Today we’d like to introduce you to Kim Christensesn.
Hi Kim, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My business partner Amy Kuretsky and I met in Chinese medicine school when I was in my first year of the program and she was in her final year. After she graduated in 2013, Amy started her solo practice, gradually growing her business and establishing herself in the North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis. When I started my solo practice in 2016, I started subletting space from Amy in her off hours. We loved sharing space and working together, and felt alignment in our values and business goals. So, in 2017 (with the nudge of a tarot reading!), we decided to merge our solo practices, move into a larger space, and hire a team.
Since that time, we’ve grown our team and expanded our service offerings, hiring additional Licensed Acupuncturists, massage therapists, and bodyworkers. We moved to our current clinic location in 2021 and have loved putting roots down in NE Minneapolis. We now have a team of 13 and offer massage therapy, craniosacral therapy, breathwork, microneedling, and Tao of Trauma sessions alongside the acupuncture and Chinese medicine backbone of our clinical work. Many of our practitioners are eternal learners, and have grown their skillsets to include a wide variety of hands-on therapies over the years. This has allowed us to work in an integrative way, with many of our patients working with multiple practitioners at the clinic as part of a comprehensive treatment plan. We support patients with a wide variety of concerns, including acute and chronic pain, chronic illness support, hormonal and reproductive health concerns, digestive conditions, mental health, and general wellness care.
In addition to our clinic based-work, we have offered a wide variety of events and classes in the community over the years, including group breathwork circles, sound baths, seasonal wellness classes, and retreats. After years of hosting these events in our treatment rooms or renting out studios all over Minneapolis for larger groups, we opened the Constellation Classroom in January 2026, just a few minutes from our clinic. Many of our events are sliding scale or have reduced pricing options, opening up increased opportunities for people to receive care. Bringing people together is something we love doing, and we are grateful to have a dedicated place to do this in ways that center care, community, and accessibility.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like so many other service-based businesses, COVID was a huge challenge! We chose to close the clinic for 2 months at the start of the pandemic to ensure safety for our team and our patients, and quickly pivoted to offer virtual consultations and online classes. We had somewhat recently hired a few new staff members and felt a lot of responsibility to make sure they had jobs to come back to, and didn’t want to minimize the real and awful reality of the pandemic at the time and rush patients back into the clinic just to keep ourselves afloat financially. We were grateful we had set ourselves up with a good emergency fund for the business to weather the worst of that storm and re-open the clinic in a way that aligned with our values, prioritized everyone’s safety, and also got patients the care they needed. The challenge of the COVID years made us more nimble, creative, and strategic business owners.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Constellation Acupuncture & Healing Arts?
My business partner Amy and I have never been ones to shy away from speaking our minds. We both grew up in counter-culture communities (queer, punk, the arts, bike messenger culture, activist circles) and have intentionally infused our brand with our values. We know this may be considered a ‘controversial’ choice in business, but we couldn’t imagine it any other way. In a time when so many business are getting quieter about injustices, we’re intentionally getting louder about them. As business owners, practitioners, and individuals, we are dedicated to continuing a practice of listening, learning, and un-learning. Confronting racism, oppression, and injustice is a vital part of healing work – individual health and wellbeing is impacted the systems and societies we live in. We are seeing this reality unfold in real time as a result of the current political environment and increasingly oppressive policies and initiatives. The high level of stress that so many people are experiencing over political and social injustice has affirmed the importance of approaching the work we do in nervous system-aware, trauma-informed ways. We strive to meet people where they are and take into account the larger context of someone’s lived experiences. So many of our patients work in support roles – educators, healthcare professionals, therapists, social workers, activists and organizers, just to name a few – and it’s incredibly meaningful to hold space for people who do such vital work in our local communities. And we’re proud to be a queer-owned health care business that is a place where queer and trans patients come to be seen, heard, and validated in their lived experiences and health concerns.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
We’re in a time when many U.S. healthcare consumers are frustrated about the healthcare system and the high cost burden of receiving healthcare. At the same time, patients are increasingly interested in integrative, long-term solutions to manage symptoms and support their health and wellbeing. This has created more curiosity and openness to acupuncture and complementary and alternative medicine approaches. Patients want to feel empowered and want to know how to care for themselves, and as a result, are seeking out education where ever they can – we see proof of this in the rise of good (and not-so-good!) health information being shared on social media! As Licensed Acupuncturists, we are well positioned to provide patients with the personalized, collaborative, comprehensive care that they desire. Chinese Medicine is a complex medical system that takes into account all aspects of someone’s health history, diet, lifestyle, behaviors, and more. The time-tested modalities of Chinese Medicine can be incorporated into a patient’s treatment plan in actionable and effective ways that yield results, even in complex cases. As our healthcare system continues to undergo changes in the coming years, there is incredible opportunity for those of us who are experts in this field to educate patients and biomedical healthcare colleagues about Chinese Medicine.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://constellationacu.com
- Instagram: @constellationacu
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/constellationacu
