We are a not-for-profit organization aiming to prove Chinese medicine is an effective treatment for injury and illness and path to health and wellness. We thus do everything possible to offer exceptional care at accessible prices! In addition, the unparalleled level of training and experience of the Alternative Clinic’s practitioners is remarkable. Our tangible and common sense approach to Chinese medicine will wow you! Come in and see for yourself – we are raising the bar of medicine in our field.
Dedicated Founders
Andrew Nugent-Head founded our not-for-profit organization in 1992 to document, preserve and share China’s traditional arts. Identifying three great scholars to work with for nearly three decades, Andrew’s work in China has led to one of the most extensive video libraries of Chinese medicine available in English, and experience with the scholars in teacher-disciple mentorship for Andrew and wife JulieAnn that is nearly unheard of today. The Alternative Clinic continues the work Andrew started 30 years ago; sharing the wisdom of the past through through effective medicine for our community and meaningful training for colleagues. Read more about our incredible story: traditionalstudies.org
OUR DIFFERENCE
Comprehensive Approach
We offer the highest quality practitioners at the most accessible prices, and practice “comprehensive Chinese medicine”. We do not simply tap in acupuncture needles and leave the room to maximize profit. We are hands-on and concretely involved in shifting the body toward health, utilizing all the tools of Chinese medicine for each individual person, one at a time, including acupuncture, moxibustion, cupping, bodywork, custom herbal formula, and sometimes simply discussion and advice.
We do not rely on pill medicines to treat complex conditions – each person is prescribed a custom herbal formula. We do not sell expensive supplement regimes, or require thousands of dollars of tests to tell you what you have. We are able to solely rely on Chinese medicine and the incredible common sense of eastern philosophy to understand an illness’ causal factors, and deftly apply the tools of Chinese medicine to create profound, tangible and lasting results.
Our clinic not only offers exceptional quality medicine from the most experienced practitioners in Asheville, we also offer tip free wellness services to ensure self care can become a regular part of everyone’s routine.
EDUCATION
Why Our Training is Different
In 1989, Andrew Nugent-Head was hit by a taxi in China, and broke the metatarsals of his foot. Through Chinese medicine treatments alone, the injury healed remarkably fast, and he was able to hike just a few weeks later. This experience changed Andrew’s life! He decided to stay in China to understand this incredible medicine. He did not know that event would set the stage for a life documenting the last old doctors of Beijing.
Trying to find a teacher to learn Chinese medicine, Andrew found the ravages of communism had nearly extinguished traditional medical practice. The government had actively embraced western medicine, and had edited classic books to include modern and scientific information. Andrew thus actively sought out practitioners that were trained and practicing medicine prior to to the changes of communism in 1949. Through great dedication and hard work, he became their student, and worked for nearly 3 decades to document their perspectives and treatments. Andrew organized seminars around the world for the teachers to present to an eager western audience. He filmed and edited their seminars, created a much needed income stream for the traditional practitioners and their families. Andrew’s life work became saving the wisdom of the past. As a result, the Association for Traditional Studies has now taught thousands of seminars in every continent on the globe, and boasts the largest online library of Chinese medicine material available in english.
Through three decades of immersion in traditional teacher – disciple fashion – not only did Andrew learn medicine, martial arts and internal cultivation practices, he documented and preserved traditional cultural perspectives and skill that would have died with his teachers.
Today sadly, the great doctors have passed away, leaving Andrew and wife JulieAnn to share what they learned with other practitioners, aiming to raise the bar of Chinese medicine around the world.
Through the Alternative Clinic in Asheville North Carolina, Andrew and JulieAnn offer tangible, effective and comprehensive Chinese medical care to the public, and meaningful clinical training for Chinese medicine practitioners. Improving the skill of every practitioner around the world can only be done by showing others how to effectively treat a broad range of illness with the incredible clarity and common sense of asian philosophy.
The Alternative Clinic is the realization of a dream shared by each of Andrew’s teachers – a center for tangible and effective medicine to be practiced, preserved, and passed on to future generations.
