In addition to our world-renowned Acupuncture training, ICOM offers regular high-quality CPD courses throughout the year for Acupuncturists. New for 2025, is our Japanese Series consisting of six different in-person CPD workshops. Each workshop covers an in-depth look at techniques from Japanese acupuncture.
The series launches in March 2025 with a Hara workshop from internationally renowned acupuncturist and teacher, Marek Urbanowicz, followed by a two-day Sotai workshop in May. Oran Kivity presents Ontake Therapy in March whilst ICOM’s very own Tony Todd will be hosting a two-day Moxibustion course in April followed by his own three-day course in May all about Meridian Therapy.
This one day seminar looks at the importance of diaphragmatic breath work to support digestion and posture.
As well as playing an obvious role in maintaining an adequate breath, the diaphragm is an important structure that helps integrate lumbar stability and therefore supports the posture, providing stability and mobility to the lumbar vertebrae. This attachment goes as low as the L1-L3.
During this one-day seminar on the diaphragm we will look at aspects from anatomy and physiology, the importance of the diaphragm in meridian function, the three burners, muscle tonus, to the symptomatology of poor diaphragmatic function. Marek will also cover the Snider’s Test and a variety of treatment options.
With this new moxibustion technique based on Doctor Manaka’s theory of Meridian Frequencies, heated bamboo is applied on the skin rhythmically at specific frequencies of beats per minute, according to the meridian affected.
This meridian frequency treatment brings about rapid changes in body condition and relieves pain fast. It will greatly enhance your clinical effectiveness and, very importantly, patients love it. The application of Ontake will deepen your palpation skills, literally bringing you closer in touch with the channel system and broadening your understanding of its dynamic interrelationships.
On this two-day course you will learn to use Ontake to treat at root and branch levels, to treat pain and alleviate symptoms. Ontake can be integrated into any kind of acupuncture or bodywork practice that uses the meridian system.
Day One of the workshop covers everything you need to know about loading, lighting and applying bamboo treatment. As well as a space for more practice. Day Two explores symptom relief with bamboo in much greater detail. This includes guidelines for treating specific conditions such as diarrhoea, constipation, sinus problems anxiety (and anything else you ask for). Most importantly, you will learn Ontake 1 2 3: holographic mappings for pain relief developed by Dr Tan and adapted for use with bamboo.
This carefully designed theoretical and practical workshop takes place over two days. It’s for practicing Acupuncturists to enhance their understanding and broaden their application of moxibustion within clinical practice.
Day one is about mastering the basics and learning the essential moxibustion techniques that have been cherished for centuries. You’ll learn the Sawada root treatment points as the core set of points for treatment of the core deficiencies. You’ll practice Sawada style moxibustion to treat the vital organs (Zang Fu) enhancing your ability to address various health concerns and you’ll learn how to adapt the basic protocol to address specific symptom including muscular and joint patterns, anxiety, and gynaecological issues. And you’ll gain insights into the harmonious integration of moxibustion and acupuncture needling.
On day two you’ll building upon your knowledge from Day 1 and take your moxibustion skills to the next level. There’ll be a review of basic methods and points. We’ll explore the versatility of moxibustion by learning how to apply it to extra vessel points, expanding your treatment options. You’ll develop the expertise to choose the most effective acupuncture points based on specific symptom patterns and deepen your diagnostic skills by incorporating pulse examination – a valuable tool for this form of treatment but also acupuncture in general. Finally, you’ll discover the potential of polarity methods for both testing and refining your Moxibustion treatment.
By the end of this course, you’ll be equipped with a solid understanding of moxibustion, empowering you to provide personalised, effective treatments to enhance your clients’ well-being.
Sotai with Marek Urbanowicz, 3-4 May
Sotai is a Japanese form of muscular or movement therapy that aims to to balance the musculoskeletal system via minimal effort.
Like other systems of ‘bodywork’, such as the Feldenkrais Method for instance, it is based on the idea that rather than ‘correcting’ a muscular habit you exaggerate the existing pattern and from this there is a profound shift in the way in which the nervous system is organised.
Predominantly, isometric contraction is used but very gently based on close observation of the overall postural patterns. When these movements have been assessed by the practitioner, a series of gentle movements are employed to realign how the musculoskeletal system functions. Each movement is accompanied by working with the breath in a relaxed manner. An overview of the patient’s alignment is made and often a chain of muscular tension is observed, beginning from the feet and seeing how the patient stands. The core of Sotai is to work with pelvis since this is the pivotal area that affects what happens above and below it.
Sotai was incorporated into Dr Yoshio Manaka’s YinYang model of acupuncture as the third stage of his treatment protocol although he only included a few of the basic movements into his system. Once learned, Sotai can be performed as a home care system to increase flexibility and ease of movement.
This weekend course will cover the main principles of Sotai and you will finish the course feeling much more relaxed and aligned. You will also be much more aware of your general patterns of tension but will be armed with ways to change them.
This three-day course combines theory and practice looking at how different aspects of diagnostic information fit together. You will be able to better your skills in pulses, palpation and point selection.
This course will teach you a structure for treatment, a systematic method of diagnosis and needling, and a range of options for supportive and symptom management. It will help you understand how different styles of acupuncture can co-exist and how you could integrate these classical methods with your existing practice into a cohesive whole.
The course is part theory and part practice. We will see how different aspects of diagnostic information fit together, what is useful for treatment against what gives you context and nuance for point selection. We will spend time practicing palpation, especially pulse; understanding pulse quality and learning a method of differentiating relative strengths of positions. There will be guided practice of this and other practical aspects as well as discussion of interpretation, strategies for needling and options for symptomatic treatment.
Tony has previously written about channel-centred treatment in a 2021 issue of European Journal of Oriental Medicine (EJOM), you can access and read the article for free
here.
Manaka Acupuncture with Marek Urbanowicz, 5-6 July & 26-27 July
This two-weekend course will introduce you to the basics of Manaka style acupuncture – a five stage model of acupuncture which, like nearly all Japanese styles of treatment, is based on palpatory findings.
Weekend one will cover the basic philosophy and theory, the five primary patterns plus more recently discovered ones. It will also introduce you to various tools: ion pumping cords and the ion beam device, the Manaka hammer and the channel frequencies. It will also cover the use of needle moxa (kyotoshin) on the Back Shu points. There will be time spent examining Manaka’s point locations and his changing of some of the Mu or Alarm Points.
Weekend two will review the information previously taught plus introduce the concept of polar channel treatment, more unusual treatment strategies, basic Sotai as employed in stage three. Strategies in stage four will be explored in detail plus Manaka’s signal system theory, his views on prognosis and blood stasis.
At the end of the course you will have learned a new model of diagnosis and acupuncture that may totally transform the way you practice acupuncture.
Where do these courses take place?
The above courses take place at the International College of Oriental Medicine (ICOM) in our historic college building in East Grinstead, West Sussex. The BAAB Accredited college was established in 1972 and has been at its current site in East Grinstead since 1977. ICOM is 10 minutes walk from East Grinstead station with direct trains from London Victoria and East Croydon. We have ample parking in our free car park. We look forward to seeing you. If you have any questions about the courses or eligibility please email us at [email protected]
How do I book?
Visit the individual courses via the links above or go to our
CPD page for more details on how to book your place.
