Jonathan Papish, L.Ac

千里之行，始于足下

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - Dao De Jing, Chapter 64

I didn’t set out to become an acupuncturist. I set out to explore—to live in China, learn its language, and sit with its philosophy until the characters on the page felt like my own breath. But when chronic pain and Type 1 diabetes complications left me searching for answers, I turned to the medicine I’d admired from afar. This time, not as a student of culture, but as a patient. And it worked.

So I decided to step deeper. At Pacific College of Health and Science, I kept the translations but added needles, kept the poetry but added herbal formulas—always holding on to a core truth: healing begins when we meet the body where it is.

Now, I practice slow medicine. Not fixing, but listening. Not forcing, but aligning. Because every journey—toward pain relief, resilience, or simply feeling whole—begins with a single step.

Let’s begin where you are.