Meet Anthony Guadamuz of IM Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine in Doral

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Guadamuz.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Anthony. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am currently the Medical Director and one of the Acupuncture Physicians in our team here at “IM-acu-herbal” as we like to call it. We’ve been in business for three years, and I practicing for five; serving the South Florida community for all five of these years.

During these five years, I have completed a Clinical Doctorate degree specializing in TCM Internal Medicine after starting the journey to specialize in the management of pain and related eco-psychosocial phenomena. As part of this doctoral degree, I spent years working on my thesis; which focuses on bridging the gap between biomedicine‘s reductionist worldview and language to; Taoist Medicine’s phenomenological leaning view and terminology.

My educational career before that, consisted of a 4-year Masters degree in Integrative Medicine from AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine in Austin, Texas; that was an amazing experience!

Before launching myself into studying Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine, moving from Miami to Austin; I spent years goofing off in the city trying to figure out what it was that I was going to set my mind to and go full-force toward.

Eventually, after being a chef in local restaurants, studying business administration and being disappointed almost immediately; and recovering from many financial hardships that come from multiple factors of my life’s story, I decided that I wanted to tap into my inner-child to see if I could gain clarity as to what I truly wanted out of life…

…that took me on a wild ride of transcendent experiences and finally to the realization that I wanted to be a ninja, that tended to gardens and was a master at healing and just be pure awesome!

So I googled, “Herbal Medicine”; I anticipated being directed to a botany school or chemistry, instead an Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine program appeared… I was all in [though I had never even received an Acupuncture treatment] and scheduled an interview knowing that I was pretty much already sold on the program anyway (ninja, Taoism, acupuncture, t’ai chi, IT ALL MADE SENSE AND WAS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!).

Anyway, prior to me being able to sign-up to a graduate program, I had stumbled throughout the years, attempting to finish my Associate’s degree from MDC. Fortunately, I was ahead of “schedule” and had room to wander in my search for a career, because I had already received college credits by attending JWU for culinary arts, which itself was a remarkable learning experience.

This would be a good point to mention why I say I was ahead of “schedule”, see, I dropped out of high school at 16 years old; intending to become a real estate agent… but upon withdrawing, I realized I was not eligible due to my age; so instead—once I had finished testing for my GED, I applied to enter the program to become a chef and eventually a restaurant owner (I took a field trip with the 5000 role model club my freshman year in high school, to JWU; and was captivated).

My counselor at the time tried to talk me out of it, I was in all honors classes; high GPA and had already taken the SAT & ACT, but by this time I had already given up on the public school system and felt my education was being slowed and stunted. In any case, I became a doctor; and here I am today.

There are many things in the making currently since it feels like I have just begun! I am currently in the process of working on other projects related to my field and publishing both scholarly/academic work, as well as that of the poetic nature. At the moment, I am presently excited about lecturing and teaching the beautiful art that is Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine to a wide range of people, from lecturing at UM on public health to teaching university courses at East West College of Natural Medicine, to teaching home-school students to become barefoot medics! Who knows what comes next!

Has it been a smooth road?
Absolutely not! It is still not smooth! I suspect that it will never be. However, it is not about the journey being smooth, it is about building yourself in a way that will help to navigate the bumps and cliffs with grace. I have personally dealt with “alcoholism”, poverty, living out of my car, financial hardships, relationship hardships, existential crisis experiences, injuries… the list is long. I have come out on the other end a better man, and that is all that matters; by the grace of the eternal providence and my determination to accomplish what I have set my mind to.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Well, we primarily utilize Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine; and Integrative diagnostic approaches to provide health, wellness, and performance services for all, from executives always on the go to the moms/dads running the household making it look like magic.

We have a high success rate with relieving patients of their various pains through non-pharmaceutical & non-surgical methods.

Our expertise in the care of Internal Medicine conditions and various syndromes with natural therapies; is something that our patients appreciate and thus recommend family and friends regularly.

We are most proud of sticking to our vision! Medicine based on life fundamentals! Our highest aim is to provide “medicine based on life fundamentals”, and wellness care; after we have helped you regain a solid state of health! This is not a trivial matter for us, it is imperative that we define health for ourselves; each of us! The very act of defining health for yourself is a healing catalyst, try it some time; you’ll see.

If we were to ask you “what is health?” we doubt you’d respond with a blood pressure reading, hemoglobin count, and weight. What we hope and suspect you will respond with is something to the likes of, health to me means: “feeling energized when I wake up”, “peace of mind”, “being able to play with my kids and not have this pain”, “not have to take this pharmaceutical medication”, “be able to feel healthy again!” and things of this nature. Well, this is what we take into account and want to help you get to and keep for longevity! Of course, we also interpret the numbers in your lab findings and review imaging to make sure we are on track! However, our focus is your Mind-Body-Spirit.

I would say that this focus on our vision is what sets us apart.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I typically stray from providing advice that is generalized, but I’d say that for anyone who is determined and flexible; all is possible! To improve the odds of people succeeding in our city, I would suggest we increase opportunity. There is always room for improvement, but it begins with each of us individually and at home with our families.

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