Leadership
Dr. Setareh Moafi
Co-Founder & CEO, Classical Acupuncture, Inc.
Setareh Moafi, Ph.D., L.Ac. has spent over two decades building organizations and bodies of work at the intersection of human potential and sustainable business — as a founder, a clinician, a product developer, and an educator. She is Co-Founder and CEO of Classical Acupuncture, Inc., the parent company under which A Center for Natural Healing, Dharma Studio, Empowerment Coaching, and Ahara Botanics all operate.
Founder, First Yoga Studio in Los Altos
At just 22 years old, Dr. Setareh left a corporate legal career to found the first yoga studio in Los Altos, California — identifying an underserved market, building a client base from zero, and running the full operation into a successful, highly profitable and popular yoga hub within its first month of inception.
The studio's rapid growth taught her the real mechanics of entrepreneurship: hiring, culture-setting, financial management, and the discipline of turning a personal calling into a viable business.
Co-Director, A Center for Natural Healing
Since 2009, Dr. Setareh has co-led A Center for Natural Healing in Santa Clara, a multiple award-winning Classical Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture clinic in the heart of Silicon Valley, which she built alongside her husband and business partner, Salvador Cefalu, M.S., L.Ac.
After maintaining a busy clinical practice as a Licensed Acupuncturist for over 17 years, Dr. Setareh now manages the clinic itself, overseeing operations, patient experience, and business strategy — including the difficult, necessary decisions that keep a mission-driven small business sustainable and serving the community while maintaining the true value of its services.
She holds a Ph.D. in Classical Chinese Medicine from the American University of Complementary Medicine and an M.S. from Five Branches University, and has studied for 20 years under 88th-generation Daoist Grand Master Dr. Jeffrey Yuen.
Co-Founder, Dharma Studio
In 2012, Dr. Setareh co-founded Dharma Studio, an integrative education studio, expanding her work beyond one-on-one practice into scalable teaching and curriculum design — building programs that translated deep expertise into accessible, structured learning experiences.
Course Creator
Dr. Setareh has created and taught several original retreats, teaching trainings, and courses, translating clinical expertise into structured, scalable curricula. These include:
Yin Yoga Integration Teacher Training — a 50-hour teacher training course Setareh founded and taught live at Dharma Studio, graduating 50 students.
From Surviving to Thriving — a six-week online course with live weekly group coaching, giving students from all over the world tools to transform stress, deepen awareness, and step into a more grounded, intentional life by weaving together Classical Chinese Medicine, Daoism, and Yoga.
Yin & Yang of Nutrition — a course on Daoist food energetics and movement practices that teaches students to heal the gut and, in turn, support better sleep, steadier energy, clearer thinking, healthier skin, and stronger brain function.
Empowerment Coaching
Setareh offers one-on-one Empowerment Coaching for executives and individuals. By interweaving modern coaching techniques with ancient wisdom practices rooted in Classical Chinese Medicine, Yoga, and Daoism, she guides clients to align their mindset and habits so they can create the health and life they've been longing for.
Co-Developer, Ahara Botanics
While supporting clients and patients early on in the pandemic, Dr. Setareh and her husband developed Ahara Botanics, a line of gut health and enzyme-based supplements — including probiotics, digestive enzymes, and proteolytic enzymes for joint, muscle, and circulatory support.
Organizational & Corporate Work
Dr. Setareh has taught yoga and wellness classes in corporations throughout Silicon Valley over the past two decades.
More recently, she spent three years working as a weekly wellness educator for Celestial AI (recently acquired by Marvell Technology) designing and delivering programming that helped high-performing technical teams manage stress, sustain focus, and build resilience — direct experience translating ancient frameworks for nervous-system regulation and sustainable performance into language and practices that land in fast-moving, high-stakes environments. This work informed her "Wired for Calm" corporate wellness series, built specifically for startup teams navigating growth-stage intensity.
Author, Speaker & Podcast Host
Creator and contributing author of the popular Living a Fulfilled Life blog as well as a personal blog for many years, Dr. Setareh is currently at work on a book synthesizing Classical Chinese Medicine, Daoist philosophy, and contemporary neuroscience into a practical framework for nervous-system regulation and sustainable high performance.
She also co-hosted The Natural Healing Podcast alongside her husband, Salvador Cefalu, M.S., L.Ac. The podcast aired from 2020–2024 and was ranked in the top 5% of wellness podcasts worldwide on Spotify.
B.A., UC Berkeley | M.S., Five Branches University | Ph.D., American University of Complementary Medicine Fluent in English, Farsi, and German
To inquire about corporate offerings, events, keynotes, or coaching with Dr. Setareh, email info@setarehmoafi.com