Prepared for you
Prepared for You- Notes From the Path
People sometimes ask how I prepare for my day, how I get ready to meet each person who walks into my clinic. The truth is, the preparation started long before I was born. It began with my ancestors, my parents, and the celestial energy that carried me into this world with the spirit of both a warrior and a healer. But I know that’s probably not the answer you were expecting.
So I’ll start somewhere more familiar: how I became an acupuncturist.
Before acupuncture school, I spent nearly two decades in the health‑food world — back when Los Angeles didn’t have a Whole Foods on every corner, and the real health food stores were co‑ops in South LA. Local produce, bulk bins, fresh juice, bee pollen, tofu… all the things that felt strange to most people. My mom used to take me to health food stores for wheatgrass shots, and that’s where my love for natural medicine began.
I worked in that world from age sixteen to thirty‑four. One day, while moving boxes in the back of a nutrition store, something in me said, Enough. It’s time. I decided I was going to acupuncture school. I started acupuncture school when I was 34 years old.
How I met “acupuncture”.
My mom’s acupuncturists during her cancer treatments — women who carried a kind of wisdom that felt ancient. I was inspired.
An Armenian acupuncturist who told me Traditional Chinese Medicine was for everyone to practice and receive. I was awakened.
A coworker studying acupuncture part‑time, showing me that working and pursuing your calling could happen at the same time. I was encouraged.
And then the day I sat in an acupuncture class and felt like they were speaking my language. I knew the meaning of “vibing”. I’ve never questioned my path since and with determination, self-exploring, grief, and meeting fear and systematic disadvantages, I overcame all the obstacles to being a licensed acupuncturist. Acupuncturist has 4 years of Master of Science degree, and 2 years of doctoral program.
Being Navajo and Being an Acupuncturist
Learning Traditional Chinese Medicine helped me understand my own culture’s healing ways — the songs, the spirit medicine, the movement, the ceremonies. As a kid, I didn’t always understand the meaning behind them. I just knew they were powerful. TCM gave me a framework to see the patterns, the intention, the harmony behind what my people have always known.
When new patients come in and say they don’t understand how acupuncture works, I get it. Some things can be felt long before they can be explained. I like to share what I can — how we’re intentionally guiding the body, how the medicine works — but real understanding comes from living in rhythm with life itself. Medicine people live in relationship with nature, with the seasons, with the breath of the world. That’s where balance comes from.
And so… How I Start My Day
My mornings begin with a light run and a quick walk — enough to find my lungs, to remember that breath was our first introduction to this world. It’s my morning shout into the universe: I’m here, I’m alive, I’m grateful.
Then comes the quiet rhythm of home: walking the pups, feeding the meowing cats, a little vacuuming, a few dishes. These small acts settle me. They make my home feel ready for my return.
I cook a simple breakfast — vegetables, eggs, warm tea — and I think about lunch and dinner because I’m a foodie at heart. These days I cook more than I eat out. It feels grounding.
Before I leave, I look over my patient list. I sit with each person in my mind, sending a little warmth their way, welcoming them into the clinic before they even arrive. It’s a small meditation, a way of opening the door before the day begins.
That is how I prepared for you.
With breath, with intention, with the teachings of my people and the medicine I’ve chosen.
With cultivation and time.
With gratitude for the path that brought us together.
Prepared for you in Silverlake, Los Angeles, 90029