Working -- Robin Eckert

-- Story by Deirdre Newman, photo by [tk]

SHE IS

Restoring her patients’ well-being -- body and soul

COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO MEDICINE

With new age music wafting through the air, Robin Eckert gently sticks

an acupuncture needle into one of her patients.

Eckert, who works out of Newport Beach, practices integrative medicine

-- a combination of the traditional and alternative approaches. While she

says some alternative doctors discount the more traditional approach,

meshing the two makes more sense to her.

So her patients’ health -- mind, body and spirit -- is her top

priority.

“Their well-being is their most important asset,” Eckert said. “If I

can preserve that . . . they can undertake and complete stressful

endeavors.”

NEW AGE PHILOSOPHY IN HER ROOTS

For Eckert, emphasizing alternative therapies comes naturally after

practicing many of them herself for almost 30 years. She grew up in Santa

Cruz and displayed an interest in yoga, meditation and herbalism by the

time she was 11.

In the early ‘80s, she considered going to school to be an

acupuncturist, but her Western mind and strong background in science

propelled her to medical school. After college, she spent four years

researching molecular virology at Stanford University.

She studied medicine at UC Irvine and completed her residency at UCI

Medical Center. She also trained in UCLA’s acupuncture program for

physicians.

Eckert eventually chose family practice so she could get the broadest

scope of education.

“Family practitioners can treat 90% of medical problems,” Eckert said.

“I felt it would be the best venue for integrated medicine.”

PATIENTS APPRECIATE THE ZEN CONNECTION

Eckert said she usually spends about two hours with new patients,

giving them a physical and talking to them about their lifestyles so she

can gauge which alternative therapies would be the most appropriate.

Patient Curt Mayers appreciates Eckert’s integrative approach.

“She’s been wonderful,” Mayers said. “She’s absolutely nondogmatic and

just devoted to getting the problem fixed.”

With all the technological tools jockeying for people’s time, Eckert

said she has seen increased stress levels in her patients, as people try

to cram more activities into less time.

“I work with my patients to set priorities in their lives and try to

bring to the surface ways they can set their own priorities,” Eckert

said.

ADVICE FOR STRESS-FREE HOLIDAYS

But the holidays can be one of the most stress-inducing times --

taking a physical, financial and emotional toll on people’s well-being,

Eckert acknowledged.

Some strategies she recommends to stave off the winter blues are short

power naps, getting outside before dark and trying to maintain the same

level of physical activity as in the summertime, even if it means renting

a yoga video.

She also maintains that people should feel free to indulge in guilty

pleasures such as pumpkin pie during the holidays, as long as its done in

moderation.

Eckert lives in Newport Beach with her husband, a physicist, and has

two sons.