I remember when…

My earliest and some of my fondest memories are drinking tea with my grandmother.  I became a tea person from a very young age.  Playing with friends, I would mix aloe, grass and dirt together to create a ‘medicine’ for scraped knees and cuts because I was a witch.

In my early 20’s I worked for Whole Foods Market (WFM) and this was where I had a more official introduction to holistic living.  Right before my first day, I had a dream that I was in orientation, which hadn’t happened yet.  As we were finishing our tour of the store, we were being led to the roof.  When the door opened, it was a garden and in that dream, I felt like it was magical.  I never forgot that dream because it felt like a message that what I was about to do would change me forever in the most beautiful ways.  I will say that my time working there did, in fact, change my life. 

At the same time, I was finishing my undergraduate degree in Psychology from Temple University and I was also volunteering with Penguins through what was then the New Jersey Academy of Aquatic Sciences at Adventure Aquarium.  

The world was cracking open for me…

When I started at WFM I started working in the Seafood Department (if you can work with penguin poop, seafood is not a huge deal) where I learned about the importance of sustainable farming and ethical fishing practices.  I then worked in the Whole Body Department, where the world of holistic health and wellness sprouted up for me.  Here, I began to learn about Homeopathic Medicine, herbs for both internal and external use, food-based supplements, Bach Flower Essences, Essential Oils, natural cleaning products and how to read labels, raw food and juice cleanses, fasting, fair-trade products and practices and much more.  I was introduced to books by Michael Pollen, Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Joel Fuhrman and Rosemary Gladstar.  I received regular training directly from companies like Gaia Herbs, Herb Pharm, Himalaya, Dr. Hauschka, Urban Moonshine and Banyan Botanicals.  These trainings centered around sourcing, best practices, how they were made, what they may help with and more in-depth information that was a little bit deeper than what the package or associated reading materials conveyed. 

I learned from my co-workers who had not just more experience on the job, but more life experience with these products, the companies who produced them and this entirely new world I was embarking on.  I learned from the customers who came in, listened to their stories, took note of their recommendations, researched their questions and couldn’t soak up enough- I was truly in awe.  Using herbs and homeopathy and seeing food as medicine became part of my daily living- but so was drinking and smoking on and off because I was invincible and it was fun.  

One of the most profound experiences I’ve had…

Before leaving WFM a few years later, I had the extreme pleasure to be a volunteer for The Whole Planet Foundation through WFM. In 2011, I spent a month in Guatemala, in Panajachel on Lago Atítlan to learn about micro-credits, meet the women who received them, meet the coffee farmers and tour their farm where some of our fair-trade coffee came from, among other things.  Life was incredibly different there, it was very simple.  I had no phone and everything I owned was on my back which were my clothes, school supplies I brought to teach, a book, my homeopathic medicines and my essential oils.  “Let thy bug spray be thy perfume and thy perfume thy bugspray” was my method. 

I was proficient in Spanish, I couldn’t shower if there wasn’t enough rain water in reserve, and I lived with a family that spoke no English and made the best Mole.  When we had a blackout, I experienced a pure, true black night for the very first time.  During one of the projects I was completing, I built a stove for a family who cooked over an open fire on their dirt kitchen floor.  They didn’t speak Spanish at all, only a dialect of Kaqchikel, and when lunch time came, they graciously invited me to join them.  Though they only had saltines and coke to eat and drink, they shared that with me.  Many other experiences from this place changed me, it humbled me.  I felt God there. God and I were on the outs (along with conventional medicine) because I had experienced a lot of death young and it took a toll. Luckily, I had Punk Rock and Metal. 

When I went to leave Guatemala, I left all of my clothes and my medicines.  I asked my guide to translate how to use everything for them and I dictated instructions.  Herbs were there with me and supported this incredible experience.

There was so much more to learn…

From there and over the last 15+ years, I continued learning and reading on my own. I pursued positions with companies that allowed me to learn and explore more about the spokes along this wheel.  I worked for Vitamix, Boiron, Kind, Honest Tea, Catalyst Cleanse & JAR (Juicy and Raw) Bar (raw vegan), Cure Dispensary (Medical Cannabis), Urban Moonshine, and others.  I went on to take my yoga teacher training and taught full-time in and around Center City Philadelphia for over 10 years.  I owned my own studio (Yoga Brain East Falls!), led national and international retreats, led 200hr teacher trainings, workshops, continuing education credit for teachers and studied many traditions of yoga such as Iyengar, Ashtanga, Kundalini, Bikram, Vinyasa, Hatha, Yin, Restorative, Yoga Nidra, Power, and Sculpt.  I have also taken workshops in Ayurveda and Ayurvedic Astrology.  Some of the yoga-based certifications and/or continuing education that I’ve taken include Yin Yoga, SUP (Stand-up Paddleboard) Yoga, Teaching and Queuing Techniques, Theming, Hands-on Assists and Adjustments, Pranayama and many others.  I hosted eco-tours and clean-ups along the Delaware River while teaching SUP Yoga and SUP paddling  as well as eco-tours on bike up the Schuylkill River Trail. When practicing yoga and being out in the woods, I felt God again, but we still weren’t very cool.

So much more to do…

On my own, I studied TCM and Acupuncture through reading books like The Web that Has No Weaver and The Spark in the Machine.  I have been involved in my local farmers market (East Falls Farmers Market, aka EFFM) as a volunteer and also held several board seats, including The President and Market Manager.  Here, I learned from farmers about the importance of regenerative farming practices as well as the extreme importance of supporting local farms.  While serving on the board of the EFFM I also held a seat on a 6-month advisory committee with other market managers, farmers and food distributors through The Food Trust.  Here we discussed and attempted to offer solutions for city-wide food scarcity and education access issues, rising costs for farmers, producers, and patrons, food access and government assisted programs, falling farmers market numbers and sales and other topics surrounding these issues.  

I’ve also attended Natural Products Expo East (when it still existed), Yoga Journal Live, and taught yoga at Wanderlust Philly, NamasDay Philly and Fungadelphia.  My husband and I enjoy participating in many forays over the years with The Philadelphia Mycology Club and have also attended an educational tour of Mycopolitan Urban Mushroom Farmers.  My curiosities are endless and the stream of Youtube videos, podcasts, books, panel discussions, classes and workshops fuels this fire.

My experiences and education are seemingly everywhere.  But I kept following one curiosity after another along my way.  I tugged at threads that unraveled many more curiosities, and still, I had more questions. 

I needed to heal myself…

I am currently 41 years old and until recent years, I was unaware of the root of my intrigue and fascination with living holistically.  When I boil it down, all of my studies, interest and experiences were in service to one single seed- I wanted to heal myself.  I wanted to heal my old, heavy wounds that accumulated mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually over the course of my entire life.  And I wanted to come home to the Earth to help it heal too.  

Living with RA…

I was diagnosed with RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) in the Fall of 2024 after several months of acute symptoms and a lot of testing.  For a while, some of the ways that I knew to care for myself, like practicing yoga or utilizing homeopathy and herbs, were inaccessible to me- I physically could not handle the pain of trying and my body was experiencing something that OTC medicines of any kind could not help.  My physical capabilities shifted very dramatically and quickly.  Within those first few months,  I went from being able to teach people how to do inversions to not being able to perform simple tasks.  I couldn’t tie my own shoes without being in extreme pain, if I could tie them at all.  I needed help from my husband with my shoes, getting dressed, pulling my hair back into a bun and going up and down steps.  We changed which room was our bedroom so I could be close to the bathroom and limit my stairs.  Much of my autonomy was gone unless I was on another round of steroids.  I was 39 years old at this point and it was a long and dark road for me.  

In November of 2025, I started another new medication that gave me hope for my life again and I was beginning to do things again and with some gusto.  What emerged was a deep gratitude for being able to do things like squeeze a dish sponge.  I started to feel reconnected to the dreams I had for my life that I thought were lost to me.   Doubts and confusion were lifted because I knew what was important.  I’ve learned to listen to myself and my body in ways that I never could have accessed before my RA because I was healthy enough to take it for granted.  RA has given me clarity.  Within 2 months of starting that medication, I enrolled in a health coaching program (which was never part of the plan) and an herbalism program (which had been part of the plan for too long).

Now…

Currently, I am nearing the end of those 2 programs.  I will graduate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) Health Coach Training program this November and will be complete the Herbal Foundations course with Bluestem Botanicals at the end of October. I’ve healed my relationship with God (they’re cool with me being more spiritual/nature based, agnostic humanist) and conventional medicine and I still love Punk and Metal (along with many other genres of incredible music). I am building back my yoga practice, started cycling for the first time in 2 years, am hiking regularly and am doing my first 5k in 2 years this October (though I will be walk/jogging). All things considered, I feel excellent. And I want that for you.

Other than all of that- I play piano (with the most incredible teacher), love cooking (and feeding people), watching horror/sci-fi movies and reading horror/sci-fi books/comics, doing any outdoor activities at all, laughing out loud daily, making random artwork, traveling with my husband, seeing live music multiple times a month, beer gardens, wineries, super dry and funky ciders, garlic, mushrooms, and hosting parties. Being an overbearing fur-mom to my 2 pitties and my 2 kitties, as well as, a being a loving wife/partner in crime to my husband, Jeff, is the center of my everything.