AIMC Berkeley proudly supports the work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. We recognize that our school is located on land that was the home of Ohlone people who lived in reciprocity with the land.

Lisjan Ohlone leaders in the East Bay today are the descendants of the survivors of genocidal terror and colonization. We mourn the loss of Indigenous lives and wisdom and offer deep gratitude to the surviving families who are building and visioning the path to healing.

“Shuumi means gift in Chochenyo.” -Sogorea Te’ Land Trust

As a voluntary “tax,” the Shuumi land tax contributes to the important work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, which includes tending land, growing traditional crops and medicinal plants, revitalizing ancestral practices, the creation of an emergency response …

About Sapho

Sapho is a queer non-binary East Asian Medicine practitioner who has a background in social work, nursing, and massage therapy. Their passion to work with people of all genders, bodies, abilities, race, economic status, age has cultivated their experience over the years. They have a strong motivation to work with people who are in any kind of life transition, grief, hormonal transitions, anxiety, depression, sleep and digestion issues. Their focus is to encourage and support an individual’s movement towards freedom and a sense of wholeness by providing a safe space to heal and grow.

Q & A
What was the catalyst for you to explore practicing East Asian Medicine & attend acupuncture school?

I was a bodyworker/massage therapist for several years and started working at …

Every Acupuncturist has an origin story. You can ask any of us about the treatment or series of moments that led us to the big, scary thought “I want to be an Acupuncturist.” We had already asked our Acupuncturist why they look at our tongues or why some points feel spicier than others, we’d listened to podcasts about East Asian Medicine or maybe even read The Web That Has No Weaver, we’d tried some meditative practices, and stacks of books about herbalism and the energetic body threatened to topple over on our nightstands. Some of us took AIMC’s Introduction to East Asian Medicine course just to peek a little further.

And then maybe we looked up some information about …

The differences an Eastern medicine-trained herbalist can have on building your formula plan is huge. In this blog, we cover the differences between what you may find on the shelves and why finding an herbalist is so important to gain the full benefits of herbs and Eastern medicine. Learn more!

Explore Erin’s journey as an Asian American herbalist and acupuncturist. We love learning about the personal and transformative journey her career has taken into showcasing her identity as an Asian American practicing traditional East Asian medicine. You can learn more about her herbal shop and her experiences with AIMC. Read more!

The goal of any acupuncturist is to get you out of their clinic– and hopefully shouting from the rooftops about how your pain went away or that you haven’t slept this well since you were a teenager or one of the other 10,000 benefits of treatment. In order to get you out of our clinic and back into your life (and sending all your friends and family our way), we’ll ask you to commit to a consistent course of treatment for a specific length of time, and then we’ll re-evaluate along the way. You can expect a course of treatment to involve getting acupuncture once or twice a week, some lifestyle or movement coaching, and, when appropriate, a custom herbal prescription.

Consistency is Key

When people …

“When people come to us for help, they may not necessarily be their best selves, so how do we meet them where they are and do something that’s really with them, and not for them or in spite of them… that relationship is really a sacred one. I’m not doing anything for you, I’m just with you– I’ve had my own journey, and I can share with you my experience and I can share with you my experience with other people, and then together we get to figure out what works best for you.”

The “Reluctant” Healer

Before starting Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine school, Karen Villanueva was a nurse for over 20 years; she worked in the ER, ICU, prison system, and even at the ballpark. …

We recently had the chance to sit down with Licensed Acupuncturist, self-published author, and AIMC Masters & Doctoral graduate Kristen “tank” Conner and chat about their book, their experience as a two-time student at AIMC, and their unique style of practice. Tank uses they/them pronouns, which we will be using throughout this article.

Ehlers-Danlos & the Difficulty of Diagnosis

Tank had lived with a web of various symptoms and discomforts since early childhood before finally receiving a diagnosis in their mid-30s that brought it all together: Hypermobile Type Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS). They came to this self-diagnosis before any of their doctors were willing or able to recognize it, and, during their time at AIMC while studying to earn their Master’s degree, a doctor finally referred them …

Current Policies on Campus

Per CDHP guidance, as a healthcare facility, we will continue to require temperature checks and masking of vaccinated & unvaccinated patients and practitioners visiting our in-person clinic and inside our building generally. We don’t anticipate making any major changes to this policy before the start of the fall semester (see “Fall 2021 Policy” below).

Library Re-Opening
Message from the Library sent 6/21/2021

The AIMC Library is cautiously reopening on a limited basis. Le Jiang will be staffing the Library on Wednesday mornings from 9 AM to 12:30 PM starting June 23rd. We may add more hours in the weeks ahead, depending on staffing availability and demand.

There is a pass system to limit capacity for the time being and those passes are found outside …

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” -Maya Angelou

Strategic Plan & Goals

As an institution, we have come together to further incorporate Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (JEDI) efforts into our long-term vision and goals. AIMC Berkeley supports the following vision:

To serve as a center for the promotion of health and wellness and care of the community through education, outreach, and patient care with focus on diverse patient populations including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and low-income individuals
To serve as a center for international collaboration in the development of acupuncture and integrative medicine

The third goal of our strategic plan, designed to help us meet our Mission & Vision, is to “promote institutional & community diversity by serving all members of …