Brown woman with glasses, gold earrings, black long sleeve and black, purple and yellow malong. Trees and fence in the background
Green cabbage

Welcome to my heart-centered program for individuals navigating autoimmunity and chronic illness.

A supportive space to feel seen, accepted, and whole as you move through hardship and healing.

“Your journey is not to become like everyone else. No one is like everyone else. Your journey is to live completely exposed to life and still retain the qualities of your personal phenomenon. You aren’t here to satisfy. You are here to add a particular seasoning to our collective stew. You marinated in the moments and marrow of your ancestors. You were ready at your first spark. When doubt and fear rise up in you, see them, greet them, invite them on their way. This is not when you turn and run. This is when you root and romance the soul of your soul…”

— Jaiya John

Root & Restore Program

Private 1:1 Coaching Sessions

Option One: All Virtual

Option Two: Hybrid (In-person & Virtual)

-2 hr initial session-

Two sessions per month (60 min)

3 month commitment minimum

Text or email support through the month

Sessions provide a shame-free space where we honor neurodiversity, celebrate cultural differences, and recognize the broader context of systemic oppression and collective trauma.

At its core, Chinese Medicine philosophy is a systems-based approach—the understanding that all systems coexist and influence one another on multiple levels. It helps us understand the connection between our internal microcosm and the larger macrocosm of our lives and the world around us.

Session Breakdown

Virtual Sessions

In-person work is a great way to integrate the work we do virtually!

In-person Sessions (Oakland/Berkeley CA)

Patient Appreciation

“My brain fog and fatigue are almost entirely gone in the 9 months since I started working with Celine. No health based intervention of any kind has helped me eradicate these struggles before I became Celine's patient. I have increased capacity to take even better care of myself in ways I hadn't been able to in 8 years of disability. I have cultivated so much more self compassion for myself during flare days thanks to Celine's gentle but resolute approach to healing. Celine has also helped me cultivate a level of safety in my body that I haven't felt before, especially with healthcare practitioners. I have a lot of medical trauma that factors into the symptoms I am seeking treatment with Celine to address and she has always approached my most sensitive struggles with grace and tenderness.

— SM

My Approach

My philosophy around healing involves the concept of slow medicine where real lasting change requires patience and small adjustments over a longer period of time rather than a few visits with very little support throughout the process to integrate those changes. When it comes to chronic illness and especially autoimmunity, there are so many ups and downs in the process until you find a rhythm that works for you.

So, I’ve found having a format where we work together over a longer period of time has the best outcomes. I also find having people commit to several months allows for less pressure to “get all of the information they need” in the first 1-2 sessions, allowing a more organic process to occur with deeper, lasting change.

My Values

Patient-centered Care: I value active collaboration and informed decision-making based on your specific health goals. I focus on more than just your diagnosis and symptoms, but to help you re-establish and strengthen your agency in your healing process. I respect your cultural preferences, traditions, socioeconomic conditions, and I treat not only from a clinical perspective, but also from an emotional, mental, spiritual, social, and financial perspective.

Curiosity: It’s not about having all the answers, but rather having curiosity holds space for transformative possibility. We can be curious about our feelings around pain and our struggles rather than denying, judging, or suppressing them.

Playfulness: Creativity and playfulness is an important part of finding balance and sustainability to our health journey—it allows us to explore different ways to help us establish new habits and lifestyle changes.

Inclusivity & Accessibility: Your healing journey should align and support your body, culture, and specific needs.

Coaching From an East Asian Medicine Perspective

East Asian medicine had opened up so many different ways of viewing illness such as how connected every aspect of our existence is…from our emotions, to the people we surround ourselves with, and even the less intangible things such as the spirit. Illness is caused by many factors, such as a disconnection within self, and so we work together on understanding where these factors stems from—such as childhood experiences, genetics, environmental issues, past wounds and trauma, broken societal systems, etc. and how can we set up a plan for you that allows you to navigate illness feeling as supported as possible.

An East Asian Medicine perspective has helped me learn to see the connections with the different systems we inhabit as humans. In the West, there’s a doctor for each specific part of your body—when in reality each part communicates as a whole, so listening to it as a whole is imperative. Also, I take into account the cycles of life and nature such as the seasons, circadian rhythms, relationship to the moon and stars, and how disconnected we are to our own thoughts and actions.

Washed out colors with a brown woman smiling with a hat on sitting on the beach with the ocean in the background

Who are the type of people I work with best?

  • Have a willingness to explore new ideas and perspectives from a place of vulnerability and honesty

  • Are ready to take responsibility for your actions and commit to trying to live a different way

  • Are committed to real change and ready to face the uncomfortable parts of self keeping you back from growing

  • Are patient with the understanding that personal growth takes time and effort and there is no magic pill to make your illness quickly go away

  • Value showing up for yourself and respecting both your and my time as sacred

  • Have a willingness to adapt and adjust strategies based on progress and evolving goals without putting yourself in a rigid box of “right and wrong”

brown slats in the background with a vase filled with succulents

PRICING

3 Months Minimum

6 Months recommended

$500 per month

2 sessions/month plus ongoing email & text support

To encourage enough time to allow for change, I recommend a commitment of six months or longer , but you always have the option of canceling your monthly commitment at any time. After six months, most people tend to continue month-to-month, or go on an as-needed basis. Special cases or sliding scale options may involve customized session frequency and will be discussed during the planning session. I recommend six months because the nature of working with people with chronic illness tends to take time. I try to set real expectations for deeper levels of change. There is no magic pill or quick fix. If that is your expectation then I am not the practitioner for you.

  • Full Payments:

    • You have a one-month grace period for full payments, during which you can receive a refund for the remaining five months if you choose to discontinue care. After the initial month, discontinuation will result in a donation of the remaining amount to my BIPOC/LGBTQIA scholarship fund.

  • Monthly Payments:

    • Monthly payments are non-refundable, with no pro-rating or partial month refunds available if you decide to discontinue care.

brown slats with three succulents in small vases

Patient Appreciation

“I have never felt more seen, heard and understood for all my complexities and contradictions in a medical setting than when working with Celine. Celine has been instrumental in building my confidence to navigate traditional medical systems to get my needs met as a disabled person who has had so many bad experiences in the past. Since she herself has experience navigating healthcare systems as a chronically ill person, her support and advice feels so personal and is so practically accessible to me. Thanks to Celine, I have had so much more confidence in my ability to ask for lab work that I've been previously denied and to seek a second opinion when I don't feel heard the first time around. I also feel so relieved when I hear Celine's holistic perspective on my lab work and feel confident I am getting a nuanced picture of the status of my health that I don't feel I get from traditional medical doctors. I feel confident asking Celine questions about my lab work that I wouldn't necessarily ask other doctors and appreciate the time she takes to answer them.

Our sessions have radically transformed my relationship to my health, my body and especially my relationship to food. Our work together has helped me reconnect with my inner child and expand the foods I feel comfortable eating. Celine has inspired me to make several mindset shifts which have given me the ability to reconnect to parts of myself I previously hadn't been able to. I have so much pressure and weight of managing my chronic illnesses taken off my shoulders now that I am one of Celine's patients. I no longer have to agonize over what health habits, diet choices, and lifestyle decisions to prioritize because I know I can trust in the efficacy Celine's recommendations. Following the protocols we build out together have significantly decreased the amount of stress I experience when managing my illness, as well as my physiological symptoms overall. Celine is even helping me navigate how best to manage my increased physical capacity so I can build sustainable habits and avoid burning out. I have a lot of experience with alternative forms of medicine like functional medicine, acupuncture, etc. but still had some gaps in addressing symptoms I've been struggling with for 8+ years like severe brain fog, fatigue and dizziness. I was exposed to Celine's passion for healing when I met her 10 years ago and was curious if her expertise in Chinese Medicine could help me manage these symptoms. I also appreciated that she has a thorough background in body work, which is a helpful knowledge base for a practitioner to have when working with physically disabled people like me.

It always surprises me when Celine is able to ascertain when my physical symptoms are coming from an emotional root cause instead of a physical one. When this is the case, Celine asks me disarming questions that bring me back into my body with comfort and ease. I walk away with increased understanding of my body's triggers, as well as practical and accessible strategies to support my body through tough emotions. I am forever astonished by Celine's attention to detail when it comes to her approach to healing. She pays attention to things I say that I never thought would be relevant to my healing, and her holistic approach to addressing my health struggles is interconnected in a way I've never experienced before. This focus on both the micro and macro of my complex situation has produced incredible improvements to what felt like a bleak and hopeless situation for so many years.”

-SM

“Our sessions became part of a more considerable understanding and approach to tackling chronic health issues resulting from aggressive chemotherapy treatments. I also suffer from PTSD due to a life-altering accident that occurred to my daughter. Celine has helped release some of the stored trauma that I suffered, and she encouraged (and referred me) to a spiritual counselor to relieve the deep pain I was holding.

Celine's empathy, understanding of chronic pain, and background in acupuncture and non-Western holistic treatments provided relief where none existed before.

-BB

FAQ