The 1960’s and 70’s saw an explosion of alternative health and lifestyle practices appear at the edges of culture. It was a time ripe with possibility and fraught with peril, after all there was a war going on. The kind where men were drafted.
As with any troubled time, there is also opportunity. Because as things fall apart, they also fall together. The guest of this episode, Stuart Watts, he had a bent for spiritual practice, a curiosity about health beyond the mainstream, and an adventurous and entrepreneurial spirit. The kind of spirit that did not just see opportunities, but created them.
Listen into this conversation as we dig into the early days of how you’d go about learning acupuncture, the history of the first schools, and how troublesome ‘wu fa’ teachers can teach you a lot about what you need to know, even if the experience is unpleasant.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
- Interest in spiritual development and holistic health
- The role of Lawson Woods in the spread of acupuncture to the West
- Vietnam, dodging the draft and how Australian Northwest Area license plates allow for an under the radar return to the USA
- The influence of French acupuncture on the early acupuncture teachers in the United Kingdom
- Lawson-Woods, Episcapol minister and advocate of acupuncture
- The defining moment when Stuart decided to go all in on wholistic medicine
- A sense of curiosity combined with an entrepreneurial spirit
- What’s important is treatment that is helpful to the person
- Prevention is the most important thing
- Influences while studying at New England School of Acupuncture
- How Stuart got kicked out of the Van Buren school
- Teaching in Santa Fe
- An entrepreneurial bent for teaching and starting schools
- Using the influence of troublesome teachers to improve the areas you are weak 無法 guru
- No end to the study, you’ll never reach the end
- Importance of finding the middle way
- With Chinese medicine, it’s not an easy path, but you’ll always be entertained
Major acupuncture points are commonly used by long time practitioners for a reason
Stuart Watts. L.Ac, DOM
Stuart has been in clinical practice since 1972, using acupuncture, herbs, Asian massage, manipulation and a wide variety of combined Naturopathic techniques in many places in the United States and several other parts of the world.
He has founded 5 nationally accredited acupuncture programs and colleges in the southwest region of the United States, the Academy of Oriental Medicine – Austin, Southwest Acupuncture College, the Santa Fe College of Naturopathic Medicine, the North American Academy of Advanced Asian Medicine and the Institute of Traditional Medicine (later becoming the International Institute of Chinese Medicine).
Stuart co founded several of the national acupuncture associations and organizations over many years. Stuart has been instrumental in the formation of acupuncture laws and legislation in several states in the Southwest. He has volunteered for various organizations since 1982 usually serving as treasurer due to his background in accounting and business. He currently lives in Albuquerque, NM with his wife Lee.
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