Browse answers below to some of the most commonly asked questions we receive about the programme. Click on a question title to read the answer.
If you still have a question to ask of us, don’t hesitate to get in touch using the contact form provided and we’ll be delighted to help.
What is Five Element Acupuncture?
Five-Element Acupuncture is a complete system of medicine based on the natural laws that govern all beings and matter in the universe. It is a spiritual tradition that addresses the needs of people at the level of the body, mind and spirit.
Five-Element Acupuncture sees ill-health and dis-ease as an imbalance of yin and yang, the two primary sources of all existence. Any symptom/s a person may experience demonstrates the person has lost balance but the problem does not indicate the cause. The goal of the acupuncturist is to find the true cause of the imbalance in the patient.
Five-Element acupuncturists use their senses to make a diagnosis (to see, to hear, to smell, to feel). In treatment they use Moxa (a fine Chinese herb) that is burnt to warm the acupuncture points, and needles to stimulate or sedate the energy accessible in the meridian (energy) pathways. This adjustment can harmonise the flow of energy in the patient.
Why become an Acupuncturist?
There is nothing better in life than being of service to another. When you work as a practitioner your life has real meaning and the benefits between the practitioner and the patients are mutual. Receiving Five-Element Acupuncture treatment helps people to discover who they really are and make changes in life that are right for them. It’s a true honour to witness another human being emerge from dis-ease to health and go on to thrive.
How often do you have to attend?
Years 1 and 2 are 4 days a month, Thursday through Sunday. There are 10 sessions in an academic year. Day is 9am till 5.30pm. Year 3 is attending one day a week, Saturday, for 6/7 months.
You can read more detail about the course by clicking here.
What qualification do you have at the end of the course?
You are granted the internationally recognised Licentiate in Acupuncture. This gives you permission to practise in Ireland and the UK and other European Countries. Check with us re applicability in your country of residence.
Is your course recognised?
The core curriculum meets the membership standards of the Acupuncture Council of Ireland(ACI), the largest Acupuncture professional organisation in Ireland. That organisation in turn is a member of the leading European Acupuncture body, the ETCMA. Upon completion of the Course, graduates will be eligible to apply for membership of the ACI. This means among other things, that your patients will be able to get refunds on the cost of attending your practice from their health insurer.
What if I work full time and/or I have family
No problem! The course accommodates this by being part time to allow you continue working and/or meeting family commitments.
What is the cost?
The cost of attending the three year course is highly competitive when compared with other Five Element Acupuncture courses available.
Year 1 tuition is €4500.
Year 2 tuition is €4750.
Year 3 tuition is €4950, giving a total cost of €14,200.
Will I have to do work outside the course?
Yes, but it will be interesting – keeping a season diary, learning point location, taking the pulse – not just sitting down and learning from a book! Approx 10 hours a week will be enable you become an excellent student!
You can read more detail about the course by clicking here.
Who will be teaching us?
We have assembled a high quality national and international Teaching Faculty to ensure you get a thorough education and empowering you to be able to practise this amazing system of medicine at the highest level.
You can read more about each of our faculty members by clicking here.
How do I apply?
You can apply online by clicking here and providing us with some personal details, or you can download the offline application form by clicking here. The offline form can be completed by typing into it, or you can print it out to complete it and then scan it or take a picture. Send the completed form, scan or picture in to us along with a passport photo and any accompanying documents.
The College will treat all of your information and personal data that you provide as confidential, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection legislation.
Download the COFEA prospectus
Summary of Course Hours
Year One
Class Hours
Supervised Clinical Hours
Total For Year
Directed Study
Year Two
Class Hours
Supervised Clinical Hours
Total For Year
Directed Study
Year Three
Class Hours
Supervised Clinical Hours
Total For Year
Directed Study
Total
Class Hours
Supervised Clinical Hours
Total For Year
Directed Study
Programme Content:
Classical Five Element Acupuncture
Theory/History/Philosophy and Different Acupuncture Traditions. The course involves the study of the history and philosophy of acupuncture and how the differing traditions of acupuncture evolved. The Dao/Yin – Yang/Traditional Chinese Medicine will be reviewed.
The course then goes on to provide training in the theory and practice of the natural laws that are part of the particular tradition of Classical Five-Element Acupuncture – Laws and Cycles of the Five Elements/Law of Mother and Child/Law of Cure/Law of Midday & Midnight/ Organ/Meridian Theory.
Levels of Energy: Body, Mind, and Spirit; Significance of Symptoms.
Balancing of Energy; Specialized Treatment Patterns and Groupings of Points, including Windows of the Sky, Possession and Use of Internal and External Dragons, Aggressive Energy, Husband/Wife Imbalances, Seas and Oceans, Akabanis, Entry-Exit Blocks.
Energy Transfers; Internal and External Causes of Disease.
Point location and application
The students will be taught how to locate the acupuncture points on the twelve Meridians, the Conception and Governor Vessels. They will learn about the types of points – Source, Junction, Horary, Tonification and Sedation Points, Element Points, Entry and Exit Points, Associated Effect Points, Alarm Points, First Aid Points.
How each person is unique on a physical emotional mental and spiritual level and how this will therefore determine a treatment unique to each person.
Actions of Points and Combinations will be taught.
This requires that the student will have a good knowledge of surface anatomy. Surface anatomy will be taught as an integral part of point location.
Traditional Diagnosis
This is the study of the factors that are essential to make the correct diagnosis in Classical Five Element Acupuncture.
This includes awakening the Students’ Natural Abilities to See, to Hear, to Ask, and to Feel, using the Diagnostic Indicators of Color, Sound, Emotion, and Odor.
Taking Case Histories; Assessing the Causative Factor and Level of Disease; Physical Examination.
Practitioner/Patient Rapport Skills.
Supervised Clinical Practice
This involves the students being supervised while developing their skills in a clinical setting with patients.
This will include supervision of pulse readings and diagnosis; point location; treatment planning; needle technique; rapport skills; touch and physical examination skills.
Treatment Planning
We will help the student develop appropriate principles and priorities in how to plan a treatment.
How to translate a Traditional Diagnosis into an effective Treatment Plan.
How to address the Needs of the Body/Mind and Spirit.
Exploring the differing methods of Treatment.
How to evaluate treatment and determining Future Treatments.
Patient/Practice Management and Ethics
The student will learn about communication skills; Trust; Confidentiality.
Listening and Counselling, Patient Homework, Appropriate Referrals, Finances, Advertising; Public Service; and the standards required of them by the College’s Codes of Ethics and Safe Practice.
Pulse Diagnosis
The course provides a thorough training in pulse taking of the twelve meridians their strengths and qualities. This is a deeper study of how and what pulses can tell us about the patient’s current and previous health status.
Western Medicine
The major clinical aspects of Western Medicine will be covered. This includes investigations and diagnosis/epidemiology/the major causes of ill health including socio-economic factors; medical terminology; pharmacology; physiology and pathology; red flags;
We will cover the main systems of the body – circulatory/lymphatic/respiratory/uro-genital/dermatology/auto-immune/digestive/muscle-skeletal/ endocrine/nervous system/mental health and the red flags in these areas.
Personal and Professional Development
The course emphasizes a self-reflective and self-observational awareness in the students’ personal and professional development throughout the three years.
We will help the students understand that mastery of this healing art requires an understanding of ourselves first. Diagnosing through colour sound odour and emotion will require the student to leave themselves outside the room so that they can truly experience the patient.
In so doing the student will develop themselves as an Instrument of Nature. Trainer State and Roots and Branches 5 Element Qi Gong™ (among many other techniques) will be taught to enhance the students’ self-understanding.