About
John E. Kozel is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist (LAc) in both Massachusetts and Oregon, and is very happy to be living again on the east coast after 12 years out west. After receiving a Master’s degree (MAcOM) in Acupuncture and Chinese medicine from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in 2017, he ran a private practice in northeast Portland from early 2019 until 2025.
As an undergraduate in a pre-medicine program, John was fully engaged in a science education for several years, but became interested in alternative systems of understanding both the body and the mind, specifically through training in both mindfulness meditation and Qi (Chee, or Ki) Gong, a group of practices that may most easily be described as a blend of both tai chi and yoga. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Biology (BS) from the University of Vermont, John had his first experience with acupuncture and was immediately impacted observing how the treatment itself was able to elicit a calm state of mind and body that he had previously only experienced during mindfulness meditation sessions. The acupuncture very quickly also relieved symptoms of insomnia, jaw dysfunction, and low back pain that he had been experiencing for quite some time. The theoretical framework underlying the practice of acupuncture shares the same philosophical foundations with the Qi Gong and mindfulness meditation practices that John had been studying, and it was not long after that he decided to pursue training in acupuncture and Chinese medicine in Oregon.
Since beginning his private practice in 2019, John has successfully treated a wide array of conditions with acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. Of particular focus has been the treatment of body pain in the neck and back, shoulders and knees, hips and jaw. In addition to muscular and joint pain, John has a great deal of experience addressing the symptoms commonly experienced with nerve compression conditions such as sciatica and thoracic outlet syndrome. He describes his treatment approach as follows:
“In treatments I engage the body using physical techniques such as deep pressure, cupping (and other body work tools), and assisted movement, which allows me to form an impression of how your body is moving and functioning. I use acupuncture directly to ease tension in muscles and tendons, relieve pressure within tight joints, and to affect layers of your body that may not be easily reached using massage and other external treatments. Through this process the mind can be assisted in forming a more immediate and direct connection with individual parts of the body, or the body as a whole. This can help to calm racing thoughts, create a sense of ease, and over time establish new patterns of movement and posture.”
John is very pleased to be able to bring his practice to the region, and will be offering individual acupuncture treatments and also group acupuncture sessions each week at times specified on his website. Also a trained Chinese medicine herbalist, he will be offering complete herbal consultations and customized prescription herbal formulas at his practice locations in the near future.
