Doctor of Acupuncture and Traditional Medicine

I had no idea this is where I would end up in life. At the same time, I also see how this is exactly where I always envisioned myself to be.

I started studying Traditional Chinese Medicine basically on a whim. I began investigating my own health and happiness and wanted to learn how to integrate what I was learning. Most importantly, I wanted to learn how to use what I was learning to take care of the people I love.

I graduated with a Master’s in Science of Oriental Medicine and a Doctorate in Acupuncture and Traditional Medicine from Dongguk University Los Angeles where I was taught with a strong emphasis in integrating traditional medicine with modern research and technology. This holistic approach to medicine is the foundation to how I understand and practice healthcare and wellness.

While exploring consciousness and mental health is what brought me to acupuncture, my training in school focused heavily on neuromuscular-skeletal pain. One of my teachers, an orthopedic specialist, once told me, “If you want to make people happy, learn to take their pain away.” This idea really stuck with me. It resonated with what brought me to the medicine in the first place — mind and body are directly connected.

I have dedicated my life to understanding happiness and suffering through the balanced lenses of nature and science. I have found that no matter your condition, there is always an opportunity to reduce suffering, increase cognitive function, and regulate self healing.

Education is essential to how I practice. I am whole-heartedly invested in everyone learning to live a long and happy life in whatever way actually works. Me included.

Meditation and Movement

I was once on a silent meditation retreat and on the last day I said to my teacher, “I think I want to study acupuncture. I would be starting my life over. Do you have any advice?” He replied with a question, “What would be best for your mindfulness practice?”

The answer was clear and immediate. Seeking to understand the nature of mind and body through direct experience has been, and continues to be, profoundly important in my healing journey. Aside from Traditional Chinese Medicine, nothing has impacted my health and happiness more than Buddhist meditation. Through my relationship with the Dharma, I have experienced very real glimpses of awakening that have unlocked genuine acceptance and compassion for the truth of the way things are, unlocking a deep curiosity within me to understand more about the mind-body connection.

Since studying “TCM,” Taoism has opened my eyes even further to just how many ways one can cultivate inner harmony and vitality. Studying Taoism and practicing its healing arts have become fundamental influences in how I look at health and happiness.

For the last several years, I have had many opportunities to share these practices in many different settings. I have seen firsthand how meditation and mindful movement can bring healing and harmony to the mind and body. Sharing these practices has deepened my own practice in ways I am very grateful for.

We in the West are relentlessly conditioned by excess - way too much consumption and way too much exertion. Slowing down and increasing awareness calms the nervous system and regulates the body’s natural healing processes. As such, mindfulness and stillness are key attributes in all my treatments.

Psychedelic Integration

For the last several years, I have had the opportunity to support many different entheogenic and psychedelic medicine circles. Like many others, these medicine experiences play a crucial role in my understanding of health, happiness, and consciousness. I think it’s important we start opening up about our life-changing experiences with altered states. Offering psychedelic support is a reflection of my own integration with these substances. I would not be where I am today if my guides and teachers had not been there to validate the healing and growth I felt from these experiences.

There is no limit to the ways we can transform personal insights into meaningful change. Learning to integrate our healing experiences with better beliefs and behaviors is a life-long journey. It’s important not to do it alone.

Healing Art & Medicinal Media

Before practicing acupuncture, I studied film and worked in production. Art and Storytelling are vital to how I understand the meaning of life and practice living it.

We are the creators of our own myth. Being healthy means being able to express our authentic self.

Healing is an experience with who we really are, a return to our natural self. To choreograph this experience is the Art of Healing.

Art can help us reframe and reimagine our own situation, habits, and beliefs. The way we experience art moves energy within us in a very real way. Similarly, how we experience healing also matters.

While sharing this medicine, I am interested in helping others get in touch with with their inner creative. Whether used as a therapeutic technique, a tool for self-reflection, or a means of self-expression, I invite art to play an essential role in all my treatment plans.

You do not have to be “creative” to use creativity to facilitate meaningful change in your life. Seeking treatment is imagination in itself — it is imagining yourself getting better. As a part of nature, creation is a part of who we are, it is our story.

Everything is Qi

From the perspective of Oriental Medicine, happiness and health is achieved by subtle cultivation over an entire lifetime. We’re in it for the long haul. Keep going!

In ancient Taoist texts it says there are over “10,000 ways” to live over 100 years. With the right perspectives and practices, everything is medicine.

— Sincerely Yours, Andrew