My Mission…

About 10 years ago, I had a number of ideas emerge as I started to see the huge gap between “Chinese Medicine Practice as it exists today” and “The General Public understanding how Chinese Medicine can help them”. Sure, in the pacific northwest you can find cities where there is an acupuncturist on every street corner and where it’s become part of the culture and modern health care system. It is far more commonly sought out in the United States where healthcare isn’t covered, and seeking complimentary care is more affordable that visiting an M.D. for an annual check up. But here in Canada, even people with annual insurance benefits are either afraid of needles, don’t know that Chinese medicine offers so much more than just needles, don’t think it can help them, or don’t know how it can help them.

10 years ago I dreamed up a number of ideas…and here is what I plan to create…

  1. Experience >> Seeing 40 patients a week so I can one day become very experienced and effective. Doctors in China fortunately get to see about 30-100 (or more) patients a day and by the time they retire, may have treated 1 million people. I won’t be so lucky, so my attempt at networking, marketing, and most importantly applying myself every single day, will hopefully help me work up to 40 a week.

    • Experience includes taking continuing education courses. After I graduated, I promised I would steer away from just textbook learning, and try to specialize in diagnostic assessment. I promised myself I would try to learn from my biggest inspirations. So far, I'‘ve begun that journey attending in class Applied Channel Theory courses, and have begun Neuro Kinetic Therapy training.

    • Traveling has always been a deep curiosity of mine. I hope to weave my vision of traveling regularly into the courses I attend, the communities I help, and eventually non-profit missions to remote villages.

  2. Provide help where it isn’t offered >> Our counselor teacher had gone to remote communities in the north, many only accessible by air. She explained how every community member she helped knew someone close who had been killed or committed suicide. That moment I decided that one day, I would help service the north, at both indigenous communities and remote towns that don’t have an acupuncturist available. Where people may have limited access to even basic health care services, or likely haven’t received much education or tools in preventative care. You can see the beginning of that journey and where I travel here.

  3. Inform & Empower >>

    • Although Podcasts and Youtube had been around for years already, Websites a-plenty, It was really hard to find a website that clearly explained basic Chinese Medicine usefulness and ideologies. No wonder the public is in the dark and often think of it as voodoo, magical, or airy-fairy hocus pocus practices that aren’t grounded in science, experience, and millenniums of applied practice. 10 year later, there are some incredible podcasts that have demisitifed many of the misconceptions. Go check out Qiological, Everyday Acupuncture, Heavenly Qi, AcuSprout, Dialogues on Applied Channel Theory, for a start (they’re all accessible via your common podcasts services). I’m currently working on a Resource page that provides links to the great resources I wish I knew about when I started school in 2012. First thing you’ll see, are links to some of my favorite blogs. Why re-invent the wheel, when I can direct you to blogs that other incredibly skilled practitioners have put 100’s of hours of work into.

    • One this same note, have you ever received handouts and resources from your acupuncturist? Often many acupuncturists don’t have time or make the time to help their patients try to bridge the gap between “what is chinese medicine” and “how does this apply to me and my current situation”. Often acupuncturists don’t have a lot of time to go into self-care tips after your session. I hope to create a plethora of handouts for patients so they can become more informed, and empowered on their health journey. You can see the start of this in the “Informative PDF’s” tab.

    • You can find my Instagram and Facebook here. Please Follow and share so more people can be exposed to this incredible medicine. As much I detest social media, all the content I create and post, I do to help educate the general public about what Chinese Medicine can offer. It’s all the stuff I wish I knew as a young person. I received my first treatment when I was 17, but didn’t have an inkling about what it was or how it worked, until my first course in 2012. Once exposed, I wished it was ingrained in our culture and part of who we are as people. Many asian traditions have incorporated gua sha, acupressure, herbal prescriptions OTC-style as a part of their daily life. I wish to fuel movement so that one day, going to see your local acupuncturist is just as normal and common as getting a massage, your monthly chiro tune-up, or seeking physio for injury rehab. I cover topics like…

      • what is chinese medicine

      • how can it help you

      • chinese herbal formulas

      • common chinese medicine self-care practices

      • stories of change

    • Have you ever been to chinese medicine presentation? Have you ever found an online “intro to chinese medicine course” unless you go to a school? I hope to fill the gap here and eventually offer presentations in public venues for anyone to attend.