People

Said Isayed, TCMD

Said Isayed is Traditional Chinese medicine doctor graduated from Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine after a six year Bachelor’s program in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine and Allopathic medicine. Said spent five years interning in several Chinese hospitals and clinics, training under some of the most well-respected doctors of Chinese medicine. He focused strongly on the treatment of neurological diseases, auto immune disorders, men’s and women's health, orthopedic injuries, mental health and painful musculoskeletal conditions.  
 
In addition to acupuncture, Said is well versed in several types of bodywork including Chinese fire cupping, hijama (traditional Arabic cupping), tuina (Chinese medical massage) and guasha. He also practices Chinese and Arabic herbal medicine. 
 
In 2016, Said relocated from Hebron, Palestine to Minneapolis, MN. He is fluent in English, Arabic and Mandarin Chinese.

Larissa Vados, PhD, LAc

Larissa is a licensed acupuncturist in the state of Minnesota and is board certified by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM). In 2012 she graduated from Northwestern Health Sciences University with a Master of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine degree, and in 2015 completed her PhD in Acupuncture, Tuina and Moxibustion at Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Tianjin, China. Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine specialize in the treatment of neurological diseases. Taking advantage of this expertise, her main focus of study was treatment for stroke rehabilitation. She designed and carried out a randomized control trial in the First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine looking at the use of both acupuncture and physical therapy in the treatment of acute and sub-acute ischemic stroke.

Larissa has several years experience working with a hospital-based inpatient interdisciplinary acute care pain management team, and an outpatient based chronic pain center in a large hospital system. Larissa and her colleagues have worked together to treat some of the most difficult pain management cases in the hospital system from both Eastern and Western perspectives. During those years she enjoyed working every day to promote the use of effective and evidence-based integrative treatments such as acupuncture within the allopathic medical system. She is now the co-owner of Minnesota Integrative Health Studio, and continues to help patients fulfill their health goals in this integrative and holistic community-based clinic.

In addition to her acupuncture and Chinese medicine training, Larissa is a STOTT PILATES® Certified Instructor in both Mat and Reformer, having completed over 310 hours of training at Minnesota’s STOTT Certification Center in 2009. Larissa has also taken advanced training in Pilates for neurological conditions. Larissa finds that Pilates is a wonderful form of rehabilitative exercise that can be modified to suit anyone’s situation and circumstances. She loves combining Pilates with her acupuncture patients to address chronic pain, musculoskeletal injuries, neurological and other movement disorders, mental health and more!

Specialties: Stroke sequelae treatment and other neurological disorders, pain (acute and chronic), stress management, insomnia, allergies, auto-immune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. In her Pilates practice she enjoys working with injured populations looking for rehabilitation, seasoned athletes looking to improve athletic performance and everyone in between!

You can book the following appointments with Larissa: Private acupuncture, private TCM acupuncture, community acupuncture (contact the clinic to book community acupuncture), cupping, Pilates training.

Ashley Steffensen, LAc

Ashley is a licensed acupuncturist by the State of Minnesota Medical Board. She is board certified in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM). She received her Bachelors in Health Sciences and her Master’s degree in Acupuncture and East Asian medicine from Bastyr University in Seattle, WA in 2015.

Ashley recognises the diverse tool box Chinese Medicine has to offer. She finds the best suited of those tools to create a unique and evolving treatment strategy for each client. Cupping, electro-acupuncture, herbal supplements, lifestyle and nutritional coaching are commonly incorporated into treatment plans. 

Her specialities are in a wide range of digestive ailments and various chronic health issues. She has background supporting women's wellness and fertility with experience working alongside IVF treatment plans. Forte in the treatment of neck, shoulder, hip, carpal tunnel, migraine, and sciatica pains.

Ashley is a Minnesota native and resides in Cambridge-Isanti. Outside of the clinic you may find her enjoying nature, camping, kayaking with her dog Kylo, cooking, swimming, and aquascaping.

Lauren Windingstad, LAc

Lauren attained her Master’s Degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from Northwestern Health Sciences University in 2017. She is a licensed acupuncturist in Minnesota and is certified by the NCCAOM. Lauren has experience treating many different types of conditions, and especially enjoys working with people going through anxiety, PTSD, grief, and depression. She finds it very special and meaningful to work through infertility cases, both men’s and women’s. Her biggest joy is coaching women with hormone imbalance, and she loves to impart knowledge when she can. She also has a special interest in pediatrics, and offers acupuncture for kids as young as 5 years old - with non-needle options available. 

Lauren's top two values are gentleness and authenticity. She is especially good at working with people who are nervous to try acupuncture, or people who are very sensitive to needles. She believes that each person is unique, and for some 2 needles are more effective than 10. Treating musculoskeletal pain in sensitive people is one of her specialties. She considers herself lucky to have found the Body-Feedback acupuncture system early in her career, and she is especially intuitive with acupuncture point selection.

Aside from studying and practicing Chinese medicine, she enjoys paddleboarding, longboarding, skiing, snowboarding, and playing Pokemon. She and her husband Daniel like to “nerd out” together over Minecraft, Love Island, and their next vacation trip. She has two prized pet bunnies, Bisque and Juniper, and she looks forward to bringing them to Hoppy Hour.

Betsy Ranum MA, RN, NBC-HWC

Betsy (she/her) is an integrative health & wellbeing coach, and community holistic nurse. A registered nurse in Minnesota since 2012, Betsy earned an integrative nurse coach certificate in 2014, became a national board certified health & wellness coach (NBC-HWC) in 2019, and in 2020 completed an MA in Integrative Health and Wellbeing Coaching at the University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality and Healing.

Betsy’s nursing path has been unconventional: in 11+ years of nursing she’s never worked in a hospital. Before professional nursing, she worked in social justice movements and political organizing, sustainable farming and beekeeping, coffeeshops and farmers markets, and cared for her dad who lived for 15 years with early onset dementia. Betsy’s work and volunteer care experiences include public and preventive health (most recently helping lead and provide direct care at the University of Minnesota COVID-19 Testing Site); community holistic mental health and integrative/holistic psychiatry practices; supportive housing for individuals transitioning from unhoused, institutional, and incarcerated circumstances; the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition; housing for people living with HIV; a community clinic in Nicaragua; harm reduction sites; and home health care. Betsy started incorporating integrative coaching into nursing practice in 2014. As part of her graduate studies, Betsy interned as an integrative health coach at Virgin Pulse and Hennepin Healthcare. She worked as an integrative nurse coach in private practice for two years, and as front desk staff and integrative health and wellbeing coach at NE Wellness.

Betsy practices coaching with deep humility, respect, and unconditional positive regard for the clients she works with—as a model for flipping the paradigm of care from power-over to power-with. She partners with clients, skillfully cultivating space for people to find their inner wisdom, explore challenges, and expand their own vision of what is possible. Trained in modalities of relaxation, awareness, mindfulness, breathing, guided imagery, hypnosis, biofeedback, Reiki, Enneagram,and other mind-body-spirit practices, Betsy has years of experience supporting many people-–from woo-woo lovers to side-eyeing skeptics—to tap their innate healing skills and creative resources.

Betsy is her own #1 case study in the art and science of integrative health and wellbeing. A raced-white, settler descendant, cisgendered, queer woman with a highly sensitive nervous system, Betsy is on a humble, awkward, and persistent lifelong journey to heal and transform patterns of generational, ancestral, and cultural trauma and systems of domination within her own mind-body-spirit. Her greatest hope is that this work might also radiate out: in service of others, her communities, the collective, and the planet. She loves to nap, read, be quiet, be outside, think and talk about astrology and politics and water and all kinds of other stuff, hang out with her amazing friends and beloved partner Andrew, and hoof by the river—and just about everywhere—with their dog Danney Mars.

Tylyn O'Brien, CMT

Tylyn graduated from CenterPoint Therapeutic Massage Program in 2020. She received training in Craniosacral techniques and completed Yoga Teacher Certification in 2022.

Tylyn uses a model of therapeutic bodywork to help clients address common soft tissue conditions, injuries acute and/or chronic, and limited range of motion. She will work with you to identify and treat physical pain caused by injury from lifestyle, accidents, sports, work, postural distortions, and repetitive use syndromes. Treatments involve working with a whole body approach in mind. She uses a collage of techniques from trigger point therapy, cross fiber fractioning, myofascial release, craniosacral, and therapeutic stretching.

Eli Pedersen, BCTMB

Eli’s (they/them) techniques fall under neuromuscular modalities such as trigger point therapy, myofascial release and deep tissue adaptations. Most of their 15 years experience as a national board certified bodyworker have been spent in chiropractic offices, integrative clinics and volunteering at special events. They are very confident in sports massage, massage cupping, active isolated stretching and pregnancy massage treatments from first through third trimesters including post natal.

Eli typically integrates more than one of these many techniques into a session to meet the needs of the client. They also have an inquisitive and energetic approach to bodywork which helps keep them grounded in their practice. Although a holistic approach to bodywork and aftercare is most recommended, the more specific a complaint the more they enjoy searching for the root of the problem. Eli is very interested in energy healing modalities and wishes to incorporate that into their sessions too.

Derrick Lundberg, CMT

Derrick’s pursuit of his practice of manual therapies started in 2013 with his certification in massage therapy from the Aveda Institute in Minneapolis.  Within his first year, he was introduced to the John Barnes Myofascial Release Approach; since then, his own healing has guided a pursuit of knowledge that has brought him here with us today.

Beyond the basics of massage therapy, myofascial release has taught Derrick to leave out the lubrication and layers of division between his own hands and his patients’ skin-- this direct contact is essential to getting beyond the superficial layers of the body, using the skin as a handle to reach the deepest levels of the body. 

Myofascial release offers not only effective and sustainable pain relief and increased function, but also the broad and integrative end of the spectrum of manual therapies, while the fine manipulations taught by Jean Pierre Barral offer visceral manipulations to explore the sources of our Qi, and neural manipulations to free the snags along the pathways of our channels of communication and connection. 

Healing, at its roots, comes from the word “healan” which means “ to make whole.” As we open to ourselves and become connected to our own essence, we can truly heal, once again embodying our fascial bodies. Myofascial release brings fluidity to our solidified scars frozen in time and space, unable to process the moment, we carry a reminder that our healing is still possible.

This practice has opened Derrick’s eyes to the acupuncture channels.  As three lines appeared along the arm during an extended pull, and curiosity for time-tested herbal remedies, the next steps of his adventure led to obtaining his Master’s Degree in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine.  

The philosophies of Chinese Medicine have done wonders to understand the doors that stand before us in our healing journey-- our own journey to finding our one true self; the two poles of yin and yang, shading our mountain on either side of the path we walk; The Six Stages representing the division and transformation of these physical and ethereal realities within us; and the Five Elements balancing our flight through the universe along our way to wholeness.

Weaving in modern perspectives on personal growth and development, we can start to return to our true human nature: loving, expressive, symbiotic, creative and at peace with others and our environment.  The work of Dr. Gabor Mate brings in compassionate inquiry for diving deeper into our own belief systems, and exploring those moments when we needed to adapt to the situation in order to get one of our four basic needs met. 

Whether you have physical pain, or are burning with the manic need for self expression;  Grieving the severed connections and forgotten physical feats of your past; Restlessly seeking comfort and security; or  Striving for the opportunities to reach up and stand out among the brambles from where you’re rooted -- manual therapies can help facilitate your own healing process.

Come explore the physical, emotional, and spiritual growth which awaits behind the doors of your own healing journey-- Derrick will help you to discover that you hold the key to your health in your own hands.

Rebekah LaVone, RN, PHN, HNB-BC

Rebekah has spent much of her adult life involved within the trauma community. She studied under Dr. Karyn Purvis and is a practitioner of Trust Based Relational Intervention. Her nursing background (RN, PHN, HNB-BC) is what brought her to learn about MNRI (Masgutova NeuroSensory Motor Reflex Integration). She felt as though there was a missing link in trauma care regarding the physical body. Understanding Dr. Masgutova's work about trauma from a neurophysiological background is what opened her eyes to the necessity of being involved in a therapy that recognizes the foundation that our reflexes play within our trauma responses. She has utilized this hands-on therapy in her practice with both adults and pediatric patients. Consequently, if your body is not ready for hands-on approach, she is able to work through movements and self-initiated exercises.

Sophia Catanoso, LAc

Sophia (she/her) is a licensed acupuncturist in the state of Minnesota and is board-certified by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM). She graduated from Northwestern Health Sciences University with a Master's in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine and has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Sophia has treated a wide variety of patients and has seen patients at several hospitals and clinics around the Twin Cities. She appreciates how Chinese medicine looks at the body as a whole, and how each person can have their own specific treatment that works for them. Her priority as an acupuncturist is to create a comfortable space for her patients to heal and to ensure that everyone can receive access to care regardless of their background.

Her specialties include mental health, chronic and acute pain, immune function, menstrual health, fertility, and LGBTQIA+ healthcare.

When she’s not in the studio, Sophia enjoys making elaborate meals, gardening, and napping with her two cats.

Birgit Kraus, Qigong and Energy Work Practitioner

Birgit’s journey began over 20 years ago when different symptoms of discomfort developed into an illness, and after trying a typical western medicine approach, her path led her to the nontraditional, spiritual self healing path.

In the years that followed, she began to self study: her physical body, triggers, reactions in situations. I became more aware of how my thoughts would have a direct connection and reaction to my emotions. After many different applications, studies, diets, and detoxes, she realized how everything is connected: ONE, the Wholeness of mind, body and spirit. Different mythologies, Masters, teachers, and methods crossed her path, which she is very grateful for. Personal practices, such as Qigong, yoga, meditation, breath work, spiritual development and guidance, and with the invaluable help of gifted healers and teachers, she was able to heal deeper, held emotional wounds, became more aware of limited belief patterns and behaviours and experienced higher vibrations and frequencies.

This continuous work has allowed an awakening within her heart and soul, and inspires her to share these energy healing tools with you, to be of service holding authentically space for your unique healing journey, spiritual transformations into higher vibrations.

Birgit is a full time Energy healer, Qigong and Yoga teacher, Sound Healer and committed to the work of self growth with integrity and as a life long student of learning, and expanding.

She works with private clients or in groups, the sessions are unique and an invitation to meet in higher vibrations for the purpose of healing with help of spiritual guidance and sometimes channeling.

Birgit’s other passions are to submerge and deeply connect with nature, music, creating and exploring art.