what we do

Jung Tao School is a non profit educational institution located in Sugar Grove, North Carolina, USA, in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. We offer:

• a graduate level Diploma of Acupuncture program
• intern clinic with low cost health care for the public
• postgraduate seminars
• taijiquan classes
• educational materials
• public education courses

The teachings at Jung Tao are firmly rooted in the classic Chinese medical texts of ancient China. For more information, please see the Classical Chinese Medicine section.


about the logo and "jung tao"

The Jung Tao logo was originally painted in 1985 by the school's founder and president, Dr. Sean Marshall. It depicts a snake and a bird, two animals which, as story has it, gave birth to the principles of taijiquan. It is said that Chang San-Feng, the original "discoverer" of the art, was watching a snake and a crane fight. By a perfectly relaxed yielding, the snake exerted no energy of his own, yet the crane was unable to defeat him. The principles he observed in the yielding of the snake to the crane's attacks became the basis for taijiquan. (see the article, "The Myth of Chang San-Feng")

The snake and the bird also represent earth and heaven, the interplay of which creates life. This is the foundation of Chinese medicine, and the meaning of the words "jung tao": the middle way. Both yin and yang are necessary to a dynamic and vital life - heaven and earth in constant relationship and change. One or the other alone results in stagnancy, and that which ceases to change, ceases to exist.