Small needles are used to adjust the tissue planes and cellular structures of your body. Sometimes the needles are placed in specific locations, often called acupuncture points, though they are more like vases or caves. These are places where the underlying qi and blood, the watersheds that feeds and nourish your body, can be reached and effected. At other times, especially in the case of pain, needles are placed into areas of pain. The body knows how to heal, and the needles will help indicate where this healing is needed.

I am trained in gentle technique and often treat people who are unsure about the idea of needles. The effects can be powerful without being painful.

Applied most commonly to the back and neck, glass cups are used to remove stagnations and toxins from the body. Toxins can be endogenous, meaning they are produced by the body’s natural processes of cellular metabolism. Or they can be exogenous, coming from our environment - the air, the food, and the chemicals of our environment. Stagnations can be caused by repetitive motion, holding patterns, experiences, and emotions.

Cupping leaves marks that are often tender for a day or two after treatment. This is normal and varies from person to person. Cupping marks most often fade within 2 weeks, although some marks may remain faintly on the skin for a few months.

Gua sha is a Chinese method of therapeutic scraping using a tool, often made of Bian stone. Gua sha enhances circulation and can be used to remove stagnations. It is particularly effective at reducing pain and anxiety.

Gua sha often leaves marks similar to that of cupping but in a more irregular shape. Depending on what is happening underneath the skin, these marks may be red, purple, splotchy, or spotted. Gua sha marks will fade within a few days, in most cases.

Moxa is a technique that involves the burning of the herb Ai Ye, known as mugwort or artemesia vulgaris. The skilled technique can alter circulation, reducing pain and bringing nourishment to areas of deficiency and away from areas of excess.

I use the highest quality pure moxa, cultivated and processed by a multi-generational farm in Japan.

Herbalism is on of the major branches of Chinese medicine and includes the use of plant, animal, and mineral substances. Well described in the ancient Herbal Pharmacopia texts we have from China, each herb is meant to be used in community with other herbs. Very rarely is one substance used alone, and formulas are always prescribed to each particular person. You may be given a different formula than your friend, even though you have a similar presentation, because of the wide range of information we consider when suggesting a formula.

I carry herbs of the highest quality. Herbalism is a life’s study, and my study continues constantly.

Food can be tricky and emotional. It can also be pleasurable and is a central axis around which a good life might revolve. From a health perspective, I like to think about food as a gradient on the scale of what is helpful and what may be harmful. The emphasis is always on adding ingredients and techniques that may help a given condition, with the hope that more troubling foods will phase themselves out over time. By no means is any one diet good for all people and we will work together with wherever you are.