An Extraordinary Opportunity

StartTime: Sat 18 October 2025 9:00 am
Location: Auckland

Ann Cecil-Sterman Pulse Diagnosis Workshop

18–19 October 2025 | Auckland, New Zealand
Location: 717 New North Rd, Mount Albert, Auckland 1022
Tuition: $800 NZD

An Extraordinary Opportunity
I’m so thrilled — Ann Cecil-Sterman is coming all the way from New York to New Zealand to teach for the first time, and she’s going to be teaching the first chunk of the complete system of acupuncture. We start with the most valuable and precious gem within Chinese medicine, the jewel — the pulses. The pulse offers a window into everything unfolding within the body. It is the foundation for diagnosis that is at once accurate and profoundly discerning. If you have ever found pulse taking daunting, longed to deepen your skill, or wished to rediscover its boundless potential with each patient— this course is for you.

An Embodied Practice
This is going to be an extraordinary weekend. The skills you learn will enable you to go into clinic on Monday with a depth of practice that I know many of you have been seeking — because this level of teaching is rarely available. This is not medical acupuncture. This is acupuncture at its roots. This is where we talk about acupuncture as an energetic medicine, and all that means is that anyone can learn this. You place your fingers upon the pulse, and you listen. It’s an embodied practice, and I’m so excited that Ann is coming to teach us how to do this.

What You Will Learn
From a very practical point of view, you will learn dynamic pulse diagnosis. You’ll learn to recognise all pulse textures — depth, width, tempo, and tone — and how to recognise the resonance of all the channels of the body: the Sinews, Luo, Extraordinary Vessels, Primaries, and Divergents, as they are manifest through the pulse. A key feature of this class is learning how to apply and release pressure on the radial artery to feel the directional pulses — revealing how qi moves between organs. Each organ expresses itself along one or more vectors: for example, the stomach’s vector is downwards, while the spleen’s is upwards. When these vectors are disrupted, such as in cases of rebellious stomach qi or blocked spleen-lung movement, the pulse makes this clear. Directional pulse diagnosis offers precise insight into the movement of qi and is invaluable in guiding treatment. For instance, a patient with temporal headaches may actually need the spleen’s blood nourished so the gallbladder can ease its tight holding — rather than focusing on the gallbladder alone. In chronic bronchitis, the lung might appear strong, but without the spleen-lung vector’s activity, lung qi treatments alone may fail. Even with night sweats, the pulse may show the real cause is lung qi failing to descend, rather than a deficiency of kidney yin. In each case, the pulse reveals what is truly needed.

What You’ll Come Away With
✔ A step-by-step exploration of method
✔ Directionality — determine where an organ is expressing its intrinsic function or if there is interference to that expression
✔ Organ energetics — distinguish between the organ pulse and the channel pulse
✔ A deep dive into pulse textures — depth, width, tempo, and tone — and how to interpret their clinical significance
✔ Historical context
✔ Dynamic pulses — understand the interrelationship of the organs across the three levels of the pulse (Wei, Ying, and Yuan) in the Cun, Guan, and Chi positions
✔ Pulses of the channels of acupuncture — the Sinews, the Luo, the Extraordinary Vessels, the Primaries, and the Divergents


Ann Cecil-Sterman’s Lineage and Training
Ann began studying to become an acupuncturist as a student of Jeffrey Yuen, 88th-generation lineage holder of the Yu Qing Huang Lao Pai (Jade Purity Yellow Emperor Lao Zi School), when he first established an acupuncture school in Manhattan in the 1990s. She was one of the lucky few to have learned from him at a time when he was teaching every subject at the school. After graduating, Ann went on to run the school’s teaching clinic, where she developed the early protocols that would later form the foundation of her seminal text, Advanced Acupuncture: A Clinical Manual. Over the next ten years, Ann followed every course Master Yuen offered — covering Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Stone Medicine, Essential Oils, Qi Gong, Meditation, Nutrition/Dietetics, and Cultivation to name a few — all taught with the same principles.

Ann has had a classical training, which means through all of the classical texts such as — the Ling Shu, the Su Wen, the Nanjing, and the Shang Han Lun — and she has been immersed in the teachings of other masters in the lineage like Ge Hong, Sun Simiao, and Li Shizhen. What is truly extraordinary is Ann’s ability to embody this knowledge and share it with us, at a time when embodied practice and heart-centred practice are more important than ever.

Since publishing her first book in 2012 (and subsequently The Art of Pulse Diagnosis and Tongue Diagnosis with many more to come), Ann has been teaching across four continents, gaining a reputation as an extraordinary teacher and a gifted communicator of complex ideas. Building upon the foundation laid by Jeffrey Yuen, she has evolved and refined the material, making it her own and sharing it with remarkable clarity and depth. Ann is truly a teacher who knows how to hold space, making profound knowledge accessible to all.


Who This Is For
What’s truly incredible is that this teaching will meet you wherever you’re at. It will be deeply valuable for beginners, providing a strong foundation, as well as for seasoned practitioners, offering new depth and richness to their existing knowledge. As Ann says: “This class starts at the very beginning and becomes advanced, without losing a single student along the way.” I’m so excited that Ann is coming, and I warmly invite you to join us on this journey back to the roots of classical acupuncture

Ready to Join Us?
Spaces are limited to ensure a hands-on learning environment. Registration is now open.

  • Contact Ada Sobieszczuk info@acupuncturesanctuary.co.nz to register.
  • Date: 18–19 October 2025 | Auckland, New Zealand
  • Location: 717 New North Rd, Mount Albert, Auckland 1022
  • Time: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM each day
  • Tuition: $800 NZD
  • Lunch: Included both days (warm, nourishing meals)
  • Parking: Free street parking available
  • Accommodation: A few rooms available on-site — get in touch and we’ll help organise your stay or connect you with others attending