Dr. Julie Liang
A Thoughtful Approach to Healing
If you’ve found your way here, chances are you've been paying attention to your health for some time. You’ve tried detoxes and parasite cleanses, followed recommendations, made changes — and yet you still feel off. Many of the people I work with arrive feeling depleted, reactive, or not quite like themselves, even after doing “everything right.” They tell me "I've tried so hard and I don't know what else to do".
My work is for people who aren’t looking for another quick fix. It’s for those who want to understand what their body has been dealing with, how it’s been adapting over time, and what kind of support might actually work.
I approach acupuncture and holistic care by looking at how the body responds to everyday triggers of stress and inflammation, especially when those culprits have been present for a long time. Rather than chasing symptoms or pushing the system harder, I focus on supporting regulation, capacity, and resilience. This allows the body the space to do what it’s designed to do.
Your body is intelligent and deeply protective. It listens carefully and adapts to what it’s given. When the inputs are mismatched for too long, those adaptations can start to work against you—not because your body is broken, but because it no longer has clear signals about what it needs. Our work together is about restoring balance and communication, so your body can feel safe enough to thrive again.
Why This Work Is Personal For Me
I didn’t come to this work from the outside. I came to it through my own health experience.
Like many of the people I now work with, I spent years trying to understand my body through diets, supplements, and different approaches that promised clarity but rarely delivered lasting change. I was paying attention, doing the work, and still feeling depleted and out of sync.
What I needed wasn’t more effort — it was a different way of understanding what my system had been dealing with.
Living through that taught me something I couldn’t have learned from textbooks alone: when the body has been adapting under prolonged stress, pushing harder often makes things worse. What helps is learning how to support the system gently, consistently, and at a pace it can actually respond to.
Later in life, I also had to support my own body through chronic inflammation and toxin overload. That experience deepened my respect for how intelligent and protective the body truly is — and how easily it can be overwhelmed when demands outpace capacity. It reinforced my commitment to working in a way that is steady, respectful, and sustainable.
These experiences didn’t just shape my interest in acupuncture and integrative medicine — they shaped how I practice. My training includes both Eastern and Western perspectives, with a foundation in Chinese medicine. That framework gave language to what I had already been observing: that health depends on flow, capacity, and responsiveness — not just endurance.
I don’t believe in pushing bodies harder or endlessly chasing symptoms. I work in a measured, individualized way that respects where you are now and what your system can reasonably take on. Care is structured, thoughtful, and collaborative, with clear boundaries and an emphasis on sustainability.
If you’ve tried before and still don’t feel like yourself, you’re not behind, you’re not broken, and it doesn’t mean your body can’t heal. It means your body hasn’t yet had the right conditions to recover.
If this approach feels right to you, I offer individualized acupuncture and integrative care for people who are ready to rebuild healing capacity over time — step by step, so you can feel good in your body again.
With Care,
Dr. Julie
DACM, Dipl. OM, L.Ac
When not in the clinic you can find Dr. Julie cooking up new recipes, spending time with family, traveling and taking weekend trips away, running, avidly reading or taking a seminar, and indulging in the occasional scary movie.
Credentials:
State of California: Acupuncture Board California - License #18724
National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) - License #172477
Doctorate of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (DACM) - Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, San Diego, CA.
The DACM program is approved by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM)
Diplomate of Oriental Medicine (Dipl. OM) - Pacific College of Oriental Medicine
Masters of Science in Traditional Oriental Medicine (MSTOM) - Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, Chicago, IL / San Diego, CA.
- 191 units and 3500 hours of theory and clinical practice.
CPR/First Aid Certified
Continuing Education:
Root Cause Training
Microneedling Certification
3x4 Genetics Certification
Functional Medicine Training with Apex Energetics and the Kharrazian Institute
Quicksilver Detoxification Certification
Who My Patients Are
Chronic and Uncomfortable Conditions
Chronic and Uncomfortable Conditions
Chronic and Uncomfortable Conditions
Dr. Julie works with patients living with chronic health conditions who struggle with low energy, frequent flares, and slow recovery. Many have autoimmune conditions, diabetes, high cholesterol, or haven't been the same after getting sick.
Despite being on medication, they continue to feel unwell.
These patients often get sick more easily
Dr. Julie works with patients living with chronic health conditions who struggle with low energy, frequent flares, and slow recovery. Many have autoimmune conditions, diabetes, high cholesterol, or haven't been the same after getting sick.
Despite being on medication, they continue to feel unwell.
These patients often get sick more easily and take longer to recover. Symptoms like fatigue, poor sleep, aches and pains, vertigo, and increased sensitivity become more frequent, while medication doses continue to rise without restoring true stability or relief.
At Pivotal, Dr. Julie focuses on understanding why the body isn’t recovering or regulating the way it should. By addressing underlying immune stress, inflammation, nervous system strain, and metabolic imbalance, patients often experience improved energy, fewer flares, reduced pain, and more stable lab markers — along with a clear plan for maintaining these changes long term.
If you feel stuck in a cycle of chronic fatigue, frequent illness, and incomplete recovery, there may be deeper factors keeping your body from healing.
The Health Conscious Patient
Chronic and Uncomfortable Conditions
Chronic and Uncomfortable Conditions
These patients are proactive about their health and feel generally well, but want a deeper understanding of how their body is functioning beneath the surface.
These individuals often look healthy on the outside, yet experience lingering issues like muscle tension, migraines, stress, mood changes, hormonal symptoms, digestive upset, or inte
These patients are proactive about their health and feel generally well, but want a deeper understanding of how their body is functioning beneath the surface.
These individuals often look healthy on the outside, yet experience lingering issues like muscle tension, migraines, stress, mood changes, hormonal symptoms, digestive upset, or intermittent fatigue. Rather than waiting for something to worsen, they use functional medicine and acupuncture as tools for insight, refinement, and prevention.
Through comprehensive lab testing — including hormone panels and genetic testing — patients gain a clearer picture of how their body processes stress, balances hormones, manages inflammation, and responds to nutrition and lifestyle factors.
This approach helps identify areas that need support now, before they turn into bigger problems later.
For many, this work brings better resilience, steadier energy, improved mood, fewer symptoms, and a stronger sense of confidence in how to care for their body long term.
If you’re healthy but curious — interested in optimizing performance, preventing future issues, or understanding your body at a more individualized level — working with Dr. Julie offers a thoughtful, data-informed path forward.
Family Care
Chronic and Uncomfortable Conditions
Family Care
At Pivotal, Dr. Julie often cares for more than one person in a household — sometimes entire families, and often the friends and neighbors they refer.
As a small clinic, Pivotal offers care that is accessible, personal, and attentive to the individual in front of her. Treatment is never one-size-fits-all, even when family members share sim
At Pivotal, Dr. Julie often cares for more than one person in a household — sometimes entire families, and often the friends and neighbors they refer.
As a small clinic, Pivotal offers care that is accessible, personal, and attentive to the individual in front of her. Treatment is never one-size-fits-all, even when family members share similar concerns.
Dr. Julie works with couples navigating fertility, parents dealing with fatigue or chronic stress, children and teens experiencing anxiety or hormonal changes, and grandparents managing arthritis, pain, or mobility issues. From low back pain and sleep disruption to mood changes and nervous system regulation, care is shaped to each stage of life and each body’s needs.
This approach allows families to receive consistent, thoughtful care over time — not just for symptoms, but for resilience, balance, and long-term health.
If you’re looking for a place where your whole family can feel supported, seen, and thoughtfully cared for, Pivotal provides a steady and individualized approach at every age.
Contact Us
Shoot Us A Message
Pivotal Acupuncture + Wellness
2727 Camino Del Rio South, San Diego, California 92108, United States
Hours
Today | Closed |
