As You Are Acupuncture

05/02/2025

Hello sweet ones!
1 - Check out this updated headshot that was kind enough to snap of me in April 🥲✨.
2 - This May marks 5 years in business and, wow. I did not know what I signed up for and cannot believe I started a practice during COVID and still here 5 years later. I continue to feel uplifted by your support.
3 - Lots has happened since then. Isabel and I had to chaotically move from our first clinic space with only 45 days. Dr. Jazmine Collins took us in at our current location and let us take over her lease when she moved to Kyle. I've been able to start taking insurance, which has always been an access-to-TCM goal of mine. 
4 - Having to continue business as usual on meta feels increasingly absurd. It doesn't serve the main populations I serve (q***r folks! women! those who are often targeted by hate speech!) and actively de-prioritizes content that is helpful for organizing. I'm torn on this because it's hard to know how to best get updates to y'all, but I'm going to try this experiment. **Beginning June 1st you will no longer be able to get updates here**, but I won't delete my IG so resources will still be available if you've bookmarked anything.
5 - Join me on BlueSky (.bsky.social) or you guys can also sign up for my newsletter (that I send out 4-6x a year at this point) at https://bit.ly/4jezzTE. BlueSky is not perfect and it's a much smaller community right now, but the only way to grow a more ethical space is to join and get your friends to! Lots of resources are still available for organizing + such on IG and I'll miss those but hoping others make the move, too. 
See y'all IRL soon! Make good trouble 🫰.

12/17/2024

Happy almost end of the year folks!
Any insurance changes in January? Please be sure to email me any new insurance cards you have before your first 2025 appointment to avoid any ~disappointments~
💌 nicole@asyouareacu.com
Enjoy your loved ones! Don't work too hard. I'll be OOO 12/24-12/30, again on 1/1 but otherwise around.

12/03/2024

10/24/2024

❤️‍🔥 IYKYK! Helloooo from the windowsill tropicals ft. Austin made Bone Setting Water from .
🔥 People are ~getting better~ meaning more room on the schedule if you need a tune up, and I'm open to new clients again (and in network with BCBS 😊)!
🫰🏼 What I love about acupuncture is that people do ~get better.~ And yes - I love seeing your beautiful faces when you're here, but what I love more is you being out in the world living and doing the things you enjoy the most!
🗓️ Need to jump on the schedule? There's a link to book in bio!

08/05/2024

🫰🏼 I'm OOO this Thursday, 8/8 and back on Wednesday, 8/14 for some R&R, nature and hiking!
💌 Emails / DMs / texts will go into the void until then. If you need to reschedule/make an appointment, the best way is through the client portal at bit.ly/ayaaschedule.
❤️ Until then, enjoy these sweet dusk-time datura.

07/18/2024

❤️‍🔥 Getting some movement into some sore achy muscles with cups and e-stim 💪🏼.
🌦️ Hope y'all are enjoying the sleepy rain vibes this morning. I'm OOO tomorrow-Monday to find some watering holes, but back again on Tuesday ❤️🫰🏼🌻.
🖇️Easiest way to book is bit.ly/ayaaschedule if you need some of this in your life again 🌝.

06/23/2024

Time for a Tune Up or Glow Up? -

Happy Summer! I hope that you have been enjoying the long summer evenings, and finding lots of shade to lay in during the hot days.

05/20/2024

Here's a story for you. Every time one of y'all books a cosmetic acupuncture appointment or microneedling and I meet you, I am always like "you are perfect already, how do we even make this face look more perfect??". But I get it. You knew yourself five, 10, 15 years ago, and maybe you miss the texture, collagen and floofy-ness that you used to have.  
Maybe you are a thinker and a forehead scruncher and that turns into muscle tension/wrinkles/pain in the forehead. 
Guys. These are A's before + progress pictures (shared with consent as always). We're not even done with her series of 10! These pictures were taken at the end of the 1st appointment and at the end of the 6th appointment. A full series of cosmetic acupuncture is typically 10 sessions.
We're going to ignore a few things that I did wrong. 1) we're going to ignore my fingers in the lense of the camera in one of these 🙈 2) I know, the lighting is different (different room) which is not best practice for before/afters.
What I DO want to draw your attention to are these spots. She wanted to address the asymmetry in nasolabial grooves on the left and right sides and the frown lines between her eyes (often called 11s) between her browns.
In cosmetic acupuncture sessions, I do use facial acupuncture to help skin look more vibrant, and help relax wrinkles. I also add in facial manipulation with either gua sha, cupping, tuina, or bo jin, as well as opening up the neck and shoulder muscles with cups. 
We also address any underlying constitutional things you may have going on (allergies, menstrual health, digestion, stress resiliency and more).  
Doesn't she look incredible (and relaxed?)??

03/16/2024

Come by Rest Fest and get some community acu or cupping under these two badass guardians and other art 🎨🖤

03/13/2024

I got to see my mom this past weekend and did some facial acupuncture on her 🥲.
Swipe for before (but ignore the scrunching of the forehead! I'm not that good! That was definitely a facial expression, not wrinkles that disappeared in one session 😂).
Look for the change in fullness at the cheeks and brow!
I combine acupuncture with facial and neck tuina, gua sha and cupping to open up blood flow to the face. Here I've also used my clinic made saffron, ginseng and jojoba oil to help circulation + to brighten.
Aging is a privilege and I love focusing on tissue, meridian and emotional *health* vs *aesthetics* when I do cosmetic acupuncture. You can just see how much more relaxed the face looks in this picture!

03/05/2024

STORYTIME!! Here’s a sweet story about community acupuncture at the YWCA yesterday. At the end of an acu-detox session, a woman shared a story about a personal loss and her grieving process around it and got a little choked up. It was so beautiful to see a group of strangers affirm her, hold space for her, and care for her. I love that she felt safe enough to share something personal. I love her peers responded in such a kind way. That’s the beauty behind accessible wellness in community and I feel so fortunate to have been there for that.
Some folks in wellness will say you shouldn’t get political. But I disagree. You cannot both treat humans in a holistic manner (including their environment! What’s going on in the world?? how much do they have to work a week??? Why are their nervous systems stressed TF out???) without advocating for policies that center community care (like the grants funds we get for harm reduction!) and divesting from harmful ones (the prison-industrial complex, worker rights that center family and community in your life vs. your job).
So IDK, it’s the primaries today. If you’re looking for a progressive voting guide I like , if you’re looking for a bipartisan one, I like . Go out and vote for where you want your taxes to go to. Love, Nicole