How she treats her patients might not be simply explained, but what she mostly treats can be summed up in one word.

“The No. 1 symptom I treat is pain,” said Elisha Weinberg of Kenmore’s Ayaffa Healing Space.

Her Web site lists other symptoms she believes can be helped by her blend of acupuncture and cranial sacral treatments, such symptoms or health issues as unresolved stress, depression, lack of energy, Western diseases and many other concerns.

Weinberg said one key to better health and well-being is finding out what is happening in your life that is creating the pain you feel.

“We weren’t meant to feel pain, certainly we don’t have to experience pain,” said Weinberg, who started the Ayaffa center in a converted home on 181st Street about a year ago. She is licensed in acupuncture and herbatology, but also works with what she calls essential oils.

The center further offers classes in meditation and relaxation. Weinberg is on the verge of expanding the center’s offerings, renting space to a massage therapist and an expert in all-natural skin care.

Weinberg’s clinic already includes a master in reiki, a Japanese technique for stress reduction. As might or might not be obvious, Weinberg said her overall practice relates to her patients’ emotional well-being, as well as the physical manifestations of pain or other health concerns.

And while her approach might seem esoteric and is decidedly not that of traditional Western medicine, the goals are the same.

“You can change your well-being by changing the way you think,” she said, adding some very non-esoteric comments regarding diet and exercise.

“What I’m doing is asking people to take control of their lives,” Weinberg said, adding for her a proper diet is natural foods and exercise is yoga and relaxation.

“Relaxation is really key,” she added, saying exercise can include a walk in the park, which, while it can get your blood pumping, also can mean staring at the trees and birds.

Weinberg was trained in acupuncture at the Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine and studied cranial sacral treatments at Bastyr University. While she can talk fluently on Chinese herbs, essential oils and yoga, the heart of her practice really seems to be acupuncture and sacral cranial procedures.

According to Weinberg, the centuries-old practice of acupuncture teaches the body has 12 channels that move, for example, from the trunk down the arms. In probably simplistic terms, those channels become blocked. Acupuncture unblocks them.

“We just want to restore the flow of energy,” Weinberg said.

Cranial sacral treatments are a kind of physical therapy, Weinberg continued, adding there is a rhythm that flows from the base of your skull to your sacrum, thus the name of the discipline. Treatment normally starts with the patient on his or her back as Weinberg studies the pelvis and breathing patterns.

“I’m really drawn to the pelvis,” she says with a straight face.

Moving away from her unique form of acupuncture, Weinberg talked a lot about essential oils, which seem to come from common herbs. For example, the smell of rosemary just might relieve your migraines.

Not incidentally, Weinberg had nothing bad to say about Western medicine.

“There’s certainly a place for Western medicine,” she said, adding she would never — not just because it would be illegal — recommend anyone stop taking mainstream medicine or treatments. She insists the Western doctors who share office space with her are among her supporters and even patients.

Weinberg said she is sometimes surprised by the reaction she gets when telling people she is an acupuncturist. But the reasons behind that surprise might surprise you.

“I thought everyone would have tried acupuncture by now,” Weinberg said. “I’m always amazed when people say they haven’t.”

For more information, visit www.ayaffa.com.