Acupuncture & Manual Therapy Services
Sundays 10am-4pm and Thursdays 1pm-7pm
Clinic located in Berkeley, California
Initial intake for both acupuncture and coaching sessions involves an in-depth exploration into not just the present complaint, but also past personal and family history relevant to health as a whole. Our physical bodies are inexplicably tied to the health of our emotional and mental bodies, and East Asian Medicine is a systems-based medicine that integrates care with all aspects of being-mind, body, and spirit. The intention is to hold all those aspects in session. Our cultural upbringing, ancestral lineage, socio-economic environment, and micro and macro communities all influence our ability to thrive and heal.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a thousands-year old medicine that originated in China. It involves the insertion of very small, one-time use sterile needles in specific parts of the body. It taps into the body’s innate wisdom to help heal itself of imbalances that may manifest physiologically, emotionally, or mentally. With that in mind, the spectrum of conditions and illnesses acupuncture may help alleviate is quite extensive ranging from pain, anxiety, stress, and depression to issues involving digestion, injuries, trauma recovery, reproductive health, and many more.
Manual Therapy
I integrate many different gentle modalities including techniques such as Cranial Sacral Therapy and Visceral Mobilization. My training of Visceral Mobilization is with Benjamin Katz who studied and assisted with Barral Institute’s Dr. Jean-Pierre Barral. Visceral Mobilization involves the integration of embodied and cognitive awareness of detailed anatomy specific to abdominal organs in order to work with acute and chronic issues in the body.
Herbal Medicine
Chinese medicine herbs have been used for a plethora of ailments from colds, injuries, digestive issues, anxiety, menstrual support, aches and pains, to daily support of a person’s specific constitution. Herbal formulas are often tailored custom made for a person’s specific needs depending on their specific issues. Herbal formulas come in many different ways such as through pills, tablets, raw herbs to be boiled and drank like teas, or even powders that you simply add to hot water.
Cupping
Cupping therapy involves the use of negative pressure to create a vacuum to pull tissues and fluids to the surface, which helps reduce muscle tension and adhesions, increases circulation of blood and lymph by pulling it up to the surface, promotes emotional wellbeing by reducing anxiety through stimulating the “rest and digest” parasympathetic nervous system and supports immune function through detoxification. Traditional cupping involves using fire to remove oxygen from the cup to create a vacuum within the cup, whereas manual vacuum cupping involves the use of a hand pump to create a vacuum. Cups come in many different sizes and types, ranging from glass and ceramic to silicone and plastic.
Moxibustion
Moxibustion is a practice of burning mugwort, a leafy chinese herb, indirectly a few inches from the body or on top of salt or ginger, over certain parts of the body to help increase warmth and circulation. It’s often used in gynecological conditions, digestive issues, pain conditions such as arthritis or even scar reduction.
Gua Sha
Gua Sha is the practice of using a flat, smooth piece of stone or bone that is then used to rub or scrape along the skin. It can be done gently for facial rejuvenation purposes such as to help increase lympathic drainage and increase blood circulation or it can be used in other ways to help release adhesions and tension with tight muscles, or even help with ailments such as the common cold.
Pelvic Steaming
Pelvic steaming has roots in many different cultures and has been called vaginal steaming, v-steaming, yoni-steaming and can be used for a variety of ailments including pain or irregularities with menstrual cycles, pelvic floor issues, growths such as fibroids or cysts, and most commonly post-partum care, but can even be used for prostate issues or hemorrhoids in male-bodied individuals. Generally, pelvic steaming is a painless and relaxing process that involves a specific selection of herbs that are boiled and then once properly cooled are placed under a set up similar to a chair with an opening to sit on for a short duration of time. Certified practitioners may create a protocol for each person’s individual needs. Linked below is more detailed information about steaming.
Lifestream Generator
The lifestream generator is a Radiant Energy Device based off of the works of Nikola Tesla, George Lakhovsky, and George W. Van Tassel. Zero Point Research (more info via site linked below) has created a machine that “uses subtle high energy waves to send certain frequencies through the body and in the process raising the cell voltage of all parts of the body thus bringing back a balance to oneself and allowing the body and mind to bring itself back into well being.” This is a great adjunct to treatment as it works via proximity of a few feet or through contact. It may be used to help support joint or muscle pain and injury recovery, anxiety and depression, headaches, fatigue, sleep issues, etc.
“Gratitude is not a passive response to something we have been given; gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us…Gratitude is the understanding that many millions of things come together and live together and mesh together and breathe together in order for us to take even one more breath of air, that the underlying gift of life and incarnation as a living, participating human being is a privilege, that we are miraculously part of something, rather than nothing.”
—-David Whyte