154 Summit St, River Falls, WI 54022 715-227-3486
Welcome to Healing Roots
Wellness Center
Meet our Team!
Practitioners....
Emily Jacobson, LAc
To The Point Acupuncture and Tai Chi
Owner and Director of Healing Roots Wellness Center
My interest in wellness and holistic medicine started at a very young age. Pursuing this interest, I attended St.Croix Center For The Healing Arts massage school in the year 2000. With a passionate young heart I decided to make an attempt at entrepreneurship and started my first business, Exceptional Relief Massage, in 2002. After a very successful 9 years in business, my mind and body needed to dive deeper into the healing arts. Wanting an extension of my career as a bodyworker, I chose to study Chinese Medicine and received a Masters of Science in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in 2016 and promptly opened To The Point Acupuncture and Tai Chi. Having been a bodyworker for more that 20 years, my goal is to create a safe space for each individual and work with their needs, meeting them wherever they are at on any given day. Holding this space allows for a person to be at ease and reach true healing. Working with Qi (sounds like chi) and deep communication as medicine, I am able to work with all elements of a persons mind, body, and spirit. With a massage therapy background, one area of wellness I focus on is pain management, with an additional focus on women’s health and mental/emotional health. As the owner and director of Healing Roots Wellness Center, my goal is to create a wholesome community of wellness providers and wellness seekers. Knowing that there are many paths to healing and that collaborative care has a big impact, I want to offer a diverse way to make healing available and accessible. We are on this planet to connect, love, and support each other. I believe this is the only way we are able to fully thrive as human beings. Humbly holding space for practitioners and recipients to receive emotional and physical nourishment is the basis of why I decided to open Healing Roots Wellness Center. In my spare time, you will find me hiking, riding bicycle, or kayaking with my sweet husband, playing with my dogs, teaching tai chi in the park, deep in a philosophical conversation, or laughing with a friend or loved one.
Call to book an appointment
715-227-3486
Amber Moore
Community Acupuncture
and Individual Acupuncture
Amber has been practicing acupuncture for the past several years, after receiving her masters degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine from AAAOM in 2017, her Diplomate in Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture from NCCAOM, and her license from the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice. She practices in several locations, in rural Minnesota as well as the twin cities area, doing individual and community acupuncture. Her passion is in the fundamental restructuring of health care to be in more direct service to communities of people in need, and to make our community relationships the foundation to our healing. This has included volunteering her services in her immediate community, as she did during the COVID and racial justice riot era in her neighborhood, practicing in encampments near her home, participating in free health care events, and offering acupuncture in her back yard to anyone ready to take her up on her offer. She believes that acupuncture can be a very practical, simple way to support most people in their mental, physical and emotional health, without side effects or ethical conundrums. She strives against professional specialization, though sees each patient as a very special opportunity for connection and growth. She also loves plants a whole lot, making herbal teas, medicines, and teaching classes in basic plant identification, medicine making, and the like. She offers her herbal perspective to her treatments, including basic and accessible Chinese and western herbal solutions. In the other moments of her life, she engages in community art and puppet builds, hosts and attends craft and skill share events, loves to cook for people, gardens messily and excessively, and lives with her incredible teen in South Minneapolis.
715-227-3486
Laura Bond
Harmony Hands Reiki
Laura Bond, owner and practitioner I offer the energetic therapies of Reiki, Craniosacral and Sound Healing. My goal is to support my clients in reaching their highest potential for healing in a nurturing, comfortable environment. I feel privileged to work as an energy therapist, considering energetic touch and sound healing to be sacred. A diagnosis of breast cancer in 2000 and subsequent strong treatments to cure the disease led me into researching and receiving various non-conventional therapies. Reiki and Craniosacral Therapy were both profoundly helpful in my healing, so much so that I pursued training in both. Prior to founding Harmony Hands Reiki, I became a Certified Reiki Master in 2012 in the Usui System of Natural Healing under Constance Herris, Sunrise Healing Arts. My study of Craniosacral Therapy is ongoing at the Heartwood Institute, St. Paul, Minnesota. Most recently, my extensive background as a musician has fueled further interest and creativity in Sound Healing. When away from the Harmony Hands Reiki studio, I enjoy gardening, hiking, family time, and my piano.
715-255-0273
Debra Andezola
Red Cedar Healing
My journey started, on a dairy farm in a little Wisconsin community where family taught me a loving respect for the land and nature. As my passion for plants grew I became a life-long student of studying the plant world in Floral Design, Herbal Medicine, Clinical Aromatherapy, Microbiology, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Plant Science at UW-River Falls and AAS in Massage Therapy at Northwestern Health Science. As life’s path often leads to discovery, one such was energy work. Energy work was so life changing, to knowing you have found your place in this world and to be able to share that discovery alongside my daughter is an incredible experience. My passion of energy work grew so much. I am a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner since 2014 and now serve on the North Central Healing Touch Community board which encompasses healers from 6 states. I believe my strong faith in God Iead to a “calling” to expand the energy work and train as a massage therapy professional graduating in 2018. My specific techniques of massage I utilize are Clinical/Medical, Swedish/relaxation, Myofascial Release, pregnancy, sports, Ortho Bionomy and/or cupping. My experience in massage therapy includes working in a chiropractic office and Hospice. Each of my sessions are individualized to meet the needs of the person wherever they are on their healing journey. The tools and gifts I have learned from teachers, other healers and through the study of life enable me to empower each person to understand their bodies and discover the gentle power of the healing arts. I enjoy being able to bridge the gap between holistic and western medicine while providing a safe and nurturing atmosphere in which to heal. Giving back to my community has been an integral part of who I am. Teaching and sharing my knowledge as a Master Gardener; instructing classes for community education; volunteering by doing Healing Touch at the Hudson Hospital, taking a deep active role in my Christian faith community, and running a Plantscaping business where I pride myself in teaching others about plants for the last 18 years. Since, 1989 my husband and I continue to live in this community where we raised our 3 children and enjoy spending time with our 3 grandsons. At the Healing Roots Wellness Center I will be teaching various classes, providing healing in massage therapy, and Healing Touch Sessions. I have the honor to work with our oldest daughter Jeanette teaching classes and doing Healing Touch Sessions. I look forward to meeting YOU.
715-245-0440
Melissa Pedrini
Well Living Massage
I am trained in deep tissue, lymphatic drainage, trigger point, Swedish, prenatal, myofascial release, and cupping therapies. All of my services include complimentary hot towels and doTERRA aromatherapy oils. My husband and I moved to River Falls in 2016. We have three young boys and have been enjoying making this community our home. We enjoy being outside in our garden as well as hiking and biking the beautiful trails in River Falls. We are huge baseball fans and enjoy going to the local Fighting Fish games.
715-903-6551
Unfortunately, Melissa is not taking new clients at this time
Melissa Shelton-Davies
Healing Roots Wellness Center
Melissa has been in professional practice for over 30 years, mastering the understanding of how to work with human energy systems. She uses Qi Gong to release blockages in the body, mind and emotions, comprehensively reading the complex layers of one's health, physocological and symbolic history. In addition, Melissa teaches mind-body-spirit energy classes to lay people and health care professionals in clinic and non-clinic settings.
Call to book an appointment 715-227-3486
Teachers....
Colleen Gray
Qi Gong
I became interested in Qigong 20+ years ago. One of my motivators at the time was wanting a tool to deal with anxiety. This ancient Chinese practice has been referred to as moving meditation, an elixir for self-healing and is one of the branches of Chinese Medicine. My main teacher, Chunyi Lin from Spring Forest Qigong would say, “If you believe that it works, it works. If you don’t believe that it works, it still works.” As I took classes, read books and practiced in my living room each morning before work, I noticed a sense of wellbeing that carried throughout the day. Early on it became clear to me that I wanted to share this FREE medicine with others and to practice with a group outdoors. In its purest form Qigong is an invitation to bring awareness into every part of our life. I have led a weekly Qigong practice group for the past 12 years. I don’t consider myself a master, however I do consider myself someone who wants to “share the Qi” and to practice together with others. I look forward to this possibility through the Healing Roots Wellness Center. I’m an avid quilter in my free time and devotee of loving and supporting my three adult children in their endeavors. This includes Emily Jacobson, whose dream it was to open the Healing Roots Wellness Center.
Free Qi Gong, Monday evenings at 5:30
Heather Schuman
Vinyasa Yoga Flow
My goal as a yoga instructor is to provide a safe, judgement-free space where people can move, breathe, and be their most authentic selves. My own yoga journey started in 2005 when I took my first class and instantly fell in love with the practice. In 2012 I graduated from the Yoga Center of Minneapolis and began teaching. I love both the physical and mental strength, flexibility, balance, and stillness that yoga offers and I will never stop being amazed by the power of linking breath and movement. I strive to make my yoga classes accessible to everyone while keeping students challenged in their personal practices. I love teaching all ages and many different types of yoga and I will forever be a student of the practice. Off of my mat, my husband and I are busy raising three young kids. We enjoy being outdoors--running, hiking, biking, traveling, and exploring. We are grateful to be a part of such a beautiful and family-centered community.
Yoga Flow
Monday mornings at 9:30 and Thursday evenings at 7:00
Carly Ottery
Hatha Yoga
Hi I'm Carly, I'm a 200hr Registered Yoga Teacher. I've been practicing yoga for over a decade and realized my yoga dreams when I completed a teacher training program in 2018! Since then I've taught and practiced in various studios in the St. Croix Valley area. I have a special passion for crafting slow moving flows that are accessible to a variety of body types. I believe in yoga that is safe for the body and the mind and encourage students to personalize their yoga as it feels right for them. It is always my goal that students leave my class feeling better than when they walked in. I would be so grateful to have your trust and see you in class! When I'm not doing yoga, I like my free time to be full of long hikes, books, guitar playing, coffee, deep chats with friends, and being present with my partner and our sweet pup.
Hatha yoga, Tuesday evenings
at 7:00
Roxie Vandewater
Strength and Stretch
I have been teaching fitness for 35 years~Cardio, step,and in the last 9 years, gentle and chair yoga. I have had Rheumatoid Arthritis for 33 of those years and I believe exercise, in all its forms, has shaped and enriched my life beyond measure. Staying strong in body, mind and spirit and sharing different ways to do that with my students is at the heart of my teaching. I have always said, “I love the socialization, and the exercise is just a bonus.” No matter what format I am teaching, relationship is at the core of what I do and what I value most. In my spare time I love making memories with my family, which now includes a delightful little granddaughter, playing piano, snow shoeing and hiking, traveling and volunteering.
Strength and Stretch, Wednesday mornings at 9:00
Anjelica Kinney
Each of us deserves a welcoming and safe environment to give back to our mind and bodies. This belief is something that I try to foster in each and every yoga class. Leave the outside world at the studio doors and re-enter the world after class more calm, collected, and open hearted. I have been teaching yoga since 2015 and have experience working not only in the studio, but at flow art festivals, in community education, and as a paraprofessional with St.Croix county serving diverse populations of people. I not only teach yoga, but am also in a Doctorate program for Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, am a birth doula, level II Usui Reiki Healer, ceramic artist, and Mother. As it is stated in the Bhagavad Gita, “Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, and to the self.” I hold this quote dear and teach Hatha yoga based classes in hopes that the work we do not only physically, but mentally, can transfer from the mat and be carried with us in our daily lives. Related Certifications: -200-hour Hatha Yoga Certification, MCTC, Minneapolis, MN -Usui Level II Reiki Healer -Yoga Nidra Certificate, ShivaShakti School of Yoga, New York -Birth Doula Certification, Enlightened Mama, St. Paul, MN -CPR and AED Certificate
On leave. Will be back to share her heart and skills with us soon!
Sara Bartlett
Myofascial Release Yoga
Fully Human, LLC Hatha, Myofascial and Trauma Informed Yoga Hello, my name is Sara. I started my yoga journey in 2015. I am no stranger to stress and violence against my person. I have experienced traumatic events and have been burdened with unconscious breathing and physical issues due to my past experiences. Myofascial and trauma-sensitive yoga creates a safe space for people to pay attention to signs of dissociation, pain, unease, distress and tension that may come up, and to stop whenever they need. Body awareness and self-regulation is part of the practice. We work together to discover how to release our trapped tension within our tissues using props and various practices in nervous system regulation and awareness. I would love to share my practice with you. Related Certifications: - 225-hour Hatha Yoga Instructor (Holy Yoga) - 15-hour Yogalates Instructor (Holy Yoga) - 15-hour Yoga with Weights Instructor (Holy Yoga) - 60-hour Trauma Sensitive Yoga Instructor (Holy Yoga) - 200-hour Myofascial Yoga Instructor (Freely Human) - Breathwork Coach (Yogabody) - Flexibility Coach (Yogabody) - Emotional Well-Being Coach (Shira Gura)
Embodied Yoga, Tuesday Mornings at 9:00
Staff....
Marilyn Freeman
Office Manager/Bookkeeper
Over my career I have worked in administrative support for 4 decades. I enjoy the interaction with both clients and staff. Working at Healing Roots Wellness Center is very rewarding and our scope of services fits very well with my beliefs in the healing arts of all kinds. In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, gardening and quilting.
Diane McLean
Receptionist
As a receptionist I enjoy greeting clients and making them feel comfortable. I'm excited to explain the services to someone walking in and wondering what Healing Roots is about. The service providers are caring and passionate about helping facilitate wellness to their clients. My family has lived in River Falls for 35 years. We've enjoyed camping, fishing, the many local events River Falls, and UWRF put on.
Anwen Mullen
Receptionist
My yoga practice began in 1999 when I joined a local yoga group and found refuge in the quiet art of stretching and reconnecting my breath with my body. Learning about and practicing meditation, mindfulness, and breath work has continuously captivated me for over 22 years. It is my bridge over troubled waters. Sharing time, space, and honest conversations with others brings me joy, as we strive to live life with greater depth. In my personal life, I delight in sharing cozy time with my family, and experiencing nature through hiking, biking, kayaking, camping, gardening, and traveling. I love chatting over coffee, sitting in sunny windows, laughing, and daydreaming. I am a professional organizer specializing in the KonMari Method of tidying, where we practice surrounding ourselves with only the things that support our ideal lifestyle and truly bring us joy. I am grateful for the opportunity to support Emily and Healing Roots as we connect community members with healers. I look forward to greeting you in this beautiful space, helping schedule your appointments, and answering any questions you may have.