Image by Ali Rogers @pranalens
Hannah Fries, L.ac.
A sensitive soul with a healer’s heart, I was born with a deep desire to serve the greater good. I completed my undergraduate education at UCLA, where I delighted in studying Cultural Anthropology, with an emphasis in Psychological and Environmental Anthropology. I then received my Master's in Traditional Chinese Medicine from Emperor’s College in Santa Monica. My path to East Asian Medicine was a winding, illuminating, and unconventional one, fueled by insatiable curiosity, compassion, imagination, hope, and a desire to act as a healing force in the world.
Before landing at Emperor’s, I spent time living and working in Brooklyn, Big Sur and Santa Barbara, CA exploring the worlds of Permaculture, sustainable horticulture, meditation, yoga, psychospiritual inquiry, authentic relating, and more. My fascination with the inherent healing potential of plants and nature (humans included), paired with a deep desire to have something tangible and transformational to offer others, alongside an unquenchable thirst for multicultural insights and new lenses through which to view the world, led me to pursue a career in Chinese Medicine.
From a young age, I was exposed to and affected by the struggle of illness within my family. As I witnessed my beloved father suffer for years as a patient in the clutch of the dominant medical paradigm, I felt overwhelmed by a voice within that believed in another way. I was distraught by the limits of the “healthcare” system around me, sensing that something potent was missing in the typical patient-doctor relationship, and that the very foundation of the establishment was unstable (and the motives of which have become insidiously corrupt). Later, in my own personal healing journey, when the status quo proved ineffective, I was drawn toward many different forms of medicine and healing. In the face of uncertainty, frustration, grief, anxiety, and pain, I found solace, strength, joy, and healing in nature and spiritual practices such as yoga, meditation and breathwork, intentional embodiment practices, authentic connection, and “alternative” forms of medicine, such as acupuncture/herbal medicine, intuitive and holistic nutrition, various bodywork modalities, and Integrative Body Psychotherapy.
Today, I am excited to offer what I have learned (and continue to learn with each new day) to my patients, and hope that my own experiences, as well as the wealth of knowledge and wisdom I have obtained through my study and practice of Classical East Asian Medicine and beyond, can help others in their quest for happiness, authenticity, and well-being.
In addition to practicing all things Chinese Medicine, I completed an in-depth 3-year training (which was truly more of a intensive journey of self-discovery and deep healing work) to become a certified Integrative Body Psychotherapy (IBP) Allied Professional, and I’m passionate about integrating the worlds of Chinese Medicine and IBP in my work with patients and within my community.
“It seems that Life drops many bags of gold in our path. Rarely do they look like what they are.”
FRIESPIRIT HEALING ARTS : mission
A play on words using my last name, Fries (pronounced “Freeze”), Friespirit’s mission is to facilitate the awakening and empowering of your radiant inimitable spirit that longs to be seen and heard. It is my intention to embark with each client on an archeological dig — so to speak — one that reestablishes and reconnects you to your core state of being.
My mission is to help people to discover and heal the underlying roots of their health concerns, using an individualized and holistic approach that views symptoms as the body’s generous attempt to communicate imbalance and the need for change on one or more levels. I treat whole people, not the disease they present with, and I take my time connecting with patients – appointments typically last 1 hour or longer – so that I can learn a patient’s story, cultivate trust and understanding, and give adequate time for effective treatment. My goal is to create a safe and potent space in which patients can reveal and reactivate their innate healing potential and personal power.
My Core Beliefs:
The body is a repository of divine wisdom, information, and experience. When you listen to the whispers of the body, your spirit doesn’t have to yell. I’m here to help you tune-in to the quiet wisdom within.
You already possess all that you need to be healthy, joyful, and vibrantly alive. Let’s free you from the obstacles that interfere with your innate healing capacity.
By investigating the root cause of imbalance, you gain access to the answers that reside within, and are able to let go of that which no longer serves you. Dissolve that which is holding you back from embodying your full potential, and reveal your path to inner freedom.
I operate on a model of trust and optimism, integrity, humor and, above all, compassion.
“Health, like freedom, is not a passive commodity to be delivered or purchased, but an ongoing active process, a striving for coherence. It is about navigating our ship at sea, not about reaching port as a finite and final destination. Health is no more the mere absence of disease than freedom is the absence of interference - both involve identifying and surmounting obstacles.”