Artemisia O’bi, M.A.
I approach the healing arts with the outlook that we’re more able to embrace life when we can traverse our inner world with compassion, self-acceptance, and at least a little bit of humor. Any day is a good day to make a change, even a small one. My journey into Chinese medicine grew out of a longstanding fascination with the relationship between psychology and physiology, along with a love for ancient ways of looking at human nature. In my practice, I work with a broad scope of health imbalances, with special attention on digestion, emotion, and women’s health.
Alongside Chinese medicine, I love to play drums, make clothes, and travel. I spend a lot of time cooking and listening to old hip-hop and R&B. I am inspired by the unexplainable wonders of the natural world, which I witness through rural life with my husband, Cameron, in the mysterious mountains of the desert southwest.
Path to Chinese medicine
I grew up in the rural midwest, and in my early twenties, I lived in a tiny cob house deep in the Indiana forest where many medicinal plants grew wildly. This experience was immensely formative, as I started to work with these plants to revitalize my deteriorating health and support my psychological healing. I was inspired to study herbal medicine more seriously and began formal herbal training in 2018 through a year-long apprenticeship at the Indiana Herbal Center. After several years of western herbal study, I narrowed my focus to Chinese medicine in 2021.
Teachers and training
I am drawn to the expansive teachings and theories of classical Chinese medicine. I have taken courses and trainings with Dr. Jeffrey Yuen, Dr. Heiner Fruehauf, Andrew Sterman, Ann Cecil-Sterman, L.Ac., Dr. Evan Rabinowitz, and Thomas Avery Garran, Ph.D. and continue to learn from these teachers.
I learned to work with western herbs through the framework of Chinese medicine as a student in the East West School of Herbology Professional Herbalist Program, a two-year clinical training program specializing in Chinese herbal medicine and the integration of western and Chinese herbs in clinical practice. Currently, I am continuing my studies in Dr. Heiner Fruehauf’s 14-month herbal certificate program, Classical Strategies for Effective Herbal Formulation.
Background in cognitive and psychological research
Before training in Chinese medicine, I spent the first season of my professional life in empirical psychological research. I hold a B.S. in cognitive science and a B.A. in philosophy from Indiana University, where I worked on projects involving the role of the body in abstract reasoning and the math involved in traditionally feminine crafts. I spent a few years in industry research with education tech start-ups and as part of the Behavioral Economics Group at Disney Research & Imagineering. I started my Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Chicago with a primary focus on self-transcendence and children’s experiences of awe. Through this research, I became more inspired to work directly with people in the world. I earned an M.A. in psychology while at UChicago and then stepped away from the doctoral program in response to a stronger pull toward the healing and creative arts. You can find more about some of the research projects I’ve been involved with here.
