Your friendly neighborhood acupuncturist, writer and craniosacral therapist. As far as life paths go, mine has meandered quite a bit.
I’m Tatum (she/hers) and I’m a Minneapolis-based writer, acupuncturist and craniosacral therapist. I’m an Aries sun, Scorpio moon, and Libra rising so that means I’m very excited you’re here paying attention to me and my very deep feelings, but I ultimately just want everyone to feel included and safe and loved. I’m an elder millennial who has been gainfully employed since I was 3 years old. I started out as a child actor in theater and on screens (yes, this was me). But after one bad review at the age of 17, I decided to go to undergrad to become a print journalist so I could give all actors everywhere glowing reviews forever. That worked out so well (jk) that I ended up in health and wellness marketing as a social media content strategist (no one knows what this actually means) who taught yoga on the side. I founded a practice called MOVE SIT WRITE during a Very Hard Time, and it gave me the space I needed to decide that I wanted to get my masters in Chinese Medicine so I could become an acupuncturist. Now I use Chinese medicine, craniosacral therapy and writing to help folks feel better and more connected to themselves and their needs. I’m one of those hard-working types who is committed to turning her pain into her superpower. I’m a trauma survivor who has attachment wounds, self-worth issues and, at times, enough anxiety to power a small village. I’m a human being, doing my best to care for me so I can care for you. And I can’t do this without actively doing my own work, which includes acknowledging and doing my part to disrupt the oppressive systems that we live within. Whether I’m needling, cupping, holding, teaching or writing for you: you’re the boss of you and you know yourself best. I may hold a masters degree, a medical license and have years of experience providing care, but and as a trauma-informed provider, you can expect that I will follow your lead and show up for you in ways that are grounded in transparency, honesty and curiosity. When I’m not helping others, you can find me playing with and learning about flowers, hiking, kayaking, going on the longest walks, singing by moving bodies of water, practicing new skills like embroidery and keeping plants alive when you have no south facing windows in your apartment, all while daydreaming about nuance and what the world would be like if people were more honest and a whole lot nicer to themselves.
11/01/2023
Hello! I am infrequently on Facebook because it gives me indigestion. If you want to connect and ask me questions about acupuncture, craniosacral therapy or writing, you can find me at tatumfjerstad.com and or email me at info@tatumfjerstad.com.
I am currently practicing out of a cute little space in the Longfellow neighborhood on Mondays and Wednesdays, offering house calls on Thursdays and sliding scale visits on Tuesdays at my house. I also teach monthly Yoga + Acupuncture workshops at Yess Yoga.
Hope to speak to you soon :)
03/14/2023
oh hello! remember me?
I am leading a workshop series / club hang that starts a week from today (Mar 21) and wanted you to know about it.
it's for people who worry a lot and feel bad about it (or interface with people who think they should feel bad about it).
registration closes on sunday! there are 6 spots left rn.
I know it’s weird to talk about November, but the October sessions filled quickly and I want to make sure you get a head start on booking for November if you missed your chance this month. Join me at on Nov 6 or 20.
Whether you’re new to acupuncture, yoga or you love them both, this is an accessible and affordable way to combine these two healing modalities at once.
This 90-minute trauma-informed yoga class will begin with a slow flow / yin yoga practice and conclude with an extended savasana needle nap. Together, yoga and acupuncture provide an opportunity for folks to relax and find balance.
Exchange is $30 and space is limited to 10 people so we have lots of space to breathe and move. All levels are welcome and masks are required for now to protect you and me when I get up close for the needling bit. Sign up is in the same place it has always been 🥰
06/01/2021
I've been a licensed acupuncturist for two months as of today and I wanted to share some things I've learned about what it means to do this work right now.
Boundaries are love, and your patients benefit greatly from clear boundaries and expectation setting, especially when they are new to you and new to acupuncture.
Trauma-informed care should just be called care and should be the baseline way we provide care to patients in any setting.
The treatment starts as soon as they walk into the building. The way you receive them at the door, es**rt them to the treatment room and listen to them articulate their needs can be as medicinal as needles, moxa, herbs and cupping.
Knowing how much to share about yourself requires a delicate awareness that shifts with each patient.
I still don't like the word "healer," and I don't think I ever will. I am a facilitator or a partner in a patient's healing work. The patient is the healer because they are seeking healing.
Results are seen in folks who are truly ready to make shifts in their lives outside of the treatment room, but these shifts don’t have to be grandiose or hard to commit to.
We should be providing care to our patients in a way that makes it so they don't need us as often. I had one patient who started meditating a little every day after our first session and they felt so much better that they didn't need to come in again.
I have a fundamental understanding about most aspects of this medicine, but I have so much more to learn. I am excited to figure out what will be the thing to pull me deeper.
Imposter syndrome can do two very different things: it can elicit a freeze response and impact the care I can provide AND and it can be turned into ego medicine. I am choosing to make friends with this feeling and use it for good because I'm a white woman in the wellness industry and that's all I need to say about that.
I really, really, really, really love doing this work. A lot. My patients are so inspiring and funny and kind and getting to be a part of their lives in this way is such an honor and deeply humbling.
You should come see me at Constellation Acupuncture & Healing Arts sometime. It’s a real hoot.
📸 Eliesa Johnson
04/08/2021
I happy-cried three times today. Once before I treated my very first full-fledged, real life acupuncture patient as a licensed acupuncturist at Constellation Acupuncture & Healing Arts, again on my way home from the clinic, and once more after my day ended. After a year of the most sad-crying I've ever done, happy-crying feels so...good.
I got really used to being a student over the past 3.5 years, and even though I knew this day would come, I didn't know it would feel this exhilarating. This feeling is probably also associated with what feels like glimmers of light that are appearing at the end of this long, dark pandemic tunnel. Maybe it's also the unbridled joy Minnesotans experience in the spring. Or it's the rush I get during Aries season (read: my season).
I think it also might be the fact that I never got to use my undergraduate degree in the way I intended because the Wall Street crash of '08 happened shortly after I entered the workforce and my field of interest (arts writing for a magazine) died with the old white guys who had the job I wanted.
I think this is the first time in my life I'm doing something that really fills me up. I know that getting to this point is an extreme privilege and it shouldn't be. I know that everyone should have access to this feeling and part of the reason I do is due to the privileges I hold. That is and never will be lost on me.
As my schedule shifts, I will have more time to show up consistently for the community in ways that feel like actual mutual aid. I've been doing less than I've wanted to do for awhile and now I get to really make it a priority.
And mark my words, I promise to do this medicine justice. I won't ever stop learning as much as I can and making sure that my patients and anyone who follows me on these silly apps knows the history of East Asian medicine and how it came to be something that I get to practice.
Thanks for being here, believing in me and holding me accountable.
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My story is not brief, nor is it boring. Born and raised in a working class family the suburbs of Minneapolis, I’m the oldest of three kids and my siblings are boys. For a brief, yet highly consequential part of my childhood, I was an actor who has appeared in things you’ve probably never seen, unless you were really into that Escape from Horrorland, Goosebumps CD-ROM game that came out in 1998.
After one terrible theatrical review and a growing awareness that my college degree wouldn’t get me as far as my parents thought, I decided to pursue a career in print journalism. Thanks to the internet, print died an ugly death shortly after I got my undergraduate degree, so I ended up in marketing like everyone else. I was good at marketing, but I wasn’t a huge fan of getting paid to lie through my teeth, so I picked up a yoga teacher training certificate and taught yoga on the side to keep my soul alive.
After moving to NYC twice, working at various popular start-ups, rubbing shoulders with yogalebrities (ew) and picking up a few bad habits, things got so intense that I realized I had a lot of repressed pain and trauma that needed to be processed. Yoga, as it turns out, is not actually a cure-all (and anyone who tells you that should make you very wary). After months of therapy and a lot inward gazing, I took myself on a three-month road trip around the U.S. teaching people how to use movement, meditation and writing in a sequence I call Move Sit Write.
Upon completion of the tour, I decided to move back home to Minneapolis where I re-met the man of my dreams and his beautiful son, enrolled in acupuncture school and continued to live my best life (and go to therapy).
I’m now in my second year of school at Northwestern Health Sciences University, working at Constellation Acupuncture and Healing Arts, teaching yoga around Minneapolis and offering craniosacral therapy out of my home. My current bad habits are workaholism, perfectionism and late-night licorice.
equity rates
I’m constantly and actively studying, naming and dismantling my own unconscious biases as they relate to gender, sexuality, race, wealth and abilities. I do this by supporting marginalized people with my money, and owning my s**t and apologizing when I cause harm.
I also offer equity rates to marginalized people: if you identify as BIPOC, LGBTQ+ or as a person experiencing economic hardship, you are constantly contributing to a society that undervalues you at every turn. If you trust me as a partner in your healing, please use the code EQUITY when you check out for a 20% discount on my offerings. My equity rates will remain in place until our society is truly nourishing and just. May we all be free.
