Daoist Alchemy

I've always believed there was something more to life. As a child, I was captivated by the possibility of magic, the real mystery that hums beneath the surface of existence. That sense of wonder is what drew me to acupuncture in the first place. I wanted to learn the medicine that could touch the intangible.

But TCM school burned me out. For five years after my license, I was doing what I now call "poke and pray" acupuncture—sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I knew in my heart there was something real to this medicine, but I hadn't found access to it yet. I stayed because I couldn't shake the feeling that the magic was there, just out of reach.

The Treatment That Changed Everything

Then I found a continuing education class from Leta Herman on the 13 Ghost Points. My ears perked up immediately. This was the material I'd been curious about in school. The theory we'd barely glossed over with a warning that they were "reserved only for serious mental derangement" before moving on. The class blew me away. I reached out to Leta right after, initially not to study under her, but because I felt was stuck. She presented the treatment as a way of restoring authenticity and releasing cellular patterns of entrenchment.

I knew my calling but couldn't move forward. I knew my gifts but was terrified to share them. I doubted my capacity, my worthiness to step into the world as a healer.

Leta suggested the 13 Ghost Points and a few months later, I received the treatment. From that point on, nothing was the same. I felt like myself again. For the first time in years, I felt inspired by the possibilities ahead of me. I felt an eagerness, almost a compulsion, to share what I had to offer with the world.

The magic I'd carried so strongly as a child had rekindled. I wasn't just unblocked. I was alive! I am recreational saber fencer and that weekend I proceeded to compete and win a medal in a local tournament.

I enrolled in Leta's three-year Master of Alchemy Apprenticeship immediately. What followed felt like lifetimes of spiritual growth compressed into three years of intensive study, personal practice, and transformation. Now I'm proud to bring these rare offerings to San Diego.

What is Daoist Alchemy?

Daoist Alchemy is the transformational process of becoming a realized human being. The creator of your own reality. It's about not just finding your own rudder and sail, but creating your own breeze, so you're no longer a victim of life's randomness. It’s a soul-level remembering that everything happens for you, not to you.

The ancient Daoists believed we are born perfect, like gold. You can bury it, freeze it, heat it, and when you polish it clean, it hasn't changed. It remains as beautiful as it's always been.

Most people today think we're more like silver, or worse, lead. We rust, corrode, break down, and expect to fall apart at a predictable expiration date. And most people follow that exact path, not because it's inevitable, but because we believe it is.

Alchemy is the process of remembering you were born perfect. It's the medicine that helps you release what's covering your gold so you can be your most authentic self.

Is Alchemy For You?

Ask yourself this simple but profound question:

Is there more to life than this?

If your answer is yes, or if you're already asking yourself this question, you are ready for Alchemy.

Perhaps your life feels like the movie Groundhog Day: living the same patterns over and over, desperately wanting things to change but unable to create a different outcome. You may feel you have something important to offer the world that only you can bring, but you can't get enough momentum to take off. So you wait, and wait, and wait for the right moment.

If you're curious about what lies beyond the cycle of the ordinary, if you want more meaning, more answers, more vitality… if you want to discover your full potential and actually fly in your life, then Alchemy is for you.

The Treatments I Offer

The 13 Ghost Points

This treatment addresses what the ancients called "spiritual possession"—the patterns, beliefs, and traumas that feel beyond your control. It releases self-sabotage, addiction, intrusive thoughts, and deeply rooted obstacles that keep you from expressing your authentic self fully.

This is the treatment that freed me to step into my work as a healer. It's powerful medicine for those who know their gifts but can't seem to share them, who know their path but feel blocked from walking it.

The 9 Heart Pains

This protocol opens the heart to self-love and authentic connection. It releases the "tentacles" wrapped around your heart—the old beliefs, coping mechanisms, and pain (self-inflicted or inflicted by others) that keep you from living vulnerably and sincerely.

If you've done years of therapy but still feel guarded, if you struggle with self-compassion or trusting your own heart, this treatment creates the opening for real change.

The 9 Stages of Alchemy

This is the complete framework for spiritual cultivation and a roadmap for becoming a realized human being. The stages guide you through releasing ancestral burdens, discovering who you truly are, understanding your spiritual curriculum in this lifetime, and moving beyond the lessons that keep you stuck.

The first three stages focus on realizing who you are and why life is unfolding as it is, empowering you to become the protagonist of your own story. The work is about stepping into the peace that is your birthright through actual energetic and spiritual transformation at the body level. This is not happy-go-lucky affirmations and saccharin positive reinforcement. This is hard work. Worthwhile work.

What Makes This Work Different

You may have gained insight through therapy, meditation, or years of inner work. You may have conscious awareness of your limiting beliefs. But if those patterns still persist, it's because they don't just live in your mind—they're encoded in your body and spirit.

Daoist Alchemy addresses what talk therapy, meditation, and even standard acupuncture cannot reach. It works at the level where trauma, ancestral patterns, and spiritual obstacles are actually held.

The Prerequisite: A Sincere Heart

Alchemy requires what the tradition calls a "sincere heart"—a willingness to look at yourself honestly, to forgive and release, to let go of the past. If you're not ready for that level of self-inquiry, the Ghost Points or Heart Pains treatments can help you develop the capacity for it.

This isn't about being perfect or spiritually advanced. It's about being willing. Willing to ask better questions. Willing to seek better answers. Willing to untangle the tentacles wrapped around your heart and tell your life's story in a healthier, truer way.

My Commitment to This Medicine

I don't just offer these treatments—I live them. I continue my own journey through the 9 Stages of Alchemy. I maintain a daily qigong practice. I study Chinese metaphysics and Daoist philosophy not as academic exercises, but as the foundation of how I move through the world.

You're working with someone who was transformed by this medicine, who knows what it's like to feel stuck and scared, and who found the magic again through these very protocols.

What to Expect

Alchemical treatments often work in ways that are hard to explain until you experience them. Shifts can happen immediately or unfold over weeks. You might feel lighter, clearer, more yourself. Old patterns might simply stop showing up. Doors that felt locked might suddenly open.

Deep Alchemy work (like the 9 Stages) and even the Ghost Points unfolds over months or even years. This isn't quick-fix medicine—it's the medicine of becoming who you were always meant to be. There is no rushing that.

Discover if Daoist Alchemy is right for you.