My Story

Sharing my story doesn’t come easily to me—I’m a private person by nature and have always been hesitant to appear vulnerable or weak around people I don’t know. Honestly, it’s difficult even to type these words, but I’ve come to realize that opening up about my journey isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s an opportunity to help others see that they’re not alone and that healing is possible. If my experiences can offer hope or guidance to someone searching for their own path to wellness, then stepping out of my comfort zone is worth it.

I was born and raised in Santa Cruz, CA, but I migrated to Portland in the early 2000s, enamored with the culture of the city and enchanted with the natural beauty of the region. As a child, I was robust and rarely ill or injured, but everything changed in my late teens. A routine prescription of tetracycline—a strong antibiotic—for normal teenage acne set off a chain of events that would alter my health and, ultimately, the course of my life.

What began as subtle changes in my teenage years slowly signaled that something wasn’t right. I grew moody and withdrawn, retreating from friends and replacing time outdoors with endless hours on the computer. I stayed up all night and slept through the day. I no longer felt physically resilient. I tired easily, got winded quickly, and rarely felt awake without coffee and the artificial edge of stress. Though I eventually pulled myself out of that cycle, made new friends, and rebuilt healthier habits, the cracks in my foundation remained.

Several years later, a back injury at work brought everything to the surface. What began as chronic pain and recurring tendinitis soon spiraled into something far more debilitating. I hurt my back and could no longer stand for more than a few minutes. I contracted mono that seemed to linger forever, leaving me with severe acid reflux, constant rashes, nausea, insomnia, and irritability.

I devised an elaborate system of coping mechanisms to make life manageable, but the strain of juggling so many conflicting challenges eventually caught up with me. I developed a repetitive stress injury in my wrists so severe that I could barely hold a glass of water, let alone open a door or play the piano. After a couple of years of physical therapy, I managed to reach a fragile baseline guided by some newly found strength and an updated set of more sustainable coping strategies—a life constrained but tolerable.

Things went well enough for almost a decade, but everything fell apart after the birth of my first daughter. The coping strategies I’d pieced together to keep my health afloat collapsed entirely, and I unraveled. I was diagnosed with panic disorder, adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome, candida, and ADD. On top of that, I developed plantar fasciitis, relentless sinus infections that left me unable to breathe properly at night, followed by crushing fatigue throughout the day.

Once again, after several years of healing, I found another baseline—but it was a constant struggle just to keep my head above water. I thought back to being a child and I remembered what it felt like to be truly healthy. I knew there had to be a way to get back there. I made a vow to myself that I would keep digging until I got to the root of the problem.

Since 2010, I’ve been on a relentless journey to restore my health. When conventional medicine offered no solutions, I turned to alternative therapies, experimenting with countless diets, exercise regimens, stress management systems, and more. While I made progress, it often felt fleeting, and I’d find myself right back where I started—or worse.

Finally, one year, after sinus surgery knocked me off my feet and I lost my job, I gave up for a while. I stopped trying and just rested. It was summer, so I sat in the sun, got a tan, swam in the frigid waters of Mt Hood’s river, napped. In that space, I stumbled upon the fact that my environment was a major contributor to my issues. So I made some changes to my home and daily routines, and I was able to move the needle for good. What’s more, these changes only needed to be made once, and they have continued to give me great rewards. I am now in the best physical health of my life.

But just when I thought I had it all figured out, my emotional and spiritual health collapsed. While my body was thriving, unresolved trauma and nervous system dysregulation surfaced, revealing that my mental and emotional state needed attention. True healing, I realized, required addressing the mind-body connection—releasing stored stress, calming my nervous system, and creating a sense of inner harmony. This process is leading me to a new level of balance, peace, and spiritual resilience that now complements the work I’ve done to heal my body.

We are at a crossroads in our approach to healthcare in this country. So many of us are stuck in a system that profits off of illness. Incentives dictate outcomes, and there is—sadly—less financial gain to be made in making people well than in keeping them tied to expensive treatments that only manage their symptoms. At the same time, for those of us who are willing to step outside this system and take our health into our own hands, the possibility exists for us to be as healthy as we can imagine.

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better". Quantum biology—the science of how light and other energies in our environment affect biological systems—takes us as deep as you can look to the root of how the human body uses, and creates, energy to function. I have an insatiable curiosity, and a great passion for learning, driven by a desire to understand how things fundamentally work. I’ve used this passion to turn my own health around and I’m looking forward to using this passion to help you on your journey.