About Gavin
ACUPUNCTURIST & CHINESE MEDICINE PRACTITIONER IN BONDI JUNCTION, SYDNEY
Who I Am & What I Do
Hi I’m Gavin Martin-Rentz, I’m a Chinese medicine practitioner and acupuncturist based in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. I’m also a partner, a father and a lover of nature.
I’ve been practicing Chinese medicine and acupuncture since completing my bachelor’s degree in 2016. Before that I was also a remedial massage therapist since 2010, so I’ve had the opportunity to work with all kinds of people and conditions in that time.
Part of my practice now is dedicated to helping people with a wide range of complaints such as chronic pain, sporting injuries, headaches, migraines, stress, IBS, gut issues, insomnia, fertility, women’s health and pregnancy support.
The other part of my practice is a focus on helping those suffering from complex chronic health conditions such as autoimmunity, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue (CFS / ME), post-viral syndromes, mystery illnesses, etc.
Over the years I've continuously learned and developed my acupuncture techniques. If you'd like to learn more about the techniques I specialise in, click the button below.
Gavin Martin-Rentz
Chinese Medicine Practitioner and Acupuncturist
About My Own Health Journey
The areas I focus on have come from my own experiences of being diagnosed with two autoimmune conditions, and having lived with symptoms for several years beforehand.
Having a background in health didn’t really help me at first. I still made a lot of mistakes. At first I tried to ignore things, then when I couldn’t anymore, I went chasing down various rabbit holes trying to find the root cause and silver bullet treatments.
This led to a shotgun approach of trying a bunch of different things, without clear direction or timing. Luckily, with the right help, I still managed to find a way through to a much better place.
I’ve learned a lot from my own experience and I continue to study and research in the hope to better guide others through the tangled maze of regaining their health.
My Teachers & Qualifications
My most valuable teachers continue to be the people I work with on a daily basis. You all motivate me to continue improving and to do better.
I’m also lucky to have learned from some great mentors in the industry over the years. Of particular influence have been:
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Neijing Nature Based Medicine with Dr Edward Neal
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The 4 stage process for complex chronic health conditions with Jeremy Cornish
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Tung’s acupuncture with Henry McCann
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Motor point acupuncture with Rich Hazel
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Hunyuan circle theory with Yaron Seidman
Formally, I completed my Bachelor of Health Science (Acupuncture) with Endeavour College of Natural Health in 2016. Before that I had completed a Diploma of Remedial Massage through Q Academy in 2010. I am an AHPRA registered Chinese medicine practitioner and acupuncturist.
The Project
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We Are a Part of Nature, Not Apart From Nature
Your treatments are not just to help you feel better and live well, but also a portion of every treatment goes towards restoring our nature and feeding those less fortunate.
The idea for the Acupuncture Grove clinic comes from an old story dating back to China’s Three Kingdom’s period (220-280 C.E.). I was first inspired by the Xing Lin (杏林), or “Apricot Grove”, story from my teacher Dr Edward Neal who runs the Apricot Grove Institute.
The story is of Dong Feng who was a physician renowned for his great skill and compassion. For every patient that was cured of a disease, he would ask that an apricot tree be planted and tended to in a nearby grove as payment. If the disease was particularly serious, he would ask for 5 trees to be planted. Over his life and career, the apricot grove grew to over 100,000 trees. Wealthier people who visited the grove to pick apricots were asked to leave rice in the public granary that would then feed those who did not have enough to eat.
In this way, through his practice, he was able to not only positively impact the individuals he treated, but also benefit the local environment and support the community through food shortages. Because of this, Dong Feng was recognised as one of China’s great sage-physicians.
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Today We Live In Interesting Times
Healthwise we face multiple chronic disease and mental health epidemics with 1 in 2 Australians dealing with one or more chronic health conditions at some point.
Regarding hunger, we have enough food for everyone in the world to be fed, yet as many as 783 million people go hungry globally. In our own backyard, there are more than half a million families struggling to put enough food on the table every day in Australia.
Environmentally we all know about global warming and climate change thanks to our unsustainable use of land, water, resources and energy, which is driving us into a 6th mass extinction event.
Now more than ever could we do with some of the spirit of Dong Feng and his Apricot Grove. When the environment is healthy and the community is fed, there is less disease, and when the people are fed and healthier they support each other and their environment. This generates a positive interconnected cycle that supports life.
Acupuncture Grove's Donation Work
Acupuncture Grove donates a portion of every treatment towards both environmental regeneration and feeding those less fortunate through Greening Australia and Food For Change.
While the clinic is small and my own skills are nowhere near that of ancient sage-physicians, I do hope that we can make some small beneficial impact, and as the clinic grows, continue to grow in how we can contribute to a brighter future.
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Greening Australia
Greening Australia is involved in multiple programs to achieve landscape restoration that supports increased biodiversity, improves water quality, sequesters carbon from the atmosphere and supports local communities.
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Food For Change
Food For Change approach alleviating food insecurity in Australia from two main angles. First by utilising unused land and an army of volunteers they can grow and provide fresh nutritious fruit, vegetables and herbs. Secondly they rescue food locally by connecting local food donors (like IGA) with local food relief organisations to maximise food utilisation and reduce waste.
