Acupuncturist, Herbalist Enjoys Helping Other People

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Acupuncturist, Herbalist Enjoys Helping Other People
Julia Campbell
November 15, 2006
Hurricane Valley Journal

Dennis Brooks has lived and studied acupuncture and herbs, and worked in America, China and Vietnam.

Dennis became interested in a naturalistic approach to health at age 14 when he read ÏStalking the Wild AsparagusÓ by Euell Gibbons.

Gibbons, a naturalist, is called the ÎFather of Modern Wild Foods.Ì His book got Brooks thinking about herbal medicine, gathering food around his home and the benefits food could bring.

Another component that influenced his life was Transcendental Meditation (TM). TM gives layers of perspective to transcend into deeper levels of consciousness. Getting involved in TM influenced 17-year-old Brooks to quit smoking, drinking and eating meat.

Then Brooks read another important book called ÏTao Te Ching,Ó that revolutionized the way he looked at the world. That book put him more in tune with the Asian culture. He began studying and reading ancient Japanese and Chinese poetry. He decided to go into medicine, but he didnÌt want to go into mainstream medicines or chiropractic.

He finally decided Chinese medicine and acupuncture would be the path he would take. He attended the International Institute of Chinese Medicine in Santa Fe, N.M., and completed his residency in Harbin, China in 1989. Harbin was full of Russian architecture, very cold and world famous for its huge ice sculpture displays in February.

Brooks worked exclusively with Huang Bing Shan, vice president of the biggest teaching hospital, Hei Long Jiang, for traditional medicine in China.

Brooks observed that as soon as patients stabilized after a stroke, approximately three days, they were put in an acupuncture ward and treated immediately to get their arms and legs moving. The results were immediate and very effective, Brooks said.

He thought, ÏWhy donÌt we do this in America? We have people with strokes there. We wait too long and then we do physical therapy on them. Why not add another component of acupuncture?Ó

He believes itÌs because of the lack of communication between traditional medicine and modern medicine.

Another thing he noticed in China was the windows in the hallways were all opened for outside air to come in when the weather warmed up. It was pretty dirty by the U.S. standards, but there was no pneumonia or staff infection.

Upon finishing his apprenticeship in Boulder, Colo., Brooks moved to Paonia, Colo. and practiced there for six years. Taking a leave of absence for four months in 1995, Brooks went to Saigon, Vietnam to study Vietnamese acupuncture techniques that extended into a six-year term.

Brooks was amazed by how 10 million people in Saigon lived their lives. Motorcycles were used as transportation for almost everything. Brooks never owned a car the entire time he lived there because parking was limited. It was easier and faster to get around on a motorcycle; it didnÌt get clogged in the traffic lane like vehicles.

Once while riding his motorcycle, a man alongside him had 18 to 20 live ducks strung on his motorcycle in such a way that none of the ducks were dragging against the ground.
Brooks met his wife, Tung Tran, in 1996. Brooks drove his motorcycle to a beach town, Vung Tau, two hours away, Tung TranÌs hometown. Riding a mini bus, she observed him on her way back from a shopping trip to Saigon. He passed the bus on his motorcycle wearing cutoffs, a bandanna around his nose and mouth, sunglasses and his baseball cap tipped backward; he looked like a crazy foreigner to her.

Later that evening, she saw him at a street-side caf» sipping orange soda and talking Vietnamese to the owners whom Tung Tran knew. She stopped and said hi to them, and she joined the conversation. Then she and Brooks started talking. One thing led to another and they started dating. They got married and have a son, Cody, 7.

BrooksÌ original plan was to study a particular Vietnamese acupuncture technique. He met an Englishman Tim Hane studying the same thing. They began working together to bring foreign students from Great Britain, Europe and America over to study the technique. They also came up with a research and development project for producing herbal medicine in Vietnam imported from Chinese medicine with money backing the project. They made a variety of formulations that are on the market today with many companies.

Brooks then got involved in the research of organic cultivation of Chinese medicinal herbs both in Vietnam and China. Brooks and his family moved to a tourist town, Sapa, in northern Vietnam near the Chinese border to do research. They planned to open a guest house and restaurant in Sapa. The town is world famous and very beautiful at an altitude of 5,000 feet, occasional snow and surrounding mountains that rise almost 10,000 feet high.

However, the whole idea dwindled and in 2000 the Brooks family decided to move to America. They lived in Las Vegas, and came to Zion Park on a couple of camping trips. Brooks had visited Zion Park since he was a child, but it was his wifeÌs first time. They loved the Zion Park area so much that Brooks decided he would rather practice acupuncture there than in Las Vegas. They moved to Springdale in 2003.

They started an Asian food restaurant named Thai Sapa at the Big Screen Theater in Springdale. Brooks said Tung has an incredible talent to taste food at somebodyÌs house or restaurant or a recipe he teaches her to cook, to make it even better. She has an innate talent to be a natural chef, he said. She knows the best herbs in Southeast Asian cuisine. She is very comfortable and conversant with those spices.

Their restaurant features a collected Southeast Asian cuisine including Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese, with a little bit of Indian food. Thai Sapa caters to everyone, but also people with allergies such as wheat. The restaurant caters to vegans with 25 percent of their menu vegan.
Tung is working to become a U.S. citizen. She enjoys the freedoms to do whatever she wants in the U.S. However, she misses her family in Vung Tau. Brooks said his practice doing acupuncture, working at The Bridge near Springdale and the restaurant business have been immensely rewarding.

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