Back to the Beginning
to pick up all the pieces
It’s been a while since I began to share my love of natural healing here on Sunstack, and I thought maybe it was time to revisit some of the basics. The first basic, especially for new subscribers, is for you to learn who I am, what I do, and why I do it.
I am a healer. I didn’t begin that way. My journey began as a person who needed healing, and by the grace of God/Goddess/All-That-Is, the healers I needed became known to me and I wisely put my needs into their capable hands.
Was I born a healer? Well, yes, we all are. But today, such knowledge has been overshadowed by scientific medicine, called allopathic medicine.
Allopathic medicine is the general term for what most people understand as modern, Western medicine. The allopathic medicine definition describes it as a method of treating disease with remedies (such as surgery or drugs) that produce different effects from those caused by the disease.
Like almost everyone reading this, I was born into a working family, went through school and went to work. I became a teacher. My memory of natural, holistic medicine was based on two essential things. The first was that I frequently came down with tonsillitis – every year at Christmas. My mother dutifully took me to the doctor, who suggested removing the tonsils. Her response? “God gave them to her for a reason, and you’re not taking them out!” For every episode after that, she doctored me with bedrest, vitamin C and zinc, chicken broth and soft bread. I still have my tonsils. My second memory was at puberty. The cramps during my period were excruciating, so much so that I could not go to school. Again, my mother took me to the doctor. He prescribed some pain medication. Once we were home, I took it and fell into a paralytic sleep. That’s when I had my first out-of-body experience. When I could finally move, I told my mother and, of course, never took the medicine again.
These memories became fundamental to forming the person I am today. I followed my dream to become a teacher, and during all the years between, I never once thought of having any other career. The one health issue that followed me into adulthood was migraine headaches. Bad ones. Debilitating ones. It seemed that the older I became, the worse they became. They began to interfere with my teaching – I had to take too much time off. The doctor put me on one prescription that almost killed me. The next medication he tried was better tolerated, but my body accommodated to it over time. One tablet was not enough, so he suggested I take two. Eventually, two were insufficient, so I was told to take two tablets two hours apart. By that time, I knew I was in trouble. I was suffering from an unending 30-day migraine, and my principal was suggesting I might have to take a leave from work.
One day, I was in the staff room and told a fellow teacher of my dilemma. “Would you consider seeing a herbalist?” she asked. I discussed it with my husband, who agreed we had nothing to lose. I made the appointment, and yes, it changed my life.
The herbalist explained that all the painkillers and medications I had taken over the years impacted my liver. Because I was a teacher bending over children’s desks all day, she also suggested I see a chiropractor. I’d never heard of a chiropractor, but I went anyway. Between both natural practitioners, my 30-day migraine broke within a week. Daily migraines eventually became weekly, then monthly, and I no longer required prescription medication.
That was my beginning. I became determined to learn more about looking after myself and my family holistically. I started with seminars offered by my herbalist and found the learning simple and practical. Family and peers noticed my increased energy and vigour, and they began asking me for information and help with their issues. I began studying with a recognized Herbal College and worked with my herbalist in her clinic so she could mentor my work with a growing number of clients. Once I retired from teaching, I began my private practice and continue with it to this day.
But helping people on their journey to wellness is not just about feeding them herbs. There is so much more to it that is relatively easy to understand. So, as I assist, I teach my clients to learn what they need, why they need it, and how to apply the learning to themselves and their families. Yes, we live in an allopathic society, but pharmaceutical remedies have limitations and dangers. Herbal medicines must be used with the same respect and caution, but their overall effects heal without myriad side effects.
That’s my purpose here – to share what I have learned. Why now? During the pandemic, I realized how lost and vulnerable people were when they could not get to the doctor. So often, simple remedies are available from kitchen cupboards, from a basic knowledge of foods, and from applying these with common sense.
Will you come away from these weekly posts with a diploma? No, but I hope to instill an understanding of how the body works and how simple it can be to look after yourself and those you love with natural remedies that can be applied to almost every health issue. Will you ever need an allopathic doctor? Of course, you will! The wonders of modern medicine cannot, and should not, be ignored. But there is room in our lives for all forms of healing to work together for optimum health.
If you think this journey will fill a need, then follow me on a journey into natural healing. It may very well change your life….