China Rose Wellness

Inspiration

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     We find ourselves in a time that is increasingly difficult to navigate: what looks like food may not provide much nourishment, what is called medicine may cause further health imbalances, and something as sustaining as our drinking water may contain chemicals that we must detoxify from.  Our priorities become easily skewed by our focus on productivity and personal gain to the detriment of our health and vitality.  How often are we exposed to things without our knowledge?  Why is it that we put our health decisions in the hands of others?

     My mission is to empower you in your health.  I feel that it is our right, as human beings, to know how to take care of ourselves.  We should know what is in our food and water and how to make nourishing choices.  We should be made aware of which chemicals we are exposed to and how best to avoid them.  We should be able to listen to our bodies' distress signals and know how to bring ourselves back into balance.  We  need to feel confident in our health care choices, and to understand that our choices not only affect our wellbeing, but the wellbeing of our children and our loved ones.

Herstory

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     I believe that my interest in wanting to help people originally came from growing up in a nurturing household.  My mom, a childbirth educator, doula, and horticulturalist has definitely had an influence on me.  Through her work I began to see just how astounding nature is in both the physiological and botanical worlds.

     I worked for a family owned health food store in my late teens and my interest in herbalism grew.  In 2000 I attended the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine and was certified as a clinical herbalist.  When I returned, I decided to further my studies at the Living Awareness Institute where I added folkloric herb use, holistic nutrition and women's wisdom to my repertoire.

     I had attended the home births of my brother and sister at the ages of three and seven.  Natural childbirth just seemed normal to me.  Didn't all families do it like that?  After attending the  hospital birth of my best friend's son when I was twenty, I realized that I needed to make birth a part of my life.  I had never experienced anything so powerful and beautiful as to play an active role in bringing a new baby into the world!  At the same time, I saw what a difference it made to have a supportive person present in that environment.  In early 2002 I was trained as a birth doula by Childbirth Education Specialists and have attended many home and hospital births in the years since.

     As I continued to work with young women, I realized that many of them were experiencing side effects due to their contraception choices.  Marketing had made it "cool" to be on the pill or "the patch" or to use "the ring" without questioning how altering their hormones could affect their health.  When I discovered natural family planning (NFP), using fertility awareness to achieve or avoid pregnancy without chemical intervention, I immediately resonated.  I attended a teacher training seminar given by BOMA (Billings Ovulation Method of America) in 2002 where I was taught the principals of the method and the skills necessary to effectively share the method with others.

     My most recent training is as a nutritional therapist.  I have learned a lot about holistic nutrition over the years, but I was looking to gain the deepest understanding possible.  I found the program I was seeking with the Nutritional Therapy Association.  What I appreciated  most about the program is that it has given me the tool of physical health assessment.  I feel that my ability to help people has truly blossomed!

     I currently work as the lead practitioner at Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, and  have a private practice in beautiful, downtown Napa, California.