My interest in medicine began in childhood, when my dad became ill with something the doctors couldn’t diagnose. They tried everything from arsenic to mustard gas trying to “cure” him – very nearly killing him in the process. My little eight year old heart knew that healing had to be something more than giving poison to people.
Of course I still use Western medicine when appropriate. But for me, my first approach to wellbeing comes from practices which have been around for thousands of years. The way I see it is that if they didn’t work, someone would have noticed by now.
Many years later I moved to New Mexico, where I began learning how to use the local plants as medicine. It’s also where my friends who were raised in and around the culture of the pueblos taught me how to work with the elements of nature: earth, water, fire and air – to awaken to my connection with the healing powers around and within me. I learned to tap into and trust my “inner seer”…my guide who eventually helped me to heal many others.
While living in New Mexico and working as a potter, I began seeing an acupuncturist for my own personal health, and after the second session I sat up and asked “How can I learn this?” I knew that this was my path.
This question led me to move to San Diego, where I began studying Eastern medicine, beginning with Sensei M. Nakazono, and eventually graduating Cum Laude from the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. I spent the next 10 years teaching herbal medicine, qigong and Oriental medical theory at that college.
All during my student years at Pacific College and beyond, I joined the local Zen Center and sat with Charlotte Joko Beck as my teacher. Meditation taught me a great deal about myself – especially about my illusions regarding both myself and others.
I never experienced one of those “lightening bolt” types of awakening which we read about. I just keep chipping away at the block of stone which I’ve considered to be reality – a process which has never ceased to this day.
I spent years running a meditation group after hours in my acupuncture clinic, helping my patients tap into that deeper well of understanding of themselves.