I was born of this Earth as southern, white-bodied, cis-gendered, and from a lineage of European colonizers who landed in Virginia and North Carolina in the 1700s in Powhatan and Manahoac territories. We were immigrants from Denmark, England, Ireland, and Scotland having survived a shipwreck off the coast of Prince Edward Island where our lives were saved by the Indigenous Mi’kmaq people. My ancestors lived on P.E.I. for many years before making their way to Suffolk County (modern-day Boston area), and then eventually to the southern states which I called home as a child. 

Having grown up in the south, tethered to a family with significant unhealed trauma in its lineage, I chose mentors and an educational path to specialize in supporting others who are healing from the myriad of ways trauma reveals and repeats itself: issues with nervous system regulation, disconnection from intuition, lack of a sense of belonging, chronic anxiety, depression, imposter syndrome, fragmentation, outsider syndrome, perfectionism, painful introversion, and grief. 

I believe strongly in the power of community and the transformation that is possible when we come together. I feel called to do my part in restoring a sense of sovereignty, resilience, and connection for humans around the world.

As an author, speaker, and storyteller, I long to reduce shame, create more connection and compassion, and to restore hope in a world where that can sometimes be our greatest challenge. Whether we work together through my books, in one of my classes or retreats, or on the treatment table, I honor your true nature and wish to serve in the unfolding of your most authentic expression.

In addition to birth, as a rites of passage guide I lead wisdom-seekers deep into the forest as well as all around the world to India, Nepal, Thailand, and Burma to offer them the opportunity to serve in exchange for soul-level transformation. 

In 2012 I founded the Inner Ocean Center for Healing where we offer a truly holistic vision for healthcare and put into practice our genuine love for humanity and eagerness to support healing, anywhere and everywhere possible. Our center is located in the foothills of Colorado and you are welcome to visit anytime.

In addition to private practice and with the support of my community, I founded a nonprofit, the Inner Ocean Empowerment Project which is focused on giving the gift of healing and education to women and children in the communities that need it the most and yet frequently lack access to these important resources. As such, I travel frequently, drinking up the wisdom of the world, all the while being of deep service in impoverished and Indigenous communities.

I am here to move and shake and heal, and to midwife others along their healing and homing journey. I care a lot about this world and the people, plants, and animals in it. I long to live in a time where there is awareness of our inherent connection to Mother Earth as well as a felt sense of global community that permeates all we do, think, and feel.

I now live in the occupied and unceded Ute, Arapaho, and Cheyenne territories, otherwise known as Colorado. I am heavily influenced every day by the spirits of this land. I care a lot about the world we live in and have devoted my life to living in service. 

I want to support you on your journey anyway that I can. I look forward to hearing from you.

Much love and wild blessings to you.

Sincerely,

Mindi K. Counts, MA, LAc.

Mindi K. Counts, MA, LAc., is a rites of passage guide, five-element acupuncturist, somatic practitioner, and East-West folk herbalist. Founder of the Inner Ocean Center for Healing, Mindi is a keynote speaker, retreat leader and teacher. She is the author of Everyday Chinese Medicine, Tending Your Roots, and a contributing author to The Trauma Toolkit and Singing Our Heart’s Song.

She is the founder of the international nonprofit Inner Ocean Empowerment Project, providing holistic healthcare and education to women and children through volunteer service missions to underserved populations around the world and in the U.S. She was featured in Dr. Oz’s The Good Life magazine for her work in Indian slum communities, Burmese refugee birth clinics and earthquake-ravaged areas of Nepal.

Mindi is a graduate of Naropa University’s Contemplative Psychology program and holds a Masters degree in Classical Five Element Acupuncture. She lives with her family and rescued pit bulls in the foothills of Colorado. For her professional resume, click here.