. Developed in India centuries ago, these energy points profoundly affect the body, mind and spirit and facilitate the deepest levels of healing. Prana is the current of energy that infuses every cell within the body. Stimulating marmani (energy points) directly taps into this reservoir of energy and promotes health.
Ensō by Kanjuro Shibata XX.
Wuji Qigong Therapy
30mins | $75
only offered as a distance treatment
Master Li (left) with Master Jang Yang (right)
Wuji Qigong therapy is a modality of energy healing that is similar to reiki or what is called “medical qigong” in the Chinese tradition. The practice of Wuji Qigong was developed by a Qigong Master from Beijing, China known as Master Li. Master Li transmitted the healing practice of Wuji Qigong to a small number of students, most prominently to my teachers, Masters Jane Yang and Paul Litchfield.
Wuji 無極 is a Chinese philosophical concept articulated in Daoist and Confucian texts. Wuji has been given various meanings––“without ridgepole”, “non-polar”, “limitless”––and is depicted as an empty circle, identical to the Japanese ensō. In Chinese cosmology, Wuji describes the embryonic field of all manifestation, the primordial energy that gives rise to the Taiji (“ridgepole”). The Taiji gives birth to the polarity of yin-yang, three doshas, and five elements. Thus, the Wuji Field is the pre-natal condition of energy, the sphere from which constitution and conditions eventually arise.
One of the most noticeable effects of a Wuji Qigong treatment is the release of psycho-physical tension—patients commonly describe a feeling of deep and even profound relaxation during the treatment. When the body comes into resonance with the golden light of the Wuji Field, the entire being is coming into harmony with the Field of Energy that exists prior to imbalances. It is precisely by "resonating" in this Field of Energy that fundamental and deep-seated tensions are spontaneously released. Wuji treatments are also effective in clearing psychic disturbances from negative environmental influences.