Acupuncture & Energy Medicine

Energy Medicine

These modalities help support your body's innate ability for self healing. Sessions help your body learn to access a relaxed (parasympathetic) state, providing an atmosphere for improving pain levels, mood, concentration, digestion, immune response, quality of sleep, and much more.

Acupuncture

The style of acupuncture I offer has evolved from decades of studying healing arts, bodywork, and energy medicine. It is used in combination with other energy medicine practices and somatic awareness guidance to help bring attention to your inner experiences, encouraging you to hear your own wisdom. During sessions, we may track subtle body sensations such as muscular tension, breath, and other physical feelings to help deepen the body-mind connection, release stress, and encourage your active participation in the healing process. We support removing energetic blockages and encourage the self-healing mechanisms of the body to become active.

This is a gentle method that helps facilitate positive changes across the body-mind-spirit system. It supports a deep level of relaxation which can lead to personal transformation and healing effects. This approach follows my model of care, supporting process-focused slow medicine, heart-centered care, reflection, receptivity, and self-kindness. These sessions always use a holistic approach that can be further enhanced by positive lifestyle changes outside of sessions. This is a powerful tool that can be utilized for self growth and personal healing. It works at a deep level, offering nourishing support to the entire body-mind-spirit system.

I specialize in Eastern Medicine Psychology and frequently work with:

Supporting stress reduction
Feelings of anxiety and "busy minds"
Chronic pain conditions
PTSD and trauma backgrounds
Depression
Feelings of "stuck-ness" in life
Death, dying, and grief (in-home hospice care is available)

How do I get the most from my sessions?
Benefits are exponentially increased through personal growth work and lifestyle modification. In fact, they are necessary components if you wish to harness the full range of benefits that energy medicine offers. East Asian Medicine practitioners are meant to be wellness educators above all else. When the underlying patterns that cause imbalances are not addressed and changed, unhealthy patterns tend to repeat themselves.

Things like high quality sleep, good nutrition, movement that is appropriate for your body, stress management, and other lifestyle factors must also be addressed. It is always advised to have a well rounded care team such as a trauma-informed therapist, etc.

Energy medicine is supportive of deep healing processes that one needs to commit to long term, understanding that the process ebbs and flows with life's natural currents. As the first layers of energy blockages are released and as our bodies are infused with fresh qi/prana/energy, deeper held issues may come to the surface so they may also be addressed and healed. This is important to remember as we explore the underlying causes of disharmonies in the system. Those who will gain the most benefits from these sessions are those who are strongly committed to doing their own self-inquiry and growth work outside of sessions.

Can this style of acupuncture help me?
If your concerns are related to how stress or trauma manifests in your body (muscular tension, headaches, depression, fibromyalgia, digestive concerns, anxiety, etc) then this style of acupuncture may be helpful for you. We work together to help your body learn how to go into a more relaxed state in order to activate self-healing mechanisms while clearing stagnant energy and allowing refreshed energy in.

What if I don't like needles?
No problem. I do not practice the "Traditional Chinese Medicine" style of acupuncture which is often associated with strong needling sensations. My acupuncture methods are always gentle. Even better, the energy medicine practices and bodywork modalities I weave into all acupuncture sessions can work on their own for effective, needle-free options. I have extensive training and experience with many modalities that do not use needles. Needle-free alternatives are available for anybody who has a sensitive constitution or who simply has a preference for other methods. As someone who is extremely sensitive to needles, I completely understand this concern!

How does acupuncture work?
"While there is not one mechanism of action for how acupuncture works, studies show that it releases endorphins [the body's natural pain killers], reduces inflammation, increases circulation, and relieves pain. It also relaxes the central nervous system and helps relax the fight for flight response within the body [also called the sympathetic nervous system] and allows the body to go into rest and digest state [the parasympathetic nervous system response] which may help patients with anxiety, depression, and insomnia by allowing for a sense of calm. Recent studies show that acupuncture is also working on the connective tissues, nerve bundles, muscles, and fascia to relieve musculoskeletal conditions. . . Acupuncture treatments work in a cumulative fashion. The more treatments one receives, typically, the better results they will obtain. . ."
- Sara Bublitz, L.Ac., Mayo Clinic

Acupuncture options include one-to-one, private sessions as well as sessions in a semi-private community setting with a sliding fee scale, making it widely affordable and accessible.

Community Acupuncture

Community acupuncture offers sessions in a semi-private, group setting harnessing the power of building a healing-focused community while making sessions more accessible and affordable.

Community style acupuncture sessions include a mini-Pranic Healing® treatment while you rest to encourage flow where things are stuck and to help bring fresh qi / prana / energy into your system. This approach works well for those who want to be able to access more frequent, inexpensive options for supportive care.

Community acupuncture sessions are offered on a sliding fee scale of $30-$60 per session.

* If you don't like needles and don't want acupuncture, you can still book a community-based session and receive Pranic Healing® only.

Pranic Healing®

Pranic Healing® is a hands-off energy healing practice developed in the Philippines by Grandmaster Choa Kok Sui. It follows a process of cleansing, energizing, and stabilizing the energy system to remove energy blockages and bring in fresh qi/prana while you rest on a cozy table. Pranic Healing® works similarly to acupuncture, but without the use of needles. It is excellent for working with stress, chronic pain, and trauma healing. It is unique in that it does not require talking about traumatic experiences. This modality is gentle yet powerful and relaxing yet energizing. It paves the way for greater access to your own wisdom, joy, and growth. I always combine Pranic Healing® with acupuncture sessions. Pranic Healing® may also be booked as a stand alone energy medicine option.

Four Winds Energy Medicine

These advanced energy medicine practices work with imprints and information in the Luminous Energy Field as taught by Dr. Alberto Villoldo, Marcela Lobos, and The Four Winds Light Body School. These techniques may be woven into sessions and may include releasing imprints, removing intrusive energies, soul retrieval, ritual guidance, energy medicine-based coaching & education, death rites, and related practices.

This work is based on an Andean lineage of healing traditions. It is offered for personal healing and spiritual growth. It is holistic in nature and considers the interplay of the body, mind/emotions, soul, and spirit in our human experience.

Energetic Plant Medicine

Plant medicine may be woven into sessions via flower essences, handcrafted herbal tinctures, essential oils, and other methods. We incorporate energy medicine concepts and somatic awareness practices with drop-dose plant wisdom through pulse testing to support the the body's flow of life force energy. This work supports you in bringing attention to your own inner experiences and personal growth with the assistance of plant medicine.

Plants have been our guides and helpers as long as humans have walked on the planet. They possess the ability to remind us how to flow through life smoothly again when energy and emotions become stuck, stagnant, or depleted.

Plant medicine can be especially useful when a person is in a life transition, when doing growth work, or whenever we have the desire to simply feel more deeply nourished. The plants provide subtle, yet powerful support to help you along your path as you release the conditioned layers of "not you" in order to express more of who you are with clarity and confidence.

ArtemaSomatics@gmail.com