Acupuncturist and herbalist Monica Sun, is the newest member of the team and we’re excited to have this conversation to introduce her to the Olo Acupuncture community.

What struck me when we first interviewed Monica was not just her thoughtfulness and intentionality but her grounded joyfulness, and I feel fortunate to have her here at Olo. As we’ll discuss, a special component of her education is the long term apprenticeships she has held, one of which focused using micro systems, the other of which, with her extensive herbal training allowed her to address more complex internal disorders.

Monica has two community acupuncture shifts, Friday mornings from 9 AM to 2 PM, and Saturday mornings, 10 AM to 2 PM. Her complete profile is on the team page.

Below is an edited conversation we recently had to help introduce her to our Olo Acupuncture community. 

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Hi Monica. If you could start by telling us a little bit about yourself and what led you to Chinese Medicine.

Hi Yuka! Absolutely. What drew me to Chinese medicine initially was the fact that it offers a language for conditions that don’t have a name in the Western psyche. As a writer, I understand the importance of language to not only articulate our experiences, but even to understand or make sense of our experiences.

As a dancer, I am also aware that the thinking-mind alone can often get us stuck in old, familiar narratives. It wasn’t until I started dancing later in life that I was able to tap into the somatic plane and break through that cycle. Through movement exploration, I was suddenly faced with a thousand questions that were unlocked, like opening Pandora’s box. But I still needed answers, and that’s where Chinese medicine came in. And at a time when I was experiencing this nebulous mixture of emotional and physical turmoil, but didn’t necessarily have a formal Western diagnosis, it was incredibly affirming that indeed my experiences were real and not imagined.

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What is an example of something that Chinese Medicine helped you define and explain?

For sure! There is a curious phenomenon of feeling a tight or stuck sensation in the base of the throat, which can last for months or even years. It would turn up nothing on an X-Ray and more or less be written off by biomedicine as “idiopathic” or “psychosomatic.” And yet it’s a very common ailment that can arise for anyone. Just think about the last time you were accused of something you didn’t do, and maybe you didn’t know what to say in the moment or know how to defend yourself or not have the opportunity to defend yourself. Well, in Chinese medicine, we call this condition “plum pit qi,” because it feels like there’s a plum pit lodged in your throat. Once you have a name for something, then you can observe it, explain it, and eventually treat it. And Chinese medicine doctors have been observing, explaining, and treating humans for the better part of two millennia.

Growing up as a first-generation Asian American woman, I’ve had a tenuous relationship with my heritage. It was one that was not really taught to me, and living between two cultures, naturally, I wanted to understand where I came from. Now, I feel honored to be part of a lineage that has cultivated a medicine around the diversity of the lived experience.

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‍That is beautiful. But it's one thing to fall in love with the medicine and feel aligned with it, but then to actually take the steps to get the education, become licensed, and make it your career is another. What drew you to that and continues to appeal to you?

Chinese medicine is the convergence of all my interests: somatics, poetics, psychology, and my Chinese-American identity and heritage. Most importantly, it has given me—and, by extension my patients—a language and a science to the mind-body experience that otherwise would have remained invisible and unknowable. I like to think that as Chinese medicine practitioners, we are cartographers navigating a person’s interior landscape with the compass of Yin and Yang. And being an explorer of the human experience, there’s endless things to be fascinated by.

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I Love that! We’re cartographers with a Yin Yang compass. 

‍While school is fantastic, it doesn’t always allow for in depth clinical experience. We really appreciated that you, not only through your own clinical experience, but through your apprecticeships, bring with you a breadth of knowledge. Can you share a bit about your experience working with these master practitioners? 

I’m like the Hermione Granger of Chinese medicine with her arm perpetually glued to her ear. I’m relentlessly persistent and not afraid to challenge my teachers, so when I found teachers who could not only answer my questions but also direct me back to the basic principles of Chinese medicine, no matter how complicated my questions were, I knew I found the mentors I wanted to study more deeply with. 

Dr. Henry McCann is an expert in the Master Tung tradition, which essentially uses microsystems to affect the greater macrosystem. This system targets affected channels for pain of any kind as well as other systemic disorders affecting specific areas of the body. 

Dr. Sharon Zhao is a TCM Five Elements practitioner who uses foundational principles to break down complex cases and address the root cause of imbalances. Through her, I’ve developed an intimate understanding of Classical herbal formulas.

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Master Tung style lends itself well to community-style acupuncture, where we don’t always want to disrobe in a communal room, and you can effectively and quickly treat pain with distal points. 

‍Speaking of community acupuncture, it is quite distinct from private room acupuncture. What about it appeals to you?

Acupuncture is meant to be a consistent and comprehensive therapy in order to not only yield long-term, sustaining results but also prevent imbalances from progressing to illness. Community-style acupuncture gives patients a more affordable opportunity to receive continuous care. Healing is not a sprint but a marathon. It’s important to me that everyone has extended access to the tools for healing as much as possible.

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Right, healing is not a sprint, especially when it comes to chronic conditions. We are so primed for quick fixes or magic pills, but that is often not how things work. Acupuncturists also often use the analogy of peeling back the layers of an onion, but either way, the idea is that the healing process can take time. 

‍And what about Olo? What about working here appeals to you?

Olo is a rare clinic that has not only prioritized affordable acupuncture, but also holistic care that extends beyond the medicine to the diversity and expansiveness of the human experience. Olo is actively queer-, trans-, and BIPOC-friendly. At a time when societal trauma has relied heavily on binaries, Olo continues to honor the true nature of Chinese medicine, which is multifaceted, complex, dynamic, and embracive.

Also, I think it’s a huge testament to Olo’s integrity that everyone who steps into the clinic, especially the practitioners and staff, really seem to love this place. That takes real dedication from each participant to care for the clinic and its community, and I respect that intentionality immensely. 

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Are there types of patients that you like to work with, or do you have any favorite parts of being a practitioner?

I appreciate the opportunity to meet anyone at any point on their healing journey. In particular, I enjoy working with those who may be concurrently working with a therapist. Emotions are considered a primary cause for physical imbalances in Chinese medicine. But, at the same time, emotions are a significant and crucial aspect of the human experience, and learning how to integrate and fully experience them along life’s ups and downs is integral to wellness and longevity.

In terms of favorite parts of practicing; I love witnessing patients become more and more attuned to the subtle, proprioceptive landscape of both mind and body — not only through acupuncture, but also through the sustained practice of paying attention. Although my immediate goal is, of course, to help patients feel better, my long-term goal is to help deepen their relationship with their own bodies and open the gate for their truest selves to shine through.

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What a lovely place to end. Thank you Monica. Welcome to Olo. We’’re looking forward to working with you!