Chi Wellness Clinic: Provider of Acupuncture, Tuina Massage & Chinese Herbal Medicine

Mr. Chen works with practitioners to develop procedures and programs for applying TCM to better treat chronic conditions and for evaluating treatment effectiveness. He helps practitioners to work with patients and physicians to build better integration between TCM and the Western medicine. He also develops and coordinates research projects and educational programs. He obtained his BS in Marine Biology from Xiamen University, China in 1982, MS in Computation & Neural systems from Caltech in Pasadena, CA in 1989, and PhD in Neurobiology from USC in Los Angeles, CA in 1993. Previously he worked at MIT's Howard Hughes Medical Institute as a research neuroscientist and published a number of biomedical papers in SCIENCE and CELL. His interest in TCM originated in his childhood, when his parents were pharmacists in China.

Dr. Chen hopes to bring wellness culture into the main stream American life, in contrast to a increasingly pervasive trend in quick fixes and consumer mindset. He coins a term, WELLISM to represent the search for foundamental understanding and practice of sustainable well-living. For example, how can we maximize our innate healing capacity to fight chronic conditions? How can we maintain a natural balance using our wellness instincts developed over the course of evolution? His cultural view of wellness was strongly influenced by Daoism (or Taoism) and by peasants in a mountainous village in southeastern China. After high school he became a farmer from 1975 to 1978 in the remote village, where daily farming life remained unchanged for over two thousand years. Villagers practiced wellness routines and used natural remedies to prevent diseases.

Boston-Brookline Longwood Acupuncture Office
1520 Tremont Street, Suite 1, Boston, MA 02120
Phone 617.989.8658

Cambridge-Somerville-Medford Acupuncture Office & Herbal Pharmacy
368 Medford Street, Somerville, MA 02145
Phone 617.625.1211

Waltham-Weston-Newton Acupuncture & Healing Exercise Room
318 Bear Hill Road, Suite 10, Waltham, MA 02451
Phone 781.290.0488

Chi NeuroHealth Clinic, New Hampshire
Manchester Acupuncture & Neurology Office in New Hampshire
1875 South Willow Street, Manchester, NH 03103
Phone 603.218.1175

Each location of Chi Wellness Clinic has a reception area and private treatment rooms, each with a comfortable bed. The soothing interior is decorated with Chinese paintings and filled with the sounds of water and ancient Chinese music. Each room is equipped with adjustable lighting, an infrared heat lamp, and an electrical stimulator. Boston Longwood office has 6 beds; Waltham office has 8 beds; Somerville office has 6 beds; Manchester office has 7 beds.

Chi Wellness Clinic has a full herbal pharmacy with approximately 300 kinds of Chinese herbs. We use only disposable, sterile acupuncture needles.

Chi Wellness Clinic - Born on the Morning of September 11, 2001
-- in the words of its founder, Miles Chong Chen

I thought that a clinic that offers a full range of traditional Chinese therapies would increase consumers' and doctors' awareness of their tremendous health value. That, in turn, would make the development of Chinese herbal treatments easier. I decided to start up a Chinese medicine clinic in the Longwood Medical Area and to finance it myself. There was no shortage of people who thought the idea was doomed to fail.

After initial online research and conversations with some practitioners, I began the process of building a clinic. To my surprise and delight, there was no TCM clinic within the proximity of the Longwood Medical Area. After a lengthy search in vain for vacant space in the Longwood Medical Area, I walked by a non-operational laundromat, piled with old machines and trash, at 1520 Tremont Street in Mission Hill in the fall of 2000. Because the space was only a few blocks from Brigham Circle, I thought it wouldn't be too far fetched to call it Longwood Clinic.

But, the tenant of the space had retired and moved out of town. I could not even see the space clearly from the outside. Fortunately, I got hold of the former real estate agent of the tenant. In January 25, 2001, I was able to put down a deposit to sublease the space. It took another seven months of negotiation, cleanup and renovations before the space could be used.

I moved into the space in August 2001. I gathered furniture, purchased and built new tables, and began to assemble a team of practitioners. In the first month, the clinic was so quiet that I was envious of the Maytag serviceman! What really made me proud of myself was that many people from Mission Hill came to the clinic and told me how much they appreciated my presence in the neighborhood. One of our ardent supporters was Maggie Cohn, the director of the Mission Hill Main Streets program. She became our first acupuncture customer. She scheduled a treatment for a week later on September 11, 2001.

Our 1st patient talks with the Mayor about her visit on 9/11/01

Around 8:50 a.m. on September 11, 2001, as I was driving along Huntington Avenue, I heard on WBUR radio that the World Trade Center had a fire. I got into the clinic at 9 a.m. Shortly, Maggie Cohn and the practitioner walked in. They said that the World Trade Center seemed to be hit by an airplane. We thought that this must be a bad accident. The first treatment started. I played ancient Chinese Guzheng music, which was soothing, but carried a hint of quiet sadness.

After treatment, Maggie went to her office around the corner. A while later, she walked back into the clinic and said, "Miles, the World Trade Center was destroyed by terrorists." Then, I got the call that the Pentagon was bombed by an airplane, and the D.C. and New York City areas were like war zones. My heart sank all the way to the floor. I immediately called my wife at home. She told me that the TV said the whole country might be under attack! I asked my wife to take my two boys from school and stay at home. I expected our home to be a safe place.

I decided to wait at the clinic because we had a 3 o'clock appointment for a customer who worked at Brigham & Women's Hospital. With emergency vehicles rushing on Tremont Street, I thought it would be unwise to add more traffic to the Longwood Medical Area. At 3:30, my customer did not come. I called her at the hospital.

"You probably are too busy to remember your appointment at Chi Wellness," I said to her, "but I am just calling to let you know that we will wait for you if you would like to come later." I thought that people under such huge stress might need a good treatment, so they would have more energy to go back to work. She told me that all essential personnel at area hospitals were ordered to standby for any disaster contingencies. All non-essential procedures were suspended. She would have to take a rain check.

For the next month and a half, the slow business was far from my mind. As a naturalized U.S. citizen, the September 11 terror attack allowed me to see the true color and the steel resolve of American people! Their sacrifice and unselfishness, particularly that of firefighters, policemen, and emergency workers, in response to adversity, made me cry. Those scenes, sounds and faces are forever etched in my mind!

Boston Mayor Menino and Councilor
Ross at the belated Grand Opening

As the country began to recover, Chi Wellness showed some signs of life. On November 2, 2002, with help from Maggie Cohen, I had the distinct honor to welcome Mayor Thomas M. Menino (center), along with Ms. Charlotte Golar Richie (right), Director of the Department of Neighborhood Development, and City Councillors, Mike Ross and Felix Arroyo, to Chi Wellness. As I held up a giant mockup pair of scissors, Mayor Menino cut the ribbon. We welcomed over 100 people into our clinic and treated our guests with authentic Chinese food, free consultations and treatments.

Mayor Menino opened our festivity with a warm speech: "Congratulations! Your service is valuable to the community. The city of Boston welcomes people like you to bring care and distinct culture to the city." He went on about his friend's benefits from traditional Chinese medicine. Our first customer, Maggie Cohn, shared with Mayor Menino and guests her experience at Chi Wellness on the morning of September 11, 2001.

VP, Brigham&Women's Hosp

It was especially heartening that the Vice President of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Ms. Margaret Hansen (Right photo, center), and Dr. Judy Ann Bigby (Right photo, left), a physician at Brigham and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, came to offer their encouraging words.

Today Chi Wellness is growing steadily and serves customers from a wide area. I am proud to say that we have helped many who have suffered from chronic conditions. Among all things considered, nothing beats the moment when our customers say that they are free from their problems, attributing their transformation from "Quick-fixes" to a wellness culture, to our efforts.

Wellness Culture as Foundation for Sustainability - Miles Chong Chen's Perspective

Through my study of ancient civilizations, I have been intrigued by two questions:

Have human beings, as a result of millions of years of natural selection and evolution, acquired wellness instincts in their genetic and behavioral repertoire to assure their survival?

I postulate then that the wellness culture is critical for the sustainability of a society as well as the quality of an individual life. For many years, I have used the wellness culture to define a wellness-centric view of personal and social activities. Recently, through my interactions with patients at Chi Wellness Clinic, I felt a sense of urgency to talk about cultural issues and underlying commercial driving forces that affect people's health and well-being. Those pervasive social trends include commercialism, instant gratification, the quick fix, the consumer mind-set, the over-bearing mass media, and the constantly-on popular (pop) culture.

Perhaps, out of my naivete of so-called American culture, I conclude that it is imperative for the sustainability for American society to establish a culture of wellness in its main stream life. In January of 2005, after a couple of months of brain storming, I coined the term, WELLISM to represent the wellness culture as a foundation for human experiences in a society. To celebrate the birth of the term, I wrote my Wellist Manifesto - Declaration of Establishment of the Wellness Culture.

The Wellness Culture is beyond medical interventions, alternative remedies, diets or exercises. The Wellness Culture is a culture where wellness and well-being are the center of life as well as the foundation of all human activities and experiences. In the Wellness Culture, every individual is empowered by his or her own innate healing capacities, and takes utmost personal responsibility for achieving sustainable well-being. Although we can never avoid pathogens and diseases, we believe that the wellness culture will allow patients to better use modern medicine and facilitate their healing.

My cultural view of wellness was influenced by Chinese Daoism, and even more strongly by peasants in the Wuyi Mountain area of Fujian Province, in southeastern China. When I was 16 years old and graduated from high school, I became a farmer in a mountainous village. After a few months living with other city dwellers in a special house, I became fed up with the constant complaints of my roomates. I decided to move out and lived with a large peasant family. From 1975 to 1978, I ate meals, worked with the family and slept in their guest room. I was astonished to realize that daily life in this remote village had remained unchanged for over two thousand years. The villagers, without a day of any formal education, practiced wellness routines that were passed on from generation to generation.

I was especially enlightened by their knowledge and wisdom -- such as when to sleep and get up, what and how to eat, how to protect their water source, how much water to drink, how to refrain from excessive sexual activity (a lecture from grandmother on the eve of wedding day), when to rest and refrain from excessive farm work and how to use natural remedies to prevent diseases. The villigers' sense of well-being, natural harmony and holistic health had been transmitted from generation to generation in the remote village as a part of the Wellness Culture originated in ancient China. It helps China to become a sustainable civilization through its history.

Wellness Culture Session

At Chi Wellness Clinic, the obejective of our health remedies is to stimulate and enhance an individual's innate healing capacity, and to enable our customers to maintain sustainable well-being on their own. The ultimate goal of Chi Wellness Clinic is to establish the Wellness Culture in the United States, so every American can reach their natural well-being potential.

We offer Wellness Culture Session, which is an interactive process that helps participants to listen to and hear what their mind and body tell them, and it also helps bring the joy of natural health to their daily lives. We work on such issues as how to respect their innate wellness instincts, how to eat wholesome and balanced food, how to rest and get up according to circadian rhythms, and how to maintain a natural rhythm of activity and relaxation. As a result, our stduents are able to achieve holistic health while maintaining high productivity. They are eager to share their experiences with their love ones, friends and colleagues, and teach others the Wellness Culture.