‘As Healing For Me As It Is For My Patients’: New Mom Leaves Career in Finance To Launch Acupuncture Practice on Forest Street

Maria Zervas Batista first came to acupuncture as a patient, in 2002.

Fresh out of the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in hand, she’d been living for one year in New York City and working in finance.

“It was so overwhelming and there was a lot of stress, and one of my friends suggested that I try acupuncture,” the Boca Raton, Fla. native and Wilton mother of three kids under three years old recalled on a recent afternoon.

“It was so amazing. I kept going back, I went back every week, to this place in Union Square. I loved it, and then I started going not just for stress reduction—I started going for anything, and it was always beneficial. I was fascinated and then when I finally burned out in finance, I was trying to think about what it would be that would make me happy. What I could do for a career where I could flourish.”

After the economic downturn in 2008, questions that Batista had asked herself for years—contemplating an exit from a sales trading career that provided income and security but little personal fulfillment—took to the forefront in her mind.

This month, Batista will mark one year as founder of The Salt and the Sea, her acupuncture practice at 11 Forest St. in downtown New Canaan.

A unique and desirable service whose regulars praise Batista’s professionalism and passion for acupuncture, the still-growing business also has delivered a sense of satisfaction that long had eluded her.

“I knew I wanted to help people, rather than take,” Batista recalled from beside a patient bed in the serene, private room of her second-floor practice, featuring a high ceiling, wood floors, anchored by a large painting of a mountain lake and decorated with small fountains, cacti, candles and an oil diffuser. “Finance is a very ‘taking’ kind of industry, and I was interested already in acupuncture and so I thought it may be nice to just do a complete reworking of the career part of my life.”

Giving up finance—the only career she’d known to that point—was a “very tough” decision, Batista said. She’d been earning a good income and felt guilty about walking away from a career she’d worked so hard to develop. Married in 2009 to husband David, whom she’d met through her work in New York City, Batista finally decided to study acupuncture, get her license to practice and set up her own business just as she started to have her family.

She commuted to New York City to study at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine while pregnant, and began teaching her brain to think in a completely new way.

“It was very difficult,” Batista said of her course work. “I was wired in finance for so many years and it’s really like learning a different language. A whole different language. It took me a long time to get my head wrapped around the theory and the idea of how it worked and why and just everything.”

It’s worked out.

Caring for a group of regular, local patients who often come in with pain or following injuries, and refer her on by word-of-mouth, Batista has built a steady client list and is looking to expand to more days per week.

One of her patients is New Canaan’s Jane Beiles, who was referred to Batista through the popular “New Canaan Moms” Facebook group.

A good friend also recommended Batista, and so Beiles booked an appointment.

“My first treatment was so effective in relieving mild but uncomfortable joint pain that I booked a whole series with Maria,” Beiles said. “She is terrific.”

The Salt and the Sea (here on Facebook) also is a member business of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce. The organization’s executive director, Tucker Murphy, praised Batista’s willingness to partner with fellow businesses and her decision to locate acupuncture practice with other wellness-related ventures (The Salt and the Sea shares a waiting room with Essential Body Work & Wellness and a patient room with a chiropractor).

“I think that makes a lot of sense and that they can benefit from each other which is something that we always stress here at the chamber,” Murphy said.

“She’s providing a great service t the town and she is passionate about what she does. We really celebrate women and mothers, in particular, who have a passion and are able to practice their craft.”

Asked why she chose to locate her business in New Canaan, Batista said: “I love New Canaan.”

“I have always loved New Canaan. Of all the years we lived in New York City, coming up to visit my stepson and hanging out with him in the area, New Canaan was my favorite place. I just like it. I like the community. I love the people. It’s a warm place. There are a lot of New York transplants here. I feel like it’s the hip part of Fairfield County.”

Starting with a detailed history, Batista generally find about more about her patients—what they’re coming in for and what else is going on in their lives that they might not know acupuncture could treat—and prefers to follow up personally and immediately. She practices “cupping”—popularized during the Rio Olympics, particularly swimmers such as Michael Phelps—as well as acupuncture.

“I am very in-touch with my patients, so when I treat them I will always email them the next day to see how they’re doing, and it’s so nice to hear every time that they are feeling great,” she said.

“It’s amazing. It’s as healing for me as it is for my patients. It’s a very tranquil, peaceful kind of job.”

And one she’d like to expand. Asked about her vision for the future of The Salt and the Sea, Batista said: “I would love to grow. I would love to add on more days and grow. I would like one day to a have much bigger practice with three, four rooms and people working for me. Right now I’m very happy treating my patients and healing them. It’s a wonderful feeling.”