My Personal Wellness Journey
In my 20’s, I was in a car accident. It left me broken.
My easy-breezy 20-something body was now in constant pain. I developed dizzy spells. All I could do was lay down. They prescribed valium for the dizziness, a measly 1g pill, which put me flat out and left me useless, asleep, and unable to work. My psyche was affected; I was now was terrified of driving and then the panic attacks began, something that happened while driving sometimes. I was in an endless cycle - feel good & do things, and then suffer for doing things. This worsened existing depression.
At some point, I remember asking my Doctor about next steps he said “We’ve done everything we can do for you”, and I was absolutely stunned. My Doctor was terrific and he HAD done everything he could do within the scope of allopathic medical training-prescribing physical therapy, chiropractic treatment, and using a Tens Unit. All of these things helped but, I wanted to be fixed, returned to a state of health that existed pre-accident.
The chiropractor told me that I could never do my chosen profession full time. I was crushed. I was working as a Project Manager in an exciting but stressful field. I loved it for years but at some point found myself slipping into a state of severe dread every Sunday night, knowing I had to return to the office the next day. I had always dreamed of being a hairdresser and had finally decided to go to school part time to do just that. The accident had left my body broken, my emotions shattered, and now it was trying to steal my dream. I did not accept that limitation of not being able to do my dream work. I’ll show you, I thought.
I explored acupuncture. After the first few sessions, I was left ecstatic, filled with endorphins so much so that I had to sit for about 20 minutes before I felt capable of driving. Acupuncture helped tremendously. Still, there were layers of lingering issues. I tried just about every alternative remedy that I could find and afford.
I went on to do hair, and I did it well. For 20 years. I had a slew of massage therapists in my client book and they helped me tremendously through the years to keep going. I met many types of healers but was most intrigued by energy healers. I found they helped to move life experiences out, emotions, other people’ s energy - and sometimes by addressing these issues, it helped my entire system. It helped me so much that I went on to study Energy Healing. Acutonics, and a few other modalities. When not studying, I devoured any information available on Alternative Healing & Spiritual Healing.
In my 40’s, everything came to a halt. A particularly stressful divorce was in the works, my father was dying, and everything I had worked so hard for seemed to be crumbling around me. My health was suffering. I was breaking out in hives every day. I had to open my hands and let everything go, just like water flowing through my fingers, and know that I would be ok.
This period was one of the greatest tests of faith in my life.
The stress factors of this time period left deep ripples in my soul.
I wasn’t quite the same after it. I moved. I began a new relationship. I had trouble establishing myself with work, and community. I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and, as one practitioner pondered
“How do you treat something that runs & hides, that comes and goes?”.
A Spiritual Healer said to me “you are way too young to be this disabled” and referred me to an Osteopath. This osteopath changed my life and restored my body to a level that had previously been inaccessible. I will be forever grateful.
This was a different type of doctoring than the allopathic medicine I had experienced my most of my life. I learned that M.D.’s diagnose and treat with conventional medicine and D.O’s (doctors of osteopathic medicine) are more holistic in their approach, meaning the whole of the person is considered - the mental, physical, spiritual and even their social state. D.O.’s have the same training as M.D.’s and are required to do the same internships and residencies, but they have additional training in osteo-therapeutic manipulative medicine, adjustments and physical manipulations to assist in treating and diagnosing.
The first year with the osteopath, I would have to come home and make a nest and stay there. I wasn’t in pain, rather the gentle adjustments provided seemed so miniscule, I barely felt anything, if anything. However, it was as though my body demanded to be still to allow my system to absorb the changes. I felt a bit like I was in a bit of a dreamy state.
I was astounded by how much could shift without force, how this gentleness could move so much.
And I started getting better.
The profound impact that osteopathic medicine had on my quality of life was quickly apparent. I marveled at how many people never thought to go to an osteopath or don’t know what an osteopath is (in some areas they can be hard to find, especially if there’s not an osteopathic school of medicine nearby). I imagined how good it would feel to be able to help people with this modality, and through some research, I found Biodynamic Craniosacral, which is rooted in osteopathy.
Through the years, I’ve assisted many in holistic modalities, but when I tapped into the Craniosacral system for the first time, I realized it was my missing link. I realized it was a force that had been calling me for many years, way back when I would massage scalps and shampoo my clients while silently blessing them & watching their heavy energy go down the drain with the bubbles,
I felt the ripples and tides of their system lighting & sparking up and calling for my attention.
Biodyanamic craniosacral therapy is not a cure-all, but I can say that I feel better today in my 50’s than I did in my late 20s, 30, or 40’s. I can’t say these are typical results, but for me - with two years of very regular treatment I can tell you this:
My posture has improved. My shoulders, which were long out of place and prone to go out of joint are back where they belong and securely connected. My right hip used to go out daily; that doesn’t happen to me anymore.
I used to be a bit shorter on one side due to spinal compression; this caused much foot pain on the shorter side and caused me to walk on the outer edge of that foot - my foot is now flat and pain-free.
Before my training, a doctor recommended that I see a neck surgeon; I don’t have neck pain anymore.
My face changed. It became more symmetrical. Some of my friends thought I had “gotten some work done”. The bags under my eyes were gone with better flow in my system overall and by working with the Venus Sinuses. Depression improved, and. I learned that
Cranial compression has much to do with depression.
The Post Traumatic Stress actually seemed to get more intense. Craniosacral Therapy and most other holistic therapies tend to help your system to correct the issue, OR it may expose an underlying cause that is sort of…..hiding. Having my body come more into alignment physically allowed for a greater space and capacity to look at underlying factors and show me what was next in my personal development.
As I write this today, it’s hard to even recall the accident that affected me for so many years. I don’t have the physical pain to remind me of it, the emotional factors and the stories I ahd made up around it seem to have dissipated.
When I try to remember the accident, I almost can’t recall it.
It feels very far away, or as though it happened to somebody else.
