CORE TEACHER - Ellen Goldsmith, MSOM, LAc, DipCH, is an educator, speaker, as well as a board certified and licensed acupuncturist and herbalist practicing Chinese medicine and nutritional therapy. She is author of "Nutritional Healing with Chinese Medicine: +175 Seasonal Recipes for Optimal Health," a book for practitioners, nutritionists and anyone interested in bringing the healing power of food into their everyday lives.
In practice, her integrative body centered and intuitive approach is grounded in decades of study and experience which are key to collaborating and working with people to help them restore health. She is known for her enduring confidence that each person has the power within to resolve challenges, grow and heal. She is a long time practitioner of meditation, Qi Gong and body centered therapies.
She speaks frequently on the value of understanding food as medicine from a Chinese medicine point of view and integrating a whole body approach to health and healing at conferences and schools in the USA and offers online classes through her website pearlnaturalhealth.com.
Ellen is a graduate of National University of Natural Medicine’s College of Classical Chinese Medicine and has a Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine> She is on faculty in the Classical Chinese Medicine program at the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon and with the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine in San Diego teaching integrative medicine fellows. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
CORE TEACHER - Mindi K. Counts, MA, LAc., is a wilderness and rites of passage guide, Five-Element acupuncturist, Somatic practitioner, and East-West folk herbalist. Founder of the Inner Ocean Center for Healing, Mindi is a keynote speaker, retreat leader and teacher. She is the author of Everyday Chinese Medicine, Tending Your Roots, and a contributing author to The Trauma Toolkit and Singing Our Heart’s Song.
She is the founder of the international nonprofit Inner Ocean Empowerment Project, providing holistic healthcare and education to women and children through volunteer service missions to underserved populations around the world and in the U.S. She was featured in Dr. Oz’s The Good Life magazine for her work in Indian slum communities, Burmese refugee birth clinics and earthquake-ravaged areas of Nepal.
Mindi is a graduate of Naropa University’s Contemplative Psychology program and holds a Masters degree in Classical Five Element Acupuncture from the Institute of Taoist Education and Acupuncture. She lives with her family and rescued pit bulls in the foothills of Colorado. To learn more about Mindi and ways of working directly with her, visit her site.
GUEST TEACHER - Naomi Jansson, is a Traditional Medicine Doctor providing treatment and education utilising Chinese Medicine Philosophy, Traditional Herbal Foods, Acupuncture, Moxibustion and her experience as a Registered Nurse of 25 years experience. Naomi combines her lived experiences and knowledge of Eastern and Western Medicine through her services and education offering programs of care in her area of expertise; Women's Medicine, Conception, Pregnancy and Postpartum Care. She also provides undergraduate and postgraduate education and coordinates professional learning and conferences. Providing apprenticeship and education opportunities is an important part of Naomi’s practice. She offers workshops, Immersions and in clinic apprenticeship opportunities to acupuncturists, women health professionals, body workers, midwives and birth workers. She is an active Health Advocate for Traditional Medicine and Cultural care in pregnancy, birth and Postpartum as a speaker on Podcasts and Conferences.
GUEST TEACHER - Zoey Xinyi Gong, born in Shanghai, China, ZOEY XINYI GONG is a registered dietitian (R.D.) and Traditional Chinese Medicine chef. She is dedicated to modernizing Traditional Chinese Medicine and making it a relevant and practical lifestyle for all, and serving as a bridge between Eastern and Western perspectives of wellness.
She is the cofounder of the Red Pavilion, a creative venue in Brooklyn, New York, featuring medicinal cooking classes, chef's table, and more. She's been covered by the New York Times, NBC, Serious Eats, Bon Appetit and more. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
GUEST TEACHER - Holly Davis is an inspiring wholefood chef and educator. Born in London, Holly cut her teeth as a chef at Food For Thought in Covent Garden. She moved to Sydney in 1982 where she founded Manna, a restaurant inspired by her interest in Macrobiotic & 5 Element philosophy. She then co-founded Sydney’s Iku Wholefoods in 1985. In her current business Food By Holly Davis she aims to seduce people to better ways of thinking about, sourcing, preparing, and eating balanced wholefood meals, by teaching them to make, or feeding them irresistibly delicious foods, that happen to be good for them.
Holly’s been a long time champion for the attainment of great health through the use of sustainable organic wholefoods; appropriate to the season, tailored to the needs of the consumer. Her cooking style uses traditional ingredients and embraces the dietary principles practiced by societies prior to industrialised food production. She has also been intentionally fermenting food and drinks to goodness for over four decades. Holly’s vision ‘to feed people love’ is expressed in her inspiring and informative cookery classes, her talks, through her articles and when she is catering or food coaching for private or commercial clients.
She is the author of 2 books, “Nourish” and “Ferment – A guide to the ancient art of culturing foods.”
GUEST TEACHER - Jost Sauer, founder of the Chi Cycle Health System, is an acupuncturist, lecturer, author and a popular presenter to corporate and community audiences. He was also an ex-addict, dealer and deserter who kickstarted a recovery revolution by creating a trailblazing lifestyle-based rehab program. Jost adapted this for everyone as the Chi Cycle lifestyle, a health-boosting, fat-burning feel-good day plan, that was inspired by the Chinese organ clock.
Jost’s background includes competitive skiing, plus over 35 years of daily training in martial arts (Chen Gongfu Tai-chi), weights and VCM meditation. He has studied under spiritual masters, and his internationally published books include Higher and Higher, and The Perfect Day Plan (Allen and Unwin); Chi Health Cycle (Welbeck, UK) and Wie neugeboren mit moderner TCM (Riva, Germany).
Jost has treated thousands of people from celebrities to CEOs to professional athletes, with his Chi Cycle Health System, and he offers Chi Cycle training, workshops and health retreats. Jost is passionate about Chinese medicine and showing everyone how to use the power of chi to make every day medicinal and magical.
GUEST TEACHER - Jun Negoro is a registered Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner - acupuncturist and herbalist in Singapore, with a primary focus on women’s health, specifically menstrual wellness and fertility.
Her mission is to guide women through the complexities of menstruation and fertility using transformative TCM solutions. Jun is dedicated to simplifying intricate TCM concepts, presenting them in easily understandable terms, and firmly believes in TCM's potential to empower individuals and foster confidence on their journey to holistic health.
Jun holds a double degree, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine in TCM from Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences from Nanyang Technological University.
GUEST TEACHER - Evan Pinto, as a Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine and a licensed acupuncturist and board-certified herbalist, Dr. Evan has been practicing in Shanghai, China since 2012. Along with his private practice clients, he also taught at Shanghai University of TCM and interned at Shu Guang Famous Doctor Hospital in Shanghai. He received his Doctoral degree in integrative TCM at Pacific College of Health and Science in New York City and San Diego. He also studied at Beijing Traditional Medicine Training Center of the World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies (WFAS). And he completed a rotation at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in NYC. These diverse cities and cultures taught him the value of being openminded and to just observe people. The clues of the cause of illness may not come from obvious places like measurable physical symptoms. Many patients have unknown emotional and spirit level disharmonies that manifest as muscle and joint aches and pains. The integration of western biomedical symptom differentiation with TCM diagnosis and treatment techniques like acupuncture, herbal remedies, and food therapy is, in his opinion, a more nuanced approach for treating long standing chronic conditions.
Dr. Evan is also the co-author of the Qi Food Therapy TCM e-book collection.
