acupuncture/herbal medicine/shiatsu
Hello, My name is Kelly!
I practice acupuncture, cupping, gua sha, shiatsu, reflexology, moxibustion, nutrition, and herbal medicine in the Central Eastside neighborhood of Portland and at Advanced Acupuncture in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Mindful movement, breathing, meditation, and sound vibration are part of my personal practices of energy cultivation. I am comfortable treating a variety of medical conditions such as chronic pain, mental-emotional health, and complex biomedical presentations.
Treatment Style + Specialties
My intention for each treatment is to help you cultivate an internal space for stillness and regeneration, allowing your body to move deeply into the parasympathetic rest, renew, and restore response for transformative healing, nervous system balancing, and heightened creativity. My diagnostic and treatment style is influenced by Chinese tongue and pulse as well as Japanese point, channel, and abdominal palpation, gathering in-the-moment information to facilitate the direction of treatments. My needling style is influenced by Chinese and Japanese acupuncture. I infuse bodywork in the form of shiatsu into my treatments, and rely on the methods of listening, curiosity, and compassion to guide diagnosis and treatment. I specialize in treating internal medicine conditions, acute/chronic pain, stress, trauma, insomnia, anxiety, depression, digestive issues, autoimmunity, sexually transmitted infections, and women’s/men's health. I also use acupuncture and herbs to treat a variety of conditions, including stress, anxiety, insomnia, seasonal allergies, acute infections, and musculoskeletal injuries. I bring trauma- and substance-use-informed perspectives to my work. You might get a lot of needles, you might get 10, or you might get one ~ it just depends on your presentation and what you need! More than likely, you will receive 20-30+ needles per treatment.
Personal Experience
I seek to share practices with you that have helped ease my journey and create more meaning and connection in my life. I understand from personal experience what it feels like to live with chronic musculoskeletal pain as a result of skeletal misalignment, sports injuries, and auto injury. As a former college athlete and lifelong yogi, I am fluent in working with athletes, movers, and bodies of all kinds. I am committed to helping you feel better. I have successfully used whole foods, herbs, and acupuncture to heal my gut, and invite you to begin healing yours. Acupuncture, herbs, and bodywork have softened the edges of my mind-body experience. I want you to experience the physical and emotional softness and flow that comes with stress reduction, allowing you to be more productive in your relationships, creative projects, and work. Chinese medicine has offered me ease in my cycles of life and I invite you to allow it to ease yours. I honor your time on this earth and am committed to helping you find balance and meaning at every stage.
Path to Acupuncture
My path to acupuncture and Chinese Medicine was resonant with a sense of time and place in my life in 2004. It was women’s health that led me to acupuncture. I received my first treatment at Boston’s Fenway Medical Center, in the rush and hum of the city close to research institutions and hospitals, and the gritty energy of the gap between wealth and poverty. I consider Pathways to Wellness, the New England School of Acupuncture (NESA) intern clinic, my first acupuncture home. Under the care of NESA interns, my curiosity grew regarding the benefits I received from treatments. Pathways’ location above South Boston Medical Center modeled integrative care and the opportunity for social impact; I could see huge possibilities for the growth and reach of this medicine. I had just graduated from the University of Maine with my Master’s degree in Science and Environmental Education, and worked late nights at Allston and Porter Square coffee shops preparing teaching lessons for my high school biology and chemistry classes. Facebook was being developed at Harvard a couple miles from where I lived in Brighton. Life felt rich with possibility, positive impact to be made, and social problems to be solved. I kept a brochure from Pathways on my bulletin board at Upward Bound where I worked over the next 14 years, keeping the dream alive that acupuncture could be part of the solution to many of the social issues facing the world. I envision someday combining acupuncture with social/educational programs for youth and am grateful for the opportunities to give back to the communities around me.
Inspiration, Aspiration, and Acknowledgement
I am inspired to create pathways for greater access to this medicine. I provide heart- and science-based patient care that aspires to be truly integrative. I open lines of communication with biomedical practitioners/researchers and bow to the wisdom of the ancient lineages of Chinese and Ayurvedic medicines. I am truly grateful to practice and receive these medicines. I recognize that healing flows from the universe through me, and humbly recognize the power and trust each patient places in me. I acknowledge the beautiful power of acupuncture, herbal medicine, healing touch, and mindful movement, and understand that as a practitioner I influence only a small part of the human healing experience, allowing you to take center-stage in your wellness. My heart is aligned with helping people and I am truly grateful for the opportunity to practice this medicine.
Current and Future Projects
In 2023 I registered Ripple Acupuncture Project with the state of Oregon and applied for (and received) 501(c)3 status through the IRS in 2024, fully launching the project in fall 2024. The project's mission is to advance eastern and traditional medicines through access, experiential learning, art, music, writing, research, and education for patients, students, and practitioners. The project's vision is to provide support for patients, students, and practitioners of eastern and traditional medicines. The first projects this non-profit will support are free/reduced acupuncture treatments and herbs, as well as acupuncture for schools.
Please allow me to join you on your healing journey!
Abundant flow of all good things to you.
Kelly