1. What do you do at Element and how long have you been there?
I have been a massage therapist at Element for about five years now and am very excited
to be able to offer my clients all of the benefits of acupuncture as well.
2. Tell us a little bit about your background… and how you came to do what you do at Element.
I came to New York in 2001 as a dancer and was lucky to work with a number of amazing choreographers in the contemporary scene. I had always been interested in medicine before becoming a dancer, so I found myself drawn naturally to massage therapy. In 2009 I finished school and became licensed. Splitting my time between dance and massage was an incredible learning experience, but I found myself looking forward more to my time dealing with people’s aches and pains than I did to rehearsal. I found my life revolving more and more around learning as much as I could about anatomy, physiology, and kinesthesiolopgy from the western standpoint. In 2012 I left dance, for good, to become a full-time student at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in the Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine programs. For almost four years I studied and recently graduated at the top of my class. I also completed a hospital training program in Beijing and am lucky to be continuing my education as a teaching assistant to Dr. Guidun Bai. I am now excited and proud to be joining the incredible Acupuncturists at Element.
3. What makes your practice satisfying/fulfilling for you? What is the most misunderstood aspect of what you do?
My most fulfilling moments are when the lightbulb goes off. It is that moment when the myriad aspects of a person’s life snap into focus and become a pattern of imbalance that can be unwound, reset. It is that moment when we release the tension in one area and a patient exclaims “everything just let go!” or when, with just the use of a few chosen points, a patient feels a decrease in symptoms. While I do work with a lot of musculo-skeletal issues, my main focus is on helping the whole person come back into balance. This includes work with diet and the digestive system, posture, the respiratory system, fertility and the reproductive system, as well as muscle tension.