Dr. Alyssa Barba
Ancient Chinese Medicine
Natural & Individually Customized Solutions
for Women's Health Concerns
Gynecology, Digestion, & Emotional Health
Meet Alyssa
Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (DACM), and a nationally board-certified herbalist (NCCAOM).
Alyssa received her Doctorate and Masters in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine from Daoist Traditions College of Chinese Medical Arts in Asheville, North Carolina.
Alyssa’s style of practice is rooted in classical methods of Chinese medicine treatment, as taught by Master Jeffrey Yuen, an 88th generation Daoist priest, whom she was fortunate to study with throughout graduate school. This system delivers holistic and deeply individualized care, so that a patient’s health concerns are understood systematically within the larger context of the integrated person and their unfolding life. Prior to her Chinese Medicine studies, Alyssa's undergraduate work was in neuroscience & psychology, where she assisted with neuroimaging research.
Alyssa is a dedicated practitioner of Eastern internal arts, including meditation, Qi Gong, and Nei Gong. For over a decade she has immersed herself in contemplative philosophies such as Buddhism and Daoism, traveling throughout India, Nepal and Indonesia to advance her knowledge in these areas. This study has deeply influenced her approach and perspectives on health, healing, and human potential.
Alyssa is dedicated to helping others find solutions to their health concerns, through personalized and committed care.
Chinese Herbal Medicine for Women's Health
These 3 areas overlap significantly in women's health. Through Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis, doctors of Chinese medicine can identify connections between these different domains and provide treatment plans to address multiple concerns from a holistic perspective. Herbal medicine treatment plans are customized specifically to the individual to better address the root cause of an imbalance.
Emotional
Gynecological
Digestive
Chronic Health Concerns
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Individualized treatment plans and carefully monitored follow ups help to create sustainable progress with chronic health conditions.
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More personalized attention from your practitioner allows for customized care and lasting change.
Preventative Health Concerns
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Once a condition has reached the level of symptomatic expression, the energetic pattern that created that symptom has likely already been in place for a long time.
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Chinese medicine can address imbalances early on, which may prevent these imbalances from creating larger problems later. For example, when menstruation is well-regulated throughout a woman's youth this leads to less problems during menopause.
Medicine that is customized specifically for the individual helps to address the root cause of the imbalance
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Root cause medicine requires an understanding of both the condition & the individual
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Chinese herbal medicine has natural solutions for many symptoms that may be dismissed within other medical paradigms
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Healthy menstrual cycles + healthy digestion = balanced emotions
Gynecological
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Menstrual pain/ Dysmenorrhea
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Menstrual Irregularities:
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Irregular cycle length, skipped periods, heavy periods, mid-cycle bleeding
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Absence of Menstrual Cycle/Amenorrhea
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Acute & Chronic UTIs
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PMS
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Hormonal Migraines
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Infertility
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Insufficient Lactation
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Endometriosis
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PCOS
Digestive
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Irritable Bowel Syndrome:
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Diarrhea & Constipation
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Leaky Gut
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Bloating
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Brain Fog
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Abdominal Discomfort
Emotional
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Postpartum Depression
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PMDD- Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
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Anxiety
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Emotion Regulation
Herbal Medicine
Approach to Chinese
Herbal Medicine
You might have heard that Chinese herbal medicine is both a holistic and individualized system of medicine, but what does that actually mean?
Holistic
When we say Chinese herbal medicine is holistic, this means that symptoms occurring in the body are considered within the context of the whole energetic system.
Chinese herbal medicine treatments are based on treating an energetic pattern. There can be one energetic pattern underlying the manifestation of multiple symptoms appearing in different systems of the body. Often, by successfully treating the diagnosed Chinese medicine patterns, multiple symptoms and conditions will improve. For example, a customized herbal formula treatment plan to address digestive and gynecological health concerns may also result in an improvement in sleep and mental-emotional health.
This approach aims to establish balance throughout the body.
Individualized
Chinese herbal medicine is able to produce effective results because treatment can be customized for the individual. The medicine can be tailored to match both the condition and the person. This allows for an individualized approach to care.
Most health conditions are complicated because of the chronic stress and inflammation that our bodies are managing in the modern world. Because of this, in most cases there are multiple energetic patterns that need addressing systematically.
Individualized herbal treatment plans allow us to effectively address the complexity of modern health conditions. This is especially relevant in women's health, where many women are navigating problems that fall within this triad of gynecological, digestive and emotional health conditions.
Energetic Emotional
Coaching
Approach to
Energetic
Emotional Coaching
A person and their life can be understood like a garden. A garden needs to be nourished and supported to bloom and grow, just as much as it needs proper weeding and care when it is out of balance.
So it is with our health and well-being. It is equally important to cultivate the factors that nourish the life-force and soul of each individual, as it is to use medicine to treat the imbalances that are appearing in the body.
I recommend adding energetic emotional coaching into the mix as an energetic approach to psycho-emotional work, for those who feel there is a deeper psychological root to the physical body symptoms they are experiencing, and want to explore that more deeply from an energetic perspective.
Qi/energy is the basis of Chinese Medicine. It is also the basis of our emotions, relationships, and experiences. Having a direct experience of the qi dynamics that make up our emotions improve emotional regulation.
My strengths are in seeing people with clarity and in their individuality, and in identifying the connections between the patterns of energy creating imbalance in the body, and the corresponding emotional patterning in the mind.
In order for healing to occur at some of the deeper levels of one's being, it can be helpful for there to be both clear seeing of the landscape, and an adequate assessment of one's energetic resources. The tools inherent in the Chinese medicine diagnostic system can provide a deeper understanding of some of what an individual might be navigating in their journey.
Working together in this capacity often includes a combination of logical linear strategies (e.g., assessment of resources, proactive action-based plans), combined with the open-endedness and depth of listening with the heart.
What Patients Say
Chinese Herbal Medicine
Monthly Care Plan
includes:
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Initial Session: 75-90 minute comprehensive evaluation of your health history
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Weekly check-in sessions (usually 15 minutes) to customize and adjust formulas
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Monthly treatment plan
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Customized formulas to address multiple concerns
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All herbal formulas for the month
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All herbal formulas sent directly to you
Most chronic health conditions involve a customized tailoring of multiple Chinese herbal formulas.
The prognosis and treatment plan of each case is determined after the initial consult. In most chronic cases, signs of improvement are seen within the first month of treatment, with an expected treatment plan of 3-6 months in order to reach levels of resolution that are lasting.
Healing takes time. Monthly treatment plans allow for the nuances required for customized medicine, as well as commitment and sustainable care.
Energetic Emotional Coaching
Monthly Care Plan
includes:
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Initial session: 75-90 minute thorough evaluation of your health history, including mind, body, emotions & healing goals
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3 additional 1 hour sessions throughout the month
We identify connections between the patterns of energy creating imbalance in the body, and the corresponding emotional patterning in the mind.
This work can take different forms depending on the desires & needs of each individual. Some forms may include:
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Looking at the qi dynamics of emotional & habitual patterns and implementing somatic tools to support emotion regulation and shift negative thought patterns.
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Looking at the qi dynamics of your relationships, and the impact of energetic boundaries on your health and balance of energetic resources. Identifying & reducing energetic drains on your system.
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Identify specific meditation practices, breathing exercises, qi gong practices, or essential oil prescriptions that match your presentation and Chinese Medicine diagnosis best.
One size does not fit all for meditation & breathing practices. Some approaches work better for certain people than others. Having an understanding of the way energy moves through each individual (e.g., their qi dynamics) provides more accurate specificity in selecting self-healing practices and essential oils that will be best for you.
Combined Herbal Medicine + Energetic Emotional Coaching
Monthly Care Plan
includes:
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Both plans combined for an all-inclusive customized healing program for your body, mind, emotions & energy.
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Addressing a problem from the body, energy & mind perspectives can lead to a deeper and more sustainable transformation.
Mindful Eating
Monthly Program
includes:
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Initial session: 75-90 minute comprehensive evaluation of your health history, with a focus on your digestive health and any health conditions that would be benefited by attention to your diet.
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Week 1 - you fill out a daily food journal.
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3 additional 1 hour sessions throughout the month where we:
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Go through the foods you are eating, and address their energetic textures to identify which foods are the best matches for you and what would be healthiest to eliminate.
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We practice mindful eating exercises together for some foods in your food journal so that you can gain direct sensory feedback for what works and what doesn't work for your body.
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Mindful Eating is a practice of bringing attention to the quality of energy in the food that we are eating, and paying attention to how our bodies are responding to these specific textures of energy.
Everyone's body is different. Some individuals have more heat and dryness, and so they require diets that are more fluid-nourishing and moistening. This is very common, for example, during menopause.
Other individuals have conditions where there is an accumulation of dampness and phlegm in the body, and so it may be best to avoid foods that increase that quality.
Mindful Eating from a Chinese Medicine perspective comes down to assessing the textures of energy in each food, and the textures of energy in the patient's body. If we are eating something that is bad for us, the more we attune to the quality of how that food feels in our body, the less likely we are to continue to eat it. This practice reprograms better habits for a healthier life.
If you'd like to book a monthly plan, or discuss which services might be best for you, sign up for a free initial consult first so we can get started
What is Healing?
Life dances to the rhythm of expansion and contraction. These movements are the energetic bass drum of cosmic expression.
Suffering occurs with contraction, when our pain doesn’t have a pathway to move through. Fear, judgment, and preferences limit the space through which life is able to flow. Raw energy lives underneath these layers of interpretation - below our biases, preferences, stories, and layers of protection. We call it healing when this raw energy has enough space to reorganize most efficiently, allowing energetic polarities to merge in the most harmonious ways.
Healing is this integration of yin and yang, as it unfolds in the body-mind, through the life. In Chinese medicine we say there needs to be enough yin to anchor the yang, and enough yang to support the healthy movement of yin. In balance, these two energetic forces generate power, harmony, health and expansion. Out of balance, we are left with states of contraction, separation, disorganization or dissociation.
Healers view the manifestation of illness as a sign of some breakage in relationship, not meant to be judged, but to be held with deep care and respect for what has been endured. Physical disease is the visible expression of what has already moved out of balance at the level of energy and spirit. A movement towards healing implies that something is trying to return to a state of completion through the process of integration. Illness, from this perspective, can be viewed as an invitation to return to deeper states of wholeness.
The healing process often requires taking responsibility for what is appearing, via acknowledgment and acceptance. This releases resistance and provides the space for the transformation that we seek. This dynamic friction and discomfort created by imbalance acts as a catalyst to drive us to our true home, beyond the pain.
Even forces as wild as a volcano can reorganize when we step back and allow the natural laws of the universe to guide all that appears back into its right relationship. This is called wu wei, it’s effortless actually, but it requires that we trust something more vast than our limited view. This is the basis for healing.