We were lucky to catch up with Dr. Jennifer Yocum recently and have shared our conversation below.
Dr. Jennifer, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was your school or training experience like? Share an anecdote or two that you feel illustrate important aspects or the overall nature of your schooling/training experience.
My training in acupuncture school was incredibly unique and worth the tuition alone. Of course we learned where the acupuncture points were, how to needle them, and other practical information, but we also learned the importance of constantly working on ourselves and our own personal challenges to become a better practitioner for our patients. If we were not willing to work on ourselves, how could we expect our patients to work on themselves? While we learned many incredible lessons, two that stood out to me the most and had the biggest impact on my life were:
1) To live life boldly. My teacher, who was a co-founder of the school, Dianne Connelly, said to us one day in class, “How dare you play small.” She delivered the line with such beautiful anger that when she explained that we were only doing ourselves and our patients a disservice by not living life boldly, that I truly felt it. As famous entrepreneur Marie Forleo says, “the world really does need that special gift that only you have.” They both explained that if you chose to not express the full version of who you are and the gifts you are here to give to the world, that you are depriving the people who are here who want and need those gifts.
Both teachers point to the idea in the famous quote by Marianne Williamson in her 1992 book, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.”
When we decide that we are not good enough in some way, or that our words and thoughts are not worth expressing, and we shut ourselves down, we take away the ability for another person or many people to have their own insight, awakening, or healing. We naturally learn from one another and we are a social species that need each other. When we shine brightly, we give others permission to do the same.
2) The second teaching that had the most profound impact on me was that our words are medicine. Everything we say and how we say it matters. We were taught that when it comes to acupuncture treatment, 97% of our treatment is intention, which includes the words that we speak. Choosing to say “and” instead of “but” in a sentence can help someone hear your words better and not feel rejected. For example, consider how different it feels to hear, “I love you but I wish you’d clean the dishes more often” versus “I love you and I wish you’d clean the dishes more often.” It’s a simple yet profound shift. Our words and intention have the ability to heal, and I take that very seriously not only in the treatment room but in my life with loved ones and strangers alike.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I began my career as a behavioral neuroscientist, working in top institutions throughout Baltimore and Washington, DC. My research focused on how nutrition and diet could potentially improve learning and memory issues seen in Alzheimer’s disease and stroke patients. While I worked as a scientist during the day, I started dabbling in energy work and wellness on the side, taking yoga classes after work, receiving certification as a Feng Shui Consultant in 2003, and later becoming certified as a yoga teacher in 2006.
In 2005, I began to feel pain in the center of my upper abdomen every time I ate. After some testing, the diagnosis came back as gall bladder dyskinesia, a condition in which the gall bladder does not pump out enough bile effectively to help digest foods. My mom recommended that I try acupuncture, but being a scientist, I was reluctant. She insisted and paid for the first few treatments. After several weeks of treatment, I didn’t hurt every time I ate, just sometimes. After a year of treatment, I never hurt again.
After I saw what acupuncture could do for me, I knew I needed to become an acupuncturist so I could help others feel better too. While in acupuncture school, I learned that Chinese Medicine included nutritional recommendations to help people feel better. I fell in love with the idea, because it dovetailed perfectly with my career in science exploring the effects of nutrition on learning and memory in diseases of aging. I graduated in 2010 with a passion for helping people improve their health and wellness through Chinese Medicine- both needles and nutrition.
In March 2011, I designed and launched my signature online program, The Chinese Medicine Cleanse, and since that time have helped countless people on their wellness journey. I went on to develop additional online courses, both for everyday people and for other licensed acupuncturists and health professionals. It’s incredible that we live in a time where we can help people in such an exponential fashion, and I’m grateful every day for being able to share this beautiful medicine I practice in this way.
I’ve recently been focused on not only growing my in-person clinics, but also on providing more content and value to my followers online, by creating more courses, free cooking, yoga, and wellness videos, recipes, and more. I love bringing people together and helping them to improve their health and wellness one simple step at a time. I’m most passionate about helping people to get past their pain, digestive disorders, fertility challenges, anxiety, depression, or other challenges so that they can focus on living their best lives.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I’ve been lucky to have multiple business mentors over the years, and the one that impacted me the most has been Natalie MacNeil. I studied with her for many years, participating in her business incubators and other programs, reading her books and working through them, and being a part of her vibrant communities. While she does not run some of the same programs that she did, she’s constantly creating new ones, and she has some great resources for business owners or aspiring entrepreneurs. Her workbooks, “The Conquer Kit” and “Conquer Your Year: The Ultimate Planner” are great tools to help you get clarity about your business and to focus on quarterly goals, as well as self-care. While those workbooks are excellent resources, I’d argue that one of her more powerful ideas that she shares is around the importance of embodying who you want to be in business and in life. She questions into what values are most important and how we want to feel, and then implores us to physically, emotionally, and mentally embody those qualities, even if it feels a bit fake it ’til you make it at first. For example, if you want more confidence, how does someone who is confident posture themselves physically? They’d stand up tall, shoulders back, and look people in the eyes. How would they dress? How would they act? Who would they interact with and how would they do that? It’s a fun and powerful idea to play with, and can profoundly impact your business.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
In my field, what is most important is being willing to put myself out there and meet people, whether in-person at events or online. People desperately want to connect, especially following the pandemic, and taking the time to meet them or just have a conversation does wonders for helping them to choose me over another area practitioner or a different online program. They can get a feel for who I am, how I practice, what I value, and how easy I am to talk to, and there’s no real substitute for that. Sure, I have incredible credentials and look great on paper, but the vast majority of patients and clients choose me because either an existing patient referred them to me, because they felt connected to me after chatting with me, or reading my story online, which is written very much in the way that I speak. I’m an introvert, so it’s a little daunting to constantly put myself out there, but it makes a world of difference to my patients-to-be, so it’s an easy choice when I keep their benefit front and center.
Beyond speaking with potential patients and clients, it’s also incredibly important to connect with other area healthcare and wellness professionals. Creating referral networks with these providers helps the recommendations feel personal to the patients. As I can, I try out area providers for my own healthcare needs, and that allows me to be able to provide a level of insight that I wouldn’t otherwise have, and helps me determine which patients may benefit from that therapy or resonate well with a particular provider.
Contact Info:
- Website: jenyocum.com
- Instagram: @jenyocum
- Facebook: @JenYocumWellness
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwGBOwH7LkiNDn-qNgZgy7Q