I recognized at an early age that the most valuable possession any of us will ever have is our health. Let that sink in for just a second. Your health is more valuable than your house, your job, or even your big retirement account. I think it could be argued that your health is more valuable to you than even your spouse or your kids. Why? Because without your health, you can’t enjoy the blessings in your life, and none of the people in your life can fully enjoy you.

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Most boys look up to their fathers, but to this day, I believe mine was something special. He was a Presbyterian minister, a high school biology teacher, and a park naturalist. He loved to help people. He founded our town’s community youth center to provide a safe place for kids whose home life was less than ideal. He and my mother opened our home to dozens of foster children through the years.

My father was a guy who seemed to have it all: a good marriage, four healthy kids, good jobs, and a beautiful house on the lake shore. Yet when he got sick, he lost the ability to enjoy any of those things, and slowly, I lost the father I knew and loved.

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When I was in the 5th grade, my father had a fever that would not subside. A week of not feeling well turned into months. Doctor after doctor failed to identify the cause. Finally, he was diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis, an infection of the heart, and was quickly scheduled for open-heart surgery to replace one of his heart valves. Within a few weeks of his surgery, he suffered his first stroke. He was 42. That stroke, a byproduct of the artificial heart valve, changed him. It affected an area of his brain closely related to personality and emotion. The man who came home from the hospital was different from the father I had known. That was the first of roughly 20 small strokes that he would have throughout the years.

 

Each of these strokes seemed to impact his intellect, his emotions, and his ability to reason and remember. Ultimately, one final stroke took his life when he was only 59.

There is nothing I can do to bring my father back, but I can help make a positive difference in other people’s lives.

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I believe, much like my father did, that we are put on this planet to help others. My spiritual practice has led me to the conclusion that we are all one. I often imagine we are all waves, rising and falling upon the same ocean. Sure we are all slightly different, but our essence is essentially the same. We all rise up like a wave, are propelled across the surface of life for a while, and ultimately cease to exist. At the core, we are all the same, just water and energy, yin and yang.

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I want to help make your time in your body and on this Earth to be healthy and enjoyable. This is why I practice acupuncture.

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Because Experience Matters

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• Acupuncturist, Harborview Medical Center, Pain and Chronic Fatigue Clinics

• Member, UW Physicians

• Supervising Acupuncturist, Neighborcare, Rainier Park

• Resident, Bastyr University

• Adjunct Faculty, Bastyr University

• Supervisor, Bastyr Center for Natural Health

• Guest Lecturer, Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine
  
   

Because No One Can Be a Master of Everything

I specialize in these areas:
 

 

• Pain Management:  A special interest in chronic intractable pain and post operative pain. If you have pain that has been resistant to other treatments there is a good chance I can bring you relief, even where others have failed.
   

• Anxiety: Anxiety can manifest in a number of ways from full blown panic attacks, insomnia, post traumatic stress disorder or just an inability to function completely in certain situations. I have spent years working with a team of naturopaths and other practitioners to offer complete and highly effective solutions to anxiety.
   

• Migraines: Migraines impact nearly one out of every ten adults. If you suffer from migraines, you know what a complicated condition they are with a complex mix of both triggers and remedies. While pharmaceuticals can help, over use will often make things worse, so it is important to have non-pharmaceutical options.  Research has constantly shown that acupuncture can provide significant relief.