Joy Tianyun Wu, Ph.D, DAOM,
L. Ac.
Connection to nature
The culture I grew up was mixture of Taoism, Confuciusm and Buddhism. Spirituality and religious were limited at that time. But, people kept many culture traditions that was always treasurable for today's life.
When I was little, it was very safe at that time, and I spent lots of time outside with siblings or other kids in nature. Dad only brought me one toy on my 5th birthday. People who worked at the same electric power plant as my parents lived at huge multiple complexes, which were surrounded with vegetable farms. Kids along with young and old neighbors would often get together to play various games outside. At summer time, one of things we liked to play with was mud, making clay dolls like today’s playing dolls. We went to catch dragonflies and butterflies, pick wild berries and wild fruits. Sometimes, we went to the farmers’ market to spend a few cents to buy some fresh seasonal fruits.
After the age of seven, I often went after school to the nearby vegetable farm field to pick up weeds to feed our chickens. Most of these wild plants were herbs and edible. People cooked them like vegetables. I was very happy whenever my mom cooked the fresh wild weeds I picked up. We ate some, then the rest would feed the chickens. I was always curious about what these plants could do for people. My mother was my first teacher to teach me all of the traditions we had, including food cooked by following the Chinese traditional calendar. On some weekends, my parents rode bicycles to visit my grandmother and uncle who lived in the countryside. My elder cousins and young aunts were a few years older; they were very warm-hearted people and always were very excited to see my sisters and me coming to visit them. They took us to the farm fields. We would pick all kinds of produce and grasses, sucking some plants’ roots. They were so sweet and juicy. We were so happy. I still remember the fresh smell of these plants and the dirt. They taught me about the plants; they knew what weeds pigs eat, what kinds of plants sheep liked and what kind of plants humans could eat and which plants could heal certain human conditions. I was fascinated about everything I learned that I could not learn in city life. I enjoyed staying in my grandparent’s home all the time.
My great grandmother was mid-wife and medicine woman in that village. I remember one time I watched her treating a woman with a headache; she used a big long needle and using shoe sole to hit this long needle, and punctured at the temple to make it bleed. I was pushed outside of the room to avoid being scared. But I was very curious about what I saw. Later, I asked why she had done that. I also saw the cupping marks on the forehead of the woman.
My mom was not a doctor. Whenever my sisters and I got sick, Mom became a doctor to take care of us. She knew how to cook food or a meal for us when we were sick. She always tried to use proper food to heal us first. I remember I had a bad cough, and she used fire cupping to treat me. At a young age, I also learned how to cup her back when Mom had a cough. The first time, I was scared to burn her back. Mom explained it carefully and was so brave to let me try. Winter time was very cold, freezing cold, and there was no good heating system. I often got frost bite on my feet and in other places, which was painful when it was cold and itchy when it was warm. Due to the coldness, often my stomach became bloated and painful. My mom thus had to give me these big black herbal balls to chew after meals. After taking them, I could pass gas, and my stomach started feeling better; the bloating and pain subsided. Even today, I still remember the taste of those herbal pills. We rarely got sick, but if we did, my mother would take care of it within a day or two.
Hungry for reading
When I was school aged, I had a great passion to learn and read. Unfortunately, there were very limited books left at home, and no books were available to children during the time of the culture revolution. I read all Dad’s books that I could find at home. I remember reading a handbook of human anatomy and home emergency medical care. I started to understand the human body and how babies were born. But, I did not understand most of the complicated parts. The hunger for learning and absorbing information became intense. One day, at about the age of eight, I heard there was a library at my Dad’s company about 5 miles away. At night, after Dad came home, I insisted on going to that library to get some books. Dad told me it was closed already. But I didn’t listen and insisted on going. In the dark, I was alone all by myself, and I rode my Dad’s big bicycle. I was small and had to ride it under the middle bar. Dad was right; the library was really closed. I not only didn’t get any books, but the night was getting really dark, and not many people were out at all. I carried a slightly scary feeling as I rode the bike back home safely. I never forgot this event; it reminded me how much I loved study and reading when I was young.
During my youth, I had been one of the advanced students through high school. The most influential books I read included one on the discovery of the microscope, one on the discovery of penicillin and how to conquer bacterial infections, and a book on Madam Marie Curie. I was very good especially with math, physics, chemistry and biology. I could concentrate for hours while studying and reading, and I always tried to completely understand the subjects I studied. I enjoyed leaning so much that I never felt it was a burden. Entering college was a great competition, only 4% of high school students were able to pass the exam to go to college. Father wanted me to be a doctor. However, I didn’t like that idea at all. I disliked the idea of being a medical doctor because I didn’t want to deal with blood, cuts and the smell of the hospital. Disobeying Dad’s wish, I chose to study Biology and life science, so I ended up studying microbiology in Shan Dong University, Jinan China. It was one of the prestigious majors in one of the prestigious schools. I had four wonderful college years during which I developed a strong interest in academic research and acquisition, and as it turned out, I have a very detail-oriented mind. At the same time, I have a very patient and caring personality. After graduation, I was offered a job working at The Institute of Plant Protection at Chinese Academy of Agriculture Science in Beijing.
A Path From A Life Scientist To A Natural Medicine Doctor
Realization of things unseen
The seed was planned right before I came to the United States to attain advanced degrees in science and technology; this all took place five years after working in Beijing. Under the influence of my father, I was greatly attracted to the famous ancient book, the I Ching, the law of changing. I was drawn to this work because in it, I found great wisdom and truth for understanding the universe. It opened my eyes and heart. This was the only new book I bought before I left China. During the Early Spring of 1991, I went to Ohio State University, enrolled as a Master’s Program candidate in the Department of Plant Pathology at Columbus, Ohio.
Reading I Ching and finding wisdom in it became a bedtime ritual; just before sleep, I often was able to quietly think and contemplate the concepts within the I Ching. At that time, I hadn’t yet learned or known about meditation. Lots of the contents in the book were hard for me to completely understand, but I tried to grasp the wisdom and philosophy within it. In 1995, I received guidance for mediation from a great master from China. Routinely, meditation gave me the focus and strength during my academic studies and research. Without the practice of meditation, I would have had a really hard time overcoming the stresses of such rigorous study. This was one of the great benefits of meditation and the I Ching.
Gradually, I started to understand the concept of Yin and Yang, the energy form and matter form of the Universe. This vital concept taught me that any existing thing in the universe has the forms of both energy and matter. One Universal law I learned was, “Things without physical forms exist in the matters that have forms” (无形存于有形之中). This is a deeper understanding the concept of Yin Yang. The Yin Yang concept does not only apply to things with two opposite natures, such as man and woman, moon and sun, active and inactive, shining or dim, inward and outward, moving and stillness, etc. Instead, the Yin Yang principle is rooted in any existent thing and all matter from the tiniest atomic molecules to the entire Universe. Yin Yang is the law of being; with it, things exist and are alive.
During my Master’s research program, some of my work involved isolating all kinds of bacteria from plants’ roots. Things surprised me at first; I discovered that each root contains millions of bacteria with a wide spectrum of species. The healthier the roots are, the larger the amount of bacteria that could be harvested. Contrary to what people would think, these bacteria benefit plant growth and prevent the plants’ roots from getting diseases. What I would like to say is this: many existing things may not be able to be seen with humans’ naked eyes, and we often didn’t interpret them correctly because of this. In this existence of the material world, many phenomena baffle scientists who cannot even understand the reason why they exist. Many factors are influenced by invisible energy.
I continued to a Ph.D Program in the Molecular Biology of Plants in 1994 During this time, interest in molecular biology research and biotechnology was sharply rising. DNA fragments were newly able to be isolated, cloned, and sequenced. My Ph.D. research project was involved in the study of polyamine oxidation pathway inside peroxisome, an organelle which carries all kinds of chemical oxidation. These organelles produce oxidants. I analyzed DNA sequences, mapped them on the chromosome, and observed the DNA structures. I continued working on the same pathway in human cells after graduation in 1998 and worked as a postdoctoral research scientist at University of California, San Francisco.
Understanding the mystery of DNA
The lights of searching for the truth about life in the Universe never stopped shining within me. My research involved a great deal of bench work on gene cloning, sequencing and DNA sequence analysis. One day, I was wondering about the functions of these large amount of introns in chromosomes, which are the chromosome regions that do not code protein peptides; they were being called “junk DNA.” As of today, scientists have found only 5% of the total human DNA sequence codes for amino acids of protein peptides that make up humans’ physical cellular and tissue structures, such as bone, muscle, skin, blood, and so on. In molecular Biology, these DNA sequences are named Extron, which are not “junk DNA.” The rest of the regions which do not code protein form the backbone of the DNA structure were the “junk DNA.” At that time, I did not like this term for introns. I felt that “junk DNA” was disrespectful to the perfect function human bodies have evolutionary developed for so long in the universe. So far, molecular biological scientists are still not able to conclude the functions of these “junk DNA,” which are the predominant part of DNA sequences.
One day, I suddenly realized this Yin Yang principle exists in the DNA structures. First of all, these paired double strands perfectly represent the Yin Yang pair of the I Ching. That day, my mind opened up; my brain expanded as big as the galaxy. I realized that the Universal principle of “things without form exist in the things with from” exists in the structures of DNA sequences. This perfectly explained DNA introns and helped me understand the function of introns. They are the areas where energies are stored inside of DNA sequence. So an intron carries energy, like batteries. The next amazing discovery that I found on my own was that modern life science’s 60 genetic code matches the ancient energy symbols of the I-Ching’s 60-hexons. Later, I found some other scholars had had the same discovery, but they remained at the level of matching without further explanation. Understanding the principles of the I Ching, I gained a deeper understanding of DNA structures and their function than most other molecular biologists. At that time, nobody paid much attention to studying introns because there were no ways to detect their function, energy or energy field.
The I Ching shows us, “Energy stores inside the forms of a matter.” The same principle applies to human bodies. The DNA molecule is not only a form of matter, but it contains energy, as well as information. Later on, this same principle explains the relationship between souls and human bodies.
From a scientist to a healer
The final step of spiritual awakening changed me from a molecular biologist to a Chinese medicine doctor. This change contributed to my last research job. My last research work involved culturing human embryonic stem cells to neurons; it was a new approach to developing medicine from human embryonic stem cells. During the bench work looking at these stem cell cultures, an inner voice came from my heart kept telling me, “Developing medicine from stem cells is going to be very expensive, not many people will benefit from it.” But, I kept ignoring this voice for weeks.
One morning, while climbing the stairs on the way to the lab, a voice came to my mind and asked, “Are you going to do this for the rest of your life?” I was so surprised by this voice. I walked heavily and felt depressed. I quickly asked myself what else I should and could be doing. I had been working in the academic research field ever since college graduation.
A few weeks later, I simply got out of the scientific research arena. However, the exit point was not pretty as I expected, but this journey to understand modern life science had reached an end. Things may not make sense at that moment, up to today, it was a big blessing, and I felt it was preplanned. One day in the morning, a batch of human embryonic stem cell cultures didn’t turn out well. My supervisor showed quite a bit of disappointment with me, and I was not happy about the way she spoke to me. I turned around quickly and without thinking said, “I don’t need to have this job.” By the end of this day, I knew I was going to be out of this lab. The very next day, the human resource person told me that my job was terminated here. So I was fired. Hearing that from her, I didn’t feel sad at all but felt peaceful and joyful; a sense of freedom and relief spread through me as I left the laboratory. Of course, I did worry about supporting myself through the transition, but the idea of finding my true work led the way.
Acupuncture treatment wakened my soul
A certain light continued guiding on my path. One month later, I visited a longtime friend, who was and still is a Qi-gong master and an acupuncturist. We had had children at the same time, and I expressed to him that I had been feeling irritable and less patient. He suggested that I might be experiencing some postpartum depression. Then he offered me with a few acupuncture needles from head to toe. I didn’t feel anything during the treatment nor after the treatment, but at night, many spots on my legs started twitching and jumping.
These points twitched so intensively and rapidly that I finally realized my body was reacting to the treatment. I didn’t think much about it and went to sleep peacefully. The next morning around 5:00 – 6:00 a.m., I woke up feeling so rested; my brain was so clear in a way that I hadn’t felt in a long time. I felt as if a sunroof had opened up on the top of my head. My brain and whole body were filled with energy. I felt so clear, so peaceful, and my brain was so active and alert. At this moment, thoughts started pouring in to help me understand how acupuncture works on human bodies. This new understanding told me that ion channels are channels that form the acupuncture meridians, and the positive or negative charged ions flowing inside body form Yin or Yang Qi. Acupuncture needles act to send out electric magnetic fields to recharge or de-charge the channels. This was an incredible moment in my life that I will never forget. Mixing clarity with excitement, a voice called out to me that acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine are the real medicines for humanity. I was amazed how simple it is to treat human bodies, and perhaps more importantly, how natural it is.
Discovering true wisdom
After that day, I was so excited and eager to learn more about TCM meridian theory. I started to read the classic traditional Chinese medicine book, Huang Di Nei Jing. The whole book discusses how the human body reflects the universe, nature, and the changing seasons on earth. If a human’s Qi is against nature, he or she can get sick; if the Qi agrees with nature, he or she will heal. In the meantime, I tried to find scientific validation for this meridian theory. I read about ions and ion channels research and studies, which was just becoming a hot area in biomedical research during that period of time. Knowledge of these helped me understand the nature of Chinese medicine, which all is about energy interactions within humans or interactions with nature. Chinese Medicine meridian theory is the foundation of understanding life energy’s flow inside the human body. Acupuncture needles are the tools to help reconnect and unblock the channels that ensure life Qi flows freely.
Spirit showing me the path
A few weeks passed, and one night I had a dream. It was so vivid and clear when I woke up. The dream went as follows:
A male geologist scientist and I sat at a coffee shop chatting. He told me he knew the mechanism and secret of energy healing. He said the Earth has energy channels and blood vessels just like human beings have channels and blood vessels. If the Earth’s energy and fluids were exhausted, humans’ energy and blood would also become low. I questioned him: “I understand how to use acupuncture to treat humans if they are sick. But how can I treat Earth if the Earth’s energy is blocked? What it is going to happen to Earth?” Right at this moment, a person came in and called him away. He stood up and walked away. I didn’t receive the answer to my question.
When I woke up, I understood that humans and the Earth are images of each other. The Earth has vessels and channels, so do humans. “Human-Nature Unity” is the fundamental philosophical principle that Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on. The depth of understanding about human life is beyond what modern science can understand.
After working as a biomedical research scientist for 10 years and totally immersing myself in the life sciences for 20 years, I found something so profound about life that I could not have learned from modern life science and medicine. After a long 6-months of searching for a path, finally, I made up my mind and decided to change my career. I chose to study Traditional Chinese medicine then entered the Master’s program in September of 2007 at the Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley, California.
Passion was rewarded and fruitful
My focus on studying was rewarding. I finished the Master’s program in a little more than two years, normally takes three years to finish. At the end of 2009, I graduated. Everything went so smoothly and beautifully. Three months later, I passed the California license board exam. Mid of 2010, I opened my own clinic in Novato, California. My passion and desire to be a good TCM doctor kept growing and growing which lead me to enter the Doctoral program of TCM at the University of Eastern and Western Medicine in Sunnyvale soon afterwards receiving acupuncturist license. With my English language skills, I could serve simultaneously as a translator from Chinese to English. It was an excellent program, and we were so lucky to be able to learn TCM theory and clinic experiences from these top notch professors and experts from all over China. Within two and half years, I have worked with about 15 famous professors and offered approximately 3000 translating hours. In 2012, I became a professor of the TCM English Master’s program at the University of Eastern and Western Medicine, until today still teaching three core courses. I completed my Doctoral degree requirement in 2014.
At this point, I only teach one day a week. My acupuncture practice is my main focus. It has been steadily growing each year. The dramatic growth of insight on how medicine should be used and my understanding of the true function of doctors guides my spiritual growth on how to benefit the world and next generation. My spiritual growth and awakening comes directly from observations of reality, human life, and the nature of disease.
Local Healing
Dr. Joy also provides local healing services at Heavenly Joy Natural Health Clinic in Novato California. To learn more about seeing her in person, visit her website.
