The Better Place is your local holistic healthcare clinic in Oakland, CA.

Our work is based in Traditional East Asian Medicine, and we practice acupuncture, various forms of bodywork, and manual lymphatic drainage.

We are a safe place for queer, POC, sex-positive and feminist people who believe in working towards the greater good. We value innovation and approach each treatment with compassion, effectiveness, and efficiency. We believe that health evolves when the patient and practitioner are united in the common goal of your health – at the intersection of listening, learning, and consistency.

When the world around you is chaotic, your one homecoming point is yourself. Those who can, should prioritize health above all else.

Health fluctuates with changes to the physical, mental, emotional, psycho, social, and spiritual states. Because of this, no two sessions are ever the same at The Better Place. Each session is holistically approached with fresh eyes each time, because your needs fluctuate.

To meet your health objectives, we might use acupuncture, massage, manual lymphatic drainage, tuina, myofascial release, deep plane intraoral massage, cupping, guasha, Celluma LED light therapy, microcurrent, percussion, or stretching therapy. We use all the tools and theory at our disposal, and value innovation to meet your needs to the best of our ability each time. We also use the tool of resources – when we know a practitioner who will better serve your needs, we are happy to refer out. Our priority is promoting a healthy community, and that includes the wonderful practitioners in our circle who do certain kinds of magic better than we do!

With the understanding that health care and needs are always changing, we apply the same style to our treatments. This is not a relaxing, check-out type of session where you nap or meditate. Your sessions here will absolutely require your participation. There will be dialogue, teaching, learning, and checking-in throughout your appointment, especially during the first session. Please plan accordingly.

At The Better Place, we are passionate about putting health back into the hands of the patient – through education and teaching home techniques. Your practitioner is not an expert on living in your body – you are! We consider ourselves interpreters of the body’s signals. Many of these signals can and should be taught to you – there is power in knowing how to heal your day to day issues.