About
“Traditional Wisdom for Life”
Here’s where you’ll find a whole new way to see your health. Discover yourself through the deep wisdom and beauty of Chinese Medicine.
Receive low-risk, natural treatment for your health condition or to enhance your wellbeing. Find information you can actually relate to… and discover health, happiness and a lighter way of living.
Professional Chinese Medicine treatments are centred around acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, diet and lifestyle advice and other therapies.
Diagnosis and treatment looks at the whole person and assesses how different body systems are interacting. It involves listening to the way symptoms show up, in order to understand what your body is asking for.
Examples of some strategies include:
- Clearing blockages that cause pain
- Strengthening weakness
- Waking up stagnant and stuck areas
- Draining and detoxing excess
- Moisturising dryness
- Energising fatigue
- Soothing the mind and calming the emotions
During the treatment process, you will learn about yourself and what you need right now – not a whole lot of dry, theoretical information – but the wisdom of classical Chinese medicine as it applies to YOU, right now in this moment.
My great love is to see where you’re at and what you need, then access the classical knowledge base and translate this into real, contemporary, Western language that makes sense to you – and gives you those great “Aha!” moments.
You take this insight with you.
It’s yours to keep – “Traditional wisdom for life”.
Does that sound like the kind of health care you’re looking for? In the video below, I share more with you about what it’s like to work with me, and the kinds of people who get the most out of my approach. I invite you to listen to this to discover if you see yourself in this description. If you do, the chances are that we will be a great match.
Are you looking for a different way to approach your health issue?
Here are some typical reasons that people come to my clinic:
“I’m struggling with this health problem, I’ve had all the tests under the sun and they haven’t found anything, but I feel terrible”
“I’d like to prepare for a natural labour”
“I’m looking for a way to deal with the side effects of my medication that won’t cause more side effects”
“I’m in a really stressful job and that won’t be changing anytime soon – I’m looking for a way to manage that stress so my health doesn’t suffer”
“I have heavy painful periods – it really impacts on my life and I feel drained”
“We’re going to do IVF and want to do everything we can to increase our chances of success”
“I’m in first trimester of my pregnancy and I’m so tired!”
“I don’t sleep well”
“I’m planning to quit smoking and I’m looking for support to help me with the stress”
“I have depression – medication helps but I’d like to do something additional to help with stress”
“I really want to keep breast-feeding my baby but I think I have low milk supply”
“I want to prepare for labour so I can have a better birth experience – and my birth partner wants to know what they can do to help”
“I’m going through menopause – the hot flushes would be bad enough, but I think I’m so hormonal I don’t even feel like myself anymore”
“I got sick a while ago and I’ve never been well since then”
“I’m always tired”
Chinese medicine is an excellent complement to Western medical approaches. We are lucky in this country to have access to both traditions.
Because Chinese medicine has evolved from a distinct medical philosophy, it is a totally different way of seeing the body and the person, involving a totally different definition of what it means to be connected to life and to be healthy.
Would you like to know more? Please request your 15-minute Free Consultation to find out how I can help with your unique situation.
About me
I fell in love with Chinese medicine twenty five years ago while I was studying for my psychology degree.
Even though I’d discovered meditation in my teens and had begun a regular yoga practice, at that time I didn’t have an understanding about energy cultivation, mind-body practices and so on. I had begun the path into the treasure trove of Eastern knowledge but I really was living like a Westerner!
It’s a lifestyle familiar to most of us – charging up with coffee, loading up with stress, rushing from here to there, always struggling to achieve, to gain or to simply keep afloat. I have since learned that this lifestyle can *never* be maintained without cost. I was lucky that I felt the signs early.
I developed a health issue that made me frequently miserable and started to impact not only on my quality of life but even my ability to function at my best. I was taking time off my work and my studies and I knew that had to change.
One evening, I was feeling so bad that I grabbed a Chinese medicine flyer that I’d been hanging onto for some reason (a great reason as it turns out!). I called the number and luckily the practitioner was able to see me right away.
I was greeted at the door by a softly spoken Chinese woman, dressed in a traditional white doctor’s coat. She led me down the hallway decorated with scrolls of Chinese writing and into the consultation room. Around me I could see odd instruments, small mannequins with acupoints marked on them, jars of dried mushrooms, bottles of various coloured liquids all marked with Chinese writing…
I was fascinated by the questions she asked me, the way she seemed to gently study me while I talked with her (I now know she was assessing my “Shen” – vitality of spirit), the way she attentively “listened” with her fingertips as she read my wrist pulses. It was all very new and a bit weird… but somehow I felt it was right for me.
She then went to a huge wall of drawers and proceeded to take out various twigs, roots, shells, flowers, bark and so on. She wrapped them up into packages, gave me a special clay pot and instructed me on how to boil up the herbal medicine. I was very excited to take my strange bundle of things home and I cooked up my first brew that night.
It stunk terribly, the texture was very weird and the taste was completely bizarre – a bit metallic, bitter… strange! But I was feeling so awful and was very motivated to feel better, so I took it and continued with it for the rest of the week.
Funnily enough, each day it became easier and after some time I started to look forward to my weird little brew… because I was feeling WAY better. I felt lighter, clearer, more peaceful… happier.
And my symptoms resolved much sooner than I had thought possible – a huge relief.
During the remainder of my studies I would go back to her from time to time – whenever my stressful lifestyle played catch-up with my health! I didn’t really understand the damage of the stress-ridden lifestyle, but at that time I was totally immersed in the Western way of life and didn’t have any role models who were living in a healthier way. Luckily, the Chinese herbs and occasional acupuncture really helped to keep the impact of stress at bay.
After living and working overseas, I returned to Australia and made the decision to study Chinese medicine full-time. As a mature student, this was a huge commitment and I soaked up as much knowledge as I could from my many dedicated, amazing teachers.
I started with a half-year course in Chinese remedial massage and then into the very intensive, four-year university degree program of Chinese medical theory and philosophy, herbal medicines and formulas, classical studies, acupuncture theory and practice, specialities such as gynaecology, paediatrics, dermatology, sports injury and pain, internal medicine (eg digestion, respiratory), ear-nose-throat, eye diseases and so on.
This immersion into Eastern health practices culminated in a three-month internship at the Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine in Nanjing, People’s Republic of China. They see about a million outpatients per year through the various specialist departments and acupuncture clinics, as well as having excellent inpatient wards such as gynaecology, dermatology, stroke rehabilitation and paediatrics.
I studied with some amazing doctors and was gratified to know that even though some of the details were different (like a few different herbs and so on) the main part of the practice that we had been taught in Australia was the same as the practice in China. We had learned the same foundation as our Chinese counterparts, and we now have the task of bringing this beautiful form of healthcare to Westerners. This will be an ongoing process as Western practitioners of Chinese medicine gradually adapt the language and modes of delivery to suit the Western mind and lifestyle, while remaining true to the depth of wisdom at the core of Eastern medicine.
During the 15 years since returning from China, graduating from my Chinese medicine degree and gaining my Honours degree in psychology, I have established and refined my practice and continue to learn, to develop and to grow as a practitioner.
I have been very lucky to have studied in advanced Continuing Professional Education programs with highly regarded Australian and international teachers and practitioners. As a Chinese medicine practitioner, this passion for knowledge and understanding is a life-long motivation to continue to develop and deepen in the practice, to be able to share our skill and knowledge with the community – to relieve suffering and help people to find ease and joy in life again.
The most recent milestone has been achieving Certified Practitioner status in Hunyuan Medicine. This is a profound form of practice that takes knowledge from deep in the classics of Chinese medical philosophy and investigates the meanings and implications of these insights to our life here in the 21st century. What is life? Where does it come from? How do I optimise my patients’ life experience? How do we maximise our potential to create new life? How do we achieve a centred and balanced way to approach the modern world that retains a reverence for the processes that create our very existence? These deep questions seek the truth that creates and shapes us, seeking to apply our remedies at this same deep place, thus understanding and facilitating our body’s and nature’s own astonishing ability to naturally move toward “rightness”.
A big part of my role as a Western practitioner of Chinese medicine is to translate Chinese medicine wisdom into plain English. The knowledge becomes yours, and you can simply experience the truth for yourself. When you feel the benefits then the motivation to continue naturally comes from within. I love to share these insights with you so that you can see yourself, and your health, in a new and positive light.
Accreditation & memberships
Chinese Medicine Board of Australia – Registered Chinese Medicine Practitioner – This is the Australian Government register of qualified Chinese medicine practitioners. Since July 2012, the profession has been regulated alongside doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, chiropractors, occupational therapists and eight other health professions.
Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association – Full Member – This is the peak professional body representing acupuncturists and Chinese herbal medicine practitioners. They provide information to the public about general aspects of Chinese medicine.
Hunyuan Research Institute for Chinese Classics – I am a Certified Hunyuan Practitioner and continue to participate in study and research of the Chinese medicine life principle of Hunyuan medicine. Alongside Dr Yaron Seidman and Zac Patterson, I co-authored Chinese Medicine Liberation: Inner Documents, a detailed exploration of the events that shaped Chinese medicine in the 20th century in China, from the fall of the Qing dynasty through the Republic years, Sino-Japanese wars and Communist rule (published March 2015).
Continuing Professional Education and Mentors
Dr Yaron Seidman – Specialist fertility practitioner and founder of Hunyuan Research Institute: training ongoing since 2013
Ann Cecil-Sterman – Teacher, practitioner and student of Daoist priest Jeffrey Yuen – training in advanced classical pulse diagnosis and classical acupuncture (Treating the Sinew Channels): ongoing since 2016
University of Western Sydney – Reseach Assistant for clinical trials on period pain (2003) and vascular dementia (2005)
Women’s Health and Integrative Medicine – Conference at University of Western Sydney to open Integrative Medicine research facility: 2004
Debra Betts – Specialist practitioner in pregnancy acupuncture: training in 2006 and 2008
Jane Lyttleton – Specialist practitioner in female and male infertility: training in 2006
Daniel Deng – Specialist practitioner in pain acupuncture and Qi Gong: training in 2007, 2008 and 2010
Ross Penman – Specialist practitioner in classical acupuncture and moxibustion: training in 2011
Helen Gordon – Specialist practitioner in paediatrics: training in 2008, 2010 and 2011
Will MacLean – Specialist practitioner in immune dysfunction: training in 2010 and 2012
Master Zhao – Qi Gong (energy healing) master teacher and practitioner: training ongoing since 2010
Soma Glick – Specialist practitioner in no-needle treatment of children (Sho Ni Shin): training in 2008
David Tai – Specialist practitioner in stroke rehabilitation: training in 2010
Other continuing professional education includes: Chinese medicine nutrition; Skin disorders (eczema, acne, psoriasis); “Shen” (mind-spirit); Psyche, hormones and digestion; Channel pathway disorders; Channel palpation; Insomnia; Allergies; Gut Microbiome; Modern herbal medicine applications; Classical herbal medicine applications; Professional issues and practice management.
First and working with children
Senior First Aid Certificate: 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019
Working with Children Check (NSW Police)
Professional activities and publications
I conduct continuing professional education sessions at my clinic on various topics related to translating classical ideas for contemporary patients, as well as various professional development topics and modern clinical applications of Chinese medicine.
Book: In 2015, I co-authored Chinese Medicine Liberation: Inner Documents, a large volume of curated translations of various historical source materials, with commentary for Chinese medicine practitioners, detailing the intersection of science and classical Chinese medical ideas in China during the 20th century, from the fall of the Qing empire up to the Cultural Revolution.
