Meet Elena Beltran

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elena Beltran. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elena below.

Elena, we are so happy that our community is going to have a chance to learn more about you, your story and hopefully even take in some of the lessons you’ve learned along the way. Let’s start with self-care – what do you do for self-care and has it had any impact on your effectiveness?

I’m naturally an introverted person, and though I love working with people, I also realize that to be fully present, I need to prioritize self-care. For me, that looks like disconnecting from technology and surrounding myself in nature. Breathing fresh air while feeling the sun on my skin and the earth beneath my feet is medicine for my soul. Movements such as yoga, climbing, hiking, qigong, or simply walking keep me grounded and remind me to slow down and breathe. With life, there is breath, and to breathe is to expand. Self-care can look different for everyone, but a great place to start is making sure your body has what it needs to thrive, such as drinking enough water and eating nutrient-dense foods.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My name is Elena, and I am the founder and acupuncturist of Graceful Healing Acupuncture & Wellness. We offer patient-centered healing practices rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), including acupuncture, cupping, and herbal medicine. My journey to this point began with an intuitive curiosity about the ways of the seasons and the internal workings of the human body. These macro and microcosm worlds, brimming with life, captivated my attention and ignited my pursuit of knowledge. Ultimately, what led me here was following my heart, embarking on a journey to uncover the wisdom of ancient medicines and ways of life, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine.

I created Graceful Healing Acupuncture & Wellness to provide a safe and patient-centered space for those in need of holistic healthcare. This aspect can be missing in the busy, insurance-driven medical system we have today. My goal is to make sure that every patient feels heard, valued, and respected. You are not simply a number or a set of letters on a clipboard. The beauty with TCM is that everyone is treated differently, and my intention is not only to relieve symptoms but also to uncover the root of every imbalance.

Each treatment is unique to the individual, and it may involve not only acupuncture (the insertion of tiny needles into specific points throughout the body) but also other modalities such as acupressure, guasha/scraping, cupping, electrical stimulation, or herbal medicine. Additionally, I aim to provide personalized insights and recommendations on movements, breathing patterns, and dietary modifications tailored to each individual’s specific needs.

My intent is to help people live gracefully within their bodies, navigating life with ease and acceptance, knowing that living in pain is not the only option. Learning to recognize that stress can be regulated and doesn’t need to be the norm in your life. Whether it’s to bring balance to someone’s life or to journey together to uncover the root of chronic health issues, I am excited to help. I treat a wide range of disorders, but have a special affinity for treating digestive disorders, women’s health, nervous system dysregulation, such as stress and anxiety, sleep disorders, headaches/migraines, sinus issues, and, of course, pain.

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

Looking back on my journey, I am incredibly grateful for the intricate strings of fate that have brought me here. Three qualities that have helped me along my path would have to be flexibility, perseverance, and an intrinsic desire to learn. Being flexible and the ability to adapt have kept me grounded through the tumultuous waves that life brings, such as going through school at the start of the COVID pandemic. Truly, in all aspects of life, flexibility is an important skill to have in your toolkit, so that you bend rather than break. Perseverance, in part due to my innate stubbornness, has also helped me stay rooted in the ebbs and flows we encounter in life. Lastly, and largely, my natural curiosity to always be learning has fueled my passion to pursue an ancient way of living, which has led me to create Graceful Healing Acupuncture & Wellness.

The best piece of advice I can give for growing these traits is to follow your heart and let it lead you to what fuels your thirst for knowledge. To gain flexibility in the mind, practice flexibility in the body with yoga or qigong. To build perseverance, challenge yourself to attempt difficult things, which could be a physical goal or finishing a task that you have been putting off.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

I was gifted a copy of the Tao Te Ching during a phase of my life when I needed some guidance, and it continues to be a book I return to time and time again. The Tao Te Ching is an ancient text that offers insight into how to live in harmony with the universe/Tao. Its timeless wisdom can be applied to all stages of life, and my favorite way of absorbing its teachings is to periodically flip to a random page and see what I can learn. Every line can impact powerful nuggets of wisdom, but one of the most valuable concepts that has stayed with me through many years is the concept of Wu Wei. Essentially, Wu Wei means effortless effort and embodies the thought process of going with the flow. Additionally, compassion, patience, and living in harmony with nature are key principles of this text.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gracefulhealingacu.com
• Instagram: gracefulhealingacu

Image Credits

Mary Brand Danser and Moon River Clinic