How I Went from “Woo-woo!” to “Wowee!”

My journey to Healing Touch began with establishing a mindfulness meditation practice in 2008. The pressures of a fast-paced educational workplace (middle school Spanish teacher), marriage, raising a daughter, and a hefty dose of perfectionism brought me to the studio at Charlotte Meditation where I learned simple, practical mindfulness skills for a lifetime. I became a Mindfulness Meditation teacher for private clients as well as for groups of students at local public and private schools, summer camps, and, since 2019, for homeschoolers. I remain on the Board of Directors at Charlotte Meditation and have been the Director of Education for Youth Meditation, a non-profit aimed at empowering students, teachers, and parents with mindfulness skills to manage stress and anxiety.

Mindfulness helped me look at my expectations so I could let go of the past (we all have family dysfunction of some kind; mine was fueled by alcohol, its stress showing up as anorexia in my teen years and, later, as adult rheumatoid arthritis), reduce anxiety about the future, and stay in the present. Trite but true! Even my 2010 experience with breast cancer, chemo, and radiation was a terrifying yet tolerable adventure thanks to my practice. Mindfulness became the first long-lasting foundation for my inner peace.

During My Breast Cancer Year of 2010, the hospital offered Healing Touch as a complementary support and that was my first experience with its relaxing healing power. Still a bit skeptical of the “woo woo”, I enjoyed my sessions and then I moved on with my prognosis of “cured” and my busy life. Eleven years later, I went on a retreat where I signed up for a Healing Touch treatment as I had been feeling “stuck” for a while, retired from teaching Spanish and wondering what was next, trying to mindfully notice my “attachment to outcome” and let it go but instead feeling uncertain and melancholy. Maybe HT could help me move through this limbo?

What I experienced on the table was unexpected and mind-blowing. Images popped into my head from out of the blue. The most powerful scenario I saw in my mind’s eye was tentacles uncoiling in a spiral from my chest, relieving a tightness I didn’t realize was there. “Am I dreaming?” I wondered. If so, the image was very vivid but not frightening; it only piqued my curiosity and I felt as though I might be on to something. In our post-treatment discussion, I found out that my practitioner had indeed used an HT intervention that clears, connects, and balances energy using a slow and intentional spiral movement over the body. I felt it! I saw it! Gobsmacked, I returned home wanting to know more. I immediately went to the Healing Touch Program website and discovered that a Level 1 class was being taught online in just two weeks. Not only did I sign up for that one, but I continued on to Level 2 the next month, and Level 3 the next, moving into Levels 4 and 5 over the next year to complete my training.

As a client “on the table,” HT has been the puzzle piece I didn’t know I needed. My judgment of “woo woo” has been replaced by “wowee!” Treatments have expanded my inner knowing and intuition about “what’s best for me” and support my rediscovered Self in thought and action. As a practitioner, I have helped clients with all manner of concerns: physical pain and discomfort, mental scatteredness and over-thinking, emotions that won’t go away or need to be released, and spiritual disconnectedness. I am committed to supporting people as they move through stressful life transitions: recovery from illness or addiction, employment concerns/ changes, new relationships, “reconfigured” relationships, parenting children as they grow from baby to young adult, retirement, aging, perhaps a general desire to replace a lifetime of habitual inner chaos with inner calm. Using Healing Touch interventions, I help clients to self-heal and find physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual well-being as they rediscover their true and vibrant Self. I look forward to supporting you in your self-care.