Did you know Community Acupuncture of Marin had its humble beginnings as a "pop-up" clinic at Novato Pilates? Some of you first met me when I was a Pilates teacher there. :)
Why does an Acupuncturist teach Pilates anyway?
When I graduated from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine with a master's degree, I naively assumed that since I got my acupuncture license, a line would magically form at my door for my services. That didn't happen. Eek.
What did happen was I discovered I knew little about business and maybe more importantly, the acupuncture methods I learned in school weren't that effective. I couldn't achieve consistent results with my patients, which was kind of a disaster! The standard education for acupuncture students in this country is mostly modern Chinese acupuncture, which is far from the eloquent art of ancient China.
So I invested a little more time and money (grad school wasn't cheap) and trained to be a Pilates teacher and immediately started working part-time teaching private and group classes at the studio. It was fun, I made a lot of friends, and I was busy. I was grateful that I created a way to make a living that I enjoyed, but something inside me still envisioned a busy acupuncture practice...
Why does an Acupuncturist teach Pilates anyway?
When I graduated from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine with a master's degree, I naively assumed that since I got my acupuncture license, a line would magically form at my door for my services. That didn't happen. Eek.
What did happen was I discovered I knew little about business and maybe more importantly, the acupuncture methods I learned in school weren't that effective. I couldn't achieve consistent results with my patients, which was kind of a disaster! The standard education for acupuncture students in this country is mostly modern Chinese acupuncture, which is far from the eloquent art of ancient China.
So I invested a little more time and money (grad school wasn't cheap) and trained to be a Pilates teacher and immediately started working part-time teaching private and group classes at the studio. It was fun, I made a lot of friends, and I was busy. I was grateful that I created a way to make a living that I enjoyed, but something inside me still envisioned a busy acupuncture practice...
Dr. Richard Tan & Ronit Why & How I Started CAM
I had been teaching Pilates for a couple years when I was fortunate enough to meet and study with a Grandmaster Acupuncturist, Richard Tan. Dr. Tan taught me the ancient acupuncture methods I intuitively knew existed, and yearned for deeply! This was far from what I learned in graduate school (one main difference that many of you are aware of is that we rarely, if ever, stick needles where it hurts).
After adopting Dr. Tan's acupuncture methods (the Balance Method), I was able to consistently predict outcomes and get great results. People started lining up.
But something else shifted, I started to feel that charging the going rate for private acupuncture treatments was too expensive. I knew most people needed to start out by getting treatments 2-3 times a week - but that was going to cost more than I would have been willing to pay for the same treatments. That's when I discovered the Community Acupuncture Clinic Model. So I started the pop-up clinic in the back of the Pilates studio as a trial. A lot of women from the studio came to see me, and then they starting referring, and that's how it started. It's been successful ever since!
CAM has grown from that little room to our existing space with the addition of our second acupuncturist, Dena Ito! This August, we'll celebrate our 7th Anniversary! During this time, we've gradually taken on increased costs but never raised our rates. So, it's going to be time for a small increase.
Starting in January, we are nudging the sliding scale up by $5. We will offer a way for regulars to continue to pay $20 with an updated version of our frequent visit card. You will be able to prepay for 10 visits for $200. We will also continue to run promotions now and then to save you money, and you'll here about those first if you follow our Facebook page.
Nothing is changing right now, but we did want to give you the heads up so you can be prepared for the changes when they roll around. We'll be giving you more details later in the year, too.
Lastly, let me thank each and every one of you, for making this clinic what it is, and for being part of our community. It's an honor and a joy.
Ronit
I had been teaching Pilates for a couple years when I was fortunate enough to meet and study with a Grandmaster Acupuncturist, Richard Tan. Dr. Tan taught me the ancient acupuncture methods I intuitively knew existed, and yearned for deeply! This was far from what I learned in graduate school (one main difference that many of you are aware of is that we rarely, if ever, stick needles where it hurts).
After adopting Dr. Tan's acupuncture methods (the Balance Method), I was able to consistently predict outcomes and get great results. People started lining up.
But something else shifted, I started to feel that charging the going rate for private acupuncture treatments was too expensive. I knew most people needed to start out by getting treatments 2-3 times a week - but that was going to cost more than I would have been willing to pay for the same treatments. That's when I discovered the Community Acupuncture Clinic Model. So I started the pop-up clinic in the back of the Pilates studio as a trial. A lot of women from the studio came to see me, and then they starting referring, and that's how it started. It's been successful ever since!
CAM has grown from that little room to our existing space with the addition of our second acupuncturist, Dena Ito! This August, we'll celebrate our 7th Anniversary! During this time, we've gradually taken on increased costs but never raised our rates. So, it's going to be time for a small increase.
Starting in January, we are nudging the sliding scale up by $5. We will offer a way for regulars to continue to pay $20 with an updated version of our frequent visit card. You will be able to prepay for 10 visits for $200. We will also continue to run promotions now and then to save you money, and you'll here about those first if you follow our Facebook page.
Nothing is changing right now, but we did want to give you the heads up so you can be prepared for the changes when they roll around. We'll be giving you more details later in the year, too.
Lastly, let me thank each and every one of you, for making this clinic what it is, and for being part of our community. It's an honor and a joy.
Ronit