Welcome
Hello Fellow Students… Here you’ll find information about handouts, activities and resources that are part of the classes and workshops that I teach in the Bay Area. I can’t wait to hear your story and how you came to this beautiful medicine.
Thus far, I have been a student of this medicine for 30 years. I’ve been teaching specifically about Chinese herbs for 20 years straight, so in that sense I’m one of those perpetual students. Here’s a bit about my own path…
Planting the Seeds…
I grew up in a large family about an hour from Chicago, on expansive land, a former apple and cherry orchard with a water well, a garden and honeybees. There were many acres to discover nature and my connection to plants was just beginning, though of course I had know idea where that would lead. Spent my summers building forts, climbing trees, catching fish in the stream and “playing school” (my idea) where all my younger cousins were the students and I was the teacher, haha.
After a move to the far-out state of California in my teens, I discovered Western herbal medicine with chamomile steams and made herbal body products from scratch (the first ones didn’t go too well). In 1988, I became an eager student of Iyengar yoga, energy work and massage, and discovered the field of Oriental medicine in 1991. I completed my undergraduate work at UCSD, where I was fascinated by world cultures, foreign languages and biology. Japanese and Chinese language classes were exciting and fun. Eastern philosophy made perfect sense. Like many of you, I was in awe that my favorite topics could be combined into one, the life-sustaining field of Eastern healing.
Fresh Bay Area Goji Berries
The Jump into School
I returned to the Bay Area, and got my feet wet through working in various acupuncture clinics in the early 90’s. During this time, I also worked at a large pharmaceutical company called Genentech, in manufacturing, fermentation and the FDA approval process. This very western medical experience actually gave me the final nudge to delve into the field of Alternative Medicine.
Like many of you, I was in love with the medicine and was pulled further into its depths. I completed a master’s degree in 1999 and later my doctorate degree in 2018 from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM). The topic of my dissertation was the treatment of chronic infection with Chinese herbs and acupuncture.
Current Day
I’ve been teaching Chinese herbal medicine in the Bay Area since the late 1990’s, and have been a professor at AIMC Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley and at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) in San Francisco.
I am now in my twenty second year of private medical practice, with a busy office in Lafayette, CA. We maintain a large apothecary of raw and dried herbs, tinctures, glycerites, capsules and powders, which you are welcome to visit and learn from.
I currently grow many organic herbal medicines in my backyard, both Western and Asian species – last count was 60 different remedies. Some favorites are…
- Astragalus, Licorice, Angelica, Codonopsis
- Selfheal Spike, Buddha’s Citron, Nettles, Peonies
- Sorrel, Mugwort, Burdock, Lemon Verbena
- Honeysuckle, Mulberries, Loquats
- Goji Berries – but the deer got in before we had the tall fence and they ate the plant to the ground (along with the Quince) so now both are gone, lucky them!
I feel deeply grateful for the opportunity to discover this diverse field of healing, and will forever be a student of its depths. I know you too will become captivated with this medicine more and more. It’s an amazing path with many rich rewards!