About Equanimity

Why Equanimity?

In one of the sets of Buddhist scriptures, Buddha is asked, “What is the way to communion with the One?” Buddha’s response was to set out a way that awakens the heart-mind with 4 practices and each of these attitudes reflects a facet of the awakened heart-mind. These are called the Divine Abodes: Loving kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity. When we practice these attitudes we feel at home with ourselves and can act from our truest nature; simply said, we feel at home. This feeling is wellness. 

Equanimity is the foundation for the other three qualities. There’s no way to have a mature response of loving kindness, compassion or joy without a sense of presence that does not react and instead opens to what is here. 

Life happens and it often does not cooperate. Responding with equanimity is acting from a place of stillness and peace from within. It’s the quality of being aware that what’s happening around you or inside your body or your mind can be chaotic and overwhelming, but it is not all that you are. With equanimity you can see the way things are and face them with a sense of peace that whatever is ailing you at the moment is ever-changing, and ultimately smaller than you are. It is knowing you are much bigger and much more than that big emotion, acute or chronic pain, traumatic memory, worry or disease that overwhelms you at any given moment. 

My aim at Equanimity Wellness is to provide that sense of welcoming to what is right here right now and letting be.

Equanimity & Acupuncture

When it comes to our health most of us have an innate feeling that we are not just our human body and that our heart-mind is co-creating our health from the inside out. I believe the body is inherently life giving but at times insults, germs, and accidents happen that put us in survival mode which stresses the body. Survival mode is unsustainable over a long period and eventually wears down the body. At Equanimity Wellness my aim is to help my patient’s bodies re-member by restoring balance and connection with what may have been severed through a physical or emotional trauma. Acupuncture and the modalities I apply cannot address every health concern, and wellness may look different after than before, but it can help with your response to what ails you.

As a practitioner of this rich medicine and prescriber of  herbal remedies, my intention is not to fixate on a particular outcome for my patients, but rather see them as they present in the moment, without judgment, without resistance, and create an opening for the pattern to resolve inwardly and allow their body to come back in balance in its own time and manner.  

My Commitment to Anti-Oppression

Many find their way to acupuncture because of negative experiences with health system that is undeniably broken and leaves us feeling unseen and unheard. While studies have shown that cultural and socio-economic contexts really matter to patients, it’s is not yet part of the industry’s lexicon though there have been great strides. Here are a few ways I work to embrace anti-oppression in my work:

1. I honor your lived experience and the wisdom and expertise you hold in knowing yourself and what you need to heal. My hope is to help you come into deeper contact with this wisdom—not for me to be the one to impart the wisdom or expertise.

2. I acknowledge and reflect the ways in which our cultural context shapes our assumptions of what is or is not healthy, and offer a slower pace point of view from an ancient system grounded in the seasons.

3. I am committed to doing the personal work of excavating harmful beliefs and patterns I’ve been taught as a person with various identities of privilege in order to avoid unintentional harm to my patients. I regularly engage in education, training, and discussion around these issues.

4. I will remain open, curious, and receptive to feedback around any issues that show up in the patient-practitioner relationship and work to repair ruptures that occur in ways that are safe and honoring of you.

5. I offer sliding scale fees that prioritize BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ folks in accessing these spots and am working on opening a clinic based on a model that centers community and connection by treating many folks in the same space together, which allows for a lower price point for a treatment.

6. I also speak and understand Spanish and equally love to listen and speak Spanglish, which I believe is truly my native tongue as a child of our western border.