Meet Said
Betsy Ranum MA, RN, NBC-HWC
Community Holistic Nurse, Integrative Health & Wellbeing Coach
Said and Larissa not only have an integrative health clinic and a toddler, they also have a dog named Indy. Isn’t she beautiful? :)
You may already know that Said Isayed owns and operates Minnesota Integrative Health Studio (along with our beloved Larissa Vados, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner and Pilates instructor). If you’ve already had the opportunity to work with Said, you quite likely know that he is damn good, extraordinarily good, at what he does.
Said is compassionate, intuitive, thoughtful, and an incredibly skilled practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He is most often found zigzagging busily around the clinic, treating patients, preparing herbs, and talking and joking in his very own mischievous, eccentric ways. Last weekend he slowed down a bit to sit down with me (Betsy Ranum, Community Holistic Nurse & Coach), so I could ask some questions to share with our community. As we sat on the fire escape and watched the early evening sun set over this little corner of northeast Minneapolis, Said shared a bit about Traditional Chinese Medicine, his family’s deep history with herbalism, Minnesota Integrative Health Studio itself, community, and Palestine.
Tell me about why you decided to study Chinese Medicine.
Family business. Just growing up around herbs and spices, my family encouraged me to go to China to learn more about herbs…that’s how I started my Chinese Medicine journey.
Will you tell me more about your family’s background with this?
Herbs and spices for several generations…six generations working in the same business, Al Saeed Spices and Herbs.
How much do you know about that first generation?
I know that the first shop opened in Jerusalem [by my great great grandfather] in 1837. We know a little bit here and there about the history.
Have there been any skipped generations, or has every generation been involved?
Every generation.
And what was it about going to China…why did your family encourage that?
You know, just learning a different perspective about using this kind of medicine. And the Chinese have a really good documentation of their medicine, for thousands of years, which makes it a really valuable thing to learn.
And how long have you wanted to start your own clinic for?
Ah, forever. Since before school. Maybe 15 years old?
So you always wanted to have your own clinic?
I always wanted to have a clinic, a shop, a place…just to help people, teach people about other cultures and other ways of life and medicine.
What do you love the most about practicing Chinese medicine and herbalism, about the type of work you do?
Being able to help people in a different way, offer them hope. And teach them how to deal with their conditions, teach them about health and diet, and exercise, and also learn from their experience. There’s a lot to learn from other people that can help you improve your practice. And getting to meet people from different parts of the world, different backgrounds. It keeps life interesting.
What do you wish more people knew about Traditional Chinese Medicine?
I would say the main thing that makes Chinese Medicine stand out is not focusing on the symptoms or the problem, but trying to get to the root and the cause of the issue…you look at the whole person and everything in life, mentally and physically and you come up with a plan to help them heal themselves.
Aha, heal themselves?
Yeah, it’s a lot of self-work. [A practitioner] is not just a person who works on you…it’s a person who gives you tools to stay healthy. So you’re not trying to mask a problem and just keep going, you’re trying to prevent things from happening…preventing disease…live a healthy life, avoiding medications, or working towards getting rid of medications.
What do you notice about stress and health?
Well in the United States, stress is a big thing because of the lifestyle, the life pace is so fast, and there’s a lot to get done…stress can really affect your physical health as well, over time…so I would say it’s a pandemic, for sure.
Stress is a pandemic?
Yes.
What is important about having Traditional Chinese Medicine, massage, coaching, Pilates, Reiki, energy work, sauna, all these practices all in one place?
There’s limits to everything, and where you cannot help, maybe someone else can.
What is your vision or dream for the clinic?
Be able to help as many people as I can, to provide a safe place for community…do more community work, help people who need help…doing classes and education, about health, and life…culture. Building community, making a good place for employees, where they can make a decent living.
In what ways do you feel like growing up in Palestine, and growing up in ways that you did, influences your values about community? How is that connected?
For sure [it’s connected]. Because when you live in a conflict area, there’s not much to depend on but your community. Maybe the government can’t do anything about it, there’s not much resources, so you only can depend on your community to survive. Because the world is too big to control, so you just work, and help the people you can reach.
How do you think community is related to people being healthy and well?
Human relationships…finding a person you can ask for advice from, ask for help when needed…finding more resources to help each other. Without a healthy community, you won’t get a healthy country. There’s so much focus on non-important issues here, while a lot of people struggle with health, and no ways to deal with it. We invest too much money in curing disease…than trying to prevent it. The goal would be not to get sick so we don’t have to use these medications which add much more burden on the system in general…what were you asking me about [laughs]? Yes, community.
What do you wish that people in our community, and in the United States, understood about Palestine? What do you want people to know?
You’re enjoying your freedom, while other people, they have nothing of this life, like you do…they have no access to basic needs in life, which every human being should have: water, electricity, food, education, entertainment…and I don’t think our tax dollars should be going toward what’s going on over there. That’s the first baby step.
What do you think people can do to show more support and understanding for people in Palestine?
Talk more about it, educate each other, talk to your representatives…just showing support.
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To schedule with Said Isayed (and the rest of our skilled, compassionate interdisciplinary team at Minnesota Integrative Health Studio), you can book online or call us at 612.345.5648.
If you enjoyed learning a bit about Said’s story and practice here, you’ll *love* this deeper dive interview on the Well Connected Twin Cities podcast: Ep 120 Provider + Patient: Traditional Chinese Medicine for Complex Conditions with Said Isayed and Susan Smith
