Skya Abbate has been a practising acupuncturist for over three decades, and is an experienced and senior teacher at Southwest Acupuncture College. She has published books on Auricular Acupuncture, Palpatory Diagnosis and Advanced Techniques in Oriental Medicine.

Author Biography; Preface; Part I Building the Foundation; 1. Building the Foundation, The Infrastructure of Treatment; 2. The Interview, The Heart of the Clinical Encounter; Part II Treatment Strategies in Acupuncture; 3. The Relationship Between the Methods of Diagnosis and Therapeutic Effectiveness; Case 1 Treating the Foundation: Insomnia and Pulses at the Adaptive Level; 4. Thoughts on Needling within the Clinical Encounter;5. The Stages of Needling;6. What Is an Acupuncture Point?; 7. The Importance of Standard Nomenclature of the Acupuncture Meridians and Points;8. The Point ClassificationSystem; Case 2 Numbness treated through the Jing (well) points; 9. The Rules of Point Selection and General Treatment Strategies; Case 3 The use of distal points for knee pain; Case 4 Food poisoning headache treated with a combination of local and distal points; 10. Written Communications, Patient Handout Plans, Consent Forms in General and for Specialized Treatment; 11. Acupuncture Emergencies; Part III Tonification Treatments and What They Do; 12 Ten Needle Technique; Case5 TheApplicationofTenNeedleTechniquein the treatment ofEmotions; 13. Eight NeedleTechnique; Case 6 Eight Needle Technique for Back Pain and Overall Tonification; 14. Intradermals; 15. Luo Points: Special Vessels of Communication Between Channels; Case 7 Luo points in Excess Conditions; 16. The Eight Curious Vessels in Oriental Medicine;17. The Clinical Significance of the Confluent Points and Their Application in Gynecology; Case8 The treatment of menopause with the Eight CuriousVessels; Part IV Dispersion Treatments and What They Do; 18. The Six Divisions; Three Paradigms of Treatment; Case 9 Six Divisions: An energetic, philosophical model for pain and blockage in the treatment of back pain; 19. Heat Differentiations; 20. A Synopsis of Bloodletting Techniques; Case 10 Blood stasis patterns in the occipital region; Case 11 Additional case of Blood stasis patterns in the occipital region; Case 12 The Application of the Plum Blossom Needle in the Treatment of Hair Loss; Conclusion Nourishing the Foundation, The Beginning of Health; Appendices; A. Forms; 1. The Clinical Report Form; 2. Patient Handout Plan; 3. Informed Consent for Moxibustion; 4. Directions for Self-Treatment at Home with Moxa; 5. Informed Consent for Gwa Sha Treatment; 6. Informed Consent for Fire Cupping; B. SubjectIndex; C. DiseaseIndex; D. PointIndex; Glossary