I have been on my health journey most of my life – I think it is a part of the divine plan, or the healer’s journey! My health issues go back to my childhood, I struggled with weight issues, as well as the effects of stress and overachieving. I was diagnosed with mild hypertension in high school and opted to take a few less honors classes verses taking medication.
In college, I began looking for a natural solution, while I was studying ecology and wildlife biology. I found Indian Ayurvedic Medicine which showed me the power of simple herbs and right diet to create profound changes in my health and well-being. I was encoded with the experience that natural healing was possible, and it resonated with me on a deep level due to my studies of nature. Ayurveda was also my first introduction to the idea of dosha or constitution which helped me to accept my body shape and size verses fighting with it like I had during my teens. Instead, I learned how to balance my constitution to create harmony in my body.
In my 20’s I struggled through a stressful job, coupled with a tough pregnancy, and my body literally started to shut down. What I thought was postpartum fatigue from going back to work as a teacher, ended up being diagnosed as a thyroid disorder. It was during this period of time that I began to see an acupuncturist. I was living in Central California in the Monterey/Salinas area at that time.
I was very lucky to be a patient of Dr. Hector Prestera, he was one of California’s first acupuncturists! As an MD, he traveled to the UK to study acupuncture before there were any schools or training in the US! He used Traditional Chinese diagnostics like looking at my tongue, and feeling my pulse. He was the first doctor I had ever been to that I could feel how much he cared for his patients. Going to the doctor had always given me anxiety in the past, and this was the first time I felt truly comfortable.
Dr. Prestera helped get my thyroid disorder diagnosed and helped me get my hormone levels balanced, and I began to get my energy levels back so that I could thrive as a new mom. I loved his office and the acupuncture treatments, and I was fascinated by watching him decide what acupuncture points he would use. He told stories about how they had to adjust the treatment frequency when they brought acupuncture to the west to make it fit in with busy western lifestyles. That in China it was common to get acupuncture treatments daily until you felt better, but in the US they needed to figure out how to create the same results with weekly acupuncture sessions.
I was inspired by my experience with Dr. Prestera, and I made the decision to go to Acupuncture School. After taking a tour of schools in California, Oregon, and Washington, I decided to go to the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) in San Diego and began my studies in 2003.