Services
Rest. Balance. Heal.
Our goal is to treat you as a unique and individual whole person. You are a complex being, with your own constitution, history, current symptoms, lifestyle and goals. The interdependent nature of health is at the root of my treatment philosophy. I hold the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of the medicine of your life to be equally important. The idea of treatment is to reduce and alleviate your symptoms and at the same time optimize your well-being on all levels.
To establish your diagnosis and treatment plan I consider your “bio-psycho-social health.” This is the physical state of your body, mind, emotions and spirit, along with pulse and tongue diagnosis, any conventional diagnosis and lab work, your diet, medication, past illnesses, traumas and your goals and dreams. Your treatment plan may include lifestyle and nutritional counseling, supplementation, herbal medicine, acupuncture, non-needle techniques (like acu-laser, ear seeds and acu-patching) and other physical modalities (like Gua Sha & cupping).
Acupuncture
Chinese Medicine is deeply rooted in nature and the seasons, using the models of Yin and Yang and of the Five Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. These factors define the world we live in and each person’s unique constitution. The human experience is understood to be an interconnected set of these relationships.
Acupuncture uses fine, hair thin, sterile needles that are gently inserted into acupuncture points. These points run along pathways called meridians that transport “Qi”, or life force throughout the body. These meridians relate to particular organs and their functions in addition to having specific physical, mental and emotional correspondences. Acupuncture works by reminding your system how to heal and function at its optimal level. By stimulating certain acupuncture points, the imbalances in the meridians and body are balanced and blocks to the flow of energy are removed resulting in improved circulation, decreased inflammation and pain, a restoration of function and an improved sense of well-being.
Herbal Medicine
Chinese Herbalism is over 5000 years old. Virtually every civilization has used plant medicine as a primary form of health care. Herbs can be taken as a therapy on their own or used in conjunction with Acupuncture and nutritional therapies. The same careful and individualized consideration is taken in prescribing herbs for each patient; these include your constitution, meridians, organs and symptoms. So, in a way, taking your prescribed herbs every day is like giving yourself a daily acupuncture treatment. Herbs work to support the body by restoring balance.
I have been practicing herbalism since I was a teenager. First taught by a mother of a friend of mine, I used to practice by prescribing to friends. Then it was all “western” herbs like chamomile, nettle, burdock & dandelion. After finishing a Masters degree and becoming a board certified acupuncturist and herbalist, I had expanded my Materia Medica 100 fold, at least, and my way of thinking about herbs and healing had also multiplied. Now, I find I use both western and Chinese herbal medicine, prescribing specifically for each person’s needs. I am honored to know of, and work with, these plants and am so happy to share this knowledge with you.
Functional Medicine
Functional Medicine provides a way of looking at health using a scientific perspective and conventional tools (like lab tests) with an eye to untangling complicated health situations and to optimizing health, not just treating symptoms. It is a powerful approach for helping to find the root cause of imbalances as well as to promote optimal health. This medicine has developed as a natural progression of our conventional medical model, looking to the outside world and the body’s interdependent systems (i.e., our stressors, the environment and the gastrointestinal, endocrine, and immune systems) to find what is off balance, and working to address the issues there. This interdependent model of health is much like the Chinese Medicine model of understanding a healthy body and life as a set of inner and outer relationships working well together. In Functional Medicine, as in Chinese Medicine, all treatments are tailored to the patient’s specific situation, offering custom lifestyle, nutritional, and herbal prescriptions.
Non-needle Techniques & Physical Modalities
Non-needle techiniques: For those who are sensitive or concerned about needles, like many pediatric patients, I provide effective non-needle techniques that stimulate acu-points in effective ways. The treatment result is quite similar to needles. These include low intensity acu-laser, acu-patches that work by focusing your body’s own infrared light; ear seeds that stimulate auricular points that treat the whole body and acupressure.
Physical modalities: The time-tested use of Gua-Sha and Cupping, still used in China by grandmothers to avoid a cold, is now used in the Olympics to help with injuries and to improve performance. Gua-Sha and Cupping both help release deep held physical pain, free up fascia, reduce inflammation, increase flexibility, improve the immune system, improve detoxification and clear the meridians.
Tele-Medicine
What started because of a Pandemic has continued because it is a great way to connect when, for whatever reason, being in person is not available.
Through video consult your health is supported though nutrition, lifestyle counseling, herbal & supplemental prescriptions and guided non-needle techniques to stimulate acu-points.
I share the screen of a user-friendly acupuncture points software so that patients can easily find the points themselves and take screenshots for later to repeat the treatments. A wonderful side effect is that patients learn even more about their bodies and, if they wish, Chinese Medicine.
Tele-medicine sessions have been quite popular and successful, and I enjoy working with patients that way as well.
As the oldest continuously practiced form of medicine in the world, Acupuncture and Chinese Herbalism have been reliably used to treat a multitude of conditions.
Some examples include:
Acne
Addiction
Anxiety
Arthritis
Asthma, Bronchitis, Cough
Back Pain
Bell’s Palsy
Cancer treatment side effects
Carpal Tunnel
Chronic Fatigue
Colds, Flu & Sinusitis
Constipation, Diarrhea
Depression
Diabetes
Digestive Disorders
Fibroids
Fibromyalgia
Fertility
Heartburn (GERD)
Herpes
High Blood Pressure
High Cholesterol
Infertility
Insomnia
Menstrual Disorders
Menopause
Migraines
Pain & Injury
PMS
PTSD
Rheumatism
Sciatica
Shingles
Skin Conditions
Smoking Cessation
Sexual Dysfunction
Skin Conditions
Stress & Tension
Vertigo
Ulcers
Weight Loss