PHILOSOPHY

There is a story in Chinese medicine that in the ancient days doctors were paid to keep people healthy. If a person got sick, the doctor then had to treat for no fee because the responsibility of the doctor was to keep the person healthy.

This story illustrates the difference in approach between Eastern and Western medicine.

Oriental medicine looks at the whole person, not just the physical symptom, and strives to keep patients healthy and in harmony with their environment. To this end, we use many strategies including acupuncture, dietary recommendations and herbal medicine.

Typically, a physical or emotional symptom only comes to light after a period of energetic imbalance. Through pulse taking, observing the tongue and other physical characteristics, palpating the abdomen and combining that with the patient’s health history, the practitioner can arrive at a clear diagnosis of the imbalances that led to the symptom. We then use a combination of strategies to treat both symptoms and the underlying imbalances which created them.

ABOUT NATALIA

Natalia Muina has been in practice for over thirty-five years. She is a graduate of the New England School of Acupuncture, the first school founded in the U.S. to teach Chinese medicine to Westerners, where she studied with Dr. James Tin Yan So and Ted Kaptchuk. She has practiced at Long Island Hospital and the Lemuel Shattuck Pain and Stress Clinic. Natalia has worked with renowned Japanese acupuncturist Kiiko Matsumoto and is a student of Jeffrey Yuan, one of the most sought-after teachers of Chinese medicine throughout the world.

Natalia lives in Newton with her husband and the youngest of her five children.