Meet Armida Esquivel

We were lucky to catch up with Armida Esquivel recently and have shared our conversation below.

Armida, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

Wow where do I start. First I have to say that it was difficult choosing just one topic as I feel I could have told a story for almost all of them. Imposter syndrome, divorce, where do i get my confidence/optimism to being in a room where no one looks like me. But in the end I chose resilience to encompass them all.

My story begins as the 4th born out of 5 children to very resilient parents who immigrated to the U.S in the late 1950’s.
When I was 8 yrs old my 40 year old father suddenly passed away leaving my non English speaking , non working 39 yr old now single mother of 5 to fend for us. At that time we kids were sent away to live in Mexico with relatives while our mother figured out our living arrangements. It took a school year before we were all together again. Every school day I was taken to the border. I would cross and walk to school. I was in the third grade. Once we got settled back in the U.S with our mother we had to take on many roles. One we did not care for was the role of interpreter dealing with utility companies, banks, landlords etc. That makes a kid resilient!
At the age of 16 I became a mother myself. I dropped out of school to work to help support my daughter. The same year I was meant to graduate I got my GED and I was so proud of myself for finishing school. Something no one ever believed I could do. Resilient! I married my daughter’s father at 18 yrs. who was now an enlisted Navy young man. I had my second child at 19 yr, a son. We traveled the world and lived in amazing places…a remote island on the Alutian chain off of main land Alaska, the Philippines, Hawaii, Japan. It was a wonderful experience with lots of tears and growing pains. I was left many times to figure things out because my ex was away on a ship for months at a time on deployment. I was determined to make our lives beautiful and successful.
I divorced my Navy man 19 yrs later. I had no formal education. He swore to me that I would end up on government assistance because of my lack of higher education. One day I met a woman who had just finished massage school. I was intrigued. Maybe i could go to school and get formal training and make a
decent living. Turns out I loved the work but mostly I loved learning about our body inside and out. I worked 3 jobs at a time to pay my way through school in Hawaii. I did it ! Resilience!
I worked my first job as a licensed massage therapist at the same spa for 13 yrs. I started out part time. Got my esthetician license the following year. Became the spa team lead and spa team educator within 4 yrs. I have always been striving to elevate myself.
At 43 yrs. I met what I believed to be the love of my life and married him. I moved to Australia his home country and lived there for 3 yrs before we returned to Hawaii. At 50 yrs old I decided I wanted to continue my education to better serve my clients. We decided to move to the mainland in San Diego so that I could attend an esteemed acupuncture program. 6 yrs later I finally graduated. 2019 I took the licensing exam AND FAILED! 2020 Covid lockdown happened. I studied daily for hours at a time during lockdown for months until we were allowed to come in and take the exam. This time I passed.phew, thank god for my resilience.
I now have a Masters and Doctorate In Traditional Chinese and Herbal Medicine. I own my practice that I have built through stamina, belief and resilience. I have a couple of specialties and a whole lot of generosity when I treat my patients . It did cost me my marriage because yet again there was someone telling me I was doing it all wrong. But haters gonna hate. I’m living my dream every day. It takes courage, sweat and tears, unconditional belief in yourself and a hell of a lot of RESILIENCE!

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I have furthered my education specializing in Advanced Facial Acupuncture. Advanced Facial massage and Buccal massage, Micro-needling and Holistic Esthetics.
I love working on the face and head. A lot of people don’t realize that the face and head are micro systems of the body mapped with organ systems , channels and acupuncture/pressure points. these areas hold tension, stagnation, emotions, pathologies, like the shoulders or lower back do. Not to mention our facial expressions are how we present to the world. If you hold tension in the head and face your face will look tense.

I love is combining a West and East approach. Working with nutrition, herbal medicine, exercise , acupuncture, gua sha, facial cupping breath work and organic clean skin care lines. The approach of working the body from the inside out to attain Health and natural beauty

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Love what you do. Your passion will come through in your treatments.
Keep current on local trends/knowledge and become the best at it. Continued education is key.
Respect and honor everyone you get the privilege to work on.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

The biggest challenge I face is that of an infant entrepreneur. I see myself as a practitioner first the business side of things doesn’t always interest me.
I talk to friends in the field and ask for their advice on methods they have tried. This is definitely a work in progress. I would like to attend business seminars focused in my field of Acupuncture and Wellness.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Rootsofhealthacupuncture.com
• Instagram: @rootsofhealthacupuncture

Image Credits

Lil Bird Photography