Alisa Galvan, L. Ac., Dipl.OM, IBCLC (She/her)
Alisa Galvan is an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant,
Licensed Acupuncturist, and Nutritionist. She has held space for
mothers and their families with nutrition, prenatal, birth, and lactation
support for more than 15 years. Alisa has been practicing Acupuncture and Traditional
Chinese Medicine for more than 10 years working with a range of clients
from veterans to children successfully treating an even larger variety of
symptoms and imbalances, but her passion has always been working with
families around fertility, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. This passion
was further highlighted as she journeyed into motherhood herself and
searched out resources to support her own pregnancy loss, pregnancies and postpartum
phases.
Alisa’s background in nutrition and working in a variety of modern health care systems has ignited her passion to learn, study and practice modalities that are more
natural, holistic, and individualized. She uses food as medicine in all her
treatment plans and is passionate about helping her clients connect to and
regain trust in their bodies using breath to movement. She loves
educating families about breast/chest-feeding as well as the importance of
postpartum care. Alisa is compassionate in her search for the root cause of
her patients’ imbalances and the individualized treatments that she
provides create a nourishing, safe space that encourages the body, mind,
and spirit’s natural impulse to return to balance in a gentle and effective
way.
Fertility
Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum
Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum
Alisa employs a variety of integrative modalities to treat all different types of fertility issues and to support both natural fertility and IUI/IVF processes. She regularly works with couples, including LGBTQ folks, who are experiencing difficulty getting or staying pregnant.
Acupuncture is used to help balance an individual’s reproductive cycle and hormones and treatment plans typically take about three months with visits anywhere from once or twice per week to once or twice per month.
Herbal medicine is one of the oldest and most widely used forms of therapy in the world and continues to demonstrate its effectiveness today. Herbs have the unique ability to simultaneously balance and strengthen the body and Alisa employs internal herbal formulas in many of her fertility patients’ treatment plans to enhance the effectiveness of acupuncture treatments for fertility. The ability to customize these herbal formulas and give different formulas at different times during a cycle is an important component to treat each individual in a holistic way.
Pelvic steaming with herbs is an enjoyable, relaxing, gentle treatment that may also sometimes be used in addition to acupuncture to address infertility by improving uterine function by increasing circulation and enhancing the efficiency of the natural womb cleanse. Alisa may recommend steaming prior to and in tandem with fertility assistance.
Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum
Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum
Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum
Alisa has expertise in helping achieve balance throughout every stage of pregnancy using acupuncture, moxabustion, dietary guidance, and other integrative techniques and has experience supporting many high-risk and unique pregnancy related complaints with confidence and results.
While pregnancy can be one of the most transformative and special times in your life, it can also be one of the most stressful and uncomfortable periods.
Getting support during pregnancy can promote a healthy environment for your baby by increasing blood flow to the uterus, and help to alleviate and protect you from a variety of common complaints during this time such as:
Nausea and vomiting
Back and pelvic pain
Low iron levels
Fatigue
Swelling
Heartburn
Congestion
Headaches
Strange aches and pains
Breech baby
Labor and Birth:
Acupuncture can greatly assist in preparing you for the labor process by releasing particular hormones like prostaglandin, relaxin and oxytocin. In addition to relaxing acupuncture treatments to prepare for labor, Alisa teaches individuals and families research proven techniques to use during their labor and births to assist with comfort, efficiency of surges and empowerment of the birthing parents and partners.
Postpartum:
Who needs postpartum recovery care?
“Anyone who has been pregnant, whether the fetus comes to term or not, whatever manner of birth, whatever age or condition of mother.” Dr. Lia Andrews
While, in most situations, pregnancy and birth are under medical supervision, modern culture has done away with postpartum care altogether. In many traditions and cultures around the world the postpartum period is a sacred time when the mother is encouraged to rest, is protected and nourished to allow for the resetting of hormones and natural rhythms, which in turn helps the new mother to feel renewed. Many modern birthing parents go into pregnancy expecting to bounce back to their pre-pregnant bodies without the tools to make it a reality.
Alisa encourages planning for the postpartum period with the same attention to detail and delegation as for pregnancy and birth, if not more!
Here is a list of common short and long term postpartum complications which are mostly avoidable and treatable with holistic postpartum care:
Hemorrhoids
Uterine Prolapse
Pelvic congestion syndrome
Urinary incontinence
Diastasis recti
Pelvic floor injury
Reduced or absent libido
Irregular menstrual cycles
Stretch mark, sagging abdomen an breasts
Weight gain
Insomnia
Spontaneous sweating, night sweats and Hot flashes
Premature aging
Low energy, exhaustion
Disappointment and isolation
Postpartum depression
Insufficient lactation
Modern families are overwhelmed with information, assistance and planning for (and during) pregnancy and childbirth and left to disappear after delivery. Alisa is passionate about planning for a healthy postpartum period during the pregnancy (or before) and encourages the postpartum birthing parent to come in for holistic support when they are having any of the above symptoms weather after a live birth or after a pregnancy loss.
What is used in the treatment for Postpartum issues?
Personalized, food as medicine diet and lifestyle guidance
Acupuncture/acupressure
Tui na massage
Moxabustion
Herbal medicine and supplements
Relaxing essential oils
Cupping
Lactation support by a Certified Lactation consultant
Pelvic steaming
The most common and universal use of vaginal, or pelvic steaming around the world is for postpartum recovery. Though it is best to start steaming ASAP after birth, it must first be confirmed that the uterine blood vessels are closed and it is safe to initiate steaming. Steaming is often done for 30 consecutive days to support a complete postpartum womb cleanse. See postpartum steam study here https://fourthtrimestervaginalsteamstudy.com/
Alisa is an certified steam therapist and can create an individualized postpartum pelvic steaming plan for immediate, generalized, postpartum care and especially to assist with concerns with
Prolapse
Suture pain
Lochia infections
Heavy bleeding
Inability to eliminate bowels or urine
Retained or incomplete placenta expulsion
High blood pressure
In many cases it is best to have a steaming consultation before birth so you can get supplies to have at home so they can be used as soon as possible after birth.
Lactation support
Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum
Lactation support
Breast/chest feeding and lactation is an important and both natural and challenging relationship between parents and infants.
Alisa is an internationally board certified lactation consultant and has more than 15 years of experience supporting families on their breast/chest feeding journeys around a variety lactation challenges. She is here to support you in prenatal lactation education and postpartum lactation consultations.
An integrative lactation consultation can help to assess and correct latch issues, milk transfer and weight loss challenges while
acupuncture and herbal medicine can help support sufficient breast milk supply, clogged ducts, nipple pain and other breast related complaints.
There is lots of flexibility for scheduling lactation support to meet your postpartum needs. A lactation consultation can be added to an acupuncture treatment or postpartum pelvic steaming session in a 90 minute session or you can schedule an integrative lactation consultation on its own.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is the strategic, gentle insertion of ultra thin, sterile needles at specific points. This process stimulates the movement of Qi within the meridians allowing natural healing to take place.
Cupping
Cupping applies suction to the surface of the body to draw out pathogenic factors or to invigorate the flow of blood and Qi at the surface of the body.
Herbs
The unique ability of herbs to simultaneously treat root imbalances and strengthen the body makes them an easy natural choice to treat chronic and non-threatening conditions like migraines, PMS, menstrual imbalances, menopausal symptoms, hormonal imbalances and reproductive issues. They can can be used many different ways as in tinctures, teas, capsules, powders and topical.
Moxibustion
Moxibustion is a form of heat therapy in which dried plant materials called "moxa" are burned on or very near the surface of the skin. The intention is to warm and invigorate the flow of Qi in the body and dispel certain pathogenic influences.