About Larissa McGoldrick
Larissa McGoldrick LAc has been practising acupuncture since 1998. She has been a Certifed Iyengar Yoga teacher since 1995 and holds a Senior Intermediate Level Three certification.
From 1989-1995 she was a professional dancer and teacher with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in New York City. It was during her dance career that she discovered acupuncture, having experienced its healing powers first hand after sustaining a dance injury while touring on the road. After deciding to leave the New York dance world she decided to change her career to alternative health and became a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher. She was the main teacher and coordinator of the Iyengar Yoga Department at Columbia University in New York City and taught at The New York City Iyengar Yoga Institute for many years.
Larissa graduated from The Swedish Institute of Massage Therapy and Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine with a license in Massage Therapy (Swedish and Shiatsu) in 1995 and then began her studies of Classical Acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Her main teacher was Taoist Priest and acupuncturist Dr Jeffrey Yuen at the Swedish Institute in New York City. Her studies included acupuncture and herbs with Dr Yuen. She completed her clinical work at the Arizona School of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in the desert southwest of Tucson, AZ.
Larissa has a great interest in helping women with fertility issues to conceive and has helped women prepare their bodies for conception and also to deal with the many aches and pains that can accompany a pregnancy. She has also helped many women give birth naturally with acupuncture inductions. She is a member of the Zita West fertility network;, the largest fertility acupuncture group in the UK. As well as this she is a member of ACT Herts (Acupuncture Childbirth Team) a group dedicated to helping women with their fertility issues in Hertfordshire. She has completed The Advanced Level Diploma in Fertility Acupuncture with the Fertility Support Company covering such topics as reproductive immunology, PCOS and hyperstimulation syndrome, complex diseases of pregnancy and treating through assisted reproductive techniques. Larissa has recently completed Chinese Herbal Srudies in relation to working with herbs in fertility.
Her studies include many visits to Seoul, South Korea where she studied at Kyung Hee University Hospital, a 300 inpatient hospital with a speciality of stroke patients. She observed and worked with doctors on the cutting edge of Western and Eastern Medicine. She also studied Korean Hand Therapy and holds an intermediate level practitioner certificate from the KHT Institute in Seoul. She has studied Constitutional Facial Acupuncture with award winning American acupuncturist, Mary Elizabeth Wakefield, who she has assisted in seminars in Germany and London. She has also studied facial acupuncture with teachers from the Traditional Medical College in London. One of her interests is treating pain and she has treated athletes, actresses, dancers and rugby and football players from all over the world using the many modalities she can employ. Larissa is a member of the British Acupuncture Council.and has a Diploma in Acupuncture certified by the NCCAOM, (National Certification Commision for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine) which is the national certification body for acupuncturists in the USA.
Larissa's love of Iyengar Yoga has sustained her throughout her adult life. She began practicing in the early 1990's to help her with the rigors of a professional dancers life. She has studied directly with Shri BKS Iyengar and his children Dr Geeta Iyengar and Prashant Iyengar in Pune India, the USA and the UK. She has also studied with many renowned Iyengar Yoga teachers including her first teacher the late Mary Dunn and her mentor Genny Kapular. She has taught people of all ages and abilities throughout the years from children as young as three to people as old as 95. She has helped musicians, dancers, professional athletes and people of all abilities. In 2009, 2011 and 2014 she studied at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute and while there volunteered at Father Joe Pereira's Kripa Foundation giving acupuncture to the men and women in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. It was inspiring and heart warming work. She is a member of the IYA UK (Iyengar Yoga Association United Kingdom) and IYNAUS (Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States). She is a member of the IYUK Therapy Committee and Ethics and Appeals Committee and is an Assessor for the certification of Iyengar Yoga teachers.
Larissa teaches yoga classes on Zoom and in person at The Oak House, Hatfield.
You can see what Larissa's customers think about her here.