Overview

Raqib Lynn Katz has been enthusiastically practicing Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine for 25 years in Santa Cruz, California and received her Masters Degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine from Five Branches University in 1991.

Prior to her studies of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine she received a BA from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1982. In college, she combined her love for Dance and Psychology into a self-designed major, and finished with a degree in Dance/Movement Therapy. What her undergraduate work allowed her was a full exploration of Dance and Movement Arts while enjoying classes in Modern, Jazz, and African Dance, Improvisation, Yoga and many Body/Mind techniques such as Bioenergetics. The late 70s and early 80s were a time of exploding creativity in the world of Psychology and Therapy. This widened her earlier Psychology studies to include the work of Wilhelm Reich, Alexander Lowen, and Abraham Maslow, as well as NLP (neurolinguistic programming), Psychoneuroimmunology, and Hypnotherapy. Academically speaking, Psychology was her first love.

Becoming a Massage Practitioner was a great way to make money during college. Over the next years she shined as a Massage Therapist with an emphasis on Deep Tissue Bodywork. Years of practicing Iyengar Yoga, having a keen kinesthetic awareness as mentioned by her teachers, and being a “hands on” bodyworker was a solid foundation for decades of understanding and treating musculoskeletal pain, accidents, trauma, and injuries.

Her next step (or so she thought), was to become a Physical Therapist. While gathering her pre-requisites for a PT program in 1986, she began receiving acupuncture for hormonal issues. Exceptional and positive changes in her health resulted in a shifting of gears, and she enrolled in Five Branches University without hesitation.

Early on in acupuncture school Raqib began the arduous study of Traditional Chinese Herbology. While for some, memorizing 300+ herbs and countless formulas was tedious and rigorous, she loved every minute of it. Studying under some of the most acclaimed Chinese herbalists and doctors, she and her cohort morphed into sophisticated herbalists early in their careers. Her passion for these plants and their extraordinary effectiveness opened the doors to study local and Western herbs and was her inspiration to teach Herbal Medicine shortly after beginning her acupuncture practice. She continues to use a wide variety of herbal products that includes extracts, tinctures, pills and granules and her classical training allows her an expertise in the creation of simple and complex herbal formulations with the roots, leaves, branches, and minerals of the Chinese pharmacy.

September of 1992 marked the arrival of her license, the opening of the doors of her acupuncture office, and her consultant and teaching career. Treating a wide spectrum of diseases and imbalances has been part of her existing practice for some time which includes hormonal Imbalances, pain, emotional, digestive and respiratory ailments. She provides cancer support and is Lyme literate. Further studies and practice of Facial Rejuvenation, NAET (Nambudripad Allergy Ellimination Technique), Auricular Acupuncture, BodyTalk, addiction protocols, and recently EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) have rounded out her repertoire.

Education and learning have been considerable aspects of her work; instruction comes naturally to her. Raqib is recognized for her love of teaching and her upbeat and creative teaching style. She has taught nationally and internationally as a consultant and lecturer when affiliated with Kan Herb Company. For over a decade she presented at Michael and Lesley Tierra’s East/West School of Herbalism and currently she is an Associate Professor of Herbology at Five Branches University. She also enjoys her position as a supervisor at the TCM Clinic where she oversees, instructs, and mentors students on their journey of becoming acupuncturists.

Raqib’s work has come full circle from her early explorations in Dance/Movement Therapy to her latest endeavor of combining EFT and Acupuncture. Known for her capacity of understanding our humanness as a culture, her reputation is one of being an instinctive therapist. She offers sound council in her long history of treating the Shen (the spirit) and addresses a myriad of physical issues. With passion, sincerity, and integrity she pledges to her patients, students, and clients the synthesis of her extensive training and experience in Body/Mind/Spirit Medicine.

Education/ Training/ Employment timeline

B.A. Dance/ Movement Therapy, UCSC Santa Cruz, California, 1982
Deep Tissue Bodywork Practitioner, Santa Cruz, California, 1982-1986
Masters in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Five Branches University
Santa Cruz, California, 1991
Licensed Acupuncturist, 1992-present
Herbal Consultant and Educator, Kan Herb Company, Santa Cruz, California, 1992-1999
Clinic Supervisor, Five Branches University, Santa Cruz, California, 2006-present
Associate Professor of Chinese Herbology, Five Branches University
Santa Cruz,  California, 2010-present
BodyTalk Access practitioner, 2009
BodyTalk practitioner, 2010
EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) practitioner, 2015-preseent