Even seasoned health practitioners discover new pathways for healing through Auricular Medicine training. Cooperation with the German Academy of Acupuncture (Deutsche Akademie für Akupunktur | DAA), which has graduated over 30,000 medical doctors in Auricular Medicine, informs the practical clinical approach of the CIAM program endorsed by the Director of Education for the DAA:
“[CIAM] has developed a comprehensive training program in German Auricular Medicine. With this training, practitioners will learn current developments in auricular acupuncture, and the approach taught in Germany — a system that will bring profound results through clearing blockages to healing and stubborn symptoms. Beyond delivering the only systematic training of the DAA program in the English language offered worldwide, the CIAM team is highly professional and caring.”
CONTENTS
A Culture of Leveraging Commonalities Across Healthcare & Wellness Modalities
How can we leverage commonalities for greater opportunities in learning, understanding, and collaboration? How can clinical protocols in auricular medicine be presented without the assumption that practitioners take on a complete new line of practice? What approaches of our training open the door for practical applications across a broad range of healthcare and wellness modalities? These questions define the unique educational and collaborative culture of the Canadian Institute of Auricular Medicine.
The fact that the same universal principles apply to both science and every modality of healthcare and wellness suggests that we can explore their commonalities. We believe that finding commonalities supports inclusion and diversity of insight. German Auricular Medicine (because of its use of measurable frequencies and autonomic nervous system response) is ideally suited to deepen and broaden resonance-, energy-, and neuroscience-based concepts of practice found within many of today’s healthcare and wellness modalities [1]:
- Acupuncture
- Auricular
- Biofeedback
- Chiropractic (i.e. Bio-Energetic Synchronization Technique/BEST, Bio-Geometric Integration/BGI)
- Dentistry (holistic)
- Dermatology
- Energy work (i.e. Reiki, RISE/polarity work, etc)
- Herbalism
- Homeopathy
- Laser
- Massage therapy
- Naturopathy
- Osteopathy
- Physical therapy
- Posturology
- Psychology
- Quantum medicine (i.e. bio resonance, Oberon-related therapies, quantum bio-photon diagnostics & therapies)
- Sound healing
- Sports medicine (alternative approaches)
- Veterinary (acupuncture and laser)
A Culture of Supporting Your Practice
The more we learn, the more we understand the relationship between all things. The same in medicine. Advances in scientific research continue to bring conventional and alternative modalities of medicine closer together. In particular, neuroscience and quantum physics provide insights for a framework of commonality between conventional and alternative approaches — a framework which considers that everything is energy.
Energy affects the way in which we exist in our environment (at peace or in disharmony), our physiological state (in balance or out of balance), and our consciousness or perception of reality (regulation of learning, memory and cognitive processes). Conventional medicine has shifted from a view of the human body as a machine with disparate moving parts (in which disease is isolated from overall health) to a view of the human body as an electro-chemically regulated entity (whose well being is considered holistically to include environment and state of mind). Our biology relies on the exchange of ions across our cellular membranes to sustain all life processes. Because everything is energy, we can affect our physiology and psychology with everything from nutrition, to pharmaceuticals, to acupuncture, to yoga, or even spiritual practice. All to support our dynamic state of energetic equilibrium for the optimal function of our body (energy homeostasis).
Auricular Medicine provides a window to the brain [2]. The central nervous system is at the core of the regulation of energy homeostasis [3]. Since everything is energy, everything also has a frequency, and this is why German Auricular Medicine, in particular, is able to support so many modalities with diagnostic and treatment insights. The use of frequencies to test substances for resonance against a patient’s Somatotopy (the point-for-point correspondence of an area of the body to a specific point on the central nervous system) enables neurological insight. Practitioners of auricular medicine use the somatotopic mapping of the body on the ear, and the palpation of the autonomic nervous system response to stimuli/change (for a binary response “positive/negative”) for diagnosis and treatment.
CIAM Curriculum Outline: A Comprehensive Training for Level I through Level III Certification
Module One: Orientation to the Field of Auricular Acupuncture 5 PDA/CEU
Module Outline:
-
Anatomy of the Ear
-
The Field, Context and Research of Auricular Acupuncture
-
Auricular Acupuncture: Past and Present
-
Visual and Tenderness Auricular Assessment
-
Auricular Assessment of Pathology Assignment
At the end of this unit, students should be able to:
-
Identify the potential value of auricular medicine
-
Provide an overview of the history and current research of auricular medicine
-
Name the anatomical areas of the ear
-
Offer a basic assessment of ear pathology through visual and tenderness changes
Module Two: How Does it Work? 4 PDA/CEU
Module Outline:
-
Landmarks of the Ear
-
Point Locations for Upper and Lower Limbs and Spine
-
Precise Musculoskeletal Point Locations
-
Mechanisms of Action: Ear as a Gateway
-
“How Does it Work” Assignment
At the end of this unit, students should be able to:
-
Locate the landmarks of the ear
-
Locate the points of the spine and upper and lower limbs on the ear
-
Provide a description of the mechanisms of action of auricular acupuncture
Module Three: Point Selection and Treatment Principles 5 PDA/CEU
Module Outline:
-
Use of Electrotherapy Pointfinder for Assessment and Treatment
-
Proper Auricular Needling Technique
-
Precise Point Locations for Head
-
Principles for Point Selection
-
Point Selection and Treatment Principles
-
Assessment and Treatment of Musculoskeletal Pain Practice
At the end of this unit, students should be able to:
-
Describe the main categories of points and their actions
-
Choose appropriate types of points for a musculoskeletal treatment
-
Effectively use a Pointfinder to find and treat points on the ear
-
Needle and active ear point effectively
-
Locate the musculoskeletal points of the upper neck and head
Module Four: Chronic Pain
5 PDA/CEU
Module Outline:
-
Spinal Zones on the Ear and the Forceps Treatment Technique
-
Functional Point Locations
-
Precise Point Locations for Pain
-
Value of Auricular Acupuncture for Chronic Pain
-
4-Point Pain Treatment Assignment
At the end of this unit, students should be able to:
-
Locate spinal points related to chronic pain
-
Locate important functional points for chronic pain
-
Confidently select, find and treat points on the ear for pain management
Module Five: Functional Points and Frequencies 4 PDA/CEU
Module Outline:
-
Point Locations for Functional Points
-
Incorporating Functional Points and Nogier Frequencies
-
Assessment and Treatment Practice
At the end of this unit, students should be able to:
-
Increased confidence in selecting appropriate points and treating chronic pain
-
Familiarity with key functional points
-
Skill and experience in locating select points for treatments
Module Six: Focus Activity. Blockages to Healing 4 PDA/CEU
Module Outline:
-
Endodermal Points Locations
-
Neural Therapy and Precise Point Locations for Organs
-
Role of Focus Activity in Treating Pain
-
Finding Focus Activity Assignment
At the end of this unit, students should be able to:
-
Locate endodermal (organ) points on the ear
-
Locate heart and kidney and understand their exception
-
Be prepared to describe “focus activity” and its importance in healing
-
Locate and treat focus activity
Module Seven: Case Management 3 PDA/CEU
Module Outline:
-
Case Management Approach and Reporting
-
Case Report Assignment
At the end of this unit, students should be able to:
-
Recognize the most important points to include in a treatment plan
-
Be familiar with how to record and manage case reports
-
Apply auricular medicine principles in clinical case management
Notes
[1] Rubik, Beverly. "Biofield Science and Healing: History, Terminology, and Concepts." Glob Adv Health Med 4, (2015). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4654789/
[2] Agnes, Muriel. Auricular Medicine: Window to the Brain. Blurb, 2018
[3] Luquet, S. "The central nervous system at the core of the regulation of energy homeostasis." Front BioSci School Ed, (2009). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19482713