About Me
I remember in my early twenties having this very clear revelation that I want to support people in knowing who they truly are. Such a young buck, I really didn't even know who I was. But I believe that intention to serve folks in this particular way thrusted me forward onto a really intense journey of learning who I thought I was and slowly making my way home to who I really am.
That journey is the most precious thing to me. And I can't even put into words the joy and fulfillment I feel when showing up for other people in this same process of unlearning/shedding/releasing what just doesn't feel right or fit anymore...and embracing a deeper truth.
In my experience, that truth seems to be bottomless, ever unfolding and always inviting me closer.
This Ram Dass quote really hit me when I heard it: "You don't worship the gate, you go into the inner temple". What I heard in this is the encouragement to just keep going deeper, as far into my heart and my truth as I'm called. That's my aim for myself and I'm honored to serve other travelers on that road.
Leah Barber, L.Ac
Classical Five-Element Acupuncture
Reiki
I studied Classical Five-Element Acupuncture (CF-EA) at a school in Louisville, Colorado called the Institute of Taoist Education and Acupuncture, graduating with a Masters in Acupuncture in 2020. Classical Five-Element Acupuncture is a modernization of a style that was commonly practiced in China before Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) became popularized. While there are many styles of acupuncture, TCM is a common term for what most westerners have experienced of acupuncture in the US. What I studied and practice is a little different than Traditional Chinese Medicine, and so sessions with me will typically feel a little different to someone who has experienced TCM.
Aside from clearing major energetic blocks, the main focal points of Classical Five-Element Acupuncture sessions are meeting and treating the client at the level of the spirit, as well as supporting the balance of the elements (earth, metal, water, wood, fire) within the client. Imbalance in any of the elements manifests as any wide range of symptoms, thus restoring balance can manifest in the alleviation of just as wide a range of symptoms, as well as an overall sense of improved well-being. I stay in the room for the majority of session and, aside from a couple of protocols, rarely leave the needles in. Instead, CF-EA teaches moving from one point to the next, with focus on the point location accuracy and a session that nourishes deeply.
While CF-EA treatments can help relieve symptoms on every level - from allergies to stuck grief to menstrual issues to migraines and many others - the focus is on restoring a deep level of balance. Over time, as the system gets its needs met on this more fundamental energetic level, the client often finds maintaining a sense of wellness and inner well-being gets easier and more intuitive. The aim of the sessions is for the client to be energetically supported in locating their own inner resources, ultimately needing sessions less frequently and experiencing a life that gets better and better.
Ideally, clients will commit to weekly sessions for a month or so, while establishing care. This gives the treatments time and space to take root, building a crucial foundation of support.
This style of acupuncture called me to it and has kept me close over this last decade - I couldn't let it go if I tried! It's clear it's one of the ways I'm meant to work with others. It has supported me in peeling back some of my own very thick layers of dis-ease and I've been honored to be treating others with it since I started my clinical years in 2018.
My personal passion in working with folks is to support others in coming home to their deepest truth, under everything that feels like it's holding them back from their joy. I believe a winding road with sometimes very painful growth opportunities is natural and I also believe that with a strong intention, no one has to stay stuck in ways of being that don't feel right. I truly enjoy being on the ride with others while they come home to themselves.
In 2009, I studied Level I and II Reiki in New York City. I mostly practiced on myself and the occasional infant, seeing really beautiful benefits! In 2022 I returned to finish my Master Level attunement with Melissa Crowhurst, who does distance courses from Australia. What a powerful experience I had diving deeper and found that I really love being a humble channel for the healing energy of Life (Source, God, Creator, Divine Intelligence, choose your term). I've come to understand that every cell in our bodies has a strong impulse towards healing and that we can be empowered to get out of the way and receive it! I believe that in the right conditions, healing simply happens. Reiki is a really subtle but powerful way of getting in the flow of receiving the benefits of that healing energy.
Sessions are deeply relaxing and tend to offer a sense of ease and vitality and a greater sense of connection within. They can be aimed at a specific intention for healing or can simply be open to what flows. Either way, Life is doing the healing and that follows natures rhythms, which I'm learning to trust implicitly. We may want a certain outcome and yet what we receive is always what we need.
Something I was exploring before acupuncture school and came back around to afterwards is a system called Plant Spirit Medicine (not to be confused with "plant medicine"/ayahuasca etc).
Many, many indigenous cultures have relationships with the essence or spirits of the plants in their immediate worlds. Relating to and channeling the healing energy of those plants is such a powerful practice and is available to anyone who is curious enough to study it, which I am - with delight.
This particular system was refined by a gent named Elliot Cowan to work in tandem with the language of Classical Five Element Acupuncture - many practitioners of both can use the plants to do the work that needles otherwise do in acupuncture sessions.
This is a wonderful option for someone who is either averse to needles or just loves energy medicine. It can also be practiced remotely, making it available to someone who doesn't have a Five Element practitioner in their neck of the woods. As someone who loves the contact of needles in acupuncture sessions, I actually was surprised to learn that I love both receiving and giving Plant Spirit Medicine sessions remotely.
These sessions can range from feeling deeply relaxing to profoundly visual or sensory.
Plant Spirit Medicine
Pricing
Acupuncture Intake + Treatment (2-3 hours):
$180
Acupuncture Follow-up (60-90 min):
$90
Reiki or Plant Spirit Medicine Session: (30-45 min):
$50
*Sliding scale prices may be available upon request!!
Contact Me
Louisville:
317 W. South Boulder Rd, Suite 2