REACH YOUR GOALS WITH ACUPUNCTURE

It’s not uncommon these days to wake up in the middle of a hectic, stressful life routine and wonder how you got there. The dream job of yesterday became a burden, draining you slowly, day by day. And city that once held the promise of infinite possibility became a difficult place to navigate through the rigors of daily life. This was the case for Patti Safian, who in her mid-twenties found herself in the Los Angeles film business, a round-the-clock, taxing career.

She was a member of the Art Department at major motion picture companies, specializing in set design and production management. “It was a high stress lifestyle,” says Patti, “and it made me sick…literally, I came down with shingles.” This was Patti’s wake-up call. “I knew something was very wrong so I went to see someone.” Her doctor suggested a drastic lifestyle change incorporating yoga and exercise with a clean diet and a stable schedule. “In the midst of things, I began to realize just how important diet and exercise were for my overall well-being,” says Patti.

Just a short while after implementing those changes, Patti felt a special connection with this holistic approach. “My mom was a yoga teacher, so I had from childhood, an innate awareness of this stuff,” says Patti. Things quickly fell into place once she started taking proper care of herself. Patti met her husband, Evan Cutler, a senior producer for major television productions, moved to New York City and started her yoga certification training in 1996.

During her training several yoga teachers and fellow students suggested that she try acupuncture. The practice caught her attention, and she began to explore the world of Eastern medicine. The results were so good that she started recommending acupuncture to her clients. “I worked with a lot of people in 1 on 1 and group settings, all of them from high-stress lifestyles, and recommended it [acupuncture] to all of them. It was then that I realized that I wanted to do more for people.”

She enrolled in the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, and completed her studies at the Tri-State College of Acupuncture, both in New York City and began the next stage of her journey. “I was becoming very in tune with how the body and lifestyle interrelate and could see certain indicators in other people that spoke to a positive or negative lifestyle.”

While attending school she became pregnant, and during her talks with other women on the subject, her interest was ignited about how acupuncture and a significant lifestyle change could improve women’s fertility.

“I saw so many women trying so hard to become pregnant,” says Patti. They were going to clinics, taking specific drugs and undergoing various tests – everything that traditional western medicine uses to accomplish the goal of assisted conception. “I knew that certain negative lifestyle decision were hurting their chances as well,” says Patti. In addition to acupuncture treatments, she encourages her clients to examine the food they eat, their daily routine, exercise habits and even their mental state. “Feeling helpless, angry or sad will not help create a positive environment for conception,” she says.

To accomplish her goal Patti is using her many years of experience and incredible work ethic to create, in addition to her fertility acupuncture specialization, a ‘fertility center’ to aid her clients through every step of the process. “I’ll be offering things like cooking classes to help provide the right nutrients with the safest ingredients, special yoga classes to improve blood flow and examining blood work to find deficiencies and surpluses in body composition.”

There will also be meditation classes to manage and eliminate stress, which causes abnormalities in normal body functions, and ongoing workshops to support couples trying to become pregnant.

Patti emphasizes that this approach is not ‘alternative medicine’ so much as ‘complimentary medicine.’ “Women can come to me to help support In Vitro-fertilization and IUI processes, says Patti. Some women with significant fertility issues may need to use those options. What Patti can do is help people improve their chances.

For her the process is ongoing, and while she continues to work on her business and passion for helping others, she is grateful for another aspect of her job. “I meet some incredible people, and I’ve made some real friends. I get to share, in a small way, in their successes and struggles. It is a very special thing,” says Patti.

For more information about Patti, acupuncture and her fertility center, please visit her website or call (973) 233-1195.

Patti Safian is Board Certified nationally by the NCCAOM and is licensed to practice in New York and New Jersey. She studied acupuncture at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and earned a Master of Science degree from Tri-State College of Acupuncture. Currently she practices in Montclair, NJ.