My Bio and Story

Peregrine Zoe Whitehurst, LAc.

Peregrine Zoe Whitehurst is an acupuncturist and herbalist licensed at AIMC in her hometown of Berkeley, California - the ancestral, unceded land of the Chochenyo Ohlone. She now lives with her husband and baby boy in Grass Valley - the unceded territory of the Nisenan people. She learned to love plants and gardening with her grandfather and mother and experienced complementary medicine from a young age. She has studied herbalism in many forms for over 15 years, practiced yoga and meditation for 20 years and, studied and practiced permaculture for more than 10 years. In addition to Chinese medicine she also practices Depth Hypnosis, Chinese Medical Qi Gong, Reiki, nutritional counseling, movement coaching, and Western herbalism. She trained with Elizabeth Davis as a doula and loves to work with birthing people in all stages as well as with children. She studied Curanderismo medicine ways with Atava Garcia-Swiecicki at Ancestral Apothecary as well as summer courses at UNM in New Mexico with Cheo Torres. She has a great passion for growing herbs and has been applying this as a founding member of the Lilium Initiative as well as her work as the garden manager for the AIMC herb garden while she was a student. She has personally experienced the power of this medicine to heal and transform her own life and those of her patients. She loves to share Chinese medicine with people of all backgrounds, genders, and abilities. She feels honored to have the privilege to practice this ancient form of medicine that taps into the indigenous roots of healing that all of our ancestors once knew, and thus can support our bodies to return to the balance they innately know.

My Focus and Journey to Practicing Acupuncture

During my time in Chinese Medicine school, I did an externship multiple terms at the Homeless Prenatal Program in San Francisco. I fell in love with their program and looked forward to our shift where we would treat the waves of bustling groups of mothers-to-be, postpartum moms, children, dads, and staff there that would come every Friday. Most of the clients there spoke Spanish, and having studied Spanish all my life and as well as traveled in Latin America many times, I looked forward to helping the monolingual Spanish speakers as the only Spanish speaker on our team. This gave me great delight, as I feel I owe my interest in healing work to my experiences in Guatemala, Mexico and Peru and all the incredible healing traditions still practiced in those places.
When I was still a classroom teacher I spent all my extra time (which was very little) studying with Atava Garcia Swiecicki at Ancestral Apothecary in Oakland California. My own ancestral roots are Ashkenazi Jewish from Poland and Belarus as well as Celtic from Ireland, England, and other areas in and around Western Europe. However, there was something about Curanderismo - the medicine ways of Mexico - that caught my heart and lead me to study 3 summers with Cheo Torres and his many associates at the University of New Mexico as well as take many classes with Atava. I see this magnetism similarly to my love of Chinese medicine. Curanderismo has also been able to maintain some very ancient knowledge of how the body functions, and though my own people have lost touch with their indigenous roots, there are memories that can be ignited by respectfully connecting with the intact traditions of other cultures. It was right as my capacity to teach in elementary schools felt stretched to the breaking point, that I accompanied Atava and her other students on a trip to Oaxaca to study with her teachers - Estela Roman and Doña Enriqueta. The trip was exquisite and gave me a sense of the healing capacity I had but had never acknowledged. The limpias, temescales, and profound teachings made me thirsty to continue to follow the healing path. When I returned to the States I knew I wanted to study traditional medicine at a very deep level. Through prayer, listening and following I chose Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. I spent the next year doing prerequisites and applying to schools and started at AIMC the following Fall. I continue to study the truth of our ancestral knowledge of indigenous wisdom through my studies with Martin Prechtel at Bolad’s Kitchen, where he encourages us to dig into our own roots to discover the lost clues to our indigenous souls. I also continue to be fascinated by the wisdom of birth workers and traditional midwives of Mesoamerica and will continue to build my capacity to support before during and after birth for womb holders with these tools along with the powerful gifts of Acupuncture and Chinese medicine.