I fancy myself as a kind of medical detective…

….piecing together seemingly disconnected clues; symptoms and experiences, medical history and lifestyle, the attitude of the mind and desires of the spirit. Each case is different, a delicate problem awaiting solution.

I am a curious person, so this work brings me great joy.

I have had a passion for helping with health since childhood, riding my bike through our small town in Kansas to volunteer at the local nursing home, later offering hundreds of hours as a candy-striper at the regional hospital. On track for medical school, it was surprising for me, as junior in college, to receive a gut punch of awareness that there was no way I could practice standard western medicine. I deeply respect the technology and the ability of this system to offer incredibly heroic interventions, but in terms of general practice, in guiding wellness, the shadow of the pharmaceutical industry seemed to loom menacingly and I knew there had to be another route to my medical practice.

The desire to find this alternative led me on a wonderful adventure throughout the world and into the depths of mySelf. I quickly stumbled into the eastern tradition; initiation into the practice of acupressure, uncovering a deeply ingrained passion for yoga and the science of Ayurveda, which I studied with many brilliant teacher throughout the world, eventually becoming a teacher myself, the subtitles of energy work and psychic development practice, and finally back to medical school….Traditional Chinese Medicine.

This ancient practice, developed over thousands of years, looks at the human experience through a wide angle lens. One of its many treasures is to identify patterns instead of focusing only on pathology. This allows the practitioner to make sense of odd symptoms that may seem unrelated on the surface but share a root cause of imbalance on a deeper level. This medicine lends it self easily to the treatment of pain through its careful mapping of the rivers of energy which flow throughout the body. Acupuncture works elegantly to encourage the natural flow of these tiny currents, identifying where some debris may be causing obstruction and clearing the way. Even more brilliantly, this is a complete system of internal medicine. Listening to pulses on each wrist gives information about what is happening with the flow of blood and energy and the relative harmony between the organs. Again the tiny needles can work miracles bringing balance to the organ systems, the mind and the emotions. In more deep-seated cases the use of herbal medicine and lifestyle refinement supports this rebalancing and brings great harmony and joy to life of the patient.

After many years of practices, I’m still constantly tickled by this magic.

I am in absolute awe of the perfection in nature, the intelligence and subtle wisdom of the body and their capacity to adapt and to heal. From my view, the art of medicine is humbly supporting this capacity in the most gentle and efficient way. Constantly asking, what is the most effective and least invasive action or substance that can assist the body to balance itself??