Aria Walker, L.Ac., Dipl.Ac, M.Ac.
Shamanic Healer, Teacher, Reverend, and
Licensed Acupuncturist (USA) (she/her)
Touch of a Healer
Shamanic Healing, Energy Healing & Integration
Aria
BIO
Personal Biography
I am happy to announce as of May 2024, I am working on a post-graduate certificate at Naropa University, Boulder, CO.
I am a cis woman, using she/her pronouns, among my other identities. Education and travel have taken me many places in life including living across the lower 48 states and Alaska. I have traveled on six continents. Each place has held great beauty: from lush greenery and thick scents of flowers to rocky cliffs and fragrant chaparral on the desert air to sunrises and sunsets through salty, crashing waves, to blankets of snow in quiet, curving drifts. My animal companions have traveled with me each place that I have lived. Since 1989, I have practiced a variety of martial arts including tai chi and qi gong. My first college degree was in Professional Photographic Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. While still in undergraduate school in Ohio, I began to study global shamanic indigenous healing techniques, Western herbology, and sustainable agriculture. I began offering healing work in 1991 and graduated from the Boulder School of Massage Therapy in 1996.
I continued my education through numerous workshops including craniosacral therapy, visceral manipulation, lymphatic drainage, Neuro Emotional Technique (NET), and Neuro-Linguistic Programming Life Coaching. I began teaching massage and Reiki natural healing in 1998 and started studies in the master of science degree program at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego in 1999. While in California, I was a full-time massage instructor and clinic supervisor. I also spent five years in a teaching Circle. After a severe car accident, I put acupuncture studies on hold to pursue other areas of interest and teaching workshops. During those years, I furthered my crisis intervention and survivor advocacy skills with hospice support training. I continued work with my first teachers and completed ordination training as a reverend with The Church of Earth Healing. In 2008, after over two years of assisting a third-generation acupuncturist from China, I began a new master's degree in East Asian medicine at the Academy for Five Element Acupuncture in Gainesville, Florida, finishing my Five Element clinical residency in 2011. In 2024, I began post-graduate studies in psychedelic-assisted therapies at Naropa University.
After leaving Alaska, I had been immediately enchanted with the Pacific Northwestern United States. My journey to Oregon began with purchasing the Acupuncture & Natural Medicine Clinic in Cannon Beach, and I was pleased to eventually offer services in Portland, both in my private practice and in a group practice. In 2017, I sold my business and started a sabbatical, traveling by motorcycle in Mexico, Central and South America, and by foot on the Camino de Santiago in Switzerland, France, and Spain. During this extended sabbatical, I began working for Academy for Five Element Acupuncture and with Acupuncturists Without Borders. Ultimately during this time, I was also in Cuba, Israel/Palestine, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Luxembourg, and Greece studying and engaging in volunteer work. I completed yoga teaching training in Sydney at BodyMindLife.
I have enjoyed hiking, camping, kayaking, canoeing, surfing, paddle boarding, snorkeling, and other outdoor activities in addition to riding motorcycles. While I lived in Alaska, I also explored natural beauty by cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and went dip netting for salmon. More recently, I tried sailing and deep-sea fishing for food. Dancing has also been a life-long passion.
I acknowledge with respect that I live, work, and travel on ancestral lands of many peoples, ancestors, and land spirits. I strive to honor the traditions, elders, and ancestors of indigenous, aboriginal and First Nations peoples, specifically the Yumans-speaking people (Ignacieño, Cadegomeño, and Didiu), Cochimi, and Guaycura (Waocura, Waikuri, Guaycuri) of Baja Sur, Mexico; the Clatsop, Cowlitz, Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tumwater, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Wasco, Molalla, Watlala, and Bands of Chinook of North Coast and Portland, Oregon; the Choctaw, Diné (Navajo), Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Lakota (Sioux), Odawa, and Ojibwe in the region of Ohio where I was born, and the Inde, Tinde, Tinneh (Apache).
I have a deep acceptance and sense of compassion for people. I sincerely value the opportunity to share in your healing journey. I look forward to working with you! ~ Aria
