Minnesotan To Meet: Acupuncturist Senia Mae Tuominen
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – When you grow up good at math and science there are so many good jobs out there, like engineering.
But what if you end up hating it?
Then you go into…acupuncture?
"When I was an engineer, I was diagnosing and fixing machines. Whereas now, I'm diagnosing and healing people. And that's way more fun," acupuncturist Senia Mae Tuominen said.
She has now been having fun needling people for eight years.
The beautiful blonde is hoping to change the face of Chinese medicine in the Twin Cities. Her path is what makes her this week's Minnesotan to Meet.
Finding balance is hard; even when you're really good at something.
"We forget to evaluate that 'Hey, do I feel happy? Do I love my life?'" Tuominen said.
Tuominen always excelled at math and science, so she became an engineer.
"My dad said if you get an engineering degree you can do just about anything, but I don't think he meant acupuncture," Tuominen said.
It wasn't an easy transition; Tuominen spent the first two years of her engineering career sick.
"I had debilitating anxiety, really bad digestive problems," Tuominen said.
She went to see a friend's acupuncturist.
Soon after, she told her husband, a doctor, she had found her calling: Chinese medicine.
The couple has supported each other through everything; his medical residency and her fresh start two years ago
She opened a brand-new clinic on Grand Avenue in St. Paul while simultaneously taking a trip to bike the Alps.
They have a strong foundation.
"My husband was my first kiss when I was 15," Tuominen said. "No could compare to him."
Just don't ask them if physical therapy or acupuncture is better, or how sugar impacts the body.
"There have been some really interesting arguments over the dinner table," Tuominen said. "We disagree about how we should treat certain things."
Tuominen knows we need prescriptions or surgery and is grateful for western medicine, but also shows her patients how effective acupuncture can be.
She claims the needles clear up everything from migraines to knee pain, or, in the case of WCCO's Jamie Yuccas, allergies.
Yuccas didn't know if she believed in it and tried it.
"I love skeptics," Tuominen said.
She didn't even tell her dad when she was going into the field of study at Northwestern Health and Sciences University.
After graduation and coercing him into a session, dad is now a believer.
Tuominen is finding peace in her profession while helping her clients strengthen their chi, too.
Patient's first visit is almost two and a half hours and runs about $150. She assesses everything going on in your body.
Your second visit will be just as long, because you'll get the report of findings, a treatment and a lifestyle outline you can implement.
Each follow up visit is about 75 minutes and costs $80. She does offer packages to bring the cost down.