Mindful Spirit Acupuncture opened May 6, and Upchurch said she is relishing the chance to do something that came up during a discussion with a friend. The query was perhaps hypothetical at the moment: If she could start over, what kind of a job would she do?
“I loved the work I was doing, but something was missing,” Upchurch said. “It was not feeding my soul.”
She took the question to heart, and her answer was to go to medical school, which was her ‘aha moment.’
Upchurch started looking at options and discovered the Academy of Oriental Medicine at Austin Graduate School of Integrative Medicine. She put in her two-week’s notice at her job as data scientist at Dell Technologies in Round Rock, near Austin, and started a new career journey in 2018.
“Those same tools and skills used in data science fit right into this,” she said of her studies in medicine.
She finished the four-year program with her third graduate degree, passed all four national boards and is licensed by the Texas Medical Board.
Upchurch saw the number of acupuncture specialists in the Dallas-Fort Worth area lacking compared to other areas of the state. She and her husband, Stephen, moved to North Texas in early 2022.
“In Austin there is an acupuncturist on every corner, but it is a needed service in this area,” she said. “This was the sweet spot between people who could benefit from acupuncture, and people being open-minded about it, being health-conscious and wanting to try something they haven’t tried before.”
She has four treatment rooms available. Some of the most-treated issues are neck and back pain, sciatica issues, numbness, Parkinson’s, and fibromyalgia, Upchurch said. The clinic’s focus areas include pain management, sports medicine, facial rejuvenation and stress relief.
She says the relief that acupuncture provides is less invasive than surgery and cost less and is more natural than drugs.
Upchurch also offers a variety of cupping treatments, which is a series of cups placed on a patients’ muscles that removes toxins. There are various techniques—sliding, flash/fire or suction, Upchurch said.
Other treatments areas include digestive disorders and weight loss. Stomach issues are usually addressed using a mixture of needles, electric current frequency, cupping and herbal medicine, Upchurch said.
“I always wanted to own my own clinic,” she said. “It is pretty wonderful when patients get off the table, and they immediately feel better.”
Mindful Spirit Acupuncture, 2800 William D. Tate Ave., Ste. 300, Grapevine. 817-210-6694 www.mindfulspiritacupuncture.com
Hours: Mon., Fri. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Tue., Thu., 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Sun., Wed. closed.
