We were lucky to catch up with Lola Fox-Rabinovich recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lola, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

In the spring of 2003 I was a young mother and a software engineer dealing with the typical stressors of raising two young daughters and working full time. Little did I know that our lives were about to take a sharp turn and will never be the same again. My 5 year old daughter Julia had been a picture of health when suddenly she was sick non-stop with weird fevers and leg pain. Her pediatrician chalked it up to “things going around” for a couple of months. I just knew something was really wrong, and our worst fears were confirmed when we received a call from the DC Children’s hospital. I barely remember what happened right after. The chemo was really harsh and relentless. The amount of toxic drugs young children receive for 2 years and 2 months (a whole year longer for boys) is shocking. And often the protocol is paused, stopped or reduced if side effects become too much.

A good friend of mine suggested taking Julia to her acupuncturist. I never had acupuncture before that but I knew it involved sticking needles. Julia was already not a fan of needles after a few weeks into her leukemia treatment but we decided to try anyway.

That’s how things started to turn around for Julia. By coincidence or serendipity, her acupuncturist, Tuan Nguyen, turned out to be a third generation Daoist master. I started to see magic happen right in front of my eyes. Once I brought Julia with severe jaw pain (a side effect of one of her chemo drugs). One needle in and two seconds later, she was happy and pain free. Another time her chemo drugs made her severely anemic with almost zero neutrophils (white blood cells) that she was scheduled for a blood transfusion the next day. A few minutes into her acupuncture treatment she started to pink up. Needless to say, the doctors were shocked and canceled her blood transfusion the next day after rechecking her blood counts. Note: red blood cells have a long life cyle of 90-120 days so they never recover sharply.

To make a long story short, I became obsessed trying to figure out how this medicine works. By the time Julia was done with her chemo, I was done with my prerequisites and enrolled in a master of acupuncture program. I am also extremely grateful to Tuan who became my mentor and taught me a lot of secret techniques that were passed down in his family lineage.
This story began 21 years ago and to this day I keep getting surprised by how powerful this medicine is.

Lola, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Please see my answer to the previous question. In addition, I graduated from Tai Sophia (later renamed Maryland University of Integrative Health) in 2008 and opened my first practice in Rockville, Maryland. Over time, I expanded my knowledge beyond acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine by incorporating other holistic modalities such as far infrared ozone sauna therapy and others. I pride myself in offering my patients an array of holistic medicine services to resolve even the most challenging health issues with natural and holistic methods. I believe that given the right tools, our bodies are capable of healing naturally. When patients come to me with a health issue, such as insomnia or back pain, I don’t just fix their symptoms, I would address the root cause and will take care of any accompanying or even new illnesses or injuries. By combining, acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, ozone sauna therapy, herbs and supplements I am able to help them faster and more comprehensively. My goal is to exceed my patients’ expectations of what an acupuncturist is capable of helping them with.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Before I was a professional healer, I was always interested in helping people. Of course, I was less experienced and less knowledgeable then but it was compensated by my abundant enthusiasm and desire to help. Yes, I tried to help everyone, whether they asked for it or not,
I actually had to unlearn this practice and stop offering unsolicited advise. Not everyone is ready for it or even wants or needs it. I actually became a better healer for those seeking answers and asking for help. It was a tough choice to make but now it became second nature. I realized I can’t help everyone I meet, but those who want help are getting my undivided attention and expertise now.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I have to go back to 2019 to explain how I started my practice all over after moving to California. At the end of 2019 I finalized my move to Santa Monica and started looking for office space. A perfect space showed up on the corner of Wilshire and 5th. It was a great location within walking distance to the Promenade and everything downtown Santa Monica has to offer. It was a crappy and destroyed space that needed a total remodel but it was a perfect size and location. I signed the lease on my birthday November 22, 2019. The remodeling just started when Covid hit. The project that was supposed to take 3 months max took 10 months because of the pandemic. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. I was stressing out because the bills were piling up and I was in a deep hole paying rent and crazy remodeling costs. And then it finally happened, I had the office of my dreams. I opened it in September of 2020, exactly 10 months after signing the lease. Except, Covid was still raging, and people were still isolating and not really frequenting many in person businesses. I put my heart and soul into this practice, so I started doing free wellness events offering free acupuncture and gold ear seeding acupressure. I made sure we had the most welcoming atmosphere, the best touches and service to our brave patients who came despite everything else that was going on. Eventually, things started to get busy, Now that I look back at it, I marvel how it started from absolutely ground zero in the midst of Covid and became a thriving practice.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lunabodymind.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lunabodyandmind/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lunabodymind
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/luna-body-and-mind-santa-monica?utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)

Image Credits

Photo credit: Syuzanna Khorotian