Meet Tara and Sara, the warm and friendly team behind The Village Community Acupuncture, located at 2625 E Hastings Street. As local entrepreneurs, moms and acupuncturists, the duo set out to open a body-positive, self-nurturing and gender-inclusive place to nurture healing and wellness.
“I’m pretty passionate about everybody and anybody being exposed to acupuncture,” Sara tells us when we stopped in recently for a chat. “At a sliding scale that is attainable for a lot of people who would often look at us and think ‘oh I could never afford that’”.
When we ask why they chose the East Village to set up shop, Sara says the area was a natural fit for the clinic. “We loooovvvee this neighbourhood,” Sara says with a smile. “I have lived in this neighbourhood for almost 10 years and it has been my absolute dream to walk to work, up and down the Village streets, I’m here every day. I have a really tight connection to the community since having a kid and the need to be really local. I have had my finger on the pulse of opening an acupuncture place here ever since I graduated.”
As a form of alternative/natural medicine, Tara and Sara are both trained professionals who specialize in acupuncture. “I have always loved this area,” Tara tells us. “Last year Sara and I started talking about (opening a business), and then the space became available — and we did!”
For those who think acupuncture is out of their price range, Tara and Sara want them to reconsider the long-term benefits of investing in one’s wellbeing and health. “We want to make it affordable for everybody and the other thing is, for acupuncture to really shine you have to come for a series of treatments so if we can make it so that it is affordable for a person to do that, they are really going to get their end goal and not have to stop short of what their long term goal is,” Tara says.
“The other thing is, what is really important to me in my life right now is self-care and preventing illness. What if we could keep our stress levels down, prevent our allergies, or prevent exhaustion from work. If you could come once in a while, then we could prevent ever needing to a week series of treatment. So we are providing affordable health care while preventing any sort of future issues.”
A welcoming and relaxing space, The Village Community Acupuncture is a truly unique space in our area — with smiling faces that help make it feel like home. “Our families don’t live here and then after having kids, the need for support (is there),” Tara says. “This (place) is an extension of that feeling — of creating a family. So when anybody walks by we want them to feel welcome, come inside say hi, have a cup of tea… It doesn’t always have to be about business and that is what the Village is all about.”
To learn more, visit The Village Community Acupuncture’s website, and get social on Instagram and Facebook.