My Journey From Artist to Spiritual Psychologist
In my 25 years of practice as a healer, spiritual psychologist, acupuncturist, and intuitive counselor, I have come to believe one thing: whole = health. What I mean by this is that in order to truly heal, we must take an integrated approach, one that focuses on every aspect of our lives, not just a specific point of pain.
For the hundreds of patients I have helped, the breakthrough towards healing always came when we looked beyond the pain itself. When we explored more deeply into the whole person: physically, psychologically, and spiritually.
A central question that has driven my work is this: “What is healing, anyway?” This question drove me to explore aspects of both eastern and western medicine, including:
• Studied Spirituality
• Energy Medicine
• Metaphysics
• Quantum Physics Theory
• Sacred Geometry
Along the way, I earned two Master’s Degrees: one in Spiritual Psychology and the other in Oriental Medicine.
Chinese Medicine understands that we are more than the sum of our parts. It does not seek to fix, it seeks to support the body’s own resources to return to it’s most harmonious state. What I have found is that my clients have found this to be a welcome respite from the Western approach to healing, which is more reductionist — looking more and more narrowly at pain, which often causes them to miss the true path to healing.
I came to this entire approach as a skeptic. It began in college when I began to get migraines and tried every conventional approach available at the time to no avail. As a last resort, I tried acupuncture and as it turned out, I never got another migraine for nearly 25 years.
This was a game-changing moment for me. It shifted my belief system. It brought me to the undeniable realization that there are other systems of medicine that are valid and potentially more effective then what is conventionally known and accepted. It gave me permission to question what is accepted as truth by the authorities of the time. Above all, it made me very curious and open to learning.
At the time I was in art school, studying how to draw the human body. What I later came to realize was that the understanding of the human energy field — and healing itself — is a creative event.
The more we understand the creative process, the more we can forge the lives we want, filled with a sense of wholeness and meaning. Creativity is understanding what balance and harmony are and how to create it.
This is how I approach my work with each client.
Before I was trained as a doctor of Oriental medicine, I was an art director in NYC. I was successful by any outward measure, winning awards and working at top agencies. But I wasn’t happy. I had this nagging feeling that something was missing. I felt like an empty shell going through the motions of what had been planned for me but never really felt fulfilled. I knew I wanted something more, but I didn’t have a clue what that was. To add to that, the fact that I was successful in my field made it more confusing because I got a lot of validation that I was on the right track, even though inwardly, I was feeling more and more separated from myself.
The journey that began back then has lead me to where I am today: helping others bridge that gap between health and feeling whole.
Today, I live in Western Massachusetts and continue my study of healing with my clients, and with a curiosity that only grows with the more I learn.