I Learned About Acupuncture and Stress the Hard Way…
…when one of my first acupuncturists fired me.
I’d been seeing him for a few months for stomach pain, but the treatments didn’t help. Eventually he said “There’s something in you that isn’t ready to heal, and you need to figure out what that is.”
That shook me up. I realized that he repeatedly asked me about whether I was feeling stress, and I always said “I’m fine.” The reality is that I was dealing with frequent anxiety and unacknowledged trauma. But I didn’t share that with him, because . . . what did that have to do with my digestion? I didn’t yet understand how deeply linked mind and body are.
Eventually I got honest with myself. I started doing yoga and meditating. I began working through my issues. And the stomach pain went away.
It was the beginning of a giant shift in what I understood about health and being human. My body and mind weren’t separate, and my pain was driven by stress.
During and after my pregnancy, I developed hypertension and postpartum anxiety, and my doctors had no help to offer. So I went back to acupuncture, and this time it worked. Not only did that, but during a prenatal treatment, I felt a deep intuition about who our baby would be. It was a profound moment.
It took more time for everything to click, but eventually I realized that my experiences and my longstanding interest in women’s health were leading me down a new path to study acupuncture and Chinese medicine.
The Rest of The Story
I’m Arden Yingling, MAcOM, L.Ac., a licensed and board-certified acupuncturist and herbalist in the state of Vermont. My pronouns are she/her/hers.
I received a Master’s Degree from AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine in 2014, and have extensive post-graduate training in women’s health, including perimenopause and menopause, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, stress, trauma and pediatrics.
I opened Songbird Acupuncture in 2014 because I wanted to offer the kind of care that I needed. I have compassion for the many paths life can take, and focus on effective, lasting results as well as kindness, humor, and a non-judgmental attitude.
Currently I live in the Burlington, Vermont area with my husband and our pets. When I’m not in the clinic, I love to read, cook, knit, watch birds, hang out at the lake, and explore mountains and forests.