As a Minnesota family and newborn photographer, I get to spend a lot of time around moms in some of the most tender seasons of life. And the more conversations I have, the more I realize how much of motherhood happens behind the scenes. The 2 a.m. Google searches. The exhaustion you can’t quite shake. The anxiety that shows up out of nowhere. The questions you don’t even know who to ask.
That’s why I started my Made for Minnesota Moms YouTube series. I wanted real conversations with real Minnesota women who actually support pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
Today’s guest is someone I’ve been so excited to introduce you to. Meaghan Moakley, L.Ac. is a licensed acupuncturist and the founder of Azalea Acupuncture in Minneapolis. She specializes in women’s health acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, and she’s spent years helping women feel more regulated, more supported, and more at home in their bodies.
Our conversation covered so much. We talked about what women’s health acupuncture actually is, how it can support you through preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum, what your first appointment looks like, and a couple of really simple wellness habits you can start today. Meaghan also shared her own story, which I loved.
Meet Meaghan Moakley, Licensed Acupuncturist
Meaghan Moakley is a licensed acupuncturist with a master’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine. She’s the founder of Azalea Acupuncture & Aesthetics in Minneapolis, where she supports women through every season of life. Preconception. Pregnancy. Postpartum. And everything that comes after.
Here’s something I didn’t know before our conversation. To become a licensed acupuncturist in Minnesota, you go through a three or four year master’s or doctorate program, take three to four board exams, and get licensed through the Minnesota Medical Board. Meaghan made a point I want to repeat: when you’re looking for a women’s health acupuncture provider, look for the letters L.Ac. after their name. That stands for Licensed Acupuncturist. It tells you they’ve gone through the proper training.
She named her practice Azalea after the flower because azaleas aren’t native to Minnesota, but they’re hearty enough to survive our winters and bloom again every spring. Soft and feminine, but resilient. Just like the women she works with.
What Is Women’s Health Acupuncture?
Before I get into the Q&A, let me set the stage. Because if you’ve never tried women’s health acupuncture, the whole concept can feel a little mysterious.
Acupuncture is one piece of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is a complete system of medicine that’s been around for thousands of years. So when you book an appointment with a licensed acupuncturist like Meaghan, you’re not just getting needles. You’re getting a whole approach that can include:
- Acupuncture (the needles)
- Cupping (which Meaghan said is one of her most popular treatments)
- Herbal therapies
- Gua sha
- Moxibustion (especially helpful for breech babies in late pregnancy)
- Lifestyle and food guidance based on your individual constitution
Women’s health acupuncture is a way of looking at your whole body. Not just your symptoms. Meaghan checks in on sleep, digestion, stress, your cycle, your mental and emotional wellbeing, and whatever else is going on. Because in Chinese medicine, none of it is separate.
Why Whole Body Care Matters So Much for Moms
One of the themes that keeps coming up in this series is the whole body approach. Everything is connected. Your gut and your brain. Your stress and your cycle. Your sleep and your nervous system.
So much of what we write off as just being a tired mom or just being anxious is actually a sign that something deeper is asking for support. Women’s health acupuncture meets you in that space. It’s not about chasing one symptom. It’s about helping your body come back into balance so the rest can follow.
This kind of care can be especially meaningful in motherhood, because moms tend to normalize so much. Poor sleep. Bloating. Anxiety. Aches and pains we just live with. Sometimes it takes someone asking the right questions to realize how much we’ve been carrying.
Watch the Full Interview
Before I share the highlights from our Q&A, I want to give you the full conversation.
If you’d rather hear Meaghan explain things in her own words (and trust me, her warmth comes through in a way that’s hard to capture in writing), press play below. If you’d rather skim, keep scrolling. I pulled out the questions and the moments that stuck with me most.
Q&A with Meaghan Moakley, L.Ac.
1. How did you become an acupuncturist?
Meaghan got into acupuncture as an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin Madison, where her student health services offered acupuncture for twenty bucks cash. She and her roommates would sneak over between classes on Wednesdays.
She was dealing with a lot of anxiety at the time, and acupuncture helped in a way nothing else had. She was studying to be a teacher, but slowly fell in love with Chinese medicine. When she found out there was a Chinese medicine school right here in Minnesota, she went straight from undergrad into her master’s program at Northwestern Health Sciences. She graduated in August 2020 (yes, in the middle of the pandemic) and opened Azalea in May 2021.
2. What’s the biggest benefit of acupuncture for women trying to conceive, pregnant, or postpartum?
Meaghan said there are real benefits at every stage:
- Preconception: She loves to see patients three to six months before they start trying. The focus is on improving egg quality, regulating the nervous system, and lowering inflammation.
- Pregnancy: Acupuncture can help with first trimester nausea, the aches and pains that show up as your body changes, baby positioning if baby isn’t head down, and labor prep.
- Fertility support: She works alongside reproductive technologies like IUI and IVF, with some really cool research backing acupuncture before and after IVF transfers.
- Postpartum: This is where Chinese medicine really shines, and we’ll get to that more below.
She always works in tandem with your OBGYN or midwife. Women’s health acupuncture is meant to be coordinated care, not a replacement for the rest of your team.
3. What’s the first appointment actually like?
At Azalea, your first appointment is 75 minutes. You’ll fill out an intake form ahead of time that covers your full health history, and Meaghan was very clear: there’s no such thing as TMI for an acupuncturist.
She walks you through everything slowly so it doesn’t feel scary. You get treated that same day. Needles go where they need to go (sometimes in places that surprise you, like by your toe, even if you came in for fertility support). Then you rest for about half an hour with a buzzer in case you need anything.
Acupuncture activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the rest and digest side. So a lot of patients fall asleep, or end up in what can only describe as a hovering, floating, deeply relaxed state. Meaghan also reminded me that even if you don’t reach that euphoric place, the treatment is still working.
4. How often do you need to come in?
It depends. Some patients come weekly for 12 to 16 weeks if they’re working on something specific like fertility or an IVF transfer. Others who’ve been with Meaghan for years just check in monthly or as needed. Women’s health acupuncture is not a one and done thing, but it’s also not meant to be a forever commitment.
5. Why cupping after acupuncture?
Cupping is one of Meaghan’s most popular treatments, and I get why. It’s deeply regulating for the nervous system. From a Chinese medicine perspective, that tightness most of us carry in our upper back and shoulders is connected to the liver, which holds emotions like anger, frustration, resentment, and burnout.
Releasing that tension physically also helps release whatever stagnant emotions are stuck there. Meaghan was clear though: in Chinese medicine, there are no bad emotions. The issue is when we stuff them down instead of letting them move through us.
Azalea uses traditional fire cupping, which creates a vacuum seal that pulls the skin and fascia up into the cup. A lot of patients say they feel relief instantly.
6. What are some simple wellness habits moms can start today?
Meaghan shared two tips rooted in Chinese medicine that you can literally try today:
- Switch your iced drinks to room temperature, warm, or hot. Iced coffee, smoothies, and ice water can be really taxing on your digestive system from a Chinese medicine perspective. This is even more important during postpartum, when warmth is everything.
- Get to bed before 11 p.m. if you can. In Chinese medicine, the gallbladder and liver do their physical and brain repair work between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. So getting to sleep before then makes a real difference in how you feel the next day.
She also gets it. If your only quiet me time is after 10 p.m., that’s real. But even shifting bedtime a little earlier can help.
7. Why is holistic wellness and self care so important for moms?
Meaghan put it simply. When mom feels her best, she can show up as her best, and the whole family system feels better.
She brought up something I want every mom in Minnesota to hear about. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, there’s a practice called the first 40 days postpartum. There’s a beautiful book on this called The First Forty Days by Heng Ou that Meaghan recommends if you want to dig deeper.
The idea is simple but radical. For the first 40 days after birth, mom’s only job is to take care of baby. Everyone else’s job is to take care of mom. That can look like:
- Body workers, acupuncturists, or massage therapists coming to your home
- A postpartum doula (which I covered in a previous episode with Joy McAfee, and it was magical)
- A lactation consultant
- Food prepped during pregnancy so you’re not starting from scratch
- Honest conversations with your partner ahead of time about what support actually looks like
Meaghan is currently pregnant herself, so she’s living what she teaches in real time. And she pointed out that postpartum, from a Chinese medicine lens, doesn’t end at six weeks. It can stretch on for years. Especially while you’re breastfeeding.
8. What’s one powerful theme from your work?
I asked Meaghan to share a powerful moment, and what came up wasn’t just one moment. It was a theme. She gets to walk with women through so many seasons. Engagements. Pregnancies. Job changes. Hard losses. New chapters.
What’s stuck with her most is how resilient women are. Soft, feminine, hearty, and able to come back to themselves over and over again. That’s the whole reason she named her practice Azalea.
The Real Life Rescue Kit
At the end of every episode now, I’m asking my guests for three Minnesota specific recommendations that help moms in real life. Meaghan was the very first person to get the Real Life Rescue Kit treatment, and here’s what she shared:
- Takeout rescue: Brim. Healthy, delicious, and her office sits right between two of their locations.
- Favorite kid friendly outing in Minnesota that actually feels worth the effort: Meaghan didn’t have a specific spot to share since she’s pregnant right now, but she made a point I loved. Every space should be a kid friendly space. Kids deserve real life experiences, and as long as it’s safe, you have every right to bring your kids along.
- Local resource for moms: Dr. Britt Stammer, the naturopathic doctor I interviewed earlier in this series. Meaghan also mentioned she keeps a great list of holistic practitioner referrals on her website.
Where to Find Meaghan
You can connect with Meaghan and Azalea Acupuncture in a few ways:
- Visit her website
- Book directly here
- Follow her on Instagram, where she shares Chinese medicine concepts in really approachable ways
- Contact her here to start an application
Meaghan starts every new patient with an application to make sure her practice is the right fit for you and you’re the right fit for her. I love that she’s so intentional about it.
A Personal Note from Me
I started this series because I genuinely believe Minnesota moms deserve access to real conversations and real resources. Not generic internet advice. Not the bounce back narrative. The real stuff.
Whether that’s discovering how women’s health acupuncture could support you through fertility, pregnancy, or postpartum, or hearing about a postpartum doula for the first time, or finding a naturopathic doctor who actually listens. You deserve a team.
As a Minnesota family photographer, I spend my days documenting the beautiful chaos of family life. But behind every photo is a real mom navigating real seasons. Supporting moms is bigger than photos for me. I want you to leave here with resources that actually help.
If you’re in the postpartum season, you might love my Postpartum Care Kit. If you’re still pregnant and getting ready for baby, grab my free Minneapolis Pregnancy Guide. And if you want more conversations like this one, join my newsletter so you don’t miss the next episode.
Because at the end of the day, motherhood isn’t meant to be figured out alone.
If you’re ever ready to document this season of your family’s story, I’d love to connect with you.
Disclaimer: This blog post is for educational and informational purposes only and does not provide medical advice. It is not a substitute for professional medical care, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek advice from your physician, midwife, or other qualified healthcare provider with questions about pregnancy, labor, postpartum, or your health.
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