Meet Joseph

Hello, my name is Joseph Tonzola. I have completed studies in China and the United States. I have worked for the past 6 out of 7 years as an acupuncturist with Atlantic Health at Morristown Hospital. I have treated thousands of patients and have had the opportunity to gain experience treating many different pain complaints as well as women’s health issues. Helping people discover a natural way of healing with acupuncture and Chinese medicine is my livelihood and passion.

I have a continually growing interest in finding natural ways to live with health and happiness. My journey within the field of holistic medicine began with my first yoga class taken as an extracurricular activity while attending Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. I was introduced to the healing capabilities of a yoga practice on a mental, physical, and spiritual level. After I finished my degree in Communications at Rutgers, I began my studies in massage therapy at Health Choices Holistic Massage School, located in Hillsborough, NJ. The program encompassed many different styles of massage with a strong spiritual influence to connect each style. I still bring this energetic and spiritual approach to each and every treatment I perform.

For the following two years after my massage training I worked at various locations in central Jersey developing my skills as a massage therapist. During these two years I discovered the healing possibilities through making professional physical connections to people and more about myself as a health care provider through doing massage therapy. My massage training provided me with the introduction to eastern healing modalities through shiatsu therapy. A growing interest to the healing ways of the East eventually guided me to the study of acupuncture.

In 2003 I began my training as an acupuncturist at the Eastern School of Acupuncture. Attending this school lifted me from central Jersey to a move to Montclair. While in school I continued to work as a massage therapist with individual private clients along with patients at health spas in Essex County. The Eastern School was a wonderful school that introduced me to many different styles of acupuncture, including TCM, trigger point, five element, and Kiiko Japanese style.

After finishing my acupuncture training in the beginning of 2006, I naturally started to move more towards the practice of acupuncture. For two years while I was transitioning into becoming an acupuncturist, I taught anatomy and physiology, along with massage therapy at the Institute of Therapeutic Massage (ITM) in Pomptom Lakes, NJ. As a teacher of A&P and massage I developed a better understanding of the physical body along with a greater understanding of how I approach my work. Through my teaching at the various branch locations of ITM, I was introduced to Morristown Memorial Hospital (MMH).

I began working as an acupuncturist and massage therapist under the guidance of Dr. Nancy Cotter at the Mind Body Center affiliated with the MMH in May of 2007. I am still working there at the present and very much enjoying the communication with other practitioners that is taking place within the integrative medicine department. The center offers acupuncture, massage therapy, energy work, nutritional therapies, and many other natural avenues to help empower patients to finding their way to health. I also have a private practice where I work in conjunction with Dr. William Nadelberg at Community Chiropractic in West Orange, NJ.

I have been working within the integrative medical field for the past 10 years, and I see no end to greater development of myself as a practitioner. My studies these days are more refined because of the natural process of discovery one undergoes with expanding experience within a focused art. All of my training that I have done in the past and that I am partaking in within the present is brought into each individual treatment. I look forward to working with you to help you achieve health naturally, and to enrich my practice through learning of your own life experience.

Yours in health,

Joseph Tonzola LAc, NCCAOM Chinese Herbal Medicine