Our Practitioners

The clinic's owners and chief practitioners, Charles and Teresa Baltzell. Our life's work is helping people explore, restore and optimize their health and happiness. Our personal journeys influenced this passion. We've suffered at the hands of well meaning physicians and watched loved ones' frustration with the "sick care" system's inability to offer answers.

Charles Journey: I returned home with a critical, medical mystery after living in Asia for 10 years. Like all challenges in our lives, this life changing moment was a blessing. In 1984, alternative medicine was demonized and prosecuted. My healing journey led me into the LA medical underground, the birthplace of what is now known as "Functional Integrated Medicine." I became a member of Occidental Institute, the first school to teach Chinese medicine and introduced German Biological Medicine to America. This became my practice. It has empowered  me to reverse two life threatening conditions, remain pain and medication free. 

As I began my 70th year, I notice lapses of names and declining ability to spell. My personal need to explore, restore and optimize gives me a unique perspective and insatiable desire to help our patients achieve amazing results.

Teresa's Journey: My professional life began in Criminal Justice, as a humanitarian, with high ideals of how to shape our world. When my family members started to experience health challenges my attention shifted to alternative healing and medicine. 

My father went from being a healthy, stoic man to declining rapidly within a year. Doctors told me I should be happy he had lived a full and healthy life. And that watching him suffer over the last year of his life was acceptable. 

A year later, doctors diagnosed my first husband with brain cancer. I witnessed the limitations of modern medicine. I made a good cause that changed my life: to explore how healing works through the art and science of Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM). This practice allows me the opportunity to travel the globe and be fulfilled by the resilience of the human body. The miraculous recovery of many patients fuels my desire to continue learning about and practicing alternative medicine.

While we both began as  CCM practitioners and licensed acupuncturists, our healing modalities evolved to address the root causes of pain and anxiety. Truly grateful for our training, it's our deepest desire to help every patient experience miraculous results based on our EXPLORE, RESTORE and OPTIMIZE model. Thank you for trusting us to guide you on your journey to health and happiness.