Services
I support the transformation and transmutation of environmental sensitivities and complex chronic conditions into improved health and well-being using acupuncture and moxibustion, herbal medicine, nutrition therapy, and lifestyle counseling.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture treatments involve the gentle insertion of very thin single-use sterilized filiform needles at certain points on the body. These points can also be gently stimulated more superficially at the surface level of the skin using non-insertive “needles,” acupressure, essential oils, or moxibustion. Moxibustion is the practice of burning moxa - dried mugwort leaves processed into a pliable finely-ground substance that has a fluffy cotton-like texture - at acupuncture points to allow the therapeutic properties of the herb to penetrate more deeply into the body through infrared heat transfer. Since acupuncture points are located along extensive energetic pathways known as meridians, stimulating them using any of these methods helps to facilitate the flow of life-force energy, or qi, throughout the body. This has the effect of enhancing the circulation of blood and energy, reducing inflammation and pain, and inducing a relaxation response.
Herbal Medicine
Herbal medicine treatments involve the prescription of medicinal herbs in combination to create customized formulas. While typically based on standardized formulas that have been developed and proven over time, most formulas are modified to take into account both the patient’s constitution as well as the nature of their condition. Each medicinal herb has unique properties and functions which, when combined into a formula, acts synergistically with the other herbs to maximize therapeutic effects. These therapeutic effects serve to clear stagnation and pathogenic factors, nourish and strengthen the body, and enhance and prolong the effects of acupuncture treatments between appointments. Medicinal herbs in the pharmacopoeia include roots and rhizomes, stalks and stems, leaves, flowers, seeds, mushrooms, minerals, and seashells. We only use raw herbs, raw herb concentrates in the form of granular extracts, and patent capsules or tablets that have undergone third-party testing for guaranteed safety, purity, and potency.
Nutrition Therapy
As everyday medicine, food is an integral part of treatment for nourishing life and preventing disease. In keeping with this, it is important to eat according to constitution, climate, and season. Additionally, during times of disharmony and imbalance, dietary therapy can be used to facilitate the healing process. Just as is true with herbs, all foods have unique properties and functions: their nature (inherent temperature, which can be hot, warm, neutral, cool, or cold), their flavor (spicy, sour, sweet, salty, bitter, or bland), and their specific organ system/meridian associations. These properties and functions can be leveraged to tailor individualized dietary therapy recommendations that are unique for each person at any given time, as truly there is no “one diet” that’s optimal for everyone, nor “one diet” that’s optimal for every age and phase of one’s life.
Lifestyle Counseling
Lifestyle counseling involves recommendations and guidance on daily habits, the use of mindfulness practices, and movement therapies like qi gong. We take a trauma-informed approach, meaning we recognize that sub-optimal perceptual and habitual patterns are commonly rooted in traumatic experience. Given this, we put a primacy on creating a safe space where confidentiality and boundaries are respected without compromise, in order to engender trust and to empower client-led exploration and shifting of lifestyle factors for more optimal health and well-being. This approach allows for deeper and longer-term healing, as it acknowledges and integrates mental, emotional, and spiritual factors at play in the expression of physical health.
