About Me

About Me? If you really want to have my life story...

Well, I was born in upstate New York, transplanted to Wyoming with a bunch of hippie climbers and then was swept off to California with them all in 1965 at the age of 3. I think it was this early beginning that had me interested from a young age in natural living, which led to an interest in natural healing. I decided to go to chiropractic school in 1984. I graduated from the University of Colorado (degree in biological psychology), shortly after a body surfing accident left me with multiple spinal and neurological problems. The chiropractor made so much sense to me about what that wave actually did to my spine that I decided that profession must be my calling. I graduated in 1988, and worked for another doctor for a while before realizing that I could do it better.

The next chapter of my life was getting married to my wonderful husband and beginning my practice in Princeton, MN in 1989. We had a fine life until I was pregnant with my first son. The spinal problems began to come to the surface again, and I decided to sell my business (which had quadrupled) in 1994 and be a mom, of two babies (younger son born in 1997) as it turns out. It was during this time that I began my love affair with weeds. I happened upon a book ( I think it was Pederson’s Guide to Medicinal and Edible Wild Plants), and began noticing the world around me in a new way.

When I tried to go back to work as a chiropractor, it was obvious that my spine was a wreck at age 35 (the MRI’s agree wholeheartedly), and I began to study. I obtained over 500 hours of additional education in Functional Medicine Theories –it’s a long explanation, you may want to look it up—basically it is the study of how nutrition chemically affects intake/output of nutrients/wastes and cellular energy production. I saw chronically ill patients from home for a few years, but there was something missing in their treatment. I began to search for options that would be more successful in the long run.

In 2004 I enrolled in the Midwest School of Herbal Studies, mainly so I could document how many hours I was spending in study (in case anyone ever asked). I spent many more hours than I intended, since it wasn’t until 2008 when I finally was awarded my Master Herbalist certificate. In 2009 I began applying the technique of pulse testing (in addition to my usual use of applied kinesiology) to “hone in on” herbs that will work best, usually alone or in combination with a few others. This technique was taught to me by Lise Wolff, Minneapolis herbalist, as was the use of simple, highly concentrated, small dose herbal therapy. As that chiropractor made sense to me, so does Lise and her mentor Matt Wood.

Now I am here, Working at Equinox, and feel that I have at least a partial grasp at what plants can do for us. They were grown here on earth as we have been, and share some characteristics of each one of us. Applying herbs to the whole person creates a “shift” within that body, and its natural tendency toward balance can be “unstuck”. I believe that this makes other modalities like chiropractic, massage and others more successful long term. Living in harmony with nature seems, to me, to be the way it was always intended.