Hilom
Filipino for healing. To quiet.Acupuncture, TCM, herbal medicine, cupping and whole-person care.
At my studio
View Services & BookAbout Dr. Arby
I'm Arby Robles, DAOM, L.Ac., founder of Hilom — an acupuncturist, herbalist, and proponent of integrative medicine. I earned my doctorate at Emperor's College and trained where East and West actually meet: the Disney Family Cancer Center in Burbank, Scripps MD Anderson, and the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine. Working alongside oncologists and physicians taught me something I carry into every session — that this medicine is at its strongest when it's part of a larger plan, not a last resort after everything else has failed. Today I practice across several integrative clinics in San Diego, consult for KPC Herbs, and specialize in pain, stress, internal medicine, pediatrics, men's and women's health, and oncology care. I am Filipino, and that shapes how I practice. I grew up between San Diego and the Philippines, and the word hilom — to heal, to quiet — comes from home. In Filipino families, care is something you give with your hands. My grandmother knew things about the body that no textbook taught me. Chinese medicine gave me the framework and the rigor, but the instinct came first, and I still return to Manila every few months to keep that connection alive. Welcome to Hilom!
"Healing is more than correcting imbalance. It's giving you tools you can use for a better life. I look past the diagnosis to what's underneath it. Symptoms are how the body asks for attention, and the place you feel pain is often not where it began. My work is finding the pattern that connects what seems unrelated — the headaches and the digestion, the insomnia and the grief — and treating that instead of chasing each piece. I also believe healing shouldn't depend on me. Every treatment plan comes with something to carry home: a dietary shift, an herbal formula, a small ritual that returns some authority over your health to you. My aim isn't to make you a lifelong patient. It's to help you know your own body well enough that you need me less. And I don't ask you to choose sides. If you're in chemotherapy, on medication, or working with a physician, I want to be part of that team. The best outcomes I've seen came from collaboration, never from competition. Each session is a chance to reconnect with yourself — for body and mind to re-integrate, so you can return to a balanced state of health.
Credentials & expertise
Services
Acupuncture New Patient
Your first visit is the longest we'll spend together, and it sets the foundation for everything that follows. We begin with a thorough intake: your primary concern, your health history, and the details that often go unasked — sleep, digestion, energy, stress, cycle. I'll also use traditional diagnostic methods, reading your pulse and observing your tongue, to understand what's happening beneath the symptoms. From there, we move into treatment. You'll rest comfortably while I place fine, sterile needles at the points chosen for your pattern. Depending on what your body needs, the session may also include cupping, gua sha, or moxibustion. Most people feel a deep calm settle in — it's common to drift off. We'll finish by talking through what I found, what to expect, and an individualized plan: how often to come in, and any herbal, dietary, or self-care support to carry home with you. Please wear loose, comfortable clothing, and eat something light beforehand.
Book Now →Acupuncture Follow Up
Return visits build on the work we've already started. We begin with a brief check-in: what's shifted since your last session, what hasn't, and how you've been sleeping, moving, and feeling in between. I'll take your pulse and look at your tongue again — these change as you do, and they tell me where to adjust. Treatment follows, tailored to where your body is that day rather than repeating a fixed protocol. Cupping, gua sha, and moxibustion are included whenever they serve your treatment. Before you go, we'll revisit your plan — spacing your visits out as you improve — and update any herbal, dietary, or self-care support.
Book Now →Acupuncture New patient **Senior Rate — 65 and over
20% off all services. No documentation needed. New Patient Acupuncture · 75 min · $160 Medicare doesn't cover acupuncture from an independent licensed acupuncturist, and a superbill won't be reimbursable. This rate exists so cost isn't what keeps you from care.
Book Now →Cupping Therapy Focused
A focused session dedicated entirely to cupping, tailored to what your body needs that day. Depending on your presentation, I may use fire cupping for deep stagnation and cold, square cups for broader coverage across the back and shoulders, or movement cupping — gliding the cups along the fascia — to release tension through a whole muscle group rather than a single point. Often it's a combination. The work decompresses tight tissue, increases local circulation, and gives muscle that's been guarding a chance to let go. It's well suited to stubborn neck, shoulder, and back tension, training recovery, and tightness that massage reaches but doesn't hold. The marks that sometimes appear aren't bruises from pressure. They reflect what's moving underneath, and they fade within a few days. Best for established patients, or as a focused addition between acupuncture visits.
Book Now →Cupping Therapy Full
A session dedicated entirely to cupping, tailored to what your body needs that day. I work with fire cupping for deep stagnation and cold, square cups for broader coverage across the back and shoulders, and movement cupping — gliding the cups along the fascia — to release tension through a whole muscle group rather than a single point. Most sessions use a combination. Tension rarely stays where it starts. A tight neck usually has a thoracic pattern behind it, and low-back pain often involves the glutes. The longer session lets me work through several connected regions in one visit rather than chasing one area at a time. The marks that sometimes appear aren't bruises from pressure. They reflect what's moving underneath, and they fade within 7-10 days.
Book Now →Follow up **Senior Rate — 65 and over
Return visits build on the work we've already started. We begin with a brief check-in: what's shifted since your last session, what hasn't, and how you've been sleeping, moving, and feeling in between. I'll take your pulse and look at your tongue again — these change as you do, and they tell me where to adjust. Treatment follows, tailored to where your body is that day rather than repeating a fixed protocol. Cupping, gua sha, and moxibustion are included whenever they serve your treatment. Before you go, we'll revisit your plan — spacing your visits out as you improve — and update any herbal, dietary, or self-care support. Patients 65 and over receive 20% off treatment. Please bring a valid ID to your first visit. Medicare doesn't cover acupuncture from an independent licensed acupuncturist, and a superbill won't be reimbursable. This rate exists so cost isn't what keeps you from care.
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