¿QUÉ ONDA?
Hi! I’m Sam.
I am a lover of nature, of deep meandering rivers, of high alpine peaks, and of sunshine. These are my greatest teachers.
I am an acupuncturist, a body worker, a kinesiologist, and a yogi. My work integrates an interdisciplinary study of anatomy and alignment, intuition and listening, a love for movement as a means to self discovery, the calming of the nervous system to promote healing, and the Traditional Chinese Medicine meridian system. I believe that we are energetic beings, where when our energy is “balanced,” our spirit realizes its potential. Just as nature is an ecosystem, so is the interplay of elements within our body-mind-heart-spirit.
ONDA is a spanish word meaning wave in the metaphorical sense of flow, mood or vibe. "¿Qué Onda?" means "What's Up?" Or literally, "How is your flow?" My goal at Onda Integrative is to bring your Being (physical, mental, emotional, and energetic) back into its intrinsic flow where health and joy are present.
THE LONG STORY:
Touch for Health is one of the most effective integrative modalities, connecting the body’s physical health with mental clarity and a centered heart. Merging Classical Chinese Medicine with modern physiology, it “balances” the body, mind, and spirit to help you connect with your innate healing power. I am a fully certified Touch for Health Kinesiology practitioner, and a Brain Gym Educational Kinesiology practitioner. I studied massage at the McKinnon Body Therapy Center in Oakland California in 2016 to hone in on the touch skills of Touch for Health.
While recovering from an injury in 2016, yoga became an even more important part of my life. It allows us to generate our own self-healing through mindfulness, calming of the nervous system, and connection to our bodies. I earned my 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training from Tias and Surya Little of Prajna Yoga in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2018. I incorporate my knowledge of yoga and movement into treatments to educate patients so they can walk out of Onda with more tools and awareness for maintaining balance. I love yoga for both healing and self discovery, to delve deeper into new canyons within ourselves.
In 2018, I started Onda Integrative in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, offering Touch for Health and yoga to the Teton community. Over five years in Jackson, Onda Integrative grew into a healing sanctuary for hundreds of people with a wide variety of ailments. While I enjoy sports medicine and treating athletic patients with structural symptoms, the energetic component of touch and healing continued to draw me in. Thus, the deeper I dove into the healing arts, the more that Chinese Medicine became the focal point.
I attended acupuncture school at the Institute of Taoist Education and Acupuncture (ITEA) in Louisville, Colorado, from 2020-2024, graduating with a Masters Degree in Classical Five-Element Acupuncture. The wisdom passed down to me in this rigorous four-year program enabled me to be the healer I was always hoping to be. Acupuncture elegantly and precisely treats the root cause of disease through an ancient understanding of wholistic well-being. It focuses on allowing our Qi (chi), or life force, to flow freely throughout our bodies. This unlocks our innate vitality so that we feel our best.
I reopened Onda Integrative in Ridgway, Colorado in 2024 blending Touch for Health Kinesiology with the ancient wisdom of acupuncture. This integrated practice is my unique style of healing arts, and I am able to treat each patient individually depending on their needs. I might use acupuncture, applied kinesiology, yoga, or all three in a treatment to help my patients thrive.
I believe that each of us have the profound ability to heal ourselves and that the journey to do so happens from the inside out. Our whole is an integration of different parts in which every symptom connects to everything else. Acknowledging this complexity is the basis of integrative and holistic medicine. The work I do is intent on bringing balance to the individual ecosystem, comprised of the physical body, the emotional heart, the neuropathways of the mind, the chemical and hormonal system of diet and the endocrine system, and the Qi that connects everything together.
I see the beauty and the light in everyone I meet. I am passionate about supporting others in stepping into their radiance, finding calm and center, and feeling embodied, aligned, and powerful. Health and healing is a journey and it is an honor to be able to offer my tools to meet you on yours.
I hope to see you soon!
I grew up in Ridgway, Colorado, a small southwestern mountain town located between the San Juan mountains and the red desert of wild Utah. My family spent a lot of time exploring the rugged desert landscape of the Colorado Plateau and of the rivers that cut through it. I learned at a young age to observe the way that nature moved around me; the wind rippling through the canyons and water moving along the rocks, eroding and changing the landscape with patience. Connected to nature, I discovered a deep sense of power and purpose. The harmony within us mirrors the balance found in the natural world around us.
Within my community, I was blessed to find a group of healers and mentors. I learned about structural alignment, how movement can recenter the mind, and what it feels like when the spirit is “balanced.” My mentor, Colleen Gardner, introduced me to the healing work of Touch for Health, a style of Applied Kinesiology, while growing up in Ridgway. But it wasn't until after I finished my undergraduate degree, studying fine art and holistic systems, in 2014 at Montana State University that I started studying with Colleen more seriously.
