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Total Therapy Training

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We are the No1 college of Chinese Medicine and other complementary therapies. We offer many different courses in clinical and cosmetic techniques.
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Our courses range from 1/2 day CPDs, to full qualificatioons in various therapies including Acupuncture and Massage.

05/11/2026

Cupping goes back a very long way.

The Ebers Papyrus, an Egyptian medical text from around 1550 BC, is often cited as one of the earliest written records of cupping, and the practice turns up in medical traditions right across the ancient world.

In ancient Greece, Hippocrates wrote about using cups, and Greek physicians used bronze cups to treat a range of complaints. In the Middle East, cupping became known as hijama and is still widely practised today. In China, the physician Ge Hong described a cupping method using animal horns in the 4th century AD, which is why early Chinese texts sometimes refer to it as the horn method.

The cups themselves changed over the centuries. Horn gave way to bamboo, then pottery, and eventually the glass cups most practitioners use now. Fire cupping, where a flame briefly heats the air inside the cup to create suction, is the traditional Chinese technique that's still taught today.

When you learn fire cupping, you're picking up a skill that's been passed down for thousands of years, with modern health and safety and aftercare built in alongside it.

If you'd like to learn it yourself, our one-day Chinese Fire Cupping course covers the history and mechanisms of cupping, TCM theory, diagnostics and plenty of hands-on practice with glass fire cups. Open to everyone aged 18+, no prior experience needed.

https://totaltherapytraining.org/product/chinese-fire-cupping/

03/11/2026

Thinking about training as an acupuncturist? Our next London intake for the TCM Acupuncture Diploma starts on Friday 12th to Sunday 14th February 2027.

This is our Level 5 foundation diploma in full Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture. You'll train in the classroom one weekend a month for twelve months, with a monthly online session in between, and then have up to six months to complete your case studies and two essays.

Around half of the course is practical, and you'll start needling on the very first weekend. Over the year you'll cover TCM theory and philosophy, the Zang Fu organs, the twelve standard meridians and the extraordinary vessels, five element theory, tongue and pulse diagnosis (including advanced Japanese pulse diagnosis), the ancient nine needling techniques, moxibustion, auricular, battlefield and tendon acupuncture, Chinese bloodletting, and Chinese and Western diet. You'll also diagnose real people in class, and learn the consent, record-keeping and legal side of running a clinic.

You won't be doing it on your own. There's a lifetime-access student forum, monthly Zoom catch-ups with your tutors, and free resits if you need one.

The course is for qualified therapists who already do bodywork and hold an anatomy and physiology qualification. If you don't have A&P yet, we can recommend an online course to complete before you start.

Classroom days run 9:45am - 5pm. Payment plans are available, a deposit secures your place, and your diploma is awarded on successful completion. As with all our classroom courses, you'll automatically become a member of the Total Therapy Association.

Full dates and details are on the course page:
https://totaltherapytraining.org/product/tcm-acupuncture-diploma/

01/11/2026

Menopause is now one of the most common reasons women come to acupuncture, and many of them are still working and finding it hard going.

Second Spring: A TCM Approach to Menopause is a two-day guest course from Rebalance Academy, running in Macclesfield on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st January 2027, and again on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th October 2027.

It's taught by Claire Hurst, an acupuncturist and menopause clinician who founded Rebalance Menopause, named Menopause Clinic of the Year at the Prestige Awards two years running. Claire is also Chair of the Acupuncture Regulatory Authority. She came to Chinese medicine after menopause took her out of the workplace at the height of her career, and brings 15 years of lived experience, research and thousands of consultations to her teaching.

Day one builds the foundations. You'll start with the conventional picture, including menopause stages, hormones and HRT, and the part cortisol and blood sugar play in symptoms. From there you'll move into the TCM view: the seven-year cycles, Tian Gui, Jing, Yin and Yang, the Zangfu patterns of the Kidney, Liver, Spleen and Heart, and the Chong Mai and Ren Mai.

Day two is about assessment and treatment. You'll learn how to take a menopause-focused case history, read the tongue and pulse in menopause, give dietary advice using TCM principles alongside blood sugar balance, and use auricular acupuncture. You'll also look at the thyroid and where it overlaps with menopause, finishing with real case studies and a consultation role play.

You'll go home with a course booklet containing full point protocols for every pattern, plus an initial diagnosis form to use in your own clinic.

The course is for qualified acupuncturists and Chinese medicine practitioners, and student acupuncturists who are already needling. No previous menopause training is needed.

9:45am - 5pm on both days. A deposit secures your place:
https://totaltherapytraining.org/product/guest-course-second-spring-a-tcm-approach-to-menopause-by-rebalance-academy/

31/10/2026

Nothing humbles you like getting through a full day of back-to-back treatments, every client sorted and every knot worked out, and then putting your own back out reaching for the stapler.

You've lifted the couch, carried a box of towels up the stairs and held a deep tissue position for the best part of an hour without a twinge. It's the stapler that gets you.

After a long day, your muscles have been working hard in the same positions for hours. They're tired and tight, and when you suddenly ask them for one awkward reach across the desk, sometimes they refuse to play ball with no warning at all.

It happens to all of us eventually. What's the most ridiculous thing that's ever put your back out? Tell us in the comments. We promise not to laugh. Much.

29/10/2026

Got your eye on a course? Booking it early makes the whole thing easier, and here's why.

You lock in the current price. Course fees are reviewed from time to time, and once you've booked, any increase won't apply to you.

You help the course go ahead. Our courses run when enough people have booked, so early bookings give everyone more certainty, you included.

You get your equipment kit. Where a course offers a take-home equipment package, it's ordered in when you book so it's ready and waiting for you on the day. Leave it until the last minute and there may not be time to get one in.

Travel is cheaper and easier to sort. Advance train tickets are usually the best value, and you'll have more choice of hotels if you're staying over.

Your diary fits around it. You can block out the date, move clients and arrange cover or childcare in good time, without a scramble the week before.

You get the date you want. Some courses run in small groups, and popular dates do fill up.

A deposit secures your place, with the balance invoiced around a week before the course, so you don't need to pay it all up front.

See what's coming up: https://totaltherapytraining.org/

27/10/2026

Electro-Acupuncture - one-day CPD for qualified and student acupuncturists

If you've been thinking about adding electro-acupuncture to your practice, this is the course to do it on.

It's taught by Philip Wheeler, who has years of experience in this field and takes electro-acupuncture well beyond the standard protocols most courses stop at. His work in bio-electric medicine and its role in healing and recovery has drawn interest from leading UK neurologists, and he brings real clinical cases into the room, covering nerve regeneration, bone regrowth, muscular issues, and sports and cosmetic applications.

You'll learn protocols for the popular Super AS 4 machine, along with training on more advanced machines and other makes. The course covers a wide range of techniques and frequencies, and how to customise and reprogramme your machine, so you leave knowing which protocol to use for each client and why.

The Super AS 4 only shows setting numbers rather than frequencies, so you’ll be given the exact settings for each protocol on that machine. You’ll also be trained on more advanced machines and other makes, which use wavelength dials, so you can apply the same protocols whatever equipment you have.

You'll cover:
- Contraindications and health and safety
- What electro-acupuncture is, its history and how it works
- Diagnostics, issues and applications
- The Super AS 4, more advanced machines and other makes
- Techniques and strengths
- Standard and specialist protocols
- Post-treatment care, consent forms, records and legal responsibilities
- Practical demonstrations and student practice

If you already have your own machine, bring it along. If not, our clinic machines are available to share on the day.

Dates:
- Sunday 24th January 2027, London
- Saturday 17th July 2027, Macclesfield

9:45am - 5pm, Level 5. A certificate and 6 hours CPD are awarded on successful completion, or 26 hours with the optional diploma upgrade via case studies.

You'll need an acupuncture qualification that includes needling the torso, or to be a current acupuncture student who has already started practical needling.

A deposit secures your place, and TTA membership is included automatically when you attend.

Book your place: https://totaltherapytraining.org/product/electro-acupuncture/

25/10/2026

Phlebotomy for Therapists - London

Being able to take blood yourself opens up a lot in clinic. You can send samples off for testing, look at the results with your client and order specific tests to get to the bottom of what's going on, or work as a phlebotomist in your own right.

This one-day Level 4 course is designed for people from non-medical backgrounds coming to blood collection for the first time. It's also available as a re-qualification if you've trained before and want to refresh your skills.

You'll practise on mannequins and training pads first, then move on to live blood taking, which isn't included on many UK courses. The course follows the Skills for Health standard (HSC 376) and World Health Organization guidelines.

You'll cover:
- Phlebotomy and healthcare health and safety
- Local anatomy and physiology, and blood composition
- Blood collection systems and equipment
- Working with the lab, documentation and analytical errors
- Blood tests, common test issues and misunderstood results
- Full client analysis and case studies
- Live blood taking and role play simulation

Assessment is by observation of safe practice throughout the day, and a certificate is awarded on successful completion.

Dates in London:
- Thursday 19th November 2026
- Saturday 23rd January 2027
- Friday 9th July 2027

Each date runs at a different London venue, so check the booking page for the location of the date you choose. All courses run 9:45am - 5pm.

£225 for the full qualification, including your equipment kit, or £95 for the one-day re-qualification. If you're booking the re-qualification, you'll need to email in evidence of your previous qualification.

Places on the November date are limited. A deposit secures your place, and TTA membership is included automatically when you attend.

Book your place: https://totaltherapytraining.org/product/phlebotomy/

24/10/2026

Tuina therapists, this one's for you.

A friend stands in front of you in the kitchen, at the pub, on the sofa chatting about their day and your hands are on their shoulders before you've thought about it. Your thumbs find the knots along the top of the traps, and a few seconds later you're giving them a quick shouder massage while they're still mid-sentence.

You can't help it. The tension's right there.

Has anyone ever made it through a day out without doing this? Tell us in the comments, and tag the friend who now stands in front of you on purpose.

22/10/2026

A quick couch height tip for practitioners.

Some therapies have their own guidelines, but as a general rule, stand beside your couch with your arms hanging down by your sides and set it at roughly the height of your knuckles.

If you need to get lower during a treatment, bend your legs rather than your back. Over a full clinic day, and a whole career, your back will thank you.

Different techniques and body heights can mean small adjustments either way, so use this as your starting point.

Do you change your couch height between clients, or set it once and leave it? Tell us in the comments.

20/10/2026

One simple protocol, so many uses.

The NADA protocol uses five points in the ear, and practitioners use it for a lot more than addiction. It's used for cravings and withdrawal, detox, emotional balancing and relaxation during treatment, and it's now being used in cases of severe PTSD.

Our FastTrack NADA Style Addiction Acupuncture course teaches you how to give the treatment in a single afternoon. It's taught in the style championed by NADA UK, and you don't need any previous acupuncture or therapy experience.

Next dates:
Saturday 24th October - Cheltenham
Sunday 22nd November - Macclesfield

You'll cover:
- The history of NADA and how the protocol works
- The five standard points and their authentic locations
- Ear anatomy and landmarks for finding points quickly
- Contraindications, cautions and health and safety
- Clinical protocol, post-treatment care, consent forms and records
- Magnets, seeds and other alternatives to needles
- Marking up ears before needling, then hands-on practice with standard and press needles

Assessment is by observation during the practical, and a certificate and 3 hours CPD are awarded on successful completion. There's an optional diploma upgrade through case studies, and you won't need to re-attend every year or two to keep your qualification.

It suits acupuncturists, therapists, counsellors and other health professionals who see clients dealing with addiction, stress or emotional difficulties.

Equipment is provided on the day, with an optional take-home kit if you'd like one. A deposit secures your place, and TTA membership is included automatically when you attend.

Book your place: https://totaltherapytraining.org/product/fasttrack-addiction-acupuncture/

Address

Riverside, Sunderland House, Sunderland Street
Macclesfield
SK116JF

Telephone

+448435158610

Website

http://totaltherapytraining.org/

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