About a decade ago, life handed me a series of stressful events that left me feeling depleted for several years. The circumstances--aside from juggling 60-plus hour work-weeks-- included undergoing several surgeries, and I wondered if having so much anesthesia played a role in my fatigue. I also wondered if I had adrenal burnout from the chronic, cumulative stress.
I felt fortunate that, through my background in social work, I had access to many "evidence-based" methods for stress management and self-care. I've long been someone who exercises, practices yoga, mindfulness meditation and guided imagery and I used these in my efforts to bounce back--although, in retrospect, I wish I had acknowledged my high stress response and intervened sooner. I studied at the Harvard Mind-Body Medical Institute (its former name) for professionals and utilized these approaches for my self-care: I tried biofeedback, ate well, rested, and enjoyed time with friends and time in nature. Many of these conventional approaches helped, but the tiredness and sense of depletion persisted. I'm 6 feet tall -- an Amazon, of sorts -- and was a Boston-qualifying marathon runner. But now, I felt exhausted after running only a few miles. I felt like my nervous system had a short-circuit.
In addition to the traditional approaches, I have also studied various complementary and alternative medicine approaches (also known as "CAM" or "integrative") over the years. My study of integrative approaches began during my work in oncology--a field where many patients explore other means of improving their health besides conventional cancer treatments because conventional treatments alone can't always promise a complete cure.
During my work in psychosocial oncology, I learned of a new energy healing method through an Andrew Weil, M.D. course about integrative medicine approaches for treating depression. At the time, I had been skeptical about energy work and I especially doubted distance healing was possible. (So if you are skeptical about this yourself, I understand.) I'd had a brief, positive experience with Reiki, but to me, energy medicine sounded like wishful thinking and a little too "out there." When I continued to feel depleted after a few years of using the conventional approaches--and having had some life experiences that led me to be more open to energy medicine--I decided to try this new form of energy healing to see if it could help.
To my surprise, just a day after the distance healing I felt like my previous energetic self again. The feeling of depletion was gone and I felt both relaxed and energized. I was amazed, excited and grateful. I was surprised that it had worked so quickly and the fact that worked from a distance blew my mind.
This helpful experience with distance healing left me humbled about my prior skepticism--I realized that my skepticism had been unfounded and that this new energy medicine had great potential to help people. I decided to study this energy healing method so I could offer it to others. I knew this was not widely offered in Western medicine.
I'm now an advanced practitioner of this new energy healing modality, called "Awakening Heart" energy medicine. I still work with the traditional, evidence-based methods, but I’ve found that often energy medicine can work more quickly and effectively than conventional approaches. And I find that in many situations it is helpful to integrate traditional and non-traditional approaches for the best results.
Welcome. I hope all who visit this site find something that helps you reach your healthiest path.