Ann’s specialties include: fertility, infertility, pregnancy, perinatal and postpartum care, (peri)menopause, uterine bleeding, difficult to treat chronic illnesses, and oncology support.
“I started seeing Ann 4+ months into an awful bout of “silent” reflux where I couldn’t bend over, lie flat, sleep or eat without pain and discomfort. Everything was a trigger. I had gone through 9 doctor visits & tried special diets, prescriptions, antacids, etc prior. I figured my body was just broken, so I booked an acupuncture session in a last ditch effort to at least try and calm down.
Well don’t I wish I could go back in time and go to Ann FIRST!! She not only had my symptoms completely eliminated within 2 sessions, but she has such a unique and wonderful way about her. She’s the best of all worlds- part doctor, part detective & part mother. She seems to enjoy the investigation into what’s going on with you and has an intuitive approach to healing that actually shows results AND makes you feel cared for. How is that even possible these days?!? She’s a true gem.”
Hi, I’m Ann Cleary, your local acupuncturist and herbalist.
It is my job to help you feel better in your body, mind, and spirit, and I love what I do.
As one of my favorite teachers was fond of saying, “Acupuncture is amazing. You know why? Because the body is amazing!”
Our symptoms are only a messenger of imbalance. When this message is heeded, profound healing can occur.
Long before I ever contemplated practicing acupuncture, I was a visual artist. Little did I know that this daily habit of discipline, careful attention, and curiosity before the great mystery that is life on this planet would someday serve me well as a medical provider.
Why I love to work with medically complex and difficult-to-treat chronic illnesses.
I think Traditional East Asian medicine (TEAM) has the most to offer where conventional medicine has the least to offer. Makes sense, right? I am grateful for this gift of diagnosing through the lens of TEAM. It is effective, and does not rely on lab work, nor does it require for your constellation of symptoms to have been given a name. We can get to work right away, using a medicine that not only does not have side effects but whose core tenet is to move the entire body-mind-spirit towards equilibrium.
Why I specialize in pregnancy conditions and postpartum care.
I have had the luck to study with gifted herbalists and acupuncturists very experienced with treating the myriad of hassles to serious complications that can occur during pregnancy. Where conventional medicine can manage symptoms, investigate to identify, or watch and wait, the time-proven medicine of TEAM can intervene to treat your condition before it becomes worse, moving your body back towards health, and increasing the likelihood of an uneventful delivery and a healthy baby. This is why I think herbs and acupuncture fit so well with modern medicine’s approach to pregnancy and perinatal care.
Postpartum care is woefully neglected in our overculture. Perhaps this is because the current iteration of our country, influenced by the dynamics imported from Europe, was founded at the tail end of the Early Modern Witch Hunt. This time of torture and executions targeting women, numbering in the hundreds of thousands and spanning 300 years, effectively wiped out the practice of folk medicine, and with it, Western European postpartum knowledge.
Luckily, nature-based medicines around the world have maintained this knowledge, and I am so lucky to practice one of them. A healthy pregnancy and postpartum phase start with a healthy pre-conception. We can intervene at any point, but preventing problems is always our preferred strategy. Through diet, herbs, body work, and clear ideas about how to rest in the weeks after birth, our bodies can be nursed back to strength after the physical and spiritual feat of childbirth.
I have seen in my practice that appropriate postpartum care improves a mother’s overall health, and also has a big impact on future hormonal transitions, whether that is future pregnancies or perimenopause. If you’d like to hear more, read more here.
How I work.
My style of acupuncture relies heavily on palpation and immediate feedback from the body. My use of herbal medicine is judicious and is informed by the classics.
I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Emperor’s College in Santa Monica in 2018, and am licensed to practice acupuncture and herbalism in the state of California. License #18561
Traditional East Asian medicine is rich in its applications…if you are looking for support and are not sure if I can help, please reach out. You can scroll down to the bottom of this page to find a place to write to me.
