Why Cariño
In Spanish, cariño means care, affection, kindness, and genuine connection.
It reflects how I believe healthcare should feel—not rushed or standardized, but thoughtful, personal, and deeply attentive.
The Cariño Method™ begins with care.
Every treatment is then guided by your body's real-time feedback, creating care that is individualized, responsive, and unique to you.
• Care comes first.
• Every treatment begins by listening.
• Your body guides the treatment.
• No two people—or their treatments—are alike.
Jennifer Cariño
L.Ac.
Acupuncture, Body by Zhen™ | Body Firming & Rejuvenation, Customized Chinese Herbal Medicine, Face by Zhen™ | Cosmetic Acupuncture
About Jennifer
Jennifer Cariño has been helping people navigate life’s transitions through acupuncture and Chinese medicine since 2001.
Whether someone is recovering from an injury, navigating fertility, moving through perimenopause or menopause, healing after illness, managing stress, or simply wanting to age with vitality, Jennifer believes every season of life deserves thoughtful, personalized care.
Her approach combines gentle Japanese acupuncture, herbal medicine, facial rejuvenation, and body therapies to help people adapt, recover, and feel more like themselves again.
How it Began
Jennifer’s path into Chinese medicine began when her late husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor. As his caregiver, she witnessed firsthand the profound impact that acupuncture, nutrition, herbal medicine, and compassionate care had on his quality of life. That experience not only inspired her to become an acupuncturist—it taught her that some of the most meaningful healing begins with being fully present, offering compassionate care, and understanding that healing begins with feeling genuinely seen and supported.
Seeking to deepen that understanding, Jennifer later studied contemplative caregiving at the San Francisco Zen Center, where she cultivated mindfulness, deep listening, and compassionate presence while caring for people navigating illness, aging, grief, and life’s many transitions.
Caring for her late husband taught her that healing isn’t simply about treating illness. It’s about helping people navigate life’s biggest transitions with compassion, presence, and thoughtful care.
The Cariño Method™
Her experiences as a caregiver, training in gentle Japanese acupuncture, and years of clinical practice all led her to one realization:
Life changes. Care should change with it.
Rather than following a standard protocol, she uses gentle palpation, Hara diagnosis, and your body’s real-time feedback to create treatments that adapt as your needs change.
Because every transition deserves personalized care.
Experience
Jennifer has also contributed to clinical research at Stanford University as part of an NIH-sponsored study examining the use of acupuncture for depression during pregnancy. Her participation reflects a longstanding commitment to honoring the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine while embracing thoughtful, evidence-informed care.
In addition to her private practice, Jennifer volunteered at the Charlotte Maxwell Clinic in Oakland, providing acupuncture treatments for low-income women living with cancer.
Why She Love This Work
Life is constantly changing. Sometimes those changes are exciting. Sometimes they’re unexpected. Sometimes they’re overwhelming.
She sees her role isn’t simply to relieve symptoms.
It’s to help support your body through those seasons of change so you can move forward feeling healthier, more balanced, and more like yourself again.
Kelli Pallansch
Acupuncture, Body by Zhen™ | Body Firming & Rejuvenation, Face by Zhen™ | Cosmetic Acupuncture
I like to say I was born into the medical field, but I had to find my own medicine.
My mom was a nurse and I grew up wandering around nursing homes until her shift ended. I spent time with the nurses, residents, the staff that provided activities, nutritional and pastoral care, as well as the maintenance team and administration. I felt right at home and saw firsthand how everyone played such an important part of providing care. I also understood somehow that none of these roles were quite for me.
I pursued my other passions of data and finance while continuing to volunteer in various medical settings. I was well into my corporate career when I tried acupuncture for the first time for my recurring migraines. I immediately fell in love with the medicine, realizing it was the role I had been searching for. I loved how the medicine addressed the whole person, how it sought to resolve the underlying root of a problem instead of just the complaint, how seemingly random symptoms were part of a pattern, how taking herbs and supplements and a nap in the acupuncturist’s office once a week helped me start to feel better, how reassuring it was to have someone that took the time to really be with me and listen. I had finally found the medicine that I wanted to practice.
Acupuncture has been my rock in every aspect of my life. My love for this medicine inspires me to continue to its study and use it to address my emotional health, to refine my own sense of well being, to relieve the occasional aches and pains, to put me to sleep at night, ease all matters related to women’s health, and even refine my aging face. I am incredibly grateful to be able to provide this to others.
