About Your Practitioner

 Dr. Chris Dewey, PhD, DACM, LAc, Dipl.OM, is a graduate of both AOMA (the Academy of Oriental Medicine at Austin) and PCHS (Pacific College of Health & Sciences). Chris is a Licensed Acupuncturist (LAc #004) in the State of Wyoming, and a  board-certified practitioner holding Diplomate status in Oriental Medicine from NCCAOM (National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine). The AOMA program included 2000 hours of didactic study and more than 1000 hours of clinical practice as an intern. By the time Chris graduated, magna cum laude, he had acquired clinical skills in a variety of acupuncture modalities as well as skills in moxibustion, cupping, and herbal medicine. After graduating from AOMA, Chris went on to earn a second doctorate, this time in Chinese Medicine from PCHS.

Chris is also an acu-detox specialist certified through NADA (National Acupuncture Detoxification Association), a practitioner of Asian bodywork, in both Tuina (therapeutic, massage-based bodywork) and Medical Qigong (energetic bodywork) and is certified through NAHPCA (National Association of Hospice and Palliative Care Acupuncturists) as the only certified Hospice and Palliative Care Acupuncturist in the State of Wyoming. 

Additionally, Chris served three terms as President of the Wyoming Acupuncture Society and was as a Gubernatorial appointee to the Wyoming Board of Acupuncture.

To compliment his skills in Chinese Medicine, Chris is also certified as a life coach through iPEC (Institutes of Professional Excellence in Coaching) as well as a Reiki Master certified by the Independent Reiki Teachers Association.

In other areas of his life, Chris has been training as a martial artist for since 1969 and holds significant black belt ranks in Traditional Ju Jutsu, Judo, Taekwondo & Hapkido. He has trained in England, Canada and the US, has been a national level competitor, coach and referee, has published four coaching manuals for martial arts instructors and received several awards as a martial artist. He currently teaches Hapkido - Judo - Ju Jutsu as well as classes in Taiji and Qigong in Laramie.

Chris is also a published author. Coincidentally, Chris began writing poetry at about the same time as he began training in the martial arts. It was in the same time interval that Chris decided that he was going to become a geologist and a university professor when he grew up. 

Later, he decided not to grow up. 

Chris has always followed his dreams and passions. Consequently, after acquiring his first doctorate, in Geology from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, Chris became a university professor and worked at Mississippi State University. At MSU, Chris held his primary faculty position as a geologist in the Department of Geosciences, and held an adjunct position as a martial artist in the Department of Kinesiology. After thirty years of service, Chris took early retirement from MSU, sold the martial arts business that he owned alongside his university career, moved to Texas and enrolled at AOMA Graduate School for Integrative Medicine. After graduation, Chris moved to Wyoming to open his clinical practice and has also started teaching again, this time in the Honors College at the University of Wyoming. Chris offers classes  in "Traditional Chinese Medicine and Models of Health Care" and "History, Philosophy, Methodology and Applications of the Martial Arts." Shortly after moving to Laramie, Chris completed his second doctorate, in Chinese Medicine at the Pacific College of Health Sciences.

The drive to study Asian Medicine was stimulated by another of Chris' life dreams. If you think about martial arts for a moment, you will come to the realization that learning 'self-defense' is not always about physical combat, it is also about health, well-being and compassion. It was natural that his long-standing desire to learn about Asian Medicine grew very quickly once the martial journey had begun. It may seem paradoxical, but geology also figured strongly in the desire to study Asian Medicine. Humanity is an integral part of the planetary ecosystem. We are part of the Earth. If, as individuals, or as a global society, we are out of balance, it is not difficult to see that we would move planetary systems to a condition of imbalance. To understand our place in nature and nature's place in us, we need only to keep an open mind and remember Shakespeare's immortal words: 

"There are more things in heaven and earth, 

Horatio, than are dream't of in your philosophies." 

In summary then,  if there is one thread that binds all of these pieces together, it is the notion of embracing a journey of life-long learning and discovery coupled with the desire to be a useful instrument of service.

So...in the not so accurately quoted words of Robert Frost...

"Two paths diverged in a wood and I...

...I made a third." 

Chris still hasn't grown up.