About
My name is Irena Lenc
I am a fully licensed and insured Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner offering three distinct therapies: Acupuncture, Chinese Medicinal Nutrition, and Therapeutic Massage. I’m a member of the British Acupuncture Council.
Practising Chinese Medicine
Through acupuncture, nutrition, and bodywork
This practice is one of the greatest joys of my life. I came to study this work from the patient’s couch, after experiencing first-hand the lasting, transformative effects it had on my own health. That experience led me to pursue formal training so I could offer others the same support and care that helped me so much.
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I achieved a BSc in Acupuncture at the Northern College of Acupuncture in York. I use the TCM diagnostic framework to create a unique treatment for each client. I am trained in various schools of acupuncture, and in my everyday practice I use Traditional Chinese Medicine, Master Tung, and Auricular acupuncture. I also often use massage, Gua Sha, Cupping or Moxibustion to facilitate the best results.
I also offer Chinese Medicinal Nutrition appointments. I hold a postgraduate diploma in Chinese Medicine Nutrition from the Northern College of Acupuncture, where I had the privilege of learning from experts in the field. My decision to study this came from the understanding that lifestyle — and especially diet — is often the missing piece, not only in recovering from illness but also in building lasting balance and vitality. Chinese Medicinal Nutrition sessions are offered separately from acupuncture and can support a wide range of needs, depending on each person’s goal and unique constitution.
​My journey into holistic health and lifestyle came from dealing with chronic musculoskeletal pain, work-related stress, and complex fertility issues. These experiences gave me first-hand insight and a deep understanding of what many of my patients are going through. As a passionate advocate of natural health and its place in modern life and healthcare, I love working with all kinds of issues that come into the clinic, and I have a particular interest in Natural Fertility.
A holistic approach to healing
Alongside running my acupuncture practice, I also write a lot of content that offers helpful resources for anyone planning to start a family.
I have a holistic approach to healing and am particularly interested in lifestyle changes that support the healing process. Seemingly minor adjustments to how we go about our day can result in outstanding results. I have spent years studying and testing them in real-life scenarios. I am happy to incorporate all my knowledge into the treatment plan for those interested in accelerating treatment results.
Outside the clinic...
I have a fun and busy life as a mum to a five-year-old boy. I enjoy getting out and about, connecting with nature and running out some of the endless energy. The rest is pyjama days, Lego and Spider-Man adventures :).
Why I became a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner
It took me quite a few years of dwelling on scepticism to become a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner.
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As a fact-driven person, I have been very sceptical about holistic medicine of any kind. At the same time, I vividly remember watching my parents collect bigger and bigger piles of tablets as they grew older. It did not agree with me either. When I was young and in excellent health, I could think naively that I would not have the same problems.
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But, precisely like my parents before me, from around the age of 35, I started to see some red flags. Our speedy and determined Western lifestyle started to catch up with me. I was "eating healthy", did some exercise, and relaxed in front of the screen, as most of us do. Problems with my well-being piled up, including a heartbreaking miscarriage, which became a tipping point in my journey.
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Western medicine had no answers to my concerns. My blood results were "within a norm", and I was repeatedly sent off with no answers. Lots of emphasis was put on my age, and I wasn't even forty at the time.
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It doesn't suit me to sit in the passenger seat, and the victim mindset does not agree with me either. I started to explore holistic methods. It took me some time to overcome my dislike for the TCM language. The descriptions of nature and energy sounded too hippy for me and just not scientific enough to trust until I finally clicked that the references to nature are cultural in China.
Same as Polish and Italians mostly speak about the food, and the British talk about the weather, but don't complain about it.
Historically, an Acupuncturist lived in the village as an integral part of the community and needed to speak about health in a language relatable to everyone. Whereas Western Medicine historically belonged to the wealthier part of society, and all discoveries were purposely labelled in a scientifically sound manner. The language of Western Medicine was built to distinguish a doctor from ordinary people. The language of Chinese Medicine has the opposite goal. An acupuncturist wants to be understood by everybody, even small children.
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TCM and Acupuncture had all the answers and methods I was looking for. The 3000 + years of TCM history have built incredible knowledge, which helped me become much healthier. I have transformed how I think about relaxation, what I eat, how I cook and how I go about my every business.
For me, Chinese Medicine works like nothing else. So I took the leap and left my relatively successful 9-5 and became an Acupuncturist and qualified in Chinese Medicine Nutrition.
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Running my practice and bringing Traditional Chinese Medicine joy and power to patients is my way of making a positive difference in the world. And I hope to also help you.
What can Acupuncture do for you? Please get in touch, and let's chat.
Manifesto
I write this in defence of women and because I have had enough.
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A lot is being said about how fertility declines with age, but very little about what we should and can do to be a fertile woman. There is virtually no education around women's health or how natural fertility works. Having proper, thorough testing and support is often a postcode lottery, and women in the age group 35+ are often sent off into pharmacological solutions without much advice about how to maximise chances to get pregnant naturally. Because believe you me — being told to just try for a year and have sex every two days in the first part of the cycle, without investigating menstrual health — IS NOT ADVICE. Far too often, we are deprived of what is left of our dignity after being given a prognosis based purely on our high/low BMI and "advanced maternal age".
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Equally infuriatingly, women in the age group 35+ have been manoeuvred into guilt about “their choices”. It's assumed that we have willingly left trying for a baby too late, where it’s the current economy that’s largely making that choice… and it might take 35 years to meet a nice guy!
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I speak with many women and know that my story is no exception, and since this is my manifesto, and you are more than likely coming here for help, let me tell you my journey to becoming a mother. It was long, challenging and really lonely.
It went like this:
Until I was 36 years old, I did everything to NOT have a baby.
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First, you want to get some education, have a career, and work your way up. You are in your thirties before you even know it. Then, you want to meet someone decent to have a baby with. You also want to be in a relationship with them for a few years before trying for a baby. You want to enjoy the relationship for a few years but also want to check them out because, I hazard a guess, your heart might have been broken a few times by now, and some risk assessment is needed. If you come from an unprivileged background, you have no choice but to rent privately, and it takes a long time to get on the property ladder. And that's how you arrive at 35+ when trying for your first child.
These are all sensible choices, yet I was judged harshly for leaving it "so late". There was rather little understanding or support, and everyone was trying to sell me something. Fertility is a vast industry, and the private fertility sector has excellent marketing tools.
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Sure, I like buying things. But I do not like being sold to.
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I was told a lot about how fertility declines with age and not much about what I could do to boost my fertility naturally. I was given all the statistics under the sun about how slim my chances of conceiving were. It was assumed by most people around me, including medical professionals, that I would go straight for IVF or adoption. I admire women with the bravery and the strength to go through IVF and think we live in extraordinary times for having such treatments available. Personally, I had no courage to go through that process. Deep in my heart, I knew a naturally conceived baby was waiting for me out there, despite the cynicism around me and repeated attempts to shut that voice down.
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Luckily, I realised that Western medicine had no answers for me. Sitting in the passenger seat does not suit me, and the victim mindset does not agree with me. I started exploring holistic methods. Chinese Medicine nutrition and acupuncture gave me a framework that finally made sense — for the first time, I felt like the female body was well understood. The 3000 years of TCM history hold incredible knowledge about female health and fertility. I have been studying it for years, putting it into practice and becoming deeply passionate about the subject, to say the least.
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Let me just add for clarity. I am a medically trained professional and I do understand that fertility declines with age. In fact, I wrote a couple of articles about it:
Understanding Why Female Fertility Decreases with Age and What You Can Do About It
What Women Over 35 Need to Know About How to Improve Egg Quality
Also, it’s worth pointing out that IVF can help overcome certain barriers to fertilisation — for example, when sperm and egg struggle to meet naturally, such as with blocked fallopian tubes or low sperm motility — but optimal fertility is a far bigger and more complex jigsaw puzzle. So I dare to say that IVF and pharmacological solutions should be the last resort, not the first point of action.
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Wherever you are on your journey, do not assume you are a lost cause. Let me be your Fertility Big Sister.
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Irena x
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