In a calm, sunlit room, Sarah Bradden moves and speaks with quiet assurance. Known for her pioneering Bradden Method, a fusion of acupuncture, LED light therapy, breathwork and energy balancing, she has become a guide for those seeking repair. Her work moves between science and spirit, skin and psyche, the physical and the unseen.

What her clients tend to speak of most, though, is her presence. There’s a steadiness about her, a sense that she’s been to the edge and made her way back.

What her clients tend to speak of most, though, is her presence. There’s a steadiness about her, a sense that she’s been to the edge and made her way back.

“It all started from a place of complete collapse,” she tells me. “We were living in Spain at the time. We lost everything and came back to the UK with nothing. I was very ill, down to five stone, my face covered in abscesses. I had two tiny children and I just kept going because that’s what mothers do. But inside I was falling apart.”

When she returned to England, her health deteriorated further. “I was in and out of hospital for years. One week they said Crohn’s, the next diverticulitis, then bowel cancer. They even wanted to remove part of my intestine. It was terrifying.” Her instinct, the one she now helps others to rediscover, told her that the medical system didn’t have the full picture. “Something in me just knew. I thought, this doesn’t feel right. There has to be another way.”

That way arrived in the form of acupuncture. “I’d never tried it before, but one night I heard this quiet voice say, find an acupuncturist. So I did. And in that first session I felt energy move through my body for the first time in years. It didn’t cure me overnight, but it flicked a switch. My body remembered what it could do.”

From there, recovery came slowly. With the help of her family she continued treatment, the swelling eased, her strength returned. “It brought me back to life, physically, emotionally and spiritually,” she says. “When I was strong enough, I went to study acupuncture myself. That’s where the method began — through necessity, through repair.”

Today the Bradden Method has become a modern ritual, beloved of celebrities and feted in magazines such as Vogue. Her sessions combine traditional and cosmetic acupuncture with light therapy, sound and breathwork, but at their core is a kind of energetic literacy. “The skin is the largest organ we have,” she explains. “Whatever’s going on inside will show up there eventually. So when someone comes to me feeling drained or looking dull, it’s never just about the surface. It’s about what the body is trying to say.”

Most of her clients are women in their thirties and forties who are stretched thin. “So many don’t even know what’s wrong,” she says. “They just know something isn’t right. They’re exhausted, anxious, overwhelmed. Maybe they’re approaching menopause or struggling with thyroid issues. Life keeps asking them to keep going. Who else will pick up the kids or manage the work? But when they finally slow down, when they actually stop, that’s when the truth starts to come through.”

Every session begins with a conversation. “People come in holding so much,” she says. “Once they feel safe, the floodgates open. Sometimes it’s tears, sometimes it’s stories they’ve never told. The needles help the body move what’s been stuck.”

Sarah talks with particular affection about the ears. “I’m a bit obsessed,” she laughs. “They’re a powerful microsystem, a direct line to the brain. Auricular acupuncture and ear seeds can calm the nervous system and rebalance hormones almost instantly.” The face, too, is both a mirror and a map. “Chinese face reading is fascinating. You can see which organs are struggling, where emotion is sitting, what needs attention.”

Despite the precision of her work, intuition sits at its centre. “You can never promise to heal anyone,” she says. “What I can do is remind them how to heal themselves. Once you begin to feel better you start noticing what your body’s telling you. You realise what helps, what harms, when to rest. You begin to listen again.”

Simplicity, she believes, is essential. “People are overwhelmed. They tell me not to give them another thing to do at home. So, I give them something that takes two minutes. Check your posture. Drink some water. Take three deep breaths. These small habits might seem insignificant, but over time they reset you.”

When she was rebuilding her own health, Sarah set hourly reminders on her phone. “I’d ask myself, have I drunk water? How am I sitting? Am I breathing properly? It sounds small but those tiny acts of awareness stitched me back together.”

Her advice to clients now follows the same rhythm: little adjustments that add up to transformation. “It’s about having tools you can use yourself. Treatments are amazing, of course, but we all need a toolkit we can reach for every day.”

When I ask what her own non-negotiables are, she doesn’t hesitate. “Acupressure, grounding and hydration,” she says. Every morning she goes outside, whatever the weather, and stands barefoot on the earth. “I don’t think about it, because if I think about it, I’ll talk myself out of it,” she smiles. “So I just go — dressing gown, hood up, rain or shine. A few minutes of grounding, some bone tapping for circulation and bone density, a glass of water. If I have time I’ll add some Kundalini yoga, but those three things are my anchor.”

Her practice sits in a space that feels both ancient and contemporary. The methods are rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine but expressed through modern science and energetic understanding. The results are visible yet subtle: clearer skin, softer eyes, a calmer nervous system, an overall sense of coherence. “The body is always communicating,” she says. “We’ve just forgotten how to listen.”

For clients navigating illness, hormone imbalance or chronic fatigue, her approach offers something steady and humane. “It’s not about rejecting medicine,” she says. “I work alongside doctors, nutritionists and oncologists. But I know that when the nervous system feels safe, the body starts to repair. Healing doesn’t happen in fight or flight.”

She speaks with a calm authority that comes from lived experience, not theory. “I’ve been where my clients are,” she says quietly. “Lost, exhausted, frightened. But no matter how far you’ve fallen, there’s always a way back. The body wants to heal. The spirit wants to return to light.”