Healing, for me, is a deep part of WHO I am. It’s in my very core. It’s the reason that I chose a medical specialty with such deep roots: that ingrained purpose and values permeating through it. The alchemy of healing is a magical blend of energy, intention, medicine, commitment, and community. It’s more than just popping a pill and hoping for the best. 

What is lineage and why does it matter?

On the first day of medical school, my teacher started talking about the alchemy of healing, about principles and whole patterns and a tradition of medicine that was rooted in perpetual observation and connection to the root. It blew my mind. 

The traditions and history of Chinese Medicine were astounding to me. With that history came a lineage that you as a learner were initiated into. Who you learned from and who they learned from has always been important in traditional societies, where people ask what your lineage is. 

People want to know that you have been taught by reputable...

Women come to me all the time with a diagnosis of thyroid problems and despite having medications, treatments, hormones, and diets all thrown at them, very few have ever been told that they need to address their repressed emotions. 

Now, that might sound a bit wacky but stick with me…

In Chinese Medicine (if you know me at all, you know I’m a Naturopathic Doctor with a Masters in Classical Chinese Medicine), it’s understood that phlegm is related to the heart and NOT the thyroid like we’re told in western allopathic medicine. 

What is phlegm?

Phlegm is a sticky gooey substance created in the lungs. It’s over-produced by your body as a physical sign which can point to an energetic imbalance in your throat chakra. This is often the result of unfulfilled desire and repressed emotion originating in the root chakra. 

How can I treat phlegm?

Watch this video to find out exactly what is causing it, why it’s not what you think, how your desires impact it, and how you can heal your ...

Rigidity and perfectionism are preventing you from healing.  It's time to let go of your need for perfectionism and move forward in small and clumsy but flexible steps.

 I've seen so many women stuck in a place of dis-ease because they were inflexible in their beliefs or approach to healing.

Heck, I've been there myself, too.

You may not even recognize it but that need to do it perfectly or not at all, that fear of failure or getting it wrong, the refusal to invest in a course or program because you might not show up.the pressure to perform… these are all forms of rigidity. It's an inflexible approach. 

Most people think of rigidity as a mindset of hard-headedness. A refusal to budge on things. This can also be applied to our mind-body connection. I’ve spoken many times on how our body sends us physical signals that our emotions are out of whack or completely ignored. 

Perfectionism, rigidity, control…it puts the same amount of stress on your physical body as it does on your menta...

It’s no secret that your health plan didn’t work out for you. And it’s probably not the first time, either. That’s why you’re here, right? Trying to figure out where you went wrong, slipped up, or lost your mojo. But this one isn’t on you, my love. Your health plan was doomed to fail from the start and here’s why…

What exactly is a health plan? 

This may sound like a really simple question. But there are so many different health plans of them all claiming to be the best and most effective route to vitality and energy and wellness. A health plan is, essentially, a plan of action tailored to your specific health needs. 

Whether your plan includes supplements, holistic healing, Herbs, Chinese Medicine, fitness regimes…it’s all irrelevant. Generic health plans don’t cut it. You are a unique individual. Your body is a beautiful Universe unto itself. Your health plan should take into account all of YOUR past and present experiences and attempts to balance your body and state of health....

As women, we are conditioned to feel like our pelvic area, our breasts and our body in truth is not really ours. There are areas of our body we just don’t get encouraged to connect with. We shy away from thinking or talking about our vagina, vulva, perineum, uterus, cervix, breasts, and more. Many of us have suffered through trauma or shame related to our feminine body, so it feels better to just pretend it doesn’t exist, to numb out, but that just leads to illness, discontent and disease. Is it any wonder why women struggle on their journey to heal and connect to their body when their root/root chakra has been so cut off?

The journey to healing can be a drawn-out, confusing process. It gets really tricky when we need to heal parts of our body that, for the most part, we ignore. 

In order to heal the root chakra/root of us, we need to reconnect our mind and spirit to our vagina and other feminine parts. You have to get in touch, connect, and develop a relationship with these ar...

 Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome is at the center of medical debate. The central question surrounding it being “Is Adrenal Fatigue real”? It certainly feels real to anyone experiencing it, but if your Allopathic practitioner isn’t convinced, then how can you begin to reverse it? 

As a Naturopathic Doctor, looking past your exhaustion and deeper into the root causes, here’s my take on whether Adrenal Fatigue is real and what you can do about it without blindly spending thousands of dollars on potentially unhelpful practices. 

What is adrenal fatigue syndrome?

The condition’s idea is that constant stress puts an undue burden on the adrenal glands to produce hormones — primarily cortisol — and the glands burn out. 

The lack of adrenal hormones leads to a host of symptoms. 

Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome

No two people are the same. Adrenal fatigue can present differently in everyone. Some of the symptoms may include:

• Extreme fatigue
• Aches & pains
• Insomnia or repeate...

“Is that half dome?”

I remember saying that no less than 50 times as our car wandered the roads of yosemite park when I was 12.  Every mountain face, every rock outcrop, I would ask, “is that half dome”

Of all the attractions, that one had this name, and had been described as so memorable, so powerful, I assumed it was the whole reason for the trip.

So as we wound through near impossible beauty, the tall trees, the towering mountains, the random waterfalls cascading down the sides of canyons...I just kept asking “is that half dome”

Then we got there and to be honest, it was a huge rock cleaved in half...the first impression was “oh, ok, so, that’s it?????”

I think of that moment and laugh, because those words are the biggest thing I remember about that family vacation, well, that and the neon pink knee high socks I wore in most of the photos…

But, I wonder now, as I ponder how many times I have missed the journey for the focus on the outcome.  How many adventures got missed for t...

I got a message from a woman the other day saying I have anxiety,  depression, and other things going on in my body, but can you tell me why would my eye Twitch for the last four months? Is it a particular nutrient I need, a particular mineral?

Questions like these just make my heart hurt because the reality is that reductionist line of thinking keeps us so stuck.  

This drug model says, Oh, we just need to give this one drug for that symptom. 

But the model that recognizes the divinity, the complexity, the magic of your body says, this is just one of many experiences that your body is generating in order to get you to pay attention. 

We have to ask: 

What's really going on here?

What's happening in your body? 

Why is this your experience? 

How does that link to your emotions?

How does that link to the wholeness of self? 

This model of reductionism keeps us locked in these little boxes, and I'm not just talking with your health. I will venture a guess that many of you see thi...

Part of really healing is creating the space for that healing to occupy.  Truth is, much of the space within us is occupied by what has happened, what can't happen, by our old experiences, by the beliefs we hold, our story and what we believe is possible for us and more.

Reality is, for many of us, there just isn’t space for anything new.  Perhaps this is why I have seen so many women reach for healing and then pull back, that sense of fear, futility and strife is really reminiscent of what the space inside of us is experiencing.

It isn’t just emotional though, it is deep biology, reality is, this lack of space is a true tissue event.  The more we are confined in this place of no space within our mind, our tissues are reaching capacity.

This is really the problem because our tissues are reaching capacity, there is no drainage and no free flow.  As we reach capacity, our whole system goes into lower and lower levels and states of function.  Now, those free empty spaces that were supp...

How often do you push through?

No one is looking, so if you can be honest, how often are you just pushing?

The women I talk to every day tell me that this is how they live, some sort of blending of obligation, should, have to and must, and they tell me it is killing them.

I ponder a lot how we get here, having lived in push through much of my own life, through grad school and two degrees simultaneously, having my oldest child in my last year of med school and my masters program in oriental medicine.  Building a practice, having more kids, grocery shopping, cooking, being a wife, friend, daughter, sister.

Then, taking the little bit left and turning it on myself by way of “I am not enough” “If I only looked better” “If I could just be thinner, I could feel better about all this stuff” on and on, turning what I had left into a toxic stew of diminishing return.

I would take my tired self and push to exercise because I was supposed to, or because I was dissatisfied with me, or because...