Olivia Liu is a Licensed Acupuncturist both in Hawaii and California, which currently holds the highest standards for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine licensure. She graduated from Five Branches University in Santa Cruz, California after completing four years of study in Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Dietetics and Western Medicine. There she specialized in Women’s Health, taking specialty classes and clinics in Gynecology and Fertility. She also specialized in Five Element Acupuncture, which was a unique program that required separate clinical studies. In Santa Cruz she also began her interest in Kiiko Style Acupuncture, studying and interning with several Kiiko's students.
Olivia’s graduate studies in Oriental Medicine were an extension of and complementary to her studies as an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley where she earned a B.A. in Cognitive Science with a specialization in Cognitive Psychology as well as a minor in Business Administration. She took a Buddhist Psychology class taught by Dr. Eleanor Rosch, which revolutionized her whole perspective on the mind and emotions and led her down a path of finding ways to integrate Eastern and Western science and philosophy.
At UC Berkeley she also facilitated a Women’s Studies class that helped women explore issues relating to women’s health, body image and portrayal of women in the media, women’s rights, sexism, violence against women, and issues related to sexuality. After several years of turning her efforts to environmental and social activism in an effort to effect change to issues ranging from stopping global warming, protecting old growth forests and endangered species, to putting an end to unnecessary suffering from war and genocide, she decided that she needed to work on a more personally transformative level with people on an individual basis. That is when Olivia decided that Oriental Medicine was the perfect way to integrate East and West and to bring the healing and transformation to the world that was her calling.
During her schooling at Five Branches University, Olivia felt compelled to go beyond the curriculum available at school especially in the area of Qi Gong. Although Qi Gong was offered at the school, her passion and dedication to learning the true depth of this practice led her to study with Dr. Bingkun Hu both in Santa Cruz and in Berkeley. She has continued to study with Dr. Hu for over six years as one of his close students and a Certified Teacher of Wild Goose Qi Gong. Her interest in Qi Gong also led her to Beijing to study with one of Dr. Hu’s teachers, Master Duan Zhi Liang an expert in acupuncture, herbs, and qigong "qi" healing who was born in into a well respected medically-oriented family in the Forbidden City and learned directly from his grandfather, a personal physician to the last Chinese Emperor.
After receiving her Masters of Traditional Chinese Medicine, she moved to Maui to start her practice. For two years she ran a successful practice in Haiku and Wailea and also taught Qi Gong at the Studio Maui as well as holding her own workshops. After two years, she felt the desire to deepen and expand her knowledge further and decided to take an opportunity to study in Taiwan at the Taipei City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
There she worked alongside the Superintendent of the hospital who was also a Western medicine doctor and deepened her understanding of the use of Chinese herbal formulations and modifications after seeing over a hundred patients a day, five days a week for four months. With a background in Western medicine, the Superintendent rigorously used Western lab results to monitor the success of the various formulations he would prescribe for serious cases such as advanced hepatitis, cancer, heart conditions, diabetes, and stroke as well as high cholesterol, hypertension and insomnia. Olivia also gained a lot of experience from him in the treatment of pediatric cases, allergies and skin problems. She also studied acupuncture at the hospital gaining experience in the treatment of serious cases such as cancer patients, post-operative patients, stroke patients, and other patients with serious neurological disorders.
In Taiwan, Olivia also earned a certificate with a master herbalist who specialized in a rare pulse diagnosis technique that originated from the Shaolin Temple. This technique is much more specific and powerful in its diagnostic capabilities than the general pulse diagnosis used by most practitioners today. Olivia was the first foreigner to take the class and the first practitioner to use this technique in the United States.
After spending four months in Taiwan she was granted a two month internship working alongside the world renowned master acupuncturist Kiiko Matsumoto and her partner David Euler in Boston, where she assisted in the treatment of patients 12 hours a day, six days a week, which allowed her to more completely understand and integrate the Kiiko Style of Acupuncture into her own practice.
In her spare time Olivia also loves to garden, dance and practice the art of Taiwanese tea ceremony and Chinese calligraphy.