Points of Origin, PLLC was born in the summer of 2000. We were in our 30's, adventurous, and totally naive when it came to business.

The fact that we opened an acupuncture clinic together is no small miracle. Just a few years prior, I did not even believe in acupuncture (see, my journey From Acupuncture Skeptic to Believer and Beyond ), and my husband, Peter, was embarrassed to be a doctor with a wife studying "fringe medicine".

Peter is a conventionally trained physician without a shred of "woo-woo" in his background or experience. So when I approached him in 1996 and told him I wanted to quit my job to go to acupuncture school, he was not happy.

To his credit he supported my decision. And to his extra credit, he became interested in the concepts, philosophies, and medical system I was studying.

I would come home from acupuncture school and catch him reading my textbooks. His questions to me were always the same,

"Does this stuff really work?"

And, "If it works, how come I never heard about it in medical school or through my medical journals?"

And, "Why isn't there any research showing acupuncture works?"

The assumption was that since the medical schools did not teach doctors about acupuncture, then it must not be a valid system. I do not blame him for thinking this way. All doctors are trained to think and believe certain things that are not necessarily true. (The same is true for Acupuncturists, by the way.)

I showed him the piles of research, I shared my experiences and I did what any good wife would do: I scheduled him an appointment at the acupuncture school clinic to experience acupuncture for himself. He saw one of my professors and was prescribed herbs. His transformation was remarkable.

Peter became more interested and took some classes on Traditional Chinese Medicine at a local massage college. He then discovered the UCLA Medical Acupuncture Program for physicians. It is a program dedicated to the training of doctors to practice Medical Acupuncture, a designation distinct from Traditional Chinese Medicine.

I continued my acupuncture schooling while he started doing acupuncture in his general pediatrics practice, mostly on teenagers with sports injuries. Not surprisingly, his colleagues thought he was a bit strange, but the nurses and parents were all curious and supportive.

He enjoyed great results with his patients and hoped to provide more acupuncture. Unfortunately conventional medicine is ill prepared to accommodate a system like acupuncture where doctors spend more time with patients and therefore see fewer patients per day. Time is money. And acupuncture requires time.

In his conventional pediatrics practice Peter was seeing about 30 kids per day. They were scheduled in 10-20 minute time slots. His days were long and his on-call schedule often left him sleepless and burnt out.

Today he sees roughly seven patients per day, each for about an hour. Obviously he could make more money seeing 30 patients a day. But his career change from conventional medicine to medical acupuncture and holistic medicine was not about money. In fact one of the myths out there is that doctors are becoming medical acupuncturists "to make more money".

Being able to help kids by addressing the root of the problem, without using drugs, is very satisfying. Peter is able to explain illnesses, behavioral issues, and emotional disturbances using the principles of energetic medicine. For some parents, his intervention is the first time their child's condition received validation and treatment.

Peter's decision to leave his primary care pediatrics career was not an easy one. Little did he know, there would be no going back.

Read more...

How I went From Acupuncture Skeptic To Believer And Beyond

Acupuncture In a Bottle (Video Series)

Gardening With Doris

9 Tips For Self Care (Video with Peter)