About the Acupuncturist

Mary Jo Dolan LAc. is a registered acupuncturist with the Acupuncture Council of Ireland. She completed her training at The Irish College of Medical Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, where she received a Licentiate in Acupuncture with Distinction in 2013. During her studies she travelled to the Nanjing Traditional Chinese Medicine University Hospital in China to further her training and hone her clinical practice skills. In 2015 she travelled to Hanoi, Vietnam and received a Diploma in Acupuncture, Vietnamese Massage & Cupping at the National Hospital of Traditional Medicine. She currently treats patients from her practice at her home in Lackafinna, Cong.
 
Since then, Mary Jo continues to update her training and skills on an ongoing basis. Her style has evolved over the course of her training and study and she now combines Japanese acupuncture techniques with classical Chinese medicine, especially the Nagano-Matsumoto genre. Mary Jo continues to study on an ongoing basis with renowned teachers following the Nagano-Matsumoto tradition, including, most notably: Avi Magidoff (practicing acupuncturist and lecturer in New Hampshire), Stephen Birch (practicing acupuncturist & lecturer in Amsterdam) and Andy Harrop (practicing acupuncturist & lecturer in London).
 
As well as her acupuncture-related training, Mary Jo is also a qualified yoga teacher and somatic exercise coach of many years. She completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2012 with Galway-based yoga teachers Laragh and David Cunningham of The Yoga Shala. This training incorporated the Applied Anatomy & Physiology of Yoga course created by Australian physiotherapists and creators of Yoga Synergy, Simon Borg-Olivier and Bianca Machliss. The teachings of all of these yoga practitioners are grounded in a deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology and good alignment principles for a safe and effective yoga practice.
 
She has completed advanced yoga teacher trainings and gained certification as a somatic exercise coach with Dublin-based yoga teacher, therapist, and somatic movement educator Lisa Peterson.
 
She obtained an online certificate in Embodied Anatomy & Kinesiology in 2017 with NYC-based movement therapist and yoga teacher Amy Matthews. This course covered structure and movement from an experiential perspective, using principles from Body-Mind Centeringⓒ, Laban Movement Analysis, the Bartenieff Fundamentals, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) and various yoga practices to discuss principles of alignment and therapeutic applications.
 
Mary Jo has also a keen interest in vegetarian and vegan cooking, and has completed an online Professional Plant-Based Certification Course and a Culinary RX Course with the renowned online culinary cookery school rouxbe.com. These online instructional cooking and nutrition courses, taught by leading chef educators and medical professionals, empower participants to transition to a more health-supportive diet and lifestyle.