I had an opportunity to interview Emily Rowe, who with her husband Dr. Christopher Estes, recently trained to become Licensed Acutonics Faculty. Emily and I met at an Acupuncture conference in 2009, but it wasn’t until 2018 that she began her studies at the Mothership. Throughout the global pandemic Emily continued her studies online, and both Emily and Chris offered a Forum to the Acutonics community, to help us understand and address Covid-19.
A native to Florida, Emily lives in Miami and works in Miami Beach with her husband, Dr Christopher Estes. “We feed several wild street ducks, which we consider our pets.”
I asked Emily when she first became interested in an integrative approach to health and well-being, and she recalled her interest in Taoism goes back to when she was just 15-years old. She also remembers being incredibly excited to get her driver’s license so that she could attend Tai Chi classes.
What path did you take for your professional training?
I attended Florida State University for undergraduate school. I was extremely interested in microbiology and the effects of radiation on biological systems. I initially worked in Microbial Bioremediation when I was fresh out of college. We used microbes to clean up toxic waste sites that were contaminated with radioactive substances and heavy metals. I enjoyed the intellectual aspects of laboratory work, but I found the day-to-day tedious aspects of research to be very boring. At the time, I was working as a crisis counselor at the Florida HIV/AIDS hotline. This was before protease inhibitors and the HIV drug cocktails were out; at this time, there was a huge medical crisis around HIV. People were suffering and there was a lot of stigma associated with being HIV+. In Tallahassee, Florida, there was one infectious disease physician that covered seven counties of HIV/AIDS patients. He was offered a better job in another location and several patients were left without adequate care. Through my HIV/AIDS counseling work, I realized that I prefer people to microorganisms. Synchronistically, one of my classmates whom I considered dull-witted got into medical school. I said to myself, “If he can get into medical school, then I can too!” So, I quit the lab, studied independently for the MCAT and went to medical school.
I trained as a medical allopathic physician, graduating from the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine in 2004. After a brief time in the field of Internal Medicine, I quickly became frustrated and disenchanted with the conventional medical approach to illness. It focused on treating the symptoms or diseases and its end-stage complications, failing to address root causes. I frequently asked other physicians, who were higher in the command order, about the etiology and pathophysiology of medical processes. My questions were frequently brushed aside as an annoyance. In allopathic care, I observed a combination of burn out, compassion fatigue and deep lack of understanding of root causes for illness. Focus was on prescribing the PDR. So, I quit conventional medicine and went back to school to get a Master’s in acupuncture and Chinese herbology in 2009, graduating from the Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine in Ft. Lauderdale.
How has your educational path guided the professional work you have you done?
For years, I worked primarily as an acupuncturist. Even though Chinese medicine helped me to manage my chronic autoimmune processes without the side effects of medications, my health continued to deteriorate. Clinically, as I practiced Chinese medicine, I treated a lot of pain and disharmony in my clients. But I found that acupuncture was only a treatment, albeit a non-toxic one. I never saw true resolution of chronic health conditions with Chinese medicine.
I love Chinese medicine, but I found it to have limitations, like all forms of medicine.
As you explored this more deeply how did it change your approach to working with patients?
I got into the field of holistic healthcare because I was sick, and I couldn’t find a physician to help me. Personally, I was very sick with multiple autoimmune processes for several years. I was experiencing chronic migratory joint pain, severe headaches, unusual neurological symptoms, gastrointestinal issues, and paroxysmal skin manifestations. I went to multiple physicians, who had been my teachers and whom I respected. Several of them dismissed my symptoms. Some suggested that my symptoms were psychosomatic. Later, as I dug deeper into the true root causes of my medical issues, I diagnosed myself with an extremely elevated toxic burden and several chronic infections along with a genetic immune deficiency.
In 2017, my health spiraled into a full-blown crisis, with metastatic cancer. Striving to understand the driving forces for my chronic complex medical conditions, I again returned to school through the Institute of Functional Medicine, looking at a different perspective of health. I completed my Institute of Functional Medicine certification in 2018.
After completing my functional medicine training, I began learning about chronic Lyme and other stealth infections, as a driving force of chronic inflammatory conditions. I studied with Dr. Richard Horowitz in 2019, completing his course in “Healing Lyme and Co-Infections.” I also studied about the health impacts of environmental toxicities with Dr. Neil Nathan, starting in 2018.
My husband and I opened “Miami Beach Comprehensive Wellness Center” in 2017, to help others in similar situations as myself. My style of medical practice is unique because I hold multiple paradigms in my mind simultaneously. Utilizing an individualized approach, I explore the etiology of diseases, using cutting-edge laboratories with awareness of how ecological toxins can affect health. Treatment plans for my clients are individually customized, combining a variety of methods including physiological detoxification strategies, eradication of stealth infections, vibrational resonance healings, meditation, hypnotherapy, medical astrological analysis, and ancient wisdom practices, such as Shamanism, acupuncture, and herbal medicines. I have a lot of personal experience with medical issues, so I have deep empathy for my clients. Through my work, I want to raise conscious awareness of the environmental ramifications of toxins on chronic inflammatory illnesses, igniting insights about macrocosmic-microcosmic relationships, catalyzing profound healing with true etiological resolution.
What led you toward an interest in Acutonics?
I started Acutonics® training in 2018. Although, I had met Ellen Franklin, PhD at an acupuncture conference (The Pacific Symposium in San Diego) in 2009 and I had even purchased a set of the basic tuning forks, those tuning forks sat on my shelf for years. It wasn’t until 2018 that I actually signed up to take Acutonics® Level I. My dear friend and mentor, Lillian Bridges, often spoke of “divine timing.” And I was finally at the right place and the right time to do the training in 2018 at the Mothership in Llano NM. Clinically, I was dealing with more and more patients with mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS). MCAS is characterized by histamine and allergic type symptoms that come and go. It often is triggered by chronic stealth infections, such as Lyme, and from an elevated toxic burden, especially in cases of mold toxicity. Several of my clients were too physiologically reactive to take a vitamin, a Chinese herb or to receive acupuncture. I found that treatment through vibrations, such as light and sound, were the only treatments that my MCAS clients could tolerate.
What was it about Acutonics that prompted you to learn more?
Ellen Franklin used the Ohm forks on my Huato Jiaji acupuncture points in the middle of a vendor hall at an acupuncture conference. Despite the chaotic, frenzied energy of a conglomeration of people, I was immediately transported to another universe by the forks.
I love that this particular system of sound healing, uses the principles of Chinese medicine combined with Jungian psychology, astrology, planetary archetypes, and frequencies to achieve balance and harmony. The Acutonics® community draws individuals who are nurturing, supportive and life-long learners. There are so many layers of pedological concepts synthesized into this system, that is it endlessly intellectually stimulating. Treatments are creatively constructed for each individual based on their needs at this time; treatments are not protocol based. I tend to gag, heave and wretch when I see the term “protocol.”
How has the study of Acutonics® shifted your life/clinical practice, work?
Acutonics® is excellent treatment for balancing Psycho-Spiritual-Emotional issues. It harmonizes the microcosm with the macrocosm. It has helped me to maintain a more balanced state.
Is there anything unique about your approach to working with Acutonics®?
I love to layer treatments. Acutonics may be done as sole treatment. But I rarely offer a simple Acutonics® treatment. Mostly, I use Acutonics in conjunction with other modalities, such as acupuncture, astrology, hypnotherapy or a vitamin infusion. I find that the layering approach tends to exponentially increase healing potentials.
In addition to Acutonics what other integrative health care modalities do you incorporate into your clinical practice?
- Conventional Medical Diagnostics (I actually really love labs and concrete reality!)
- Chinese Medical Diagnostics and Physiognomy, including acupuncture, Cupping, Gua Sha, Chinese & Western Herbal Medicine
- Acutonics® and Sound Healing
- Flower and Tree Essences
- Hypnotherapy
- Medical-Grade Aromatherapy
- Crystal & Gem Healing
- Nutritional Supplementation
- Homeopathic & Vitamin Injections
- Biological Photomodulation
- Dietary Recommendations
- Medical Astrology
- Compassion, Kindness & Intuition
What sorts of results have they seen when you layer sound in a treatment?
My clients experience interplanetary projectile astral travel without the need for entheogens. No hangovers and no vomiting or diarrhea either!
With your very busy clinical practice, what do you like to do for fun and relaxation?
I love to learn new things and to attend conferences. I have a dark sense of humor. I am an artist. I work with needlepoint, found art collages, knitting. I also enjoy drawing with pen and ink, graphite and colored pencils. I often listen to audiobooks, as I create artworks. I tend to be a bit introverted and socially awkward. I enjoy whiling away time at a Jungian sand box, making ridiculous dioramas and reenacting scenes from ancient mythology. There’s nothing like a goddess beauty pageant to avoid boredom!
What’s next for you?
We are going to start offering umbilical-derived stem cell therapies at our clinic.
Emily is currently in Clinical Practice in Miami Beach combining Acutonics with other modalities. She currently has a six-month waiting list for new clients. But, as a Licensed Acutonics faculty member she is very open to training other Acutonics® practitioners. Their first class was in July 2023, but more are planned. Here’s the link to upcoming classes: https://www.miamibeachcwc.com/professional-education
You can contact Emily through her website: www.miamibeachcwc.com