About The Owner
Dr. B.J. Putnam, D.Ac, L.OM., Dipl. O.M. (NCCAOM)
Meet Dr. Putnam
Dr. B.J. Putnam, D.Ac, L.OM., Dipl. O.M. (NCCAOM), was born and bred in rural Michigan. She grew up in a working-class family and witnessed firsthand what chronic illness can do to folks. While fully acknowledging that suffering is a part of being alive, she sees no reason for people to suffer any more than they have to.
B.J. obtained her Doctor of Acupuncture degree from the Won Institute for Graduate Studies in Warminster, Pa where she is currently teaching. She obtained her license to practice acupuncture in Pennsylvania in 2010 and went back to school in 2017 to receive formal education in Chinese Herbal Medicine. She was issued a license to practice Oriental Medicine in 2019 which has allowed her to incorporate Chinese Herbal Medicine into her Acupuncture practice. B.J. currently serves on the board of directors for the Association for Professional Acupuncturists and is faculty at the Won Institute for Graduate Studies where she spends most of her time corralling first year acupuncture students.
Currently, she is the owner and sole practitioner of Garden Path Acupuncture which includes a beautiful classroom available for a multitude of health-related classes.
Before her leap of faith into the acupuncture world, B.J. was a massage therapist and attended Irene's Myomassology Institute in Southfield, MI. She enhanced her massage training by completing an apprenticeship in Somatic Functional Therapy with Ramon Nunez, D.Ac..
B.J. is a determined novice gardener, occasional dancer, sometimes martial artist, and along with her husband, a tolerated companion for two very handsome cats named Dylan and Lugh.
Can the practitioners at garden path acupuncture help you?
Hear what folks who have experienced treatment at GPA have to say about their experience.
favorite ice cream shop
favorite tai chi classes
favorite baloonatic
favorite shoes for wide feet
favorite fancy oolong tea
best shoe measurements
“We all need help with our feelings. Otherwise, we bottle them up and before you know it, powerful laxatives are involved.”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
my journey
I’ve been helping people find relief from pain since 1997 when I became a massage therapist and one of the things that still raises my righteous indignation is someone coming to me with their version of the same story I’ve been hearing for 25 years.
“…My doctor said this is normal.”
“…All they did was run a few blood tests and told me to lose weight.”
“…I took the pills/had the surgery/did the exercises and when that didn’t work, they said I would just have to live with it.”
The lack of options. The loss of hope.
Knowing that something is wrong but there seems to be no help for you.
This is why I decided to specialize in pelvic health. Those unmentionable areas. The taboo drippy bits no one wants to talk about but anyone can suffer from. My career as a health care provider is dotted with mile markers from patients and friends who came to me for help with a problem I couldn’t resolve satisfactorily, I had to look deeper. Learn more. Get another tool for my toolbox. Studying Massage Therapy led me to Movement Therapy. Then Acupuncture. Eventually, I went back to school again to study Chinese/East Asian Herbal Medicine. Every time I dove back into the classroom or buried myself in a pile of books I emerged with new answers. New approaches. More complete solutions to offer folks who seemed to hit another dead end on their path. As my knowledge grew, my compassion did as well. The more I learned, the deeper I needed to listen to my patients.
To listen without judgment. To accept that people bring their own lives with them. Their follies, their mistakes, their victories, their rewards, their living consequences. The worst injuries are the ones we can’t bring ourselves to talk about. I don’t need the gritty details. It’s not my job to shame someone who comes to me for help. I do want to know how it’s impacting your life and I want to help you to get past it, through it, beyond it.
I have a large garden, although I’ve never been much of a gardener. I want to be, though, and I figure the best way to become a successful gardener is to act like I already am one. So I go out and I do the work. I weed, I water, I plan and I plant. I make decisions about what to trim back, when and how to do it so that my garden flourishes. When I don’t know what to do, I read. I watch videos. I ask for advice. Then I make the best decision I know how to make and wait for the results. When I went to school for acupuncture, I didn’t know that I would be a good acupuncturist but I acted as I would be. Now I am. I have solid skills and I love my work. Love it so much that I’m on the faculty at the only acupuncture school in the state. I give my students the same advice. It’s ok if you don’t think you know what the outcome is, just do the work. Show up, take the next step, and do the work. Acupuncture isn’t magic. Neither is herbal medicine. It’s work.
And I would much rather be working, helping each other, increasing our ability to live fully, joyously, with less pain and bigger steps, than be doing anything else.
“I know your name / They may have stolen the heart from inside you / But this does not define you / This is not who you are / You know who you are / Who you really are.”
Moana
We Address The Root Cause
Our process includes finding and attacking the actual root CAUSE of your chronic pain. This is why so many have found relief with our therapies, even though other approaches didn’t work. Even people with a history of chronic pain have experienced significant relief.
We Use An All-Natural Approach Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About
Your doctor may have told you that you have to live with your chronic pain and accompanying symptoms or “this is as good as it gets”. That doesn’t mean there’s no treatment, it just means your doctor has run out of ideas or there aren’t conventional treatments available. We find that people who don’t respond well to conventional treatment often respond very well to our natural approach.
We Help You Awaken Your Body's Natural Healing Abilities
Despite what you may have been led to believe, your body is not “broken” and it IS possible to have energy, focus, and joy again. That’s because your body never forgets how to heal itself. It just needs the right support. Your body makes its own internal endorphins/opioids substances and medicines, and our therapies help it do just that.
We Focus on How You FEEL - Not Just Lab Reports
While everyone else is looking at pieces of paper with numbers, and not listening to you – WE focus on YOU, your story, and how you feel. Are you moving easier? Do you feel less paint? Are you feeling more energy? Are you thinking more clearly? THAT is OUR focus. NOT more expensive, unnecessary lab tests.
We Keep It Simple And Results Are Quick
Feeling better and boosting your body’s natural healing resources does not have to be difficult or take a long time. Simple, targeted lifestyle changes along with our natural therapies offers a very clear and concise way to attack the problem head-on, and patients often see improved symptoms, energy, and mood within DAYS not WEEKS or MONTHS.
new to garden path?
Meet: Jenn
aka The Voice on the Other End of the Phone
Jenn is our wonderful, warm, and generous receptionist. In addition to answering your questions on the phone, she also teaches Belly Dance classes here in GPA's studio. In her off time, Jenn enjoys hiking with her children, meeting the demands of her cats, and bringing home "just one more" plant.
Low Back Pain
Interstitial Cystitis
Hip Pain
Digestion & Intestinal Pain
Post-Hernia Repair Surgery Pain
Period Pain & Cramping
Tailbone & Sacral Pain
Pelvic Floor Pain
Painful Intercourse
Painful Urination / Bowel Movements
Groin & Inguinal Pain
Fecal & Urinary Incontinence
At GARDEN PATH ACUPUNCTURE, we specialize in Acupuncture pain relief for people with types of pain and dysfunction involving the hips and pelvis
Our Approach ALWAYS Includes Emotional Well-Being
Stress, anxiety and depression are often key components in chronic pain. We do not ignore this, we actually address sleep and relaxation which supports your body’s natural healing system.
the timeline
Fall 2020: Putnam Point Acupuncture officially closed & BJ finishes Doctor of Acupuncture
Summer 2021: Putnam Properties buys what will become Garden Path Acupuncture and immediately starts cursing contractors. Construction begins to turn what was a six-car garage into a beautiful acupuncture oasis. And by construction I mean gutting everything down to the frame of the building.
Fall 2021: New walls. New roof. New plumbing. New stucco. New siding. Awesome Electrician does his job and it’s fantastic to have lights and working outlets everywhere! New very level floating floor in the classroom
Winter 2021: Determined to be ADA-compliant, the elevator is installed. Aren’t we done yet? Will we ever be done? Should I just put away my needles and resign myself to swinging a hammer for the rest of my years? Cabinets and sinks in all the rooms! Be jealous, my friends. I have sinks in all of my treatment rooms.
Spring 2022: Trim. So much trim. Around everything. Caulk. So much caulk. Around everything. Paint. So much paint. On everything. And then more paint because I put the wrong color up in the treatment rooms and had to @#*^$ repaint.
Summer 2022: New asphalt, mirrors and barre installed in the classroom.
July 2022: It’s done. It’s beautiful. Patients love it. I love it. Now we just need to get some classes started!
OUR VALUES
I.
All people have intrinsic worth
II.
We are committed to racial,
gender, and cultural diversity
III.
We respect our patient’s
personal & cultural beliefs
IV.
We honor the teachers who have
made our practice possible
We bring ease to our patients while cultivating the path to success for acupuncture practitioners. With effective strategies found in acupuncture, manual therapy, and herbal medicine we address conventionally difficult-to-treat health issues and make accessible healthy living strategies and treatments to people who struggle to find relief from conventional care while helping other health care professionals do the same.
Humans are designed to self-regulate, often needing only small amounts of outside support to maintain health, however, the right support is often not found at a traditional medical facility. We are communal beings and the best support relies on human interaction, this interaction is at the heart of acupuncture and herbal medicine. Garden Path Acupuncture will provide compassionate, personalized care to patients while giving new practitioners a step up in their careers with mentorship opportunities. We focus on conventionally difficult-to-treat health issues with effective strategies found in acupuncture, manual therapy, and herbal medicine.
brands we love
EVIL BONE WATER
Formulated by Saint Apothecary, these handmade, small batches use only imperial grade herbs, Everclear 190 and water to help solve your pain, healing and skin problems instead of just temporary relief.
Bio HerboloQi
Natural medicinal products made by Dr. Phiona Gitsham (Chinese Medicine, Aus). Created with a unique array of special techniques sourced from her background in cheffing and nutritional genomics, Dr. Phiona is integrating natural biochemical actives with Chinese herbal medicine to produce targeted, effective products. We use organic ingredients where possible, non-toxic packaging, and recyclable materials. We are proud to run a green business, and will always make the extra effort to source the highest quality, non-toxic, and environmentally sustainable ingredients & supplies.
chi chi chocolate
Based on the Five Elements of Chinese medicine, Chi Chi Wellness presents 7 chocolate bars with healing herbs traditionally used for sleep, immunity, energy, stress, longevity, meditation and movement. At Chi Chi Wellness we believe it is imperative to pause with reflection and give thanks for the cultures and lands from which our herbs and cacao come from. We have gratitude for these ancient medicines and for our teachers, who gave us the gift of love for plant medicine.
far east summit
Far East Summit recognizes its responsibility to the practitioner and the patient to provide safe and effective herbal products. Our Living Credo binds us to this responsibility. Far East Summit assumes responsibility at every level of the manufacturing process which is why all our products are inspected, manufactured, and/or packaged in our company-owned and operated, local and State licensed, FDA registered and cGMP certified manufacturing facility.
Kan Herbs
Kan is more than our name – it is our mission. Kan Herb Company is dedicated to enhancing the practice of Chinese herbology in the West by providing unmatched herbal products that are safe, pure, and effective. Kan is a valuable ally to the modern healthcare provider. The lower part of the Kan ideogram represents the dragon, a symbol for power and transformation. It is our goal to liberate the power within each person to transform discomfort into harmony and balance. Delivery of herbal products you can trust in the pursuit of excellence is Kan Herb Company's commitment.