Rhythms of Nature Wellness

​It feels very challenging to distill a lifetime passion and profession into a reflection of who I am in text. There’s no font that can represent human experience.

 

My work has always been first and foremost informed by SENSATION:

COLOR

FLAVOR

TOUCH

TONE

SEASON

​

I think that explains much of how I ended up practicing Chinese classical medicine. It is Daoist medicine in essence. Before you begin to worry that I am going to start DAZZLING you with obscure and poetic talk (jazz hands!) about your stagnant liver qi and your spleen yang and your deficient yin- please understand that is NOT my aim. 

 

I AM MORE ABOUT

EARTH & SKY,

MOVEMENT & PRACTICE,

FLAVOR & FRUIT,

EMBODIMENT, or IN BODY MEANT

GROUNDED

ON PURPOSE​

​

I love a high mountain snowy day on my snowboard, a sweaty exhausted dance to some great live music, a meal shared with friends around a fire made from food I have grown and foraged. This is my medicine, this is Dao. It is not obscure, it is available to everyone; to you, here and now. I do not own it, and I will never be the authority on you. I am, however, a huge nerd and a real weirdo, and I would love to share my world with you. It is likely we will both learn something.

 

Ok, I do have some very official and expensive credentials. You aren’t spending your money and energy on weirdness without any solid grounding right? (I admit, younger me is guilty of doing this in the past… don’t be me.) I will get to those.

 

BUT

 

I DO LOVE

Esoteric Study,

Ancestral Medicine and Wisdom Traditions,

(Shamanic) Energy and Journey Work,

Plant Medicine Ceremony

&

Divination Practices.

​​​​​​​

I am going to risk drawing a line in the sand here, and say that I am NOT Woo-Woo or New Age.

 

You will never find me hosting a goddess retreat or claiming to have special magical powers that no one else has. Why? I am standing on the shoulders of GENERATIONS of Traditional Elders. I have dedicated a lifetime of study. I have experienced the incredible highs and extreme lows of the blessing and reproach of this responsibility. It is much greater than Me…I?

 

These traditions will never be understood through ownership or monetization, because they are not designed for that. They are non-transactional: not “You give me, I give you”. They are sacred, about family, and available to anyone willing to do the work. My personal and clinical practices are deeply informed by these experiences, and I want to open that line of transmission and exchange if you are into it. I am not trying to convert or negate anyone or any other sacred tradition. In fact, many of the elders I sit with seamlessly blend Indigenous, Christian, Daoist, or animist practice because that reflects their own lived experience.

​​

In a world that is becoming ever more

Polarized

Separated

Black & White

I strive to Embrace the Beautiful reality of the

R A I N B O W

All are welcome

 

 

This concludes the soapbox segment of my Bio. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

 

My undergrad study began in Premedicine/human physiology and kinda morphed into a dual BS/BA in Fine Art Printmaking and Field Biology/Cetacean and Ornithology field work. I attended Evergreen State College in Washington state for that.

 

I completed my graduate studies in Chinese Medicine at Southwest Acupuncture College. I have been credentialed and practicing for 20 years now.

 

I am a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor,  licensed and board certified by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. I have practiced in Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, Idaho, and Arizona.  

 

I gained invaluable experience with clinical internships at Santa Fe Women's Health, Indian Health Services Hospital of New Mexico, St. Vincent Hospital and Health South Neuro Rehabilitation Hospital. I taught graduate level students in point location and energetics with Lotus College in Virginia. I have mentored and worked with some of the greatest clinicians and scholars in our field. I am forever indebted to their generosity.

 

Ask me about my teachers, I’d love to put you on to their wealth of knowledge.

 

I completed continuing education and credentials in nutrition through INFH in San Diego. I am a lifelong student of  herbal medicine and Chinese traditional physical therapies. This has enriched my own life as well as my practice. 

 

I wrote and published a weekly health column in the Coeur D’ Alene press for nearly 2 years. I traveled and attended conferences with luminaries in the field of functional nutrition and targeted metabolic assessment and therapies. I continued my study of wildcrafted and fermented foods, and my home kitchen lab has never ceased.

 

Prior to my academic endeavors, I spent about a decade working on organic farms and as an artisan whole foods chef. This experience provided me with a practical knowledge of nutrition and health- taking it from the classroom to the plate. I have helped support and develop several Community Supported Agriculture projects (CSA), urban demonstration gardens with the Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Land Trust and served as a board member of community food co-ops. My clinical colleagues have called me the holistic Martha Stewart. I am not mad about that.

​

As a member of the International Association of Reiki Professionals (IARP), I served as a volunteer with the University of Arizona Cancer Center, and guest instructor in vibrational medicine at the University of Arizona Medical School in the Integrative Medicine rotation for residents.

 

The learning never ceases, and I am excited to expand my skills and experience through working with the amazing Kristina Lia Hansen at Rhythms of Nature. Kristina squared? We are far from square. You already know that.

 

As I am sure any “healer” will tell you: my certifications and CV are not truly the richest soil of my development.  Childhood trauma, failed relationships, heartbreak, disillusionment, and disappointment have been my greatest resource and teachers in many ways. There is a concept of the “shamanic death” in many ancestral and mystery school traditions, or “The dark night of the soul” as some western therapeutic traditions name it.  I am well acquainted with this. I welcome it. I used to strongly identify with it, from a victimized and less than empowered place. Now, I simply let it be. Without this shadow, our light is misdirected and hard to envision.  Used well, it inspires compassion and authentic connection.  “NO MUD, NO LOTUS”;  I do believe that as we explore and offer this aspect of ourselves, we accept and appreciate our reflection in others,and we will all be enriched. 

 

 

“The wound is the place where light enters you”

 

~Rumi