About Our Center
Our goals at Natural Alternatives Center for Wellness are to help people achieve balance and harmony in their lives through natural means - Acupuncture, Herbs, Massage, Bodywork, Diet Therapy, Skin Care, Exercise, and Wellness Workshops. Our Wellness Center offers a multidisciplinary approach to health and wellness.
We are here to help you live your best life.
Our goal at Natural Alternatives Center for Wellness is to always continue growing and offering a variety of modalities to help our patients achieve their wellness goals. We see a future where everyone in our community has experienced Acupuncture and Traditional Asian Medicine and they spread the word of how amazing our healing techniques are and what a difference they can make in your life.
What to expect from Natural Alternatives?
Dr Stephanie has managed to create an environment for patients that is simultaneously fun and serious.
Patients of Dr Stephanie will experience her fun nature, her New Jersey sarcasm, probably hear an ‘F’ bomb at some point (pediatric patients excluded), but will always know that she is bringing her warm, caring, professional experience to the treatment room.
Dr Stephanie holds her patients to the task of doing the work necessary to move forward on the path to wellness - but she is not above crying with patients when they experience loss.
When creating the healing environment of Natural Alternatives, Dr Stephanie wanted to assure that patients receive a stellar experience, therefore:
Appointments at the center are scheduled so that patients DO NOT feel rushed.
Initial consults are scheduled at times when Dr Stephanie is not caring for other patients.
Our appointments are set aside for care, not for waiting. You might spend 60-90 minutes in our office - but that time will not be spent in the waiting room; it will be spent receiving attention and care.
We do not schedule more than 3 patients per hour so that your time with Dr Stephanie is NEVER rushed - we never want patients to feel they have to jump off the treatment table and run out the door - most of the time we try and limit our appointments to 2 per hour.
Each patient is treated in their own private room.
You will notice Dr Stephanie’s whimsical style by the patterned cotton flannel sheets (her signature flair since the early 90’ during her Massage Therapist days - don’t worry the sheets themselves do not date that far back).
Each room has a HEPA / UV light Germ guardian air purifier.
Dr Stephanie is a gentle needler, and all needles are single use and disposable.
Yes we have new age music playing in the rooms and most patients adore this - come to think of it - Dr Stephanie has never had complaints about the music choices.
Natural Alternatives makes our home in the heart of the Historic Village of Allentown, New Jersey.
It is a quaint Main Street town with charm and many hidden treasures. Currently, our center occupies the first floor of the old law building on Main Street. The building was built in the 1820s and Dr Stephanie is working towards restoring the long neglected Greek Revival Style building. Our treatment rooms are spacious, relaxing, and comfortable and of course the common areas are painted in Dr Stephanie’s signature colors.
“There is no greater threat to the critics, cynics, and fear mongers than a women who is willing to fall because she has learned how to rise.”
In Traditional Asian Medicine, the Five Elements - wood, fire, earth, metal, and water - are used to describe the nature of the world around us, the changing of seasons, and the nature of the way our bodies work to maintain balance. These elements correspond to specific seasons, they each have specific emotions, and in the body they are assigned specific organ systems with yin and yang pairs. As practitioners we look to balance how the pairs of Yin and Yang organs interact, as well as how the Qi (energy) moves through all of the organs in a cycling manner.
The presence of The Five Elements throughout this site reflects how this energy is present within our bodies, how we need to live in harmony with the world around us, and how the purpose of balancing the movement of Qi is always to attain equilibrium.
The Wood Element is linked to the season of Spring. It is about birth, growth, expansion. Wood’s Yin Organ is the Liver, Yang Organ is the Gall Bladder. The emotions associated with balanced Wood are Optimism and Patients while out of balanced Wood is most often manifested as Anger and Frustration. Wood nourishes Fire/ Generates Fire.
The Fire Element is linked to the season of Summer. It is a time of rapid growth, heat, exuberance. Fire’s Yin Organ is the Heart, the Yang Organ is the Small Intestine. The emotions associated with balanced Fire are Joy and Passion while unbalanced Fire is generally associated with the inability to find joy or inappropriately expressed joy (laughter at the wrong time).
The Earth Element is linked to Late Summer. It is a time when growth starts to slow, it’s about nourishing. Earth’s Yin Organ is the Spleen, Yang is the Stomach. The balanced Earth emotions are connection, balance, harmony and out of balance emotions are worry, rumination, and over-thinking.
The Metal Element is linked to the Autumn/ Fall. It is the time where we reap the harvest and begin storing. Metal’s Yin Organ is the Lung, Yang is the Large Intestine. The balanced emotion of Metal is about letting go and processing grief, when out of balance there is an inability to let go, a rigidity.
The Water Element is linked to the Winter. Winter is a time of ending the cycle. It is a time to draw inward, store for the long haul, recharge for the new cycle to begin, a time of stillness and introspection. The balanced emotion of Water is Strength and Assuredness, healthy fear, when out balance fear predominates and consumes.
Treatments don’t have to happen during a particular season to help patients achieve balance. But knowing the basics about each element and what balance looks like allows practitioners to approach treatments from different vantage points and work towards achieving harmony.
“I have been a patient of Dr. Stephanie for over seven years. She is the most caring medical professional I have ever met. She listens to her patients and is always able to offer help with my pain. She communicates on her days off to see how her patients are feeling. Dr. Stephanie is so compassionate, a true professional, so knowledgeable and is always concerned about the care of her patients! She has such a passion to help people and always has a positive attitude. If you are in pain, make an appointment, it will truly change how you feel!”
-Susan