Melinda Choy, CEO, L. Acupuncturist

CA Licensed Acupuncturist, LAc. #CA9696; NCCAOM Diplomat in Acupuncture

“I saw that healing and change needs to come from deep within.”

Often I am asked the question, “Why did you decide to become an acupuncturist?” In writing my biography, I decided to answer this question for you. It’s a long story and it came about from life experiences throughout many years.

My simplest answer is that I’m an activist and environmentalist.

I graduated from U.C. Santa Barbara with a BA Degree in Political Science and a minor in Global Peace and Security. I received an internship position my senior year in Washington, D.C. with Amnesty International. After a week at my dream internship, my mother came to the end of her battle with cancer.

That experience shook up my world and my perspective on everything. How could I be focused on trying to change the whole world and not be able to affect a single person? I’m not trying to heal people to heal my mother, nor do I think that I could have saved her.

It’s only then that I saw that healing and change needs to come from deep within. It also needs to come from looking at a dynamic and complex body in physical, emotional, and spiritual planes. My experience with acupuncture has affected my life personally. I think that medicine and healing is a personal journey.

That is the experience that I want to provide for my patients at Elevate Wellness Center. A place for personal healing and growth, whatever it may be: back pain, insomnia, infertility, etc.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) allows for us to see the big picture and the root of disease. TCM is a long tradition of healing that is proven by its growth and popularity over the last 20 years. The science is in the 2000 years of practice and it’s continued success in treating a variety of conditions. Combining TCM with modern Functional Medicine is a natural fit. The traditional medicine is continually validated by the latest in modern day science. Treating root level conditions with modern analytics of lab testing further enables me to truly fine personalize a patients program with the physical medicine of acupuncture along with additions of supplements, herbs, nutrition, and lifestyle medicine. I felt that these were the tools that I wanted to have to enrich my life and for those around me.

“Making good decisions for your body is making good decisions for our environment on a micro and macrocosmic level.”

Elevate Wellness Center provides an opportunity for people to change their lives one step at a time. I strive to create a supportive environment where my patients feel empowered and informed to realize that their health is in their own hands. Making good decisions for your body is making good decisions for our environment on a micro and macrocosmic level.

My favorite Thich Nhat Hahn quote is:

“Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos ~ the trees, the clouds, everything . . .”

Thus, I feel accomplished in my work as an activist for the human right of being healthy and an environmentalist.

Melinda specializes in:

  • Functional Women’s Health

  • Fertility

  • Gut Health

  • Stress Management

  • Chronic Disease

  • Emotional Well-Being

Watch Melinda’s Ted Talk:

Take A Break | Melinda Choy | TEDxSouthLakeTahoe | October 19th, 2019

Melinda’s extended ResumE

I graduated from Five Branches University in Santa Cruz in 2003 and received a Masters Degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine. I started my practice in South Lake Tahoe in 2004. While in school, I apprenticed with a long time local acupuncturist in Santa Cruz. I also studied at the Zhejiang University in China.

I am a Licensed Acupuncturist in the State of California and have my National Certification in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology. I have studied continuing education in Functional Medicine for the past 15 years of practice with leaders such as Jeffrey Bland, MD and Aviva Romm, MD. I completed my professional certification in Women’s Integrative & Functional Medicine through the New Institute for Women’s Health.

If you would like to talk about working together, please drop me an email.

Accolades, Professional Positions, and more:

If you would like to talk about working together, please drop me an email.