Well-being is a skill that can be practiced and strengthened. With our direction and the foundation of Chinese medicine, you can experience health. We look forward to helping you.

The goal is not to be better than the other man, but your previous self.
Dalai Lama

Maile McKain, L.Ac.

I’m an acupuncturist, herbalist, educator, and absolute believer that healing is always possible. My life is creating and running a private Chinese medicine practice (Stillpoint Healing Center), with over 500 clients, developing a online community to teach and lead seasonal cleansing (Jiva), raising my daughter, spending quality time with my husband, and living a mountain town lifestyle (five pairs of skis anyone??).

I am utterly dedicated to the practice of Chinese medicine, Eastern medicine, or as many people are now calling it, World Medicine.  As my experience as a practitioner grows, I am finding that the range of people and the conditions for which they are seeking help is expanding. Many people are using Eastern medicine to stay healthy by coming in for treatment at regular intervals. Some come in for an issue that developed suddenly and needs to be addressed immediately. Still, others are seeking help for quite serious and complicated conditions that require deep contemplation on my part and collaboration with other practitioners. I welcome them all.

My daily life now revolves around the lessons of Eastern medicine. What I eat (seasonally, warm cooked food), how I sleep (left side for my heart, right for my liver), my morning routine (tongue scrape, oil pull, wash my eyes), to the time I go to bed (lights out at 10 pm). I take herbal medicine daily. I practice meditation. I consult the I Ching. I cleanse every spring and every fall. I have felt and lived the change that this medicine and these practices can make, and so I personally and professionally know how these practices can change your life and your health.

From these clinical experiences, my continuing education, and my personal experience with Eastern medicine, I learn new things each day and expand my ideas about health, healing, and living a full and complete life. My commitment is to bring you the very best of what I’m living and learning so that you can fulfill your potential.

I created Stillpoint Healing Center to provide effective and compassionate health care.  With a foundation of treating the whole person and not just the symptoms, I provide individual attention and personalized treatments to initiate healing, restore balance and create radiant health.  

People ask me how I got into Chinese medicine. I believe that it found me. Once I experienced Chinese medicine there was no going back. I decided to leave the vague ideas I had about law school behind and choose the path that led me to become a practitioner.

My own serious healing journey began after I broke my leg skiing my sophomore year in college. After surgery and physical therapy, I was still experiencing a lot of pain, stiffness, weakness, and lack of range-of-motion. This led me to seek more help and I discovered therapeutic massage and yoga. I went on to study yoga informally and massage formally. I graduated from the Brenneke School of Massage in 2000.

I achieved wonderful healing results but was still experiencing health issues that yoga and massage were not helping – severe seasonal allergies. This led me to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). I started receiving acupuncture and taking herbal medicine. By the time I entered acupuncture school in 2005 I had received over a hundred acupuncture treatments. I had also tried and experienced many, many, many different healing modalities. But I was smitten with Chinese medicine and I found that I was choosing acupuncture and herbal medicine to treat any condition that came up – allergies, headaches, pain, colds, digestive problems, stress, and even emotions.

With the help of my husband, I decided to study TCM. It was incredibly challenging, but I discovered a true passion. I created Stillpoint Healing Center in 2008 as a place to nourish the body and create healing using a foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

I earned my Masters of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine degree from the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine in December 2007. This three-year accelerated program consists of 2,850 hours of education including 795 hours of clinical practice. The National Certification Commission certified me as a Diplomate in Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) in March of 2008. This includes certification in Clean Needle Technique and Chinese Herbal Medicine.

My training includes adjunctive therapies such as moxibustion, tui na (medical massage), acupressure, cupping, auriculotherapy, electro-stimulation, facial rejuvenation, and dietary and lifestyle recommendations.

I am a member of the Acupuncture Association of Utah. I am a licensed acupuncturist in Utah, and I have held a Utah license in massage therapy. None of these licenses, certifications, or registrations has ever been suspended or revoked.

I have also completed the 1,000-hour Expanded Professional Massage Licensing Program from the Brenneke School of Massage in Seattle, WA in 2000. While I was a massage therapist I worked with the elderly in a retirement convent, the orthopedic ward of a hospital, with people with chronic disease, during pregnancy, and with amateur and professional athletes. In 2002 I served as the team massage therapist for the Gary Fisher/Subaru Professional Mountain Bike team and traveled with the team all over the US, Canada, and Europe.

Maile-McKain_paddleboard
Maile-McKain-yurt-trip

I decided to try acupuncture as a last resort for my debilitating migraines. As I had already seen three doctors who couldn’t do much to help me, I was surprised when before treating me the acupuncturist talked, and more importantly listened, to me for about an hour, asking me questions about what I ate and drank and when, how I rested, what kind of work and family life I had, and essentially got to know me. He helped me identify triggers and patterns in my headaches and with that knowledge and three needle treatments I’ve been migraine-free for over 20 years. In subsequent years I’ve come to consider my acupuncturist, Maile McKain, my primary care physician. In the current healthcare system there seems to be only specialists prescribing drugs and surgeries. In contrast, Maile works with me, honoring my intuition, preferences and experiences, and uses needling, massage, herbs, nutrition advice, and she doesn’t hesitate to recommend traditional western medicine when it makes sense as part of the whole treatment plan. I sincerely believe that acupuncture and embracing Maile’s wholistic approach are the foundation of the robust good health I’ve experienced.

Heidi Hughes