Reviews & Testimonials

  Rachel was such a help during an incredibly stressful time in my life. She is welcoming, flexible, knowledgable, and provides a bubble of peace and care in a busy and stressful world. She genuinely cares and it feels like she's in it for the clients. Cannot recommend her highly enough.

  If I could give 1 million stars I would! . I found out about using acupuncture for fertility from a book my husband got while we were trying to get pregnant called Making Babies. Dr. Rachel is a an acupuncture fertility beast. She helped me to uncover the why behind my infertility (I HATE that word) after I had gone through multiple rounds of IUIs at Kaiser and they were telling me I had "unexplained" infertility I even saw her weekly when I moved to Sacramento. She also helped my endometriosis pain and shoulders. She's got the curiosity that you want in a healthcare provider especially when you're dealing with chronic pain and infertility which takes such a toll on us. Prior to seeing Rachel I had a couple visits with another acupuncturist in Oakland who claimed to know about infertility but had no clue what they were doing so you want to be careful and go to someone who has the knowledge and credentials to back them up. Also her Gua Sha is amazing. Just do it. Go to someone who cares. You're worth it. Thank you Dr Rachel you make the world a better place. I always wanted to be a mama & you helped get me here.

  Where do I even begin? I had been trying to conceive for over a year, had gone to other acupuncturists, and also diving into IVF at the same time. Once I had my first consultation with Rachel, I knew she was "the one". Ever since, she has taken care to truly listen to my needs, provided me with a wealth of knowledge on all things fertility, and has the expert "needle touch" that was right for me (I've had experienced some aggressive pokers), and all with the best sense of humor. I ended up conceiving naturally and appreciated her flexibility in how she treated me with my changing needs. Through my pregnancy, she's worked on my sciatica, eczema, and overall soreness. And by the time I was close to labor, which was about 3 weeks ago, Rachel shared all of her expert tips on acupressure my partner can use to help me during labor, postnatal recommendations and recovery. 2 weeks ago, I went into labor and I kid you not - I felt stronger than ever, my partner helped immensely with the acupressure, and I was more connected to my body while pushing. This is my second pregnancy and I'm 4 years older than with my first. I would have never thought that my second would go smoother and better considering my "geriatric pregnancy". I'm recovering now and the time has been twice as fast as my first. I'm astounded.
I can't thank rachel enough for being a critical partner for me in one of the most important journeys of my life creating another life.

  I can't thank Rachel enough. I planned to have a labor induction session with her the week of my due date. When, the week prior, my health care providers started urging me to get an induction within 24 hours, Rachel was incredibly accommodating and found space in her schedule for a last minute appointment. When a terrible Uber made me 25 minutes late for that appointment, Rachel still made it work and was calming, informative, and encouraging. I found the session to be very helpful. It was important to me to do as much as I could to promote labor naturally before going down the medical induction route, and I am so grateful to Rachel to helping me do that. I will definitely work with Rachel next time around!

  Book the appointment, you will not regret it!

Rachel is amazing. She is a wealth of knowledge and goes over and beyond in ensuring you feel comfortable while informing you of what each needle and it's placement is doing.

I'm confident that my weekly visits with her over a 10 month span are the reason I was able to carry a healthy pregnancy.

I'm forever grateful for the help and guidance Rachel provided, and look forward to working with her again.

Thank you Rachel, for everything!

  I am listening to my baby boy giggle away and so grateful to Rachel. He is here, thanks to her. If you need help getting pregnant or staying pregnant, I cannot recommend Rachel strongly enough. I routinely refer my girlfriends to her. She is honest, direct and VERY good at making dreams come true.

Details: I am 42 years old. My partner and I tried to get pregnant for a few months but could not. My OB told me that I am old and should explore IVF. Rachel thought otherwise. She reviewed the labs for me and my partner. She pointed out that we have very high egg and sperm counts, respectively. She also noticed my thyroid was borderline, which is fine most times but absolutely NOT ok when you are trying to conceive. Rachel gave me statistically significant studies to educate my OB about hypothyroidism and fertility. And Rachel suggested I request thyroid meds, which I did.

Four months later, with Rachel's regular treatment + thyroid meds, I became pregnant. Rachel continued her treatment through my pregnancy. While my OB was generally unavailable and distant, Rachel was easy to reach and full of knowledge. She helped me navigate each trimester and fielded my anxious questions.

I ended up having a very healthy pregnancy (no diabetes, no preeclampsia, etc) and a vaginal delivery. Again, I am 42 and the OB assumed I needed IVF.

Rachel is a wonderful combo of brains + heart. She combines her practice of acupuncture with a deep working knowledge of Western medicine. Her wedding of the two makes her stand out. Also, her bedside manner is excellent -- which really matters when you are going through such a stressful experience.

Rachel made my pregnancy journey downright joyful. I would say more, but I need to go play with my son. Good luck!

  I cannot say enough amazing things about Rachel.

I started visiting Rachel on recommendation from a friend when my husband and I were having trouble conceiving. In addition to my acupuncture treatments, Rachel was a tremendous source of knowledge and support throughout our journey. After a couple months of treatment, Rachel recommended at home hormone and sperm testing that ultimately guided our decision to seek treatment from an IVF clinic. From there, she provided recommendations for specialists we needed to see along with the fertility clinic we ended up working with. I continued to see Rachel throughout our IVF journey and pregnancy, relying on her beyond treatments to help answer questions and provide additional guidance on what we could expect.

I am so happy to share that we welcomed a healthy and happy baby girl to our family in early March.

Rachel is incredibly knowledgeable, always honest, warm, compassionate, and an absolute gem to work with. We give a lot of credit to Rachel for helping us navigate infertility and grow our family. I highly recommend going to see Rachel - we're eternally grateful for her help.

  Rachel is the best! Acupuncture has been a go to for me for several ailments but it was the best for pregnancy and Rachel was wonderful. I have a beautiful baby and I owe her a huge thanks! My first trimester was so great because I got to see her once a week for treatment! I cannot recommend her more she is very skilled and knows her stuff.

  I want to cry thinking about how fantastic and grateful I am for the care that I received from Rachel. She is experienced, knowledgable, and understanding of what busy and stressed women in the Bay Area need to help conceive. I started going to Rachel after 2 years of infertility and loss, the treatments helped me to relieve stress, take time for myself, and ultimately I believe they helped me to naturally conceive my beautiful TWIN girls! Rachel continually modified our procedures to address the immediate health concerns I was having, I received outstanding and regular care that made a huge difference. I'm so incredibly thankful for the experience and I look forward to continuing to work with Rachel in the future on my postpartum journey.

Side note about health and safety - my entire experience with Rachel was during the COVID-19 pandemic, I always felt that she took every precaution to protect her patients. The first consultation was via video in which you can ask anything you want and can get a better understanding of her current safety procedures.

I cannot recommend City Pulse Acupuncture more, if you are on the fence about acupuncture, I suggest you give it at least one appointment...it might just change your life like it did mine.