About Wisdom Garden Academy
Introducing the Academy
Wisdom Garden Academy is an outcome of a long journey taken in search of a truthful path in medicine and life. In 2021, it started as a pilot program with a small group of participants with the founder’s vision of establishing an old style private learning community and academic center that can provide a sense of community and bond for participants and contribute to the growth of each individual as well as the advancement of the East Asian medicine.
Value and Philosophy
“If you know, say that you know. If you don’t know, say that you don’t know. That is the [true] knowing.”
“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
We value love, compassion, and wisdom. Humility, transparency, evidence, reason, experience, virtue cultivation, and the words and teachings of sages are those which we’d like to rely on. We also value and believe in the wisdom of simplicity and development of fluency since medicine is an artful science that requires the development of skills and techniques.
The Founder
Joon Hee Lee is from Korea and feels so fortunate and grateful for all the paths that led him to the present time. Joon Hee is a practitioner of Acupuncture, Chinese herbs and Manual therapy and a perpetual student of mind-body, medicine, and life. After finishing his first East Asian medicine training, he moved to Portland Oregon and began private practice.
Joon Hee Lee, DAOM, LAc
From early on in his career, Joon Hee realized that in order to pursue the truth of the East Asian medicine he must study the classics, especially the Shanghan Zabing Lun (傷寒雜病論) and Huangdi Neijing (黃帝內經).
In 2005, he met an old Korean herbal doctor, Gang Sun Lee. Through him, Joon Hee was introduced to an empirical approach to the Shanghan Lun and herbal medicine including the method of abdominal assessment and approach of Japanese old formula school. Joon Hee became interested in Yoshimasu Todo’s work because the physician’s emphasis on concrete experience over abstract theories and unwavering pursuit of textual and historical evidence resonated with him.
Joon Hee deeply studied the works of Yoshimasu Todo. At the time, he also studied Confucian classics including so called “4 books and 3 classics” in their original form, realizing that these works had been essential for earlier scholar-physicians in developing their characters and writing styles. After in depth study of Zhang Zhongjing, Yoshimasu Todo and Confucius, it was clear to him that Zhang Zhongjing’s work is a culmination of empirical approach and experience of herbal medicine practice in antiquity.
Fluent in classical literary Chinese, Joon Hee also reads and studies Huangdi Neijing (Yellow emperor’s inner classic). Through many rounds of reading of both Zhang Zhongjing’s text and Huangdi Neijing, Joon Hee came to a conclusion that the two texts be best dealt separately for both pragmatic and historical reason; Zhang Zhongjing’s for the purpose of herbal practice and Huangdi Neiijing for acupuncture.
Joon Hee has always valued objective assessment skills that can directly inform practitioner what to do in clinic without relying on abstract ideas. He became interested in “listening” and “manual thermal evaluation” techniques that originated from French osteopathic physician Jean-Pierre Barral and strongly resonated with this approach and its principle. Joon Hee has been studying the comprehensive curriculum developed by Jean-Pierre Barral, Alain Croibier and the Barral Institute. He has completed its visceral, vascular, neural, and articular curriculum and became certified in both visceral and neural technique by the Barral Institute. This dedication has been very helpful for him in developing and refining his palpatory senses and precise knowledge of the body, which allow him to rediscover and substantiate what the ancient had perceived and recorded in the classics.
Joon Hee is passionate about teaching and sharing his experience and knowledge. He has taught at the National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) since 2011 and lectured for doctoral students at the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine (SIEAM). He enjoys both teaching students in classroom and seeing patients in clinic. He also assists learning of practitioners who attend various seminars from the Barral Institute as a Teaching Assistant. Now, he brings his expertise and experience to the Wisdom Garden Academy to share with East Asian Medicine community.
Joon Hee relocated to the Big island of Hawaii from Portland, Oregon in 2021. He previously lived on Oahu and is very happy to return to the Hawaiian islands that he loves dearly. During down time, he likes to play ukulele and sing Hawaiian songs, go to beach or hiking in nature.
Esteemed Advisors
Our esteemed advisors are invited as honorary members and supreme advisors of the Wisdom Garden Academy because of their significant influence on the shape of the Academy and their continuously inspiring presence in the field of medicine and mind-body.
