Inspiring Conversations with Hannah Lynn of Acu Babe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Lynn.

Hi Hannah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I graduated a year early from high school at 17 years old, and went to university, thinking I’d go prelaw. 3 weeks into traditional college, there was a school shooting at my high school. It happened in the classroom that I would’ve been in and one of my friends died. It was my first big traumatic experience and I suffered from survivor’s guilt.

My mom didn’t know how to help me, so she sent me to get a massage and I experienced a significant cathartic experience at that table. My body shook uncontrollably and I cried and wailed… feeling remarkably emptied out and more stable afterward. that massage therapist suggested I check out Boulder College of Massage Therapy.

So at 18, I went to massage school, graduated, did a yoga teacher training, and moved to Vermont to start a private practice where I worked for ten years! I specialized in Myofascial techniques, structural integration, Craniosacral therapy, and Mayan Abdominal Massage. I pioneered my flagship courses: teaching people about their posture and facial anatomy. I taught couples massage workshops, anatomy for yoga teacher training, yin yoga, and a series of recovery classes I dubbed Yellow Ball Magic.

I also became a Doula, taught prenatal yoga, and even taught pelvic floor and posture classes for women.
Deep massage and bodywork are very hard on the practitioner’s body… I learned a modality called Deep Feet Ashiastu Bar Therapy, where you give massages with your feet! It extended my bodywork career by a good six years, but after a decade + of private practice and countless hours of hands-on work with people’s bodies… my own couldn’t take it anymore.

I closed my practice in Vermont and moved to New York City, during my involvement with the Orgasmic Meditation Community. I spent two years living in Manhattan doing odd jobs: training dogs, ghostwriting books for private clients, studying Tantra and sexuality… grappling with my life’s purpose and the meaningfulness of my work.

My interest in bodywork and healing never went away. I was still taking nerdy classes on feet and functionality on the weekends… I was struggling with reconciling my genuine interest in helping people and teaching people about their bodies and health, and how to do it in a way that was sustainable for my own body.

At some point I began having a recurring dream that needles were coming out of my gums; spitting them out as more and more were produced between my teeth. It took me a few weeks to consider acupuncture and once I did, I did a little research and went to an open house at Tristate College of Acupuncture.

As a Western-trained bodyworker, I was completely blown away at the completeness and complexity of the Chinese Medical system. A system I could spend a lifetime learning and grow in as a practitioner.

I started Acupuncture school in January of 2018.

My dad died that March, my grandmother died that April, my Uncle died that summer, and that fall Tristate College of Acupuncture very dramatically closed due to the drama of the Founder and primary shareholder coming out of retirement with dementia, accusing his 30-year teachers of taking his school, and closing it. My class advocated for ourselves with the New York State Education Department and ended up in a Teachout program with Pacific College of Oriental Medicine.

They accelerated our program and graduated in December 2019. In the fall of 2019, I had already started a post-graduate certification for Cosmetic Facial Acupuncture and by the beginning of 2020 I passed all my boards, was licensed, and had an amazing job lined up, taking over a woman’s private practice in SoHo… and then the pandemic happened. NYC took it extraordinarily seriously.

The woman’s practice closed. She was inside a yoga studio and all of her patients stopped commuting into the city.

I started my own private practice in Union Square during Phase 1 re-opening in June of 2020. I ended up accidentally having a mini-fertility practice. I took my classes online and held many successful teaching containers for Yin Yoga, Qigong, Pussy and Posture, and other workshop classes.

And then I had had enough and decided to leave the insanity of NYC behind and move to Arizona. I packed up my pandemic puppy and car-camped all the way to Arizona, landing in October of 2022.

I started a new business, Acu Babe LLC… Meet Dr. Ben shortly after moving here… and have been building my private practice!

I specialize in Orthopedic Acupuncture and Dry-Needling, as well as Cosmetic Facial Acupuncture and Micro-needling; Esoteric Acupuncture; and in general… being willing to go into the nooks and crannies that many practitioners avoid: (armpits, necks, bellies, pelvic floors, etc.)

I’m passionate about:
– Educating people about their bodies
– Providing all-natural, non-surgical, Botox-alternative skincare
– Honoring people’s emotional map (their wrinkles) and their self-expression while pursuing cosmetics
– Helping people drop into their bodies
– Teaching people the LEARNED SKILL of relaxing, none of us are good at this naturally… Surrender is an active pose.
– Microbiome cultivation and the gut-skin connection

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
OMG… that year, starting in 2018 was crazy. My dad suffered from a long, degenerative disease and I learned a LOT about our health care system and its failings. I learned about death and grieving and it began what was a very intense 3-4 year initiation for me.

My dad died, my Bubbi died, my school died… right as I was graduating from Acupuncture school in Dec 2019, my relationship was falling apart.

Lockdowns came in March of 2020 and I had moved to a new apartment in New Jersey literally the day before lockdowns in NYC. I couldn’t find toilet paper or bathroom cleaner for months. I was in a new neighborhood where I didn’t know anyone, have any family, or any support system. I lost my new job and went through the worst breakup of my life two weeks into the pandemic… and then the week after that I had a miscarriage.

It was the lowest I’ve ever been. My puppy, Q, saved my life. I got him Easter of 2020, one month into the pandemic, and spend my time alone, healing my sh*t and training my puppy.

It’s been an intense few years and Arizona is where it’s all BLOSSOMING

As you know, we’re big fans of Acu Babe. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I’m the Acu Babe!

I specialize in Orthopedics and Cosmetics.

I want people to know that there are MANY different lineages of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture… Most practitioners in the US practice TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine… a misnomer, because TCM was created by Mao in the 1940s and 50s when he was trying to standardize and westernize China). TCM took over the licensing boards in the US, so it’s what most US schools teach.

I went to a special school. I learned Sports Medicine Acupuncture and Dry needling (a specialty) Classical Chinese Medicine, Japanese Acupuncture, French-Vietnamese Channel Style Acupuncture… I dabbled in Daoist Alchemical Acupuncture, Esoteric Acupuncture, and 5 Element Acupuncture. I received a post-grad certification in Cosmetic Facial Acupuncture.

My practice is different because my work is very eclectic. I use everything I have: my knowledge and experience with fascial anatomy and bodywork, my background in coaching and spiritual teachings, my knowledge and experience with teaching posture and recovery, my years of teaching Yin Yoga and Partner Yoga… my knowledge and experience as a doula and pelvic floor specialist… I use and combine it all to help my patients resolve their pain, cultivate their health, and fall in love with themselves inside and out.

What sets me apart is my quality of care. In a Western healthcare system that is constantly pushing Drs to spend less and less time with each patient, I spend MORE time with them. What sets me apart is that I go where others shy away. Eastern Medicine always treats the full person, the body, mind, and spirit. You can’t treat someone’s health effectively is you’re ignoring the fact that they hate their life and their job, they’re disconnected from their partner or their kids, or they don’t believe they are worthy.

What sets me apart is my decade + of fine-tuned fingers, my natural ease when touching the body.
My deeply embodied frequency of approval for the messy human experience of living inside a body.

I’m known for my specialties:
– Dry needling is a technique that comes from Classical Chinese Medicine. The classics called it “Ashi” needling. There are very few Acu-schools which teach it and most Acu’s don’t offer it.
– Cosmetic Facial Acupuncture
– Microneedling
– Postural Education
– Yin Yoga and Qigong
– Sexual Wellness and Pelvic Floor stuff for women

And, I’m known for my cute, furry greeter-person and office manager, my pup, Q!

I want your readers to know about my cosmetic offerings; that I offer non-surgical facelifts that work the opposite way as Botox. Botox is a neurotoxin that freezes and creates atrophy, leading to tissue degradation over time. Microneedling is the exact opposite.

It’s stimulating your face, toning the muscles and underlying structures, increasing circulation, and asking your body to grow a new better face. It maintains healthy emotional expression and doesn’t interrupt the neurofeedback loops in the brain.

My Micro sessions include Red/Blue light therapy, TCM based serums and topical nutrients, and an Acupuncture treatment.

My Acu-Facial treatments include Red/Blue light therapy, facial trigger point therapy, full-body acupuncture, microcurrent or facial cupping or facial gua sha.

My esoteric and orthopedic treatments are rad too!

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Personally, my lesson is: don’t take things so seriously. If I’m not having fun; I’m not being effective.

Also… Touch is a vitamin (Vitamin T). Healing happens in community/connection. Approval is among the most important embodiment practices.

Pricing:

• Microneedling $333
• Acu Facial $222
• Acupuncture $150-130
• Microneedle Aftercare Serum $25-35
• Acu Babe Signature Non-Surgical Facelift Series (combines four microneedling tx and 9 Acu-facials over a 13 week period) $2,997

Contact Info:

• Email: info@AcuBabe.com
• Website: AcuBabe.com
• Instagram: @Acu_Babe