About Tranquil Spirit Acupuncture

Mission

To improve the quality of life and well-being of those I serve, and our larger community, through acupuncture. I believe (and have experienced) that acupuncture can reduce suffering and enhance well-being through alleviating pain, fostering relaxation and supporting health of the body, mind and spirit. I strive to do this by offering knowledgeable, skillful and compassionate acupuncture with honesty, integrity and care.

Vision

To enhance the quality of life and well-being of our community through helping to support individual healing. To expand the reach of group ear acupuncture treatments for PTSD, anxiety, and substance use disorder to work towards breaking cycles of trauma, anxiety, and pain in order to increase peace and well-being in our community. To partner with other businesses and acupuncturists to create more access to group ear acupuncture for veterans, first responders and healthcare workers.

About Your Practitioner

I first became interested in Chinese Medicine after taking QiGong classes when I was in high school, and learning about the holistic understanding of human health from a Chinese Medicine perspective. It was very different than how I had learned to think about the body, and I became intrigued with it. Here was an ancient system of healing that took the body, mind and spirit all into account, and acknowledged that although the body has different systems and different parts; they are all interconnected and work together. But it wasn't until having received acupuncture some years later, and having my own direct experience with profound shifts in my health, that I became fascinated with it. After reading more about it, and experiencing more positive experiences with acupuncture over the coming years, I realized that this was something I wanted to study and understand deeply, and to be able to share with others. It became apparent that this was what I wanted to do as a profession - something I felt combined my natural talents and curiosity with an inclination to be of service to others, and to follow and learn a profound system of knowledge/healing.

After completing a 4 years Master's program in acupuncture at Jung Tao School of Classical Chinese Medicine, I moved to the Swannanoa area and have been here since. I am a North Carolina licensed acupuncturist, as well as a board certified diplomate (Dipl. Ac) by the NCCAOM (National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine). As a clinical acupuncturist, I have experience: working one-on-one with patients in clinical office settings, as a mobile practitioner providing one-on-one treatments in people's homes, working in a fast-paced high-volume community acupuncture clinic, and also providing ongoing group acupuncture treatments in various locations.

In addition to my formal acupuncture training and work, I thoroughly enjoy cultivating and expanding my knowledge of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine and consider myself a lifelong student. Much of my professional development has consisted of courses on: PTSD - both in learning how to be a trauma-informed practitioner, as well as learning acupuncture treatments directed towards PTSD; supporting mental and emotional health with acupuncture; and treating patients in hospice and palliative care, in which I am certified by the NAHPCA (National Association of Hospice and Palliative Care Acupuncture).

When I'm not practicing or learning about acupuncture, I can be found spending time with my family, reading a good book, drawing, meandering through a forest, or attempting to learn a variety of string instruments.

My Approach

My approach is patient-centered; supportive and relaxed, yet professional and knowledgeable. I am here to support you in your health care goals and journey. I seek to create a safe, trustworthy, and transparent environment for everyone I treat.

One of the most wide-reaching and universal benefits of acupuncture, in my estimation, is its ability to help relax our nervous systems. I think this benefit is often underestimated. Nervous system relaxation has profound benefits on cardiovascular, digestive, pulmonary (breathing), and emotional health. Your body's own natural painkillers are also released. For this reason, a big part of my approach during the treatment is to be as gentle as possible with the actual needles. Especially for those people that come in to my office with a fear of needles, or those who consider themselves 'needle sensitive', this is something I take seriously and do my best to make the treatment as comfortable and gentle as possible.

I am a trauma-informed practitioner and seek to create a safe and supportive environment for everyone I treat. This means that I work to create a treatment environment that feels physically and emotionally safe, trustworthy and transparent; where the client knows they have control over their body, and where there is a sense of collaboration and empowerment. This also includes an awareness that there are many different factors that affect people and their health, including but not limited to: their personal history, their race and culture and it's history, and factors of economic and systemic oppression and stress.

I believe that our bodies have an innate intelligence that constantly strives for balance and well-being, and that sometimes there are external forces (such as illness or trauma, etc.) or internal forces (stress, unprocessed emotions or congenital disease, etc.) that can overwhelm our bodies' ability to maintain homeostasis, and then we can find ourselves in pain and/or sick. Acupuncture is one tool that can help resource the body in that path back towards health and balance. And while I believe that acupuncture is incredibly helpful in that regard, I like to remind people that acupuncture is the tool, but it is your body that is doing the most powerful part of the work.