As a board certified acupuncturist and doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, I primarily help my patients using acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, cupping, medical massage, and Chinese herbal medicine/supplementation. I also provide guidance and education based on my never-ending research. I am driven by a passion to understand and know how the body works, and as such, I regularly review a broad range of medical research, digging for new information, deeper understandings of medicine, and out of my love of helping others.
As a healthcare professional, I do my best to integrate the specialized tools of acupuncture and herbal medicine with Western medical science and sports medicine to provide my patients with workable and effective treatment plans. Our approach aims to provide our patients with integrated support to improve the outcomes of their primary treatment plans, or to provide treatment for patients who otherwise have been unsuccessfully treated by other means.
The global pandemic has given me the opportunity to appreciate the value and dynamism of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. It has also shown me its limitations, especially when working in a private, isolated clinical setting. Over the past two years, I have spent more of my time reading and thinking about public health, integrative healthcare, and the directions healthcare might go that would better serve our communities here in the United States. I am deeply committed to seeing acupuncture fully utilized, at the highest levels in our healthcare systems, but also seeing it become a part of the core tool-set in American preventive and chronic care.
I am currently seeking new opportunities in the hopes of fulfilling these dreams of helping define and refine all that acupuncture has to offer within the larger patient-centered healthcare systems. I want to work with a team of diversely knowledgeable and skilled professionals that are collaborating to fully support our patients as a model for optimal healthcare, that can one day be the standard of care. I believe an integrative hospital setting or large clinical setting is the ideal place for me to contribute to these goals. I believe I would bring not only my enthusiasm for collaborative, caring work, but also my rich scientific understanding of the neuroscience research, and my unique cultural perspectives as a Native American with rich and complex American ancestry. I would love to work with a medical team as an exceptional doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine.
My hope is that the medical treatment we provide guides our patients towards living healthier, happier, and more consciously embodied lives.
My own personal health challenges and the diseases that plagued some of those most near and dear to my heart inspired me from a very young age to learn how to cultivate health from the inside out.
When Western medicine failed to successfully treat a health condition in my family and only offered pharmaceuticals to mask the symptoms I experienced, I knew this was not the answer for me.
I knew that unless I changed the cause of this condition, the symptoms would not go away on their own.
A problem you ignore doesn’t go away; it follows you wherever you go.
I am interested in healing at the source.
What happens when we change how we feel?
If we can change this, what else might change?
These questions prompted me to dive deeply on the healing path exploring food, examining all kinds of diets, ways of eating, types of food preparation, and studying nutrition.
I began practicing yoga and meditation and became more aware of my body and mind.
I discovered Western herbalism and forged an even stronger relationship with the plants around me and my environment.
I started getting regular acupuncture treatments and taking Chinese herbs.
All of this amounted to profound transformation. It definitely wasn’t always easy or fun, but it was worth it because it catalyzed profound healing.
But it wasn’t until years later that I finally realized that Chinese medicine encapsulated all of the things that had helped me heal, become stronger, and more aware.
Chinese medicine is much more than acupuncture and herbal medicine.
It is a complete, holistic system including diet (nutrition and food preparation), exercise (qi gong, tai ji, and martial arts), and manual therapy (medical massage), as well as astrology.
Realizing that Chinese medicine included everything that had helped me heal, I was convinced this was my life path and the gifts I most wanted to share with my friends, family, and community.
So after completing my Bachelors, I decided to dedicate myself completely to the healing path.
I completed a 4 year Masters program, a 2 year Apprenticeship, and continue studying to this day.
My own personal healing journey of self-exploration has spanned decades, leading me to change the way I live and how I interact with the world. Transforming my relationship with myself and those around me.
My healing journey continues today, as life is in a constant state of flux. My responsiveness to these changes either gives me strength or impairs me from living the life I desire.
I have a life-long fascination with healing arts, exploring how different modalities empower people in realizing their goals and dreams.
My diverse background in cultural anthropology, community studies, art, poetry, social activism, shamanism, travel, and the non-profit sector, enriches the depth and scope of the way I conceptualize and approach medicine and healing.
I draw my strength from my own healing work and the wisdom of the teachers that have come before me.
I am especially grateful to the North American Tang Shou Tao Association, Jennifer Minor and Miranda Warburton and the lineage that taught me Jin Shou Tuina, Craniosacral Therapy, and internal martial arts.
I am eternally grateful to indigenous healers I have worked with through the years, helping me to access the healer within.
I am also exceptionally grateful to my family and to all of the patients who have worked with me throughout the years, helping me to deepen my understanding and practice of integrative holistic medicine.
