Today we’d like to introduce you to Gretchen Seitz.
Hi Gretchen, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Seitz Acupuncture opened in 2002 in the Banker’s Hill area of San Diego between Hillcrest and downtown. The practice has always been a boutique practice that has focused on patient-centered care.
Both of my parents suffered with auto-immune disease, so when I began my practice over 20 years ago, I was passionate about working with patients who struggled with auto-immune disease, especially lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s, and inflammatory bowel disease. Acupuncture is such a good fit for any systemic inflammation, and it has been a satisfying part of my career to see patients with chronic, systemic inflammation find remission from symptoms through acupuncture and herbal medicine.
My practice has also always included chronic pain patients, people healing from sports or work-related injuries or recovering from surgery, or working through their oncology journey and chemotherapy.
Over time, insurance began to cover more acupuncture, and the profession saw a rise in patients seeking acupuncture treatment, which primarily covers musculoskeletal pain, so this part of the practice remains very robust. Walking a patient through any kind of healing journey is an honor and a privilege. And each journey is different, with its own challenges and trajectory.
Currently, the practice has expanded to include a large community of patients who are working through recovery from trauma, relationship abuse, narcissistic abuse recovery, emotional abuse, and complex PTSD.
This is largely in part due to my own healing journey through emotional abuse and relationship trauma.
This is a part of the practice that is very important to me as it has allowed me to make sense of my own suffering and to be able to empathize with my patients who are on their journey to wholeness and the exploration of their personal awakening.
This is a full-circle moment for me as my doctoral thesis that I completed in 2013 was titled Acupuncture Efficacy and the Awakening of Human Consciousness. This research took 5 years to complete and examined over 3000 articles. Essentially, I compared studies that looked at functional MRIs of meditating brains, and I compared those findings to studies that looked at acupuncture recipient functional fiMRIs and found a correlation.
This has been central to my ability to work with patients who are working through trauma and CPTSD because I did this research myself, so I know it intimately, and I understand the neuroscience behind why acupuncture is effective for this patient population that is working through trauma.
This is some of the most gratifying work that I have done over the last 20 years in part because it is so personal to the trajectory of my life as well as my academic and professional career. It all comes together in this “brutiful” way if I can borrow a term from the author, Glennon Doyle. It’s a combination of the words brutal and beautiful. Healing can feel brutal no matter what the journey looks like and while we often cannot see it and we want to resist so much of the pain, there is a kind of beauty that we eventually ease into— not right away of course. This is a long, slow process, and there is no rushing to some mystical place of peace. It’s painful, and it is vitally important to acknowledge that as the process is non-linear and full of raw emotion.
The part that can be beautiful about these individual journeys is that we realize that it isn’t possible to walk them alone. It requires the help of others, and that can take many forms.
I benefited immensely in my own healing journey in many cases from the kindness of compete strangers who found me, or we found each other. It is like stitching together a wound. It takes many tiny stitches to heal the deepest wounds. And having another human who is emotionally available or who can empathize and listen without judgement is one of the most healing exchanges of the human experience. When we are at our lowest, people will show up for us. It’s part of the agreement. We don’t heal alone.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Gosh— any small business owner knows so many challenges. I think the recession of 2008/2009 was one of the first major challenge for the practice. Patients just disappeared at that time, and it was very difficult for so many private practices. Of course, everyone knows that the pandemic was a massive challenge for small businesses and especially those that can’t pivot to Zoom. It’s just not possible with certain professions— we need to be able to work directly with patients in person, so this was rough.
I think anyone who tells you that the road has always been smooth is just not being truthful. We all struggle, and being vulnerable enough to admit that the road isn’t smooth helps us to be able to relate on a very real and intimate level with other humans. This is what life is for— it’s for connection, and we often connect when we are not at our shiniest. That’s how it works.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Seitz Acupuncture?
I think brand-wise, I am most proud of the fact that the practice has always been patient-centered and heart-centered. Providers of this kind of treatment bring their A-game when they give from who they are. This isn’t always possible in every case because it requires knowing who you are to achieve that. Self-awareness isn’t a given; it’s earned from deep self-reflection and being honest with ourselves. Once you know, you know, and anything less than real authentic connection is just never going to cut it. Humans who have suffered deeply are the best people you will ever have the privilege of meeting. They have zero tolerance for BS. It’s wonderful and liberating to be around these kinds of people. I highly recommend it.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I encourage people to seek out helpers in life. I have personally benefited tremendously from CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), hypnotherapy, somatic therapies, meditation, exercise, breath work, and cultivating relationships with people who feel good to my nervous system and discerning who those people are and are not. Complex PTSD is complex as the name indicates, and it helps to find people who understand what this feels like and how challenging it can be to work through the difficult emotions. The truth is that it is possible to heal, and you will. That hope means everything to someone who is struggling to get through moment by moment, breath by breath. That’s how the healing journey begins.
Contact Info:
- Website: drgretchenseitz.com
- Instagram: @SeitzAcupuncture
- Linkedin: DrGretchenSeitz, DAOM, LAc, DiplOM
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/seitz-acupuncture-san-diego-2?utm_source=ishare
Image Credits
Robin Daley
