MEET THE FOUNDER
Ihotu Ali, DC, MPH
Doctor of Chiropractic · Bodyworker · Birth Doula
Founder, Oshun Center for Intercultural Healing
Dr. Ihotu Ali is a Doctor of Chiropractic and public health professional (MPH), Arvigo® Maya Abdominal Therapist, and former birth doula whose work bridges conventional and integrative healthcare. With more than 15 years caring for individuals and families, she helps people understand the “why” behind persistent symptoms — and navigate complex health concerns with clarity and confidence.
How I got here.
I was a competitive gymnast before I became a bodyworker, so movement (and the remarkable things bodies can learn) has fascinated me for most of my life. My career began in bodywork, where years of working with people experiencing endometriosis, infertility, painful periods, digestive concerns, and pregnancy discomfort revealed a pattern: many had seen provider after provider, yet still had no clear picture of how the pieces of their health fit together.
That question pulled me outward. I trained as a birth doula and prenatal massage therapist, earned a Master of Public Health from Columbia University, and conducted maternal and child health research with the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Morocco. As I traveled through more than 30 countries, I studied African and Caribbean traditions of birth, ancestral, and womb healing that still inform my work today.
Disenchanted with research from a distance, I moved toward hands-on care — expanding my training through Arvigo Maya Abdominal Therapy, rehabilitation, nutrition, functional medicine, and, most recently, chiropractic. Each layer was an attempt to become a modern, integrative kind of healer: someone who can understand the medical system without believing it holds every answer, and honor traditional ways of knowing while staying curious about science. Oshun Center is where all of it comes together.
Science in the room.
Spirit in the room.
A session with me doesn’t look the same twice. There can be science in the room, and there can be spirit in the room — anatomy, laughter, music, culture, silence, movement, and rest. My background in public health means I’m interested in the larger story around a symptom: not only where does it hurt, but what has your body been carrying?
I work from the outside. You work from the inside. And somewhere in the middle, we listen.
Why “Oshun.”
Oshun (“oh-SHOON”) is an African spirit of the sweet waters — of rivers, fertility, healing, and love. There are sweet-water spirits in every culture. I take her name because healing, like water, moves across every border and belongs to everyone. The Oshun Center for Intercultural Healing is my home for whole-person, integrative care: bringing together clinical science and hands-on care, Western anatomy and traditional healing, reclaimed cultural practices and modern trauma science — with a devotion to women’s and reproductive health, and to the people whose symptoms haven’t found answers in one system alone.
There are sweet-water spirits in every culture.
We welcome yours here.
Practitioners I’ve trained.
Healing doesn’t stop when I’m not in the room. These practitioners have trained with me in integrative bodywork and Maya abdominal care, and continue this work in their own practices. If you’re looking for care — in Minneapolis or beyond — they’re a wonderful place to begin.
Michele Renee, DC, MAc at Stockheart.com
Location: Minneapolis, MN Focus: Integrative, whole-person care Currently accepting clients: yes
Reach Dr. Michele at dr.renee@stockheart.com
Dr. Michele has spent more than 28 years in holistic healthcare. She specializes in supporting people with chronic pain/illness in understanding the language of the body.
Nathalie C, LAc at Anansi Acupuncture
Location: Minneapolis, MN Focus: Supporting and uplifting historically marginalized people Currently accepting clients: yes
Reach Nathalie at nathalie@anansi-acu.com
Nathalie is deeply committed to exploring how her own healing practices can support and uplift people who have often been marginalized or harmed by mainstream Western medicine.
Location: Minneapolis, MN Focus: Integrative, whole-person care Currently accepting clients: yes
Book with Dr. Kirsten here
Dr. Kirsten Dehaven, Chiropractor at Sunu Wellness
Dr. Kirsten (She/They) blends a wide range of chiropractic techniques with a background in dance, movement, and rehabilitation to create care that’s dynamic, intuitive, and rooted in whole-body wellness.
“Ihotu’s training incorporates many facets of the human being in the learning. As an already seasoned provider, I deeply appreciated her depth of knowledge, incorporation of other ways of knowing, and respect for insights brought by others. I will be back for another class as soon as possible!”
TRAINING & AFFILIATIONS
Dr. Ali’s Credentials
• Doctor of Chiropractic (DC)
• Master of Public Health (MPH), Columbia University
• Arvigo® Maya Abdominal Therapist
• Founder & Director, Oshun Center for Intercultural Healing
• Co-founder, MN Healing Justice Network
• Appointed member, MN Maternal Mortality Review Committee
• Former Research Editor, Evidence Based Birth
• Maternal & child health research with the United Nations (DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Morocco)
A little auntie energy.
I probably bring a bit of auntie energy to the treatment room: curious, warm, occasionally playful, willing to listen to the whole story, and very interested in helping you remember what you already carry inside yourself. Underneath all the techniques and degrees, my work is still very much what I loved about being a doula.
The arts are another home for me — music, singing, movement, writing, and storytelling — and I believe healing spaces can hold beauty and creativity alongside clinical care. I want the treatment room to feel human. My work has a particular home in women’s and reproductive health, but people of all genders are welcome on my table.
I love lakes in the summer, saunas in the winter, and Afrofuturist novels. Elle parle français.
Family & culture
Ihotu (“ee-ho-too”) means love. I’m the granddaughter of a traditional Nigerian chief who led his community through the Biafran Civil War, and the grandchild of Polish-Irish farmers who lived in Minnesota through the Great Depression. I was raised by a loving single mother, grew up in Section 8 housing, and helped care for my sister, who lives with Prader-Willi Syndrome.
I’ve been an auntie and mentor to hundreds of young people as a doula, camp counselor, and healer. My family motto is “No Mud, No Lotus.”
Your body has a story. Let’s learn how to read it.
