About
Edward Shearer
BSc (Hons) Oriental Medicine LAc
Edward Shearer: A Legacy of Clinical Excellence & Regulatory Pioneering
Founder of Acupuncture in the TCI
Edward’s career is defined by a rare level of professional influence. In 2011, while practicing in the Turks and Caicos Islands, he worked directly with the Health Professions Authority to create and regulate the “Acupuncture” category within the Allied Health Professionals framework. As the islands’ first fully qualified and licensed practitioner, he established the clinical and ethical standards for the profession.
A Global Clinical Timeline
After establishing the regulatory framework in the TCI, Edward returned to the UK to practice in the competitive clinical landscape of Brighton and Hove (2011–2014). In 2014, he was invited back to the Caribbean to lead a high-volume practice at the Grace Bay Medical Centre. Over the following decade, he integrated his work within a multidisciplinary medical team while simultaneously serving as the practitioner of choice for private residents and guests at the world-renowned COMO Shambhala (Parrot Cay) and Amanara resorts.
The Science of the Triad: Fascia, Muscle, and Nerve
While Edward’s journey began with a BSc (Hons) and a grounding in “Stems and Branches” Classical theory, his methodology has spent 18 years evolving into a sophisticated structural model. He views the body as an inseparable web of fascia, muscle, and the nervous system.
While terms like “fascial release” and “nervous system regulation” have recently become industry buzzwords, Edward has been refining these techniques for nearly two decades. His treatments are designed to:
- Unbind Fascial Restriction: Restoring fluid movement to the body’s connective tissues.
- Resolve Muscular Hyper-tonicity: Deactivating chronic trigger points and “stuck” pain patterns.
- Reset the Nervous System: Shifting the body out of a sympathetic “stress-state” and into a parasympathetic “recovery-state.”
The Martial Arts Angle
Edward is an official lineage holder of Chen Taijiquan Gongfu Jia and a disciple of Marin Spivack. His 20+ years of dedicated training in the internal martial arts provides a “lived” understanding of biomechanics that few practitioners can match. This deep immersion allows him to facilitate recovery that is not just about “fixing” a symptom, but understanding and optimising how the body moves and heals.
My Journey
My journey into the Chinese healing and martial arts began in the mid-1990s after an undiagnosed illness following a period of backpacking through India and Nepal. Through changes in diet, periods of fasting and the practice of qi gong, I experienced a recovery that sparked a deeper interest in the relationship between health, movement and the body’s capacity to heal.
While studying at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London in 1996, I also began training in Wing Chun Kung Fu. Around this time I was first introduced to Tai Chi (taijiquan), although it would take several more years before I began practising seriously.
By the early 2000s I had encountered the practice in different places and contexts — first in the Turks & Caicos Islands, then again while travelling in Cuba. In 2001 I began training at the Shaolin Temple UK, where I simultaneously studied both external and internal martial arts. The experience had a profound effect on me and marked the beginning of a much deeper commitment to the Chinese internal arts.
What interested me was not simply martial technique, but the shared principles underlying traditional movement systems and Chinese medicine: structure, balance, breath, intent, nervous system regulation and the efficient use of the body. Acupuncture felt like a natural extension of that path.
In 2004 I began my formal four-year acupuncture training at the International College of Oriental Medicine in the UK, graduating with a BSc (Hons). In 2007 I travelled to China to undertake clinical observation at Tianjin First Teaching Hospital, while also spending time training in Chen Village, Henan Province — the birthplace of Chen Taijiquan.
Over the following two decades my clinical approach continued to evolve through ongoing practice, study and direct experience working with a broad range of patients. Alongside classical acupuncture theory, I developed a particular interest in the relationship between fascia, muscular tension patterns and the nervous system, and how these influence both pain and recovery.
In 2011, while practising in the Turks & Caicos Islands, I worked directly with the Health Professions Authority to establish acupuncture within the Allied Health Professionals regulatory framework, becoming the first fully licensed acupuncturist in the country.
After several years practising in Brighton & Hove, I returned to the Caribbean in 2014 to lead a busy multidisciplinary practice based out of Grace Bay Medical Centre, while also treating private clients and guests at COMO Shambhala and Aman resorts.
Alongside my clinical work, I have continued my long-term training in Chen Taijiquan Gongfu Jia and have taught internal martial arts since 2010. More recently, I became a formal disciple of Marin Spivack (Moling), a lineage holder in the Chen Taijiquan tradition.
Having now returned to the UK, I practise from a dedicated clinic space in East Hampshire, where my work is informed equally by classical acupuncture training, hands-on clinical experience and decades of studying movement and body mechanics through the internal martial arts.
Get in touch
If you would like to book a treatment or class, or find out more about what these practices can do for you, get in touch.
