Acupuncturist interview with Phiona Gitsham

Katie Hale is the lovely acupuncturist behind True North Holistic Medicine in Denver. In this interview, she shares about her training to become an Intuitive Eating counselor and the Health at Every Size movement... as well as what it was like growing her practice, hiring an associate, specializing in women's health, and more. I want every acupuncturist to know about intuitive eating and Health at Every Size and the way that weight stigma affects our patients. Katie is so charming and fun and warm, I think you'll love her and what she has to share. I hope you'll give it a listen.

Phiona has an amazingly rich background - she's been a performer, an environmental activist, studied Chinese Medicine, nutritional genomics, shamanism, and spagyric alchemy, and developed her own line of Chinese herbal products, Bio HerboloQi. I connected with Phiona through the Facebook group she started: Venus Rising, a group to support women and non-binary and BIPOC practitioners of Chinese Medicine. In her interview, she shares what inspired her to start the group and why it's so needed.

Dr. Rhonda Coleman, is the inspiring acupuncturist behind Blacupuncturist.me. She practices in Arizona and specializes in emotional and digestive health. Rhonda shares with us what it was like starting her business, growing her acupuncture practice, how she likes to practice, the lovely way she explains what she's doing with the acupuncture needles to her patients, and more. She also shares about her involvement in the organizations Blackacupuncturist.org which helps people find Black acupuncturists to work with, and Integrative Medicine for the Underserved (IM4US.org), and she shares a little about what it was like being a Black acupuncturist in acupuncture school and in practice, the erasure of Black people from history, and how she communicates about our medicine with her community. I really appreciated hearing about her experience, and I think you will too! 

Ali is an acupuncturist, a friend of mine, and the founder of AliDamron.com. In this interview, she shares how she transitioned to a fully online practice - even before the pandemic hit! How she does it (not on zoom calls actually!), how she got so busy she decided to stop doing in-office acupuncture, and things she wish she knew sooner in her career. Ali has lots of great and inspiring advice to share, I hope you'll give it a listen...

Lauren Curtain is a lovely and talented acupuncturist in Australia, outside of Melbourne. She specializes in women's health and has built a big following on Instagram with her informative and empowering educational posts and videos on TCM and women's health, which is how I discovered her. In this interview, she shares about how she tweaked her practice when she realized that burnout was approaching - how she knew that she was feeling some burnout, what she did, and how she tweaked the way she practices. She also talks about confidence, how it ebbs and flows, and much more. I hope you'll give it a listen...

In this interview, registered acupuncturist Amrit Singh gives us a peek inside her journey and practice, the way she has gone about finding her path and making career decisions (not what you'd think and not something you could write in a business plan lol), all the things she wishes she had known when she started, the inspiring reason she doesn't experience the imposter syndrome, how her definition of success continues to change, and why (according to an Instagram queen herself) you do NOT need to be on Instagram...

Russell Brown is the poetic and much-loved acupuncturist behind Poke Acupuncture in LA. In this interview, he shares a glimpse into his practice and approach, the deep ways he likes to work with patients, what we really mean when we talk about "stress", what being an acupuncturist means to him, why it's so important we acupuncturists reflect on racism, and our role in social activism. Russell is inspiring and drops so many gems, like, for example: "The acupuncture points are not remote control buttons. They don't turn things on and turn things off. They're metaphors, they're stories, each needle is a poem." I hope you'll give it a listen...

Ivy Lee is the inspiring acupuncturist behind Luminae Wellness in Oakland. She shares about the deep ways she loves to work with patients, the kind of marketing that works for her, and very compassionately answers some of my hard questions about cultural appropriation, the whitewashing of wellness, and how we can be better stewards of our medicine. She dropped so many inspiring gems of wisdom. I urge you to give it a listen...

Dr. Kara is the acupuncturist behind Aculand and the creator of Love Cupping, those awesome heart-shaped cups that we all love. In this conversation, we get a little behind-the-scenes glimpse into her practice, her growth, and how and why she created love cups, as well as the backstory on the Katy Perry video she was in. Today’s guest is Dr. Kara MoraMarco of Aculand in Los Angeles. She’s also the brilliant inventor of Love Cups, those awesome heart-shaped cups we love so much. Some of my favorite quotes of hers from this interview are: “success is not about the number of patients you see” and that “cupping marks are good for business”.

Ready to reopen your Acupuncture clinic after the COVID Stay-at-Home order? Please check out the tips and advice I have to offer to make this transition a smooth one! In the video below, I’ll share with you the following steps to re-open your clinic successfully, quickly but more importantly , safely for your patients! You’ll learn: STEP 1: Research the laws, recommendations and guidelines in your State and City. STEP 2: Create your safety policies. STEP 3: Research your malpractice insurance. What COVID specific consent forms do your patient's need to sign? STEP 4: Get supplies. Touchless thermometer, masks, sanitation spray and wipes STEP 5: Choose a starting date. STEP 6: Choose your schedule. STEP 7: Make your new policies public. STEP 8: The week before, get the word out. STEP 9: Create a video walking people through the new policies. STEP 10: Be careful of your language around COVID. Enjoy!