TABITHA DOING MEDICAL QIGONG PRACTICE

(A Chinese moving meditation for health similar to Tai Chi.) SEE HER FULL BIO BELOW.

Tabitha Marsh

TABITHA MARSH, DACM, LAc, LMT#5104

Professional Counselor Associate
(Jenn Elle, LCSW Supervisor)

Doctor of Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine

Dr. Tabitha also teaches medical qigong - a form of moving meditation similar to Tai Chi.

ABOUT DR. TABITHA MARSH

Biography

Dr. Tabitha draws from 30 years of experience in holistic and integrative healthcare. She is a Professional Counselor Associate, Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (DACM), a Licensed Acupuncturist, and a Licensed Massage Therapist in the state of Oregon.

Impower Healing Holistic Counseling & Wellness was created by Dr. Tabitha to fulfill a 17-year vision of creating a holistic counseling practice that integrated natural medicine. From her earliest experiences in massage therapy, she learned how mind can affect the body and body affect the mind.  This was reinforced even more during nearly five years of teaching massage therapy as well as her early internship and therapy experiences working in a a community health center with individuals with life challenging and chronic illnesses and youth with eating disorders.

As an acupuncturist, she learned the oldest and most developed theories of mind-body medicine currently in existence — and how we can honor the roots of depth traditions of medicine while also incorporating the frontier of neuroscience and western psychology to create even better results.

Currently Dr. Tabitha offers holistic counseling sessions with an option to add on Chinese medicine and acupuncture to help people integrate and balance the themes that come up during the session.

 

Formal Education

[For additional information see Linked In.]

Certificates & Certifications

  • Certificate in Integrative Somatic Parts Work (via Embody Lab, 2024)
  • Certified Somatic EMDR Practitioner (via Embody Lab, 2024)

Chinese Medicine Treatment Specialties

  • 2022-2025 5-Element and Integral Medicine studies with Lonny Jarrett, LAc
  • 2015-2017 Kiiko Matsumoto Style Acupuncture Studies (w/Monika Kobylecka)
  •            w/ Jeffrey Dann & Junji Mizutani)
  • 2012 Advanced Studies in Japanese Meridian Therapy (OCOM Master’s Degree)
  • 1997 Certified Shiatsu Practitioner (w/ Jim Cleaver via OSM)
  • 2012 Advanced Zen Shiatsu studies (OCOM) + some Tuina (Chinese massage)
  •  (via OCOM)
  • Dr. Tabitha also draws from personal studies in Tai Chi, Yoga, Aerial Yoga and Martial Arts; teaching body mechanics as a Massage Teacher, and early studies in energy medicine (Reiki Master, polarity) and meditation/mindfulness.

     

Common Questions 

(for those who like details)

My first experiments with healing began at age two, when I terrorized my parents by getting into the medicine cabinet to explore and create my own “remedies”. Thankfully unscathed by these explorations, my curiosity around healing continued to be enriched by my father (an osteopathic physician) and my mother (a self-taught enthusiast of Natural Medicine). I never thought about a career in the healing arts, however, until a co-worker gave me a gift certificate for massage in my early 20’s. 

Within the first session, my practitioner was able to eliminate a shoulder condition that had affected me for a number of years. Like many people in today’s driven society, I had taken the pain and clicking of my shoulder as something I had to live with. This experience showed me otherwise and was a major wake-up call.  

Soon after, I decided to make a career change and entered the Oregon School of Massage. I instantly fell in love with it and have been pursing my interest in the healing arts every since.

MY CLINICAL SPECIALITIES

Since I started out as a massage therapist, I guess it is no surprise that I gravitated immediately to “palpation style” acupuncture — which means that I use touch to help me decipher what is going on in the body and look for changes to give me direct, in-the-moment feedback on treatment efficacy. 

I draw heavily from Kiiko Matsumoto style acupuncture, Meridian Therapy, Japanese Neuromuscular Retraining (Sotai), Japanese direct-style moxibustion, and other Japanese styles while integrating others that are clinically useful such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), microsystems, 5-element styles, some Master Tung Points and more recently Electro-Acupuncture Medicine (use of gentle microcurrent with pins at specific frequencies to help support the immune system, reduce pain, and reset the neurological system).

I often include cupping, gua sha, and essential oils into treatment.

My style is holistic, integrative, and pragmystic — meaning that I blend the best of what we know of science and practical approaches; while also honoring the inner world of psyche, soul, and wisdom traditions. I am particularly influenced by integral medicine — as influenced by practitioners such as Lonny Jarrett and Lorie Dechar.

As a Massage Therapist, I combine Deep Tissue, Myofascial Release, and Western Orthopedic Massage with Shiatsu (acupressure) and mind-body somatic practices to address your complaints from all angles.

ASIAN BODYWORK SPECIALITIES

*Certified Shiatsu Practitioner including graduate level training in Zen Shiatsu — along with studies Tui Na and Chinese Reflexology.  Additional studies in Sotai (Japanese Neuromuscular Re-education) and Chi Nei Tsang. Reiki Master.

WESTERN BODYWORK SPECIALITIES

 *Myofascial release, Deep Tissue, Sidelying Massage and specific training on conditions such as carpal tunnel, thoracic outlet syndrome and the specialized needs of cancer and pregnancy patients.

* Former Massage and Clinic Teacher for nearly 5 years.

*I also initiated and led a non-profit project where I supervised an offsite clinic for 5 exceptional students to provide free massage therapy to clients getting services at Quest Center for Integrative Health.  It was so impactful to me, the students and the community that I was inspired to  change my Master’s Thesis at the last minute — so that I could encourage others to bring the mind-body aspects of massage into community clinics where it is most needed.

 

My degree had a focus on depth psychology, and I have been particularly influenced by the worlds of C. G. Jung, Carl Rogers (Humanistic), Self-Psychology, Imaginal & Archetypal Psychology and Systems Theory as well as modalities like art therapy, archetypal work, psychodrama, energy psychology, somatic psychology and various world wisdom traditions – particularly of the Far East.

My internship work in counseling psychology was at a community health center that focused on chronic and life-changing illnesses, and later an eating disorder clinic where I led mind-body classes for children, teens and young adults (where I truly experienced the depth of how mind and body come together to affect both our physical health and mental well-being).

Other influences include (but are not limited to) Integral Theory (Ken Wilber) and the Enneagram (personality system) and well as studying mind-body neurology and the physical basis of trauma.

 

TAM_Herbal_900x909

Tabitha at the OCOM herbal dispendary in 2012.

A Healer's Journey
Through the Dark Night of the Soul

One of the most important trainings that a healer can have is to be taken to the precipice of all they know so that they can become something more.  Maybe you have been there too.  Tabitha shares her journey here:

nate rayfield space tree

Don’t Ever Become a Doctor

My father was a physician, and although beloved by his patients, he was frustrated by the limitations of the conventional medical system. “Don’t ever become a doctor.” He advised us – and I had no intention of ever doing so.

Sometimes life has different plans for us.

When I was 16 my mother suddenly fell ill from an inexplicable illness that affected her physically, neurologically and her ability to be present with us.  It was devastating to all of us, but as the eldest of four, I did everything I could to support her while trying to protect my siblings from the brunt of it.

Dark Night of the Soul

I had always been a philosophically and spiritually oriented child, but this experience took all I knew about myself and life and crushed it like steam roller over a soda can.  Eventually, exhausted, dispirited, with my reality broken all around me, I hit my dark night of the soul.

I realized at that point that I had two choices, to trust the light of wisdom inside of me that said that even if I didn’t know what was happening now, that someday I would — or to fall into the pit of despair.

To me, the choice was obvious — and my inner journey of healing began that day.

Perhaps you have has a similar experience of that dark night of the soul?

Finding The Gifts

Since then, I have spent 30 years cultivating that inner voice and exploring how we can heal and move through life with greater ease and less suffering regardless of the circumstances.  I also became what my father always advised against but on the natural side of things – an Oriental Medicine Practitioner. 

Through my personal search and experience as a practitioner, I have learned that inner healing and outer healing go hand and hand — that the very things which reduce (inner) suffering and give us the greatest joy and meaning in life, are the exact same things  that promote the most vibrant (outer) health.

I have a particular passion for helping those with chronic pain and stress-exacerbated illness to reclaim a connection with their inner self and to feel empowered in the healing process.

Close Menu