My Story

Darcie Leong Iki

Licensed Acupuncturist, Licensed Massage Therapist

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Darcie first became interested in alternative health and healing in her twenties when a dear friend was fighting a battle against cancer.  Frustrated by seeing her friend go through a difficult health journey, a voice inside kept saying “There must be another way.”  Less than a year later, as if by divine intervention, her life took a turn and she found herself on a twenty-year journey to answer that very question.  She got married and found herself saying goodbye to her life in Los Angeles, to make a new life in Hong Kong with her husband.  It was the first step of a journey that led her to discover that there was indeed “another way.”  In fact, there were many different and diverse medicines and healing modalities across the world that offered different ways of understanding the human body and the meaning of health.   

 

In her first year abroad, having left behind her career as an oral historian, she found herself with a wide-open opportunity to start over and pursue another passion.  She quickly decided it was in the complementary health field.  She completed a year-long program in holistic aromatherapy and massage at Asia-Pacific Aromatherapy (APA). She then worked as an aromatherapist/massage therapist at APA and the Vitality Center, one of the leading complementary health clinics in Hong Kong for a combined span of 10 years. At the Vitality Center, she worked in tandem with Chinese doctors, osteopaths, homeopaths, and a reflexologist to provide a well-rounded range of services for patients.  This experience gave her an appreciation for a range of powerful healing modalities that could affect deep healing on a physical and emotional level.  It provided the template for how she has envisioned Kamālie Acupuncture and Healing Arts.  The clinic that draws upon multiple traditions including Eastern medicine, Western aromatherapy, and Hawaiian healing massage to bring balance and healing to patients. 

 

While living in Asia, she witnessed first-hand the effectiveness of Chinese medicine which was considered the first line of defense in healthcare.  She was fascinated by the Traditional Chinese Medicine and had the privilege of watching Dr. Cecilia The at the Vitality Center work her magic. While living in Hong Kong, she also studied Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Hong Kong University Extension Program.  It was here that she was introduced to the foundations of Chinese medicine and it sparked a passion and interest in pursuing eastern medicine.  She later went on to get her Masters in Science at the Institute of Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Honolulu, Hawaii.  She has since furthered her studies, focusing on learning a Japanese style of acupuncture by Kiiko Matsumoto called Kiiko Matsumoto Style (KMS). This style uses palpatory diagnostic methods that offers instant feedback to the practitioner and the patient when the treatment points are confirmed by the response from the body. It is a gentle, yet powerful form of acupuncture. Today, she continues to expand her knowledge studying with Matt Callison's Sports Acupuncture Certification Program, the most advanced orthopedic & sports acupuncture program in the country.

 

She also studied kinesiology, a form of healing that uses muscle testing to identify and clear negative energies and old thought patterns that are holding you back.  Memories and past traumas are not only housed in the mind, but also stored in our bodies. This technique helps to identify the root cause of your pain and release old emotional issues that may be weighing you down.  Through Self-Connection method of kinesiology, this treatment helps to heal old wounds so one can move forward in life. 

 

Darcie was also lucky enough to return to Hawai'i yearly to visit family and reconnect with her roots in Hawai'i.  During these visits, she was able to study Hawaiian lomilomi massage, first with Liann Uyeda of Aloha Lomilomi, and then under Dr. Maka’ala Yates, the founder of Mana Lomi .  She has taken multiple lomi lomi courses including the three-week intensive Mana Lomi training programs in 2011, 2013, 2015.  Mana lomi is a style of lomi that allows the practitioner to go deep, “communicating with the bones” in a non-invasive manner to “communicate on a soul level so healing can take place.”  It uses a compression and stretching technique that affects the golgi tendon organ and pain receptors to get immediate and long-term results.

 

This twenty-five year journey has laid the foundation for Darcie to become the practitioner she is today.  She combines her knowledge and experience in eastern medicine, aromatherapy,  Mana Lomi massage therapy, and her intuitive wisdom to combine into a unique blend of healing. Kamālie Acupuncture is the culmination of her journey and she looks forward to continuing to walk this path of healing with her patients.