What makes my services unique

• Doctorate in Traditional Chinese Medicine

• Licensed Acupuncturist

• Western Herbalist

• Certified Yoga Teacher

• Clinical Aromatherapist

• Certified Waldorf Teacher

• Certified Massage Therapist

• Whole Foods Nutritionist

• Certified Detox Specialist 

My Journey

My journey began with a love of being surrounded by nature. 

My immersion into the world of plants began with backpacking.   While I was in college, I found myself gravitating toward classes that focused on the environment.  My studies in Italy and Guatemala nurtured my interest in botanical medicine, where I saw first hand how herbs were used in apothecaries and shamanic healing ceremonies.  

By the time I graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies and a minor in Ethnic Studies, I was working as a backpacking instructor at a multicultural wilderness camp in the Trinity Alps and as a naturalist on the Mendocino coast.  

While living on a remote commune near California's Salmon River I became immersed in the use of herbs from the surrounding forests. This experience led to an apprenticeship with beloved herbalists Jane Bothwell and Rosemary Gladstar.  

A return to the Bay Area and a teaching career

I ultimately moved back to the Bay Area and began working as a teacher in Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco as part of a pilot program sponsored by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture.  My work was in establishing gardens in elementary schools and teaching classes about food, gardening, cooking and leading farm field trips.  

Well on my way to a Master's Degree in Women's Spirituality,  I realized my true calling was to deepen my work with holistic health and herbal medicine.  I then enrolled in San Francisco's American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and graduated with a Masters of Science in 2001.  I have been working as a private practice  acupuncturist in various clinical settings for the past 20 years.  

 I enjoy treating patients in my garden office in Sebastopol Ca and am also an acupuncturist at Hill Park Integrative Medical Center, a unique group of seasoned healthcare practitioners  who believe in a balanced approach to optimal health.    

My passions include growing medicinal herbs and edibles, singing, hiking, backpacking, swimming, and yoga. My greatest joy is being a mother to my two children and fur baby Frankie. 

Cross-discipline experience: Detox, Fertility, Yoga, Prenatal Care

• While in Chinese Medical School I worked at Chinese Medicine Works in Noe Valley under the direction of pioneer acupuncturists Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korngold. 

• Substance abuse training at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx NY, becoming certified in Acupuncture Detox under Michael Smith, MD.  The comprehensive training led to work at several community clinics in Oakland and San Francisco.

  Trailer for Dope is Death. Acupuncture for Detox at Lincoln.

• Yoga certification at Sivananda Ashram in New York leading to teaching in locations from the Bahamas to San Francisco.  I have also taught prenatal classes in West Marin.

• Under the guidance of Gilberto Fleites MD I treated cancer patients at the National Institute of Oncology and Radiology Hospital in Havana, Cuba.

  Visionary Ted Talk from Dr Fleites on Green Hospitals.

• Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic: work with low income women with cancer beginning in 2000.

• Fertility work at acupuncturist Jane Bick Tang's clinic in Mill Valley: one of the first fertility focused clinics in the U.S.  

• Extended Study in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics with Raven Lang OMD, pioneer midwife/ acupuncturist. 

Professional Training

• Doctorate in Traditional Chinese Medicine: Five Branches University

• Masters of Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine:  American College Of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2001

• UC Berkeley B.S. Conservation and Resource Studies and Ethnic Studies 1994

• Herbal Studies Certificate 1995 (Rosemary Gladstar's course with Jane Bothwell)

• Sivananda Yoga Teacher's Training NY 1998

• Qi Gong practice 1996-present

• Massage Certification 2000

• Several Facial Rejuvenation Trainings

• Extended training with Peter Holmes with Essential Oils:  Aroma Acupoint Therapy

• Extended Fertility Trainings

• Raven Lang OMD:  obstetrics:  2002-present

• Center for Educational Renewal:  4 year Waldorf Training Program with Don Basmajian  2010-2014

Memberships and Affiliations

• Sonoma County Herb Exchange

• United Plant Savers

• CSOMA:  California State Oriental Medical Association

• NADA:  National Acupuncture Detoxification Association

• Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic

• Nor Cal Fertility Group