I acknowledge with respect that I live, work, and travel on ancestral lands of many peoples, ancestors, and spirits. I strive to honor the traditions, elders, and ancestors of indigenous, aboriginal, and First Nations peoples, specifically Yumans-speaking people (Ignacieño, Cadegomeño, and Didiu), Cochimi, and Guaycura (Waocura, Waikuri, Guaycuri) of Baja Sur, Mexico; Clatsop, Cowlitz, Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tumwater, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Wasco, Molalla, Watlala, and Bands of Chinook of North Coast and Portland, Oregon; Choctaw, Diné (Navajo), Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Lakota (Sioux), Odawa, and Ojibwe in the region of Ohio where I was born and elsewhere; Inde, Tinde, Tinneh (Apache); Mexica (Aztec); and Maya peoples. While my roots only go back eight generations in North America, my bloodline ancestors include indigenous peoples of Europe, Africa, and Middle East/West Asia, and my direct human teachers span all the human-inhabited continents of Earth

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Oath - upon graduation from my Masters in Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine program, I took an oath to uphold the following principles. Similar to, yet different than the Hippocratic Oath, it is one of several oaths I have taken: "When people come to you with a serious disease and ask for help, you cannot concern yourself with whether they are esteemed or dishonorable, wealthy or poor, elderly or young, beautiful or ugly. Your care must be safe, and not swayed by whether they are your dearest family member or your adversary, your good friend or a stranger, Chinese or foreigner, foolish or wise. In your mind’s eye, each patient is on the same level, degree, and class, and is treated as close as family. Your care must never be self-serving or motivated by what brings good or bad fortune, or by that which is pleasing or upsetting. Your protection and care should be precisely what is necessary: no more, no less, without deference to your own safety and life. Know, in your heart, that your good deeds are sincere and not a game. Show courage but caution. Actively explore and broaden your knowledge, but stand firmly on the principles of which you are certain."  The Golden Principle - A Guide to Medical Workers, Sun Ssu-Miao, Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 CE), physician, theorist, author