When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy —Rumi
Hi. I am Ashley. Wife, mother of two and life long hugger of all things nature. I love being with my family, hiking in this amazing space of the Pacific North West, growing veggies and herbs in our garden or just finding some quiet space to stare at the water. Nature is healing and “forest bathing” is one of my very favorite terms!
As a child, I had years of stomach pain and around 12 years old I was diagnosed with Hasitomoto’s thyroidtis (autoimmune thyroid condition) and Celiac’s Disease (autoimmune gluten intolerance). I was that kid at pizza parties bringing their own sack lunch while my friends dove into pizza and cake. Back in the 90’s, gluten intolerance was very unheard of. As a kiddo, it was hard, but gratefully, with a smile on her face, my mom brought food in that I could eat. Without that, I would have continued to be in pain and my health would have deteriorated.
Having this early diagnosis, my mom sought out exposure to many health modalities to get answers and to help me get better. One of these modalities was NeuroEmotional Technique (NET), which is one tecnhique that I use in my pratice today. It has changed my life over many times. I had a lot of anxiety as a child and even into adulthood. As a patient, I realized each time that the anxiety and fear that I carried in my body so tightly, was not “who I am”, but an old story or perspective, an old stress that I know longer needed to carry. NET is a way to neutralize the stress response in the body, release pain, do some deep healing and return back to our nourished baseline.
My study of Mind-Body medicine began academically in undergrad. I received my B.S. from The University of Michigan with a focus on neuroanatomy research. I worked in a research lab at Wayne State University studying brain images, MRI’s , of children with labeled emotional disorders, like major anxiety disorders, depression or ADHD. I was looking at the size difference of specific brain structures in these kiddos and what symptoms they were experiencing with their diagnosis. I also worked at The University of Michigan in an interdisciplinary research study showing how small changes in positive thinking can create large changes in immune markers and stress hormone levels. Positive shifts in thinking, created positive changes in the body physically. We were documenting the mind + body connection. Yet, at this point, I wanted to work with people in a way that impacted their daily life and integrated a medicine that recognized this whole system of health I was seeing;
Mind | Body | Spirit.
I found my way to Bastyr University, one of the top schools in the nation to study health and I received two master degrees in Traditional Chinese Acupuncture and in Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine. It was exactly what I was looking for. Chinese Medicine recognizes the dynamic interplay of Mind, Body, Emotions, but also the structural, energetics, nutrition, the seasons and how it all comes together. I went full force in and while completing two Master degree’s, I also did my training to become a massage therapist, Craniosacral Therapists, apprenticed under an acupuncturist in Seattle for 2 years and went to China to complete two externships at hospitals in Sang Hai.
By the end of it, I was totally burned out.
I was physically and emotionally hung out to dry. I thought to myself “here I am studying a preventative medicine and I was worn down to my core.” I was in daily pain that kept me in bed many days, my lab work showed liver congestion, adrenal fatigue, anemia and more. I needed to address many physical and energetic aspects of my health, but I also knew I needed to lean into all the emotion coming up. I was in crisis.
To me, health and healing cannot be one single approach, we are far too dynamic for a single tool. We are what we eat, but also how we move in our body, how we feel, how we sleep, how we rest. We are physical, we are energetic, we are emotion. I spent the next few years coming out of acute flare ups. It took most of my daily attention and energy and it took trusted practitioners that I learned from and leaned on. I saw how I needed pieces from several different medicines to address what was coming up for me. We have different components to our health, they are unique to us and to the time of life we are in. I came full circle to more deeply understanding how emotion is integrated even in physical pain and how the mind + body are one fluid conversation. At Joyful Living, we are really good at the mind + body conversation. We work closely with practitioners from different medicines like naturopathy, chiropractic, physical therapy and more because we highly value their knowledge and their piece of healthcare. As with so many things in life, we are better together.
Nuts & Bolts:
Ashley is a board certified and WA state licensed acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist and massage practitioner. She is a Level 2 certified practitioner in NeuroEmotional Technique and a CranioSacral Practitioner.
Ashley earned her Bachelor’s degree from The University of Michigan in biopsychology with a focus on neuroscience research. She earned two master degrees from Bastyr University in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine in 2010. While at Bastyr, Ashley sought out training in diverse clinical settings from Haborview Hospital to nursing home facilities. Additionally, Ashley traveled to China in 2010 to continue her education in Chinese Herbal therapy. She completed externships with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Shu Guang and Long Hua hospitals in China. Ashley trained in CranioSacral Thearapy by Dr. Faith Christensen ND., and has had amazing teachers along the way such as Dr. Michael Kudlas DC, Dr. Tina Minert DC, Heather Islander LMP and Dr. Ding RN, ND, EAMP and many many more.
