My Journey

I am a Licensed Acupuncturist, Registered Nurse, and Licensed Massage Therapist. I am also a Reiki Master and Certified Sound Practitioner. As a massage therapist, I have over 20 years of experience. I have worked in private practice as well as in physical therapy and spa settings. I was a staff nurse on the Neurosurgery unit at UVA Medical Center, as well as a nurse for Hospice of the Piedmont Virginia. I completed a four-year graduate program in acupuncture at the Jung Tao School of Classical Chinese Medicine. I am a generalist, but I also have additional training in treating headaches, neck pain, and temporomandibular joint disorder.

Initially, I wanted to be an artist. I received a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from the University of Virginia. While in school, I apprenticed with a Nelson County potter who made beautiful Japanese-style tea ware. Her studio was set into the mountain, just steps from her home. We would make pottery and talk for hours. She would serve me tea, and we would generally have a great time working beside one another. It was incredibly beautiful, centering, and deeply connected to nature. I was having an ideal day at the wheel when an inner voice asked, “How can you help?” Within six months, I had moved to Arizona and enrolled in a 1,000-hour massage and bodywork program.

My massage program exposed me to multiple therapeutic modalities, including Reflexology, Thai Massage, Shiatsu, and Tui Na. Many of my instructors were acupuncturists, and I immediately resonated with them. I could tell that there was something different about them. They were calm and centered. Their eyes were clear and bright—a quality I later learned was referred to in Chinese medicine as having “Shen,” where the spirit shines brightly.

I started reading books on Chinese medicine and receiving regular acupuncture. My digestion improved, my mind became incredibly clear, and the anxiety and depression I had struggled with for many years gradually subsided. I was hooked.

The extreme dryness and openness of northern Arizona were too much for this native Virginian. I longed for black mud and fertile riverbeds, forest canopies, the smell of wet leaves in autumn, and water. So, once my program ended, I moved back to Charlottesville and stayed.

As a massage therapist, I started out assisting in a physical therapy clinic. I saw how pain touches each of us at some point, young or old, with crooked spines or straight. It can come on without injury and may not show up on imaging.

I was hungry for knowledge and eager to expand my toolset. I attended nursing school at Piedmont Virginia Community College and worked on the Neurosurgery unit at UVA Medical Center while continuing to practicing massage. I had a natural inclination toward end-of-life care and an aptitude for connecting with families and normalizing the dying process.

This was in 2020. The entire world changed overnight. I will forever be grateful for all of my friends and colleagues who banded together during that time. By the following year, I was ready for a change. I started working at Hospice of the Piedmont Virginia and applied to acupuncture school.

I remember meeting my classmates on that first day at Jung Tao. So many of us had prior backgrounds in other health-related fields: nurses, therapists, physician assistants, and a medical doctor. We were told that we were the largest class to ever come through the school. I think that, after the pandemic, we had all asked ourselves some big questions about what kind of role we wanted to play in helping others.

Chinese medicine combines supportive care and symptom management with prevention. It addresses the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of health. It is comprehensive, combining elements of wellness coaching, dietary therapy, movement practices, and manual therapy. It marries ancient wisdom with innovation. And for many of us, it was the answer to those big questions.

I think of Chinese medicine as a language. Signs and symptoms are the body’s way of communicating what is out of balance, while a carefully chosen combination of acupuncture points forms a sentence, gently guiding the body back toward homeostasis. Acupuncture relies on the body’s innate ability to heal itself, and, to my enduring delight and amazement, it is both gentle and profound.

From the first treatment I received more than twenty years ago, I knew that this was how I wanted to help others. I made it my goal to pursue a well-rounded education in both Western biomedicine and Eastern energetic medicine. I am so proud and grateful to be able to offer a truly holistic and integrative service to this community.