Jan Bull 

I am Jan Bull.  I love being in the beauty of nature and going on walks in the woods or desert or looking up at the stars. I love playing table tennis, cooking with my son when he is home and laughing with my daughter.  I have done a lot of stuff in my life. I studied anthropology and psychology, I've been an assistant aeronautical engineer, I've spent a lot of years in health policy research, I've been an administrative director of a ballet school and lead specialist in competency-based medical education.  But my whole life has been moving me toward my most inner calling, to be a healer.

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I came to acupuncture, qigong, and Chinese Medicine through my own health journey to heal a 30 year sacroiliac injury and osteoporosis. I had been unable to find a way to address the pain with traditional physical therapy, or massage, or various other modalities.  In order to get through the day was taking 1800 mg of ibuprofen a day. After a year of this I became increasingly worried about the possibility of developing an ulcer or kidney problems. After 7 months of acupuncture, my pain was gone and I was no longer having to take medication.  I know how having pain every day weighs on one's soul and can impact our daily living.  For me, the relief of pain was such a gift that at some point, I remarked while on the treatment table...."in another lifetime, I would do acupuncture in a heart beat."   But I decided not to wait for the next lifetime, and, so here I am. 

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Since studying Chinese Medicine, I discovered that the depths of its healing go well beyond muscoloskeletal issues.  I have been treated with the full modality of the medicine now for osteoporosis and even for deep emotional issues of the heart. I have seen tremendous healing possibilities in myself and others.

​Schooling and Credentials:

I am a licensed acupuncturist in the state of Maryland (U-2587) and have completed 4 years of training in acupuncture from Maryland University of Integrative Health.  I am also a NADA-certificated Acu-detoxification Specialist, trained to treat those recovering from addiction (No. 13091) and also the CCAOM Clean Needle Technique Certification.

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I have a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota and have spent the last 25 years working in various areas of health policy. Most recently, I worked at the Association of American Medical Colleges as part of a new effort to change the way in which we train physicians.  However, my true passion is for the more holistic way in which Chinese Medicine views and works with health as the complexity of all of who we are in body, mind, and spirit.

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What Do Acupuncturists Learn:  Acupuncture students learn anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology from both a Western and Chinese medicine perspective,  and we learn some some Western physical assessment.  We also learn the essential theories of Chinese Medicine and principles of healing . These principles help us to determine how to restore balance and harmony that prevent the body and mind from doing it's amazing job of integrating our internal and external relationships in the world.

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How does Acupuncture Work?  Acupuncture has a growing evidence base. So much so, that the Joint Commission has now required hospitals to offer alternatives such as acupuncture in place of opioids.  Western scientific methods are now beginning to identify some exciting mechanisms for how this ancient healing modality might work. There have been studies which identify changes in the brain itself as the result of needling certain points.  This is very interesting as the brain is a key center of hormonal control over our body's function and over the stress response.  More recently, there is exploration into the relationship of the mechanisms of acupuncture as they relate to embryonic development and fascia in the body (see fascinating video by Dr. Daniel Keown (UK).

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Here are some intriguing resources if you are interested:

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bbc documentary science of acupuncture - Google Search. (n.d.). Retrieved September 4, 2015, from https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=bbc+documentary+science+of+acupuncture&safe=active

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Myers, T. (n.d.). Anatomy Trains. Retrieved July 1, 2014, from http://www.anatomytrains.com/at/

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Keown, D. (2014). The Spark in the Machine: How the Science of Acupuncture Explains the Mysteries of Western Medicine (1 edition). London ; Philadelphia: Singing Dragon.

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MacPherson, H., Hammerschlag, R., Coeytaux, R. R., Davis, R. T., Harris, R. E., Kong, J.-T., … Wayne, P. M. (2016). Unanticipated Insights into Biomedicine from the Study of Acupuncture. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (New York, N.Y.), 22(2), 101–107. http://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2015.0184

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Zhu, H. (2014). Acupoints Initiate the Healing Process. Medical Acupuncture, 26(5), 264–270. http://doi.org/10.1089/acu.2014.1057

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