I am a body nerd. As a dancer, academic, and doctor of East Asian Medicine, I have dedicated my life to the study of movement. A line from the classical Chinese medical text, the Huang Di Nei Jing states, “where there is no flow, there is pain; where there is pain, there is no flow.” Movement is therefore fundamental to the cessation of suffering in all aspects of life.

My journey to acupuncture has been that of circular movement. I grew up in both Hawaii and the Bay Area surrounded by family who practiced Asian Medicine. However, I disregarded much of it and turned instead toward Western Medicine. At Bates College, I majored in Dance with a concentration in the study of the human body. I served as the teaching assistant for the Dance Kinesiology and Anatomy class with a focus on injury treatment and prevention, and I did my undergraduate research on the topic of somatics. As I learned more about western somatic practices, I quickly realized that many of these forms had roots in East Asian traditions.

I enrolled in a masters program for East Asian Medicine, and suddenly many of the traditions I grew up with- drinking ginger tea for colds, postpartum seaweed soup, and never leaving the house with wet hair- all made sense. I felt deep gratitude for memories of my Korean maternal grandfather who incorporated acupuncture into his physical therapy practice as well as newfound respect for my Chinese father who has built a thriving life as a massage therapist.

After receiving my Masters of Acupuncture from the Won Institute in Warminster, PA, I worked as an acupuncturist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia treating staff in the Otolaryngology MDs & Fellows ENT Wellness Program. I also worked as a clinical research coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, facilitating neurodiversity affirming mindfulness therapies for autistic adults.

Hungry for more knowledge, I enrolled in a doctorate program to pursue advanced training in pain management, mental health, and treating chronic illness. I received my Doctorate in Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine from AIMC Berkeley in Berkeley, CA. My dissertation was on acupuncture for post-operative mastectomy care. Moving back to the Bay was very much a full circle moment for me, as I am now able to practice in the community that first introduced me to Asian Medicine.

I am a body nerd. As a dancer, academic, and doctor of East Asian Medicine, I have dedicated my l... Read More

My approach to acupuncture embraces the whole person - mind, body, and spirit. With over 25 years of experience teaching and mentoring yoga teachers nationally and internationally, along with an undergraduate degree in Clinical & Counseling Psychology, I have long been passionate about the connection between mind and body. I expanded this foundation by earning my Doctorate from Five Branches University, specializing in Integrative Sports Medicine.

I believe integrative health is a partnership between patient and practitioner, rooted in collaboration, trust and individualized care. My goal is to draw upon these diverse experiences to help each patient optimize their health and cultivate lasting well-being.

My approach to acupuncture embraces the whole person - mind, body, and spirit. With over 25 years... Read More

Dr. Shel di Montagna, DAOM, KICP, LAc, is a Clinical Doctor of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine, a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner, and an integrative health expert who specializes in creating sustainable health strategies that bridge ancient wisdom and modern science. Licensed in pediatric, adult, and cosmetic acupuncture, she serves the Greater San Francisco Bay Area from Jade Rivers Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine in San Carlos, California. Through a unique synergy of expertise in sports medicine, functional medicine, holistic esthetics, and lymphatic therapy, she offers transformative, customized programs to help patients achieve higher standards in health, fitness, beauty, and mind.

From Teacher to Doctor: As an accomplished former educator and special needs advocate, Dr. Shel’s unique approach to healthcare is deeply enriched by her early degrees in Social Psychology, Early Childhood Education, and Community Health Science. For more than a decade, her work as “Teacher Shel” documented the profound benefits of inclusive classrooms, celebrating diverse family structures, abilities, and cultures as irreplaceable influences for cultivating emotionally intelligent, compassionate, and confident young children and future teachers. During the unfolding anti-bias movement, she pioneered child-centered holistic development curricula through innovative early literacy story-building, garden-to-table nutrition events, and interactive “early science entertainment” programs.

The holistic, patient-centered nature of Dr. Shel’s clinical practice today is built firmly upon these classroom foundations. While pursuing her master’s and doctoral medical degrees over the following decade, her rigorous schedule transitioned her from the classroom to working as a Family Resource Specialist for local families, schools, and nanny recruitment agencies. In this role, she supported families in finding renewed hope, innovative focus, and emotional reprieve. She designed customized home-learning educational games to target unmet developmental milestones and bridge neurodivergent talents towards classroom expectations. She enchanted picky or undernourished eaters to broaden their pallets through fun, therapeutic cooking and kitchen empowerment, and helped reorganize family efforts with fresh insight to navigate difficult transitions into the new school year.

A Holistic, Client-Centered Practice: Much like her time in education, Dr. Shel continues to inspire, educate, and empower individuals of all ages. She brings an experienced, caring ear, a personalized approach, and a resourceful toolbox of skills derived from a global education. After completing an extensive four-year clinical acupuncture doctorate, Dr. Shel pursued advanced post-doctoral studies in sports medicine, cosmetic and Japanese acupuncture, pediatrics, integrative neurology, advanced acupuncture orthopedics, H.A.N.D.L.E. (Anthroposophic Holistic Neurodiversity Learning Strategies), European holistic esthetics and lymphatic therapies (MLD).

As integrative internal medicine evolved, so did Dr. Shel’s educational pursuits. This led her to specialize in advanced lab analysis, personalized supplementation programs, and functional nutrition food plans through extensive training at The Institute for Functional Medicine and The Kalish Institute of Functional Medicine. As a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner, she passionately collaborates with families and colleagues globally, offering lifestyle health education that empowers communities toward wellness.

Since 2023, she has proudly led “The StressCase Study,” a six-month educational program rooted in the foundations of functional medicine. This program provides coaching for families experiencing pain, premature aging, weight gain, hormone shifts and mental-emotional burnout from the stressors of modern life. Participants learn to understand their health through personal lab data, discover tailored dietary choices and supplements, and cultivate the systems-based skills necessary to independently sustain higher standards of well-being.

Driven by a lifelong insatiable awe of the natural sciences and human experience therewithin, Dr. Shel has gathered a rich alchemy of resources over decades of collaboration with families, students, patients, and mentors.

It is her passion, privilege, and purpose to steward these resources back into the community in their honor.

Dr. Shel di Montagna, DAOM, KICP, LAc, is a Clinical Doctor of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicin... Read More

My first reiki healing experience was from a reiki practitioner in England. It was a distance healing session. I was totally amazed that reiki could be so gentle yet so powerful and from a distance too! In that ten minute session, the most incredibly heavy weight I had been carrying around for months was lifted. I was feeling lighter and freer and somehow, I knew that I could move forward with the challenges that I had been facing. I also knew that I had to learn everything I could about reiki.

I am a Certified Medical Reiki Master as well as a Master Teacher in Usui and Angelic Reiki. I teach individual and small group reiki classes and I have a monthly reiki meetup for anyone interested in keeping up with their reiki practice. At Stanford Neuroscience Center I am a member of the Reiki Team, providing 10 minute chair reiki sessions to patients who are waiting to see their doctor. I was also a volunteer reiki practitioner at ACTCM’s Ear Clinic providing reiki to members of the community who could receive acupuncture or reiki on a donation basis.

As a certified Holistic Health Coach I incorporate nutritional education with energy healing to further support and promote the body’s natural ability to balance and heal. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Southern California and I am a Board Certified Member of the American Association of Drugless Practitioners.

I believe reiki supports the wholeness of you. By helping to bring a person’s system back into balance on all levels: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, you are able to reduce stress, anxiety or pain and be back in harmony.

My first reiki healing experience was from a reiki practitioner in England. It was a distance hea... Read More

I knew this was my course when I walked away from my first acupuncture treatment lightened, giddy, and completely resolved of the depression I’d been thwarted by for months. Finally, I thought, a medicine that supported my natural state of being, harmlessly. I was hooked. More than a decade later, my family is in part thanks to the acupuncture I gave to my wife during IVF. I have 18 years of patient experience in the miracles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and nutritional support, and I co-authored “What’s Your Season?”, a book that celebrates TCM principles in a body-type focused guide to health living. For more information, please visit www.whatsyourseason.com.

My graduate clinical research in immunology yielded significant evidence in support of acupuncture’s enhancement of immune response. My additional clinical experience includes participation with the support staff and medical records team at Dr. Dean Ornish’s Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California. While there, I studied and observed the benefits of preventive medicine as applied to cardiac and cancer patients. I previously held a professorship at Mercy College and the Swedish Institute in New York City. While in NY, my work with the Center for Women’s Reproductive Care at Columbia University helped spur my passion for providing Chinese Medicine care for patients struggling with infertility.

I am a licensed acupuncturist in the states of California and New York, a Diplomate of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) and a Certified Applied Clinical Nutritionist. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a Chemistry minor. I also earned an additional Bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences and a Master’s degree in Professional Studies for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, New York. I am an esteemed member of the American Association of Oriental Medicine (AAOM).

I knew this was my course when I walked away from my first acupuncture treatment lightened, giddy... Read More

When I was in junior high school, I had a kidney disease and was forced to live a life with many restrictions, such as no PE class and strict salt-reduced diet. Fortunately, the kidney issue went away in a few years, and I could return to a normal school life with no restrictions. Because of this experience, I was more aware of the importance of health.

After growing up, I had several unpleasant symptoms. It was not a disease, but the symptoms were very annoying. I saw a few doctors for these symptoms, but none of them gave me clear diagnosis nor treatments. One doctor prescribed medication to reduce the symptoms. When I took it, some of the symptoms disappeared, but they came back when I stopped it. Since I didn’t want to keep taking the medicine, I stopped it and had to live with the symptoms.

After I came to the United States and started studying Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) at University of East-West Medicine in Sunnyvale, I found those symptoms can be explained and treated in TCM. The TCM diagnosis made sense to me and I was very happy. I got acupuncture treatments from the teacher at the school’s clinic, treated myself with acupuncture and herbs, and made some tweaks in my diet and lifestyle. In a few months, symptoms were significantly reduced. When they come back, they are much lighter and more manageable.

I believe holistic medicine helps us to improve/maintain our health, and prevents us from developing disease. As a TCM practitioner, I am very interested in helping people around me with acupuncture, herbs, cupping, moxibustion, and other effective modalities depending on patients’ conditions. I wish all of us can enjoy a life full of energy and fun, and free from pain and disease.

In my spare time, I enjoy hiking and playing tennis. I love eating and I’m exploring recipes for simple, healthy and tasty dishes. Food is medicine for me.

When I was in junior high school, I had a kidney disease and was forced to live a life with many ... Read More

My interest in holistic medicine began when I was a teenager, when I taught myself about aromatherapy and the use of essential oils. I continue to employ the use of essential oils in my practice, both diffused into the air and also sometimes used topically for specific therapeutic effects. My interest in medicine continued into my college years at the University of California at Santa Barbara where I began the pre-medical program and earned a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology and a Bachelor of Art in Environmental Studies. However I decided not to go directly into medical school following graduation and instead took a job offer up in San Francisco conducting oncology and metabolic drug discovery research. Having immersed myself in pharmaceutical research for five years, I realized I wanted to learn how to heal people in a more complete, gentle yet effective manner. This realization led me to begin studying Chinese Medicine at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) in San Francisco.

I am a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist in California and hold a Master’s of Science in Tradition Chinese Medicine from ACTCM. I have extensive clinic experience from my internships at the ACTCM Community Clinic and at the ACTCM Auricular Clinic, as well as externships at the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic. I also completed an advanced program of study in Traditional Chinese Medicine, focusing on acupuncture and herbal medicine, at the Zhejiang Chinese Medical University in Hangzhou, China. I am currently completing my Doctoral degree from ACTCM, where I am pursuing advancing training in pain management, gynecology and mental health.

I am deeply committed to the health and wellbeing of my patients. I specialize in managing simple and complex pain problems, psycho-emotional issues such as stress, anxiety and depression, men’s health-specific issues, women’s health-specific issues and providing care to LGBTQ populations. I utilize modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine like acupuncture, herbal medicine, cupping, electrical-stimulation, gua sha, moxabustion, nutritional counseling and bodywork to bring my patients back to a place of harmony in their physical and mental states.

When I am not with my patients, you will most likely find me being outdoors. I love camping, hiking around, being at the beach on sunny days or staying at home and tending to my plants and cat Oscar.

My interest in holistic medicine began when I was a teenager, when I taught myself about aromathe... Read More

My path to holistic medicine has been a convoluted one that has taken me on deep dives into biology, chemistry and physics along the way. I graduated from Texas A & M University with a B.A. in Chemistry with a minor in French. During my studies I happened to read a book called The Dancing Wu Li Masters, which delved into the parallels between modern physics and various Eastern philosophical traditions. I was so interested in this dance of matter and energy that in addition to my usual premed classes I studied advanced math and physics. Although I was accepted to medical schools, I decided to go to graduate school instead. I attended U.C. Berkeley and completed an M.S. in Chemistry. My research project probed the interactions between pions and neutrons in ephemeral nuclei-like structures produced in heavy ion collisions at a particle accelerator.

Following grad school I was occupied in raising three children and pursuing interests in education and research. I taught high school biology and physics. I was an environmental education specialist at a nonprofit watershed association. I worked on neurobiology and molecular biology projects in labs at Princeton, Stanford and Case Western Reserve University. I went back to school and studied graduate level molecular biology. I co-authored five papers in peer-reviewed journals. Along the way I encountered some significant health problems that were recalcitrant to western biomedicine. I suffered from autoimmune neurological problems that I feared would leave me wheelchair-bound and found relief in modalities such as acupuncture and herbal medicine, moxibustion, reiki and craniosacral therapy. I also found to my great surprise that I could modulate my symptoms by changing my diet. I found I was able to help friends and family members improve their health by lowering their inflammatory load.

Over time my interests trended more toward holistic medicine, and along with studying taiji and Mandarin, I followed my heart to enroll in ACTCM to pursue my Doctorate in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. In addition to training at the ACTCM clinic, I completed internships at community clinics focusing on auricular acupuncture and did an externship with a Five Elements-focused practitioner. I also completed an internship at CPMC Hospital, Davies Campus in San Francisco, using acupuncture to treat patients with neurological disorders including stroke sequelae and Guillain-Barre syndrome. I was fortunate to be awarded a scholarship to participate in an eight-week program in Zhengzhou, China at the Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. My interests today include treating autoimmune/inflammatory issues and promoting prenatal and postnatal health and hormonal balance. I am also interested in treating ADHD, anxiety and other mental health issues using the ancient wisdom of this medicine. I love to help people identify dietary choices that match their constitutions, and I am a skilled herbalist able to provide custom prescriptions and tailor them as conditions evolve. Our bodies are an amazing dance of matter and energy, form and function. With this holistic medicine we have a variety of tools available to empower patients to take charge of their health and find balance. In addition to practicing acupuncture and herbal medicine, I am a senior lecturer teaching physics at ACTCM. I also love to garden, cook, play the piano and enjoy hiking and kayaking in the beautiful Bay Area!

My path to holistic medicine has been a convoluted one that has taken me on deep dives into biolo... Read More