Traditional Five Element Acupuncture in Fife at Cupar and St Andrews
NEWS! I have moved to a new clinic location - The Croftwell Consulting Clinic - for my St Andrews clinics. The map to the NEW St Andrews clinic location is at the bottom of this page - or please click on 'map' above for specific directions from St Andrews via the Croftwell consulting website.Did you know that acupuncture can help improve how you feel within yourself as well as with physical complaints?Hello! It’s likely that you’ve arrived at this site because you are, in one way or another, interested in acupuncture and what it can do to help you or someone you care about. The questions formed in your mind at this minute probably go along the lines of:
“Can acupuncture help my aching back?” or
“I’ve been told I have unexplained infertility and have heard acupuncture can help - so I need to know if it can!” or maybe even
“My husband says he just doesn’t feel right these days, can something like acupuncture help?”
The short (and somewhat infuriating) answer to all of these questions is “probably yes, but we don’t know until we try”.
Now for the long answer: Traditional (and I emphasise the title ‘Traditional’) Acupuncture engages with the person seeking treatment in a completely different way than Western or Allopathic Medicine does. Traditional Acupuncture is aimed at balancing the innate energy, or chi, through interacting with a person’s chi at specific points on the body. You may well be asking yourself at this point, “But how can these points help my XXX?” And again, the somewhat infuriating answer is that it doesn’t help XXX, it helps your energy, and in turn that helps not only XXX, but also perhaps YYY. The great big bonus in Traditional Acupuncture is that it does not (indeed should not!) focus on one set of symptoms and try to alleviate them. The aim of ‘balancing’ your energy is to strengthen the very core of you, which in turn means that what could happen is you not only feel positive changes regarding XXX, but perhaps also YYY. And the positive changes keep building such that all of a sudden you realise that you are perhaps … getting on better with that colleague who used to annoy you, or … wow, you can’t remember the last time you shouted insensibly at the kids.
The not so small print: Sometimes it happens that XXX doesn’t get that much better. But only very rarely do I find that absolutely nothing changes for a patient that can't be described as an improvement in their overall health or wellbeing. In Traditional Acupuncture (and I would hazard a guess that in most forms of allopathic medicine as well) there are no guarantees that one or another ailment can definitely be helped. I’ve trained in Traditional Acupuncture because I have found it to be a profound modality for helping people’s health and wellbeing. I dedicate a lot of my life to being a better acupuncturist - not just because it’s amazingly rewarding, but also because more often than not it works, and in doing so is wonderfully profound in the way it affects people's lives.
The Guarantee: My guarantee is that I am a dedicated professional who performs the art and science of Traditional Acupuncture to the best of my abilities. As a member of the British Acupuncture Council, you can be assured that I completed a three year training course and engage in professional development to keep my skills honed. I am also bound by strict rules of professional conduct including absolute confidentiality. Please see the newly revamped
British Acupuncture Council website for more information.
The patient plays a role in the treatment as well in that they agree to; attend clinic at the appointment times made and pay for those appointments whether attended or not, and engage with the treatment (ie drink enough water or be open to discussing the affects of treatment).
Deciding to engage in something like acupuncture is not an easy step to make. I know from my own experience that feelings such as vulnerability and an uncertainty that the efforts made will be worth the gains can be amongst the concerns. All I can say to that is that there will be a right time, place and practitioner for you if you need it. I may have the answers within my practice for you, but the only certainty is that we simply don’t know until we try. If it helps in any way, I am happy to talk either by phone or in person for a free 30 minute chat.
If you’re curious about what kinds of difficulties other people have come to me for treatment for, then please see the
FAQ page. If you’d like to know exactly where my clinics are located, then please see the
Contact Details and Clinic Locations page. If you’d like to know my fees, that info is found on the
Contact Details and Clinic Locations as well. I've tried to explain Traditional Acupuncture in a bit more depth on the
About Traditional Acupuncture and Links page and there are further links from there that are more eloquent in their descriptions.
Just quickly about myself and the clinics I work from:
I am a licenced acupuncturist (Lic.Ac.) trained in a traditional acupuncture style known as Five Element Acupuncture from the
School of Five Element Acupuncture. I completed my three year licentiate training in June 2006. I am a member of the main regulating body for Acupuncturists in the UK - the
British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC). I also have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology with an emphasis in Genetics obtained from the
University of California, Berkeley in 1992.
Treatment is available from two clinics in Fife, Scotland:
Croftwell Consulting Clinic
Cupar Osteopaths and Integrated Health Clinic
Please see the map below for directions to the new St Andrews clinic. Please note, the clinic space and times remain unchanged for my Cupar clinic on Thursdays.
These clinics are within easy reach of Dundee and the surrounding Fife and Angus areas; Broughty Ferry, Monifieth, Invergowrie, Perth, Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy, Leven and Edinburgh. Appointments are available in the morning, daytime and evening but please see the Contact Details and Clinic Locations page for more info.
Map to Croftwell Consulting Clinic Space
From St Andrews take the A917 out of town, which is the coastal road to Kingsbarns and Crail. At the top of the first hill take the B9131, which is the Anstruther road. Brownhills Garage marks this junction. Head south on the B9131, passing Balmungo Farm on your right. Stay on the main road and Croftwell is the next house on your right, a few hundred metres later. It is set back from the road a bit and the driveway entrance is slightly south of the house.
If you are approaching Croftwell from the opposite direction, i.e. heading from Anstruther then look out for the Old Station Guest House (just before the humpback bridge at Stravithie) Ignore the road sign (Prior Muir) on your left immediately after the bridge because we aren’t up that track. Go past the cottage that appears next and slow down as our driveway soon appears on your left.
