Dr. Elspeth Tozier, DTCM, LAC
“In collaboration with you on your journey towards balance”
I am a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and am passionate about providing patient-centered, trauma-informed care that uplifts the health of my community. With the understanding that mental and physical health are interwoven, I treat the person as a whole and address the root causes of an imbalance rather than just the symptoms. Drawing from thousands of years of Chinese medical knowledge and herbalism, my toolbox as a practitioner includes both physical and energetic modalities that can support my patients' existing care.
With your goals in mind, we will create a unique treatment plan that may include Acupuncture, herbal medicine, diet and lifestyle guidance, medical qi gong and manual therapies, such as cupping and massage. I believe that the journey towards wellness is mapped by the patient and I am excited to collaborate with you and your other healthcare providers in this mission. I have experience supporting a wide variety of systems including but not limited to; mental and emotional health, digestive and reproductive health and treating pain, physical injuries and neurological disorders.
Treatment Approach
Services
Click the services on the right to view more details
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60 minutes - $120
Initial consultations include a 30-minute treatment following an in-depth intake where we review your goals, health history, and the history of your chief complaint. I will use the traditional diagnostic tools of pulse and tongue assessment and palpate where appropriate. Together we will come up with a treatment plan that may include acupuncture, manual therapy, medical qi gong, and an herbal formula.
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45 minutes - $90
Follow-up treatments include a 15-minute consultation to assess your progress, adjustments to our treatment plan as necessary, and a 30-minute acupuncture treatment.
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Traditional Chinese manual therapies include cupping, tui na and gua sha. Cupping uses glass cups and suction to create a “reverse massage”, gua sha involves the use of a porcelain or jade tool in a scraping motion across muscle bodies and tui na is a traditional Chinese massage technique. All of these therapies help to break up stagnation and blockages, improving healing and circulation in tense, painful or previously injured muscles and connective tissues.
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Based on the information I gather in our intake I will prescribe or formulate a Chinese herbal formula designed to support your healing process and have it sent directly to you. Herbs will come in granular form to be dissolved in hot water and drank as a tea.
"If there is free flow there is no pain, if there is pain there is lack of free flow"
- Huang Di Nei Jing.
Acupuncture works with the energetic meridians that travel throughout our body via the insertion of hair-thin, sterile, single-use needles into specific points. Accessing these points can improve the flow of “qi” (similar to the electrical flow of our nervous system) - removing energetic and physical blockages and supporting specific body systems. Alongside acupuncture, manual therapies and herbal medicine can further improve circulation and shift constitutional imbalances.
What is Qi? The therapies I employ influence your qi, so what is it? The concept of Qi is at the center of Chinese medicine, the flow of which through the human body is the source of health. Qi is similar to the electrical impulses sent via the nervous system which keep many of our body’s systems functioning as they should. It promotes circulation, and the healing of tissues and facilitates mental and emotional well-being.
Education & Training
With a background in Western herbalism, I received a Doctorate of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Five Branches University in Santa Cruz California where I studied the human body through the holistic and time-honored lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine alongside Western medicine. I have experience practicing as an intern in a variety of healthcare settings including a fully integrated Hospital in Hanoi Vietnam. I am an NCCAOM diplomate of Oriental Medicine and Licensed in both Washington and California. I have worked with varying demographics and continue to weave mutual aid and indigenous solidarity into my role as a healthcare provider and community member.
As a student of traditional lifeways, backpacker, gardener and poet, my love affair with the world keeps me humble and in awe. I am in continued gratitude to my teachers, mentors and the lineages of medical knowledge that inform my work. It is my honor and privilege to be able to use my specialized knowledge to help you on your healing path. If you are interested in working with me then click the button below to begin the intake process.
