It was love for my children that drew me into herbal alternatives to start with. While they were growing up, I got good with herbs on a level that helped our family keep allergies, colds and asthma in check. Neighbors and friends would ask daily advice.
Years later, a serious accident put me on the path of learning to walk again that took all of my energy for two years. On that healing path, I learned just how important, potent and life-saving they could be. I poured over every resource and modality I could get my hands on to apply it to healing myself.
18 months into this healing journey, my friends asked a question that led me to see that the nerve drug I was prescribed was actually negatively changing my personality. I was changing into someone they didn't like being around. I'm so grateful they cared enough to ask. Once I saw the side effects of my prescription including self-harm, I decided to combine 3 very different herbs into a tea, and drank it 3 times a day. Within a week I was no longer taking that drug that wanted me to end my life. Since then, it's become one of the most over prescribed drugs available. So I'm not kidding when I say, that herbs saved my life in a big way.
Later, my neighbor looked up at my jungle deck filled with plants and asked me if I could make a pain relief salve out of them. I glanced up at my rainbow of tomatoes, and said, "Well, I can make you an excellent salad, but for pain we need to do more than pick tomatoes." So I did my research, came up with the herbs and a salve and gave it to my neighbor. Weeks into treatment she fired her physical therapist, got off opiates and was back to work, wanting to know how to make it available to the world.
I had been using it as well, and it changed my quality of life in a big way. It gave my bionic ankle extra flexing juice, and I took my first steps outside without a walker or a cane. After two weeks, I threw the cane completely away! My mission is simple: I Empower Vitality by making herbal remedies and teaching about herbs and living foods via classes, workshops, and retreats. I vend my products online and at the City Market on Saturdays. I facilitate Empowered Wellness Parties to get people comfortable with crafting their own remedies with herbs. It's a ton of fun to empower healing. I am so grateful for this journey, and every difficult step along the path. Indeed, I was chosen for this.