Toby Helmstetter, LAc
Toby Helmstetter is co-owner of Triangle Acupuncture Clinic, LLC and is licensed and board certified in both Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. She maintains licensure in both North Carolina and California.
Toby earned her masters degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) from the Five Branches Institute in Santa Cruz, CA. While there, she studied in depth both TCM and Five Element Acupuncture, two different schools of Chinese Medicine, one focusing more on the treatment of physical issues, the other more on mental-emotional issues. She is one of the few practitioners in the Triangle area proficient in both TCM and Five Element Acupuncture. Blending these two practices, Toby is able to work with patients on issues that are very physical in nature while treating the mental-emotional patterns that may precede or perpetuate the problem.
Since moving to North Carolina, Toby has had the good fortune of studying with Jeffrey Yuen, an 88th generation Daoist priest and world-renowned teacher of Classical Chinese Medicine. Her studies with Mr. Yuen have allowed her to help patients gain significant relief from long-standing illnesses, such as depression and anxiety, Lyme disease, cancer, auto-immune issues, chronic pain and skin conditions.
Toby’s acupuncture treatments extend beyond the treatment room with Chinese Herbal medicine, Homeopathic Drainage, Bach Flower Essences, mindfulness-based practices and assistance with supplements and nutrition. She is eager to empower patients with things they can do on their own to maintain the good effects of acupuncture treatments.
Before earning her acupuncture degree, Toby practiced as a certified massage therapist from the Boulder School of Massage Therapy since 1995 and simultaneously earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chinese from the University of Colorado at Boulder. There she enjoyed translating Chinese Buddhist texts into English and she had an article of her translation published by Blue Poppy Press, one of America’s most noted publishers of Chinese medical literature.
Toby believes that Chinese medicine has the power to help people transform their lives and can serve as the starting point for making change on a personal and a collective level. She is known for her ability to connect physical, mental and emotional symptoms and for helping patients use acupuncture treatments as a way to move through difficult life transitions. She employs all of her skills in the hopes that her patients utilize acupuncture to maintain their health, rather than just as a means to fight illness.