YOUR WELL ZONE

YOUR WELL ZONE…my business, my purpose that encompasses a literal lifetime of experiences. Looking back, it all began from the beginning!

I can only imagine the gut punch my parents felt when their apparently healthy 2-year-old was now not expected to live past age 12!   A strep germ had damaged my kidneys.   All the prayers and joy of finally having the baby girl the whole family had anticipated, had now turned to shock and prayers of healing.   I have memories of countless doctor and hospital visits, awful tasting medicines and having to be in bed while others were outside playing.  Even at 3 years old, I remember being confined to an enclosed oxygen tent for 2 weeks due to strep throat, double pneumonia and double ear infection, and to save my life, I was treated with 5 antibiotics at once.  At the time nobody knew to what extent this would cause problems for years to come with chronic gut issues.   My constant companion through it all was my baby doll, BABY CHERYL.  In the oxygen tent, due to the moisture, she lost all her hair, but my mom was able to send her off to a “doll hospital” to get her hair back!  It WAS 1967. 😊 She went everywhere with me, including the surgery room for the tonsillectomy where those super sweet nurses gave her a bath!  In case you were wondering, yes, I still have her, chewed fingers and all!  She makes me smile.  

My parents refused to allow me to think or behave like I was terminal.  The mantra was, if we do our best, pray and don’t complain, maybe my life would be spared!  I made it to kindergarten, although missed half the year, made it to 1st grade, missed half the year again.  By 6th grade, the sick days were much less, but I was getting closer to the age of potential severe decline.  The doctor decided to do some more extensive testing to see how my kidneys were functioning.  Much to our ecstatic joy, they found no trace of the disease!  All the doctor could say was, “I am just glad you go to the same church I do!”  What happened in the year following changed the course of my life!

We absolutely celebrated, but we also knew I had been healed and needed to be grateful.  My mom took me to a charismatic healing service, for lack of a better term to use.   I have come by “outside the box” thinking honestly!  I am now 13 and had already experienced the Holy Spirit slamming my shoulders back onto the pew at Confirmation, although I didn’t realize that was even a “thing” since I thought everybody had that same experience.  We walk in, and the first thing I see is this man, falling backwards and being caught by a couple of other people.  What the heck!  And NO I am not doing that!  And, what if I pee myself in the process!  Apprehensive, we walked up to the priest, Father Braun.  I was struck by the very deep blue of his eyes, the very same color as some of the walls of my now studio btw!  My mom spoke, “This is Karen…”  He put his hand up and stopped her introduction.  Not an easy task, I might add.  He said, “Karen, do you know the story of the 10 lepers, where 10 were healed and only 1 came back to say thank you?”  I am thinking, dude, do you know what house I grew up in?  Of course I do!  I managed a smile and nodded, not sure if any words actually came out.   His next words laid the foundation for my purpose.  “You are THAT ONE”, he said.   “And you can never forget that!  You are free to go.”  I felt awe and knew in that very short moment everything had changed.   Then honestly, I breathed a huge relief I didn’t have to do that fall out thing with the possibility of peeing myself!

What happened that day has become the anchor for my life and was solidified even more when later that same year, mom and I were at a retreat, again in thanksgiving.   A Jesuit priest was saying the opening mass.  Bearded, short and round, he waddled around the altar. Side note, those guys make me smile so much! Just before the Gospel reading, he tripped on his way to the pulpit, where the Bible was laid opened ready to be read.  The collision was direct and hard enough to slam the Bible shut!  He was visibly frustrated by his clumsiness, and desperately just opened the Bible to some random page and began to read.  In astonishment, it was the reading of the 10 lepers!  I remember thinking, what is going on and began to cry.  Mom and I were both crying and laughed later about the realization that everyone in the church who saw us probably thought I was pregnant.  He did acknowledge after mass it was NOT the reading planned for that day.

If there was ever a doubt that there was a purpose for me, it was gone.  Since then, I have been gently, and sometimes not so gently, prodded, pushed, pulled and guided through life’s stages, with unique blessings and “opportunities for growth” as I like to call them, gaining experience and needed contrast to make my path ever clearer.  For my career, I was led to learn the manual therapy skills I still use today, that sadly I did not learn in Physical Therapy School.  After several attempts to use these skills in more traditional settings, I then chose a path outside of the mainstream, or should I say, it chose me.  I know, SHOCKER!  

As for my health, although my disease was gone, the aftermath of all the trauma and medications left me with some deficits that traditional medicine wasn’t helpful with.  As a young mom, exhausted in survival mode, and often a little scared of a disease reoccurrence, I went on a quest for better health!  I should probably admit here I was also vainly prompted by my little boy saying “Mommy, you would be a whole lot prettier if you didn’t have those dots all over your face.” OUCH!  Later I learned my acne was directly related to all those years of antibiotics.  Who knew?  I spent several years, incurring expense of many various supplements, plus the hassles of the companies attached to those supplements, and grumbling from my family as uneager test subjects, with very little help.  Meanwhile, I had lost my mom to lung cancer, the type of lung cancer also associated with inhaling household chemicals.  Considering our history, a stressful loss for sure, but I made a promise to her and God that I would ALWAYS honor my healing and make my health a priority.  There was so much information, everybody claimed to be the best and I had less time than ever to sift through it all.  I have learned so much since then and very much resonate with Dr. Shaklee... his story, his purpose and his practices.

My purpose continues to unfold throughout my professional and personal life.  I am always open to learning and growing around ways to keep myself and others well.   Sometimes I take the long way, but without fail will allow God to guide me.  It gets ugly when I resist it!  Rest assured, whether YOUR Well Zone need is body work, exercise guidance, defining and filling some nutritional gaps, solving target solutions issues around your body, skin or your home, or just to have a heartfelt conversation, I will always lead with integrity, working toward the highest good of all I encounter, humbly using the gifts God has bestowed on me to the best of my ability.

BE WELL!