my own journey

I spent decades of my adult life living in tandem with a fear created in early childhood.

This fear affected me so deeply and pervasively that it robbed me of joy and created an emotional and physical prison.

I functioned in the outside world, but at great cost to my body, emotions and spirit. I tried intermittent therapy and read endless self-help books but the fear remained my nearly constant companion. 

Through an act of fate, I stumbled upon a small, local seminar on the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). This modality was life changing for me. It helped me overcome the lifelong fear that had kept me from being able to travel any distance without extreme discomfort. After learning EFT I began to travel to seminars. Because of this new freedom, I was able to begin satisfying my incredible thirst for learning more about energetic healing as well as psychic and intuitive research.  

One of my first adventures was to attend a Donna Eden conference on Energy Medicine at Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E) in Virginia Beach. Requiring over seven hours of travel and two overnights, this had been way out of my comfort zone before learning EFT.

I knew virtually nothing about energy work or how to “do” it, which was why I was drawn to the conference. Late in the day, the agenda switched from lecture to hands on. We were divided into partners and told to “feel each other’s energy.” I immediately felt like a fraud. I felt embarrassed and completely out of my league, but there was no turning back now.

I held my hands above my partner, moving them slowly over her body. I had no idea what I was supposed to feel so I just went through the motions. Sharing my experience, I admitted, “I didn’t feel anything. I’ve never done this before. The only thing I noticed was that the area above your knees felt warmer to my hands (remember, I was not touching her) and this knee more than the other.” She casually responded, “Oh, that’s because I recently had knee surgery on both knees and that knee is not healing as fast as the other.”

I was stunned. OMG, this is amazing.
How could I have felt this?

Shortly thereafter I attended another energy workshop given by one of Donna Eden’s T.A.’s who had been working at the A.R.E. conference. This event was held just over an hour away from my home and I was thrilled to be able to attend. I also was delighted that this trip, which would have been nearly impossible not long before, seemed so easy compared to the last drive to Virginia Beach!

Near the end of the evening, I asked the T.A. if she might work on me briefly so I could experience my first taste of energy work from someone who “knew what they were doing.”

She obliged and began working on me, but was conversing with another woman the entire time. I was not at all sure what to expect. After a few minutes, the woman who was hosting the class began turning off lights, so the house was becoming darker and darker. All of a sudden, I saw a bright red two inch diameter sphere shoot from my feet and arc through the air across the room.

I was stunned. OMG, this is amazing.
How could I have felt this?

Shortly thereafter I attended another energy workshop given by one of Donna Eden’s T.A.’s who had been working at the A.R.E. conference. This event was held just over an hour away from my home and I was thrilled to be able to attend. I also was delighted that this trip, which would have been nearly impossible not long before, seemed so easy compared to the last drive to Virginia Beach!

Near the end of the evening, I asked the T.A. if she might work on me briefly so I could experience my first taste of energy work from someone who “knew what they were doing.”

She obliged and began working on me, but was conversing with another woman the entire time. I was not at all sure what to expect. After a few minutes, the woman who was hosting the class began turning off lights, so the house was becoming darker and darker. All of a sudden, I saw a bright red two inch diameter sphere shoot from my feet and arc through the air across the room.

I had opened my mouth to ask, “What was that?!” when the hosting homeowner said, “You all need to stop because I have to leave now to get my son.” Out in the parking lot, I asked the T.A., “What did you do to me?” She simply shrugged and replied, “Oh, I just grounded you,” then hopped into her car and left. 

… What???

After that, I read incessantly. I also signed up for a Healing Touch class (another road trip!). At that point, I still had no idea what I was supposed to be feeling or what I was exactly trying to do. Books and instructors tell you how to place your hands but I didn’t feel like any of them explained what was actually supposed to be occurring. And yet I could see that a person I was working on became deeply relaxed. And when someone worked on me, I felt the same. What was happening??? I still didn’t understand but I definitely knew something was going on.  

My next experience happened with a friend of a friend. I asked if I could try to feel her energy and she said, “Sure.” I did not know her well at all. Again, I didn’t feel much but then noticed something and shared, “I don’t really feel much except for right here. This feels very different to me.” She looked up at my friend with amazement and said, “That’s where I have a hole in my head, literally. They removed bone from my head, right there.” (Again, I was not touching her.)

I didn’t need much more convincing after that. I knew something amazing was happening even if I didn’t yet understand what it was.

I began to network more in my own community which led me to two Reiki practitioners from whom I learned a great deal. A session that I had with Margaretta McIlvaine of Bridge Between the Worlds in Keswick, VA, drew me back to her again and again until finally, I arranged to study with her for nine illuminating months.

I loved healing work. I loved everything about it.  And yet I didn’t find myself being drawn to it as a career.

When I began to study coaching, I immediately knew that this was what I was meant to do. I later began to realize that I was a different kind of coach than most of my peers. I found that my approach involved a unique blend of all I was learning from my coaching training combined with all I had experienced during my healing, intuitive and spiritual work and, as always, from my life experience.

I love connecting with clients and sharing the skills I have acquired along my journey.  I delight in helping to ignite their lives with the spirit-driven passion that is innate in all of us.