Why I Became an Acupuncturist

I often get the question from my patients:"Why did I become an acupuncturist?"

And every time I hear it, I have to take a pause and think about how vulnerable do I want to become in that moment.

Many acupuncturists come to the profession through the martial arts. Often they come in from peripheral health care professions, particularly massage therapy. And I've met many acupuncturists where this was their second career, after having a positive experience receiving acupuncture themselves.

For me, none of those were why I became an acupuncturist.

My why is much more personal.

I was born with a rare liver disease that kept me chronically sick from birth until about 16.

I had multiple surgeries as a baby and a young child that kept me alive.

Still, I was constantly being admitted to the hospital, sometimes staying for a month or more at a time. Looking back, I can clearly remember several occasions where I was fighting for my life.

My liver was trying to hold on for me as long as it could, but it just kept getting worse over the years.

By my late teens I was really going downhill. I wasn't looking or feeling great at all. My skin was jaundiced yellow. I had a lot of fluid built up in my belly.

I was very thin. My blood oxygen was low, so I was constantly exhausted.

Honestly, I was a mess.

But I'm happy to report in case you were wondering, I survived.

In Dec of 1990, I received a liver transplant. It was a 12-hour surgery followed by a 3-month hospital recovery.

After my recovery, I felt “Healthy" for the first time I could remember, and it was great.

My newfound health was such a gift. It felt incredible to simply feel not sick. It was like I'd been living in a black-and-white world and woke up one day into full, bright color. It was almost that dramatic for me.

By the time I turned 17, I was feeling healthier and stronger than I could ever remember feeling.

And that was the shift for me. That's where my interest in health was born.

My focus was now on my own personal health and wellness. I was borderline obsessed with everything related to health and longevity. And that first hand understanding that a body can go from fighting for its life to fully, vibrantly healthy never left me. It became the whole reason I do what I do now.

From Patient to Practitioner

Acupuncture wasn't an instant discovery for me. I was into fitness, nutrition, even learning everything I could about vitamins and herbs. But once I learned about acupuncture and what it could do, something clicked. Acupuncture isn't about forcing the body to do something unnatural.

It's about clearing the static so the body can do what it already knows how to do, heal.

Why This Shapes How I Treat Every Patient

Eighteen years into my acupuncture practice in Bayside, I've treated a lot of people who feel like their body has failed them, patients dealing with chronic pain that won't quit, couples going through the exhausting, heartbreaking process of trying to conceive, people who've been told by some doctor that this is just how it's going to be now.

I usually don't say this to my patients, but I think it, every time: I know the power that the body has to heal. I know this firsthand from my own personal health challenges and from what I've seen over my many years as an acupuncturist.

That's the belief I bring into every treatment room. Not naive optimism, yes, healing can be hard. But I also know that power is in all of us, the powerful desire that your body has for healing. And that even your body is always working hard to move toward health, even when it doesn't feel like it.

If You're Reading This Because You're Struggling Right Now

Maybe you're dealing with pain that's worn you down. Maybe you're in the middle of a fertility journey that feels like it's taking everything out of you. Maybe you feel like you are drowning in stress.

I'm not going to tell you I understand your exact situation I don't. But I understand what it's like to sit in uncertainty about your own health, wondering if you will ever feel like yourself again. That's part of why I built this practice the way I did.

If you're in Bayside or nearby and you want to talk through what you're dealing with, I'd be glad to sit down with you for a consult no pressure, just a real conversation about where you're at and whether this kind of care makes sense for you.

Click below to book your free acupuncture consultation today.