At 19, I began my formal herbal studies at the Rocky Mountain Center for Botanical Studies (RMCBS) in Boulder. I focused on Western herbal medicine and developed a special interest in ethical wildcrafting and herbal preparations.
 
In 1996, I did a shamanic apprenticeship with herbalist Susun Weed in Saugerties, New York. While working with her wildcrafting herbs, tending goats, and deepening my knowledge of holistic healing, I was introduced to the concept of recapitulation.
 
Recapitulation is an initial process in the shamanic journey to reclaim all the energy that has been lost throughout one’s life. You revisit each meeting, interaction, and event to retrieve any energy that may have been lost in that exchange. It is left to the apprentice to figure out how to reclaim that energy.
 
I think of it like a library. Over a lifetime we lend books, take books that might not be ours, and are left with an incomplete, inauthentic collection. Recapitulation is the process of re-establishing our soul's library, so we can meet each new moment in fullness. This is critical for a healer.
 
It took me almost 10 years to simply figure out what my personal process of how to reclaim what I had lost. Recapitulation isn’t a concept or an activity that can be laid out in oral or written text. Each apprentice must discover, define, and work their process.  

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To balance out my woo-woo esoteric and energetic affinity (really to please my mom), I continued my education and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Organic Chemistry and Phytopharmacology (the chemistry of plant medicine) at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.
 
After graduation, I met an acupuncture student while visiting New Mexico. From a single conversation, I had a visceral response to what he was doing. "I want to eat that, I need to get that information inside me." There was no doubt, no question. It was a directive. That I simply must study the coolest thing I have ever heard of.
 
Fast forward to the next year where I had applied and was accepted to Bastyr University’s Master of Science program in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. I was also offered a job at Bastyr’s research institute based on my own undergraduate research and chemistry background. 

While I studied at Bastyr, I was a research assistant studying ultra-high dilutions of Taxol from the Pacific Yew tree against various breast cancer cell lines. After that, I continued to work as a teacher's assistant for point location, Chinese herbal therapeutics, and biochemistry. 
 
At Bastyr, I met my first Chinese medicine mentor – Dr. Anne Jeffres.
 
With Anne, I studied Classical Five Element Acupuncture not only in school, but also as an observer in her private practice. Even after graduation and getting my own license, I continued to study and observe Anne. She was profoundly influential on my practice and perspective of healing. Eventually, Anne moved to New York, and I inherited much of her practice in Washington.
 
After studying with Anne for so long, I wanted to study with one of her foundational teachers, Thea Elijah. What better than the teacher’s teacher?

Thea is a master Sufi healer, acupuncturist & herbalist, and international lecturer. I have now studied with Thea for more 15 years, and I embody the depth of her teachings into each treatment and into my daily life. So, while Anne shaped my acupuncture practice, Thea has influenced the eyes and heart I see the world through. 
 
My family and I left Washington in 2010 to re-establish ourselves near family in Los Angeles. Here, I get to weave together my vast background from shamanism to biochemistry and Taoist philosophy to autoimmune disease to create diverse, effective, custom treatments for each patient.

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In 2015, I began studying the Classics of Chinese Medicine with Z'ev Rosenberg. I realized that I needed to learn the code that this medicine was built on. To further this application of 2,000-year-old texts into modern diagnosis and treatment, I began a Graduate Mentorship Program with Sharon Weizenbaum and the White Pines Institute. I have completed my first two-year program with her and have begun a second two-year course of study. I am concurrently participating in a year-long course focusing on women's health through the lens of Classical Chinese Medicine. 

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Classical Chinese Medicine is epically deep and transformative. The more I study, the more I learn how vast the applications are and simply put, how much I love to learn.

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I am blessed that my career is my passion. Being of service to others is a true privilege that is fulfilling on all levels.

My patients' trust is the greatest compliment I can receive.