When I was six years old, I suffered my first head injury at a putt-putt birthday party for a classmate. While waiting in line for my turn, the child in front of me swung their putter like a baseball bat. The rounded edge of the putter hit me squarely in the forehead. I was rushed to the hospital, stitched up, and sent on my way, believing I’d return to a normal life.
In 2001, after barely graduating high school and feeling lost about what came next, I joined a world-traveling soccer team as a way to stall adulthood. Our first stop was Spain, where we played against a professional women’s soccer team during their off-season. These women were giants—strong, skilled, and skills that far surpassed ours.
I was playing forward and I was near the goal when a teammate sent a perfect cross for me to head the ball into the goal. I jumped, but before my head connected with the ball, the goalkeeper’s fist collided with the back of my skull. I went down hard, my body hitting the ground with a thud. Stars spun around my head like a cartoon. Head injuries were just part of soccer, so once I regained my equilibrium, I stood up and kept playing, ignoring the sharp, persistent pain in my head.
Weeks later, I started to realize something wasn’t right. I couldn’t sleep on the back of my head, and I sank deeper into depression. Suicidal thoughts became a daily struggle. Sensing something was seriously wrong, my mom made an appointment with Dr. Amen, a brain specialist in North County San Diego.
When Dr. Amen examined my brain scans, he delivered the news: I had a massive cranial crack at the base of my skull. To top it off, he discovered a hole in the front of my brain—from the golf club incident from when I was six. Dr. Amen went on to explain the reason school was so difficult was because of my frontal lobe brain injury. He said when I tried to concentrate in school, my brain would start to seize not allowing any information in. Everything started to make sense.
Dr. Amen presented two options:
Without hesitation, we chose the second option. I was raised in a holistic house hold, it just made sense to me.
At the time, my mom and stepdad owned a yoga studio in Encinitas, California. Shortly after receiving my diagnosis, they hosted a Qi Gong master from China for a workshop. Qi Gong (pronounced Chi Gong) is a slow moving Thai-Chi like practice, but you move in a slower pace, standing in horse stance position moving only our arms. Flowing movements along with breathwork, visualization and intention. My mom shared my story with him, and he responded, “Send her to China with me next week, and she’ll be healed in 30 days.”
After much logical thinking on my mom’s part, a week late, I was on a plane to China with complete strangers, embarking on a journey that would change my life.
We traveled 8 hours by bus after a second plane ride to another region of China from Beijing close to the border of Tibet, staying in monasteries throughout the month. We practiced Qi Gong for 15 hours a day, learning the power of the mind, how to activate healing energy in our hands, and how to merge with a greater universal energy through visualization. It was exactly like stepping into a real-life Doctor Strange movie, but only 13 years earlier.
Every morning, we would wake up before the sunrise, meet on the rooftop to begin our practice when the sun was begining to rise. The towns we stayed were very, very small towns. When the sun had risen, they would blast music throughout the town, mainly oldies music. My jams! You could also hear the pigs being slaughtered in the distance. I could see the locals on the streets, practice together whether it would be Thai Chi, Qi Gong, ballroom dancing in groups gathered in the parks or I would see the locals dipping a broom into a bucket of water writing on the cement. A tradition to bring in good fortune.
We would then break for breakfast. Followed by more Qi Gong until lunch and again after lunch and dinner near ending at midnight each night. It was a Qi Gong boot camp. Our location where we practiced changed from rice fields, parks, rooftops, side of the highways (on road trips to the next destination) or on the top of Mount Emei. Mount Emei was a highlight of my trip.
Mount Emei is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. I remember the top of the clouds at the same level as the pathways. It looked as if you could just continue walking on the clouds. One morning, we joined the monks for their morning chanting and meditation in their temple. 3 am, pitch blackness, surrounded by a hundred monks. The sound of the gong being hit in the darkness paired with the constant chant of “Aum” struck my soul. It felt as though a portal opened and we entered a space where time didn’t exist. I felt weightless, emotionless from my pained body and mind except for the overwhelming feeling of love as though my human body has never felt this kind of love before. What felt like moments was in fact, hours. I walked out of the temple with the sun fully up feeling high on life, my heart was exploding I didn’t want it to end.
That night at dinner I ate with the monks, they were showing me their what I call their “Harry Potter” tricks. One of the monks moved a spoon across the table like no big deal. Nothing shocked me at this point of my trip. Moving a spoon across the table without touching it seemed normal, almost.
One night, after a long day of Qi Gong practice, three elders—healers who had been on death’s doorstep themselves—came to my room to perform a healing session. In the pitch-black darkness, they chanted while moving their hands in circles about a foot above my body.
About 20 minutes in, I opened my eyes. To my complete surprise, the once-dark room was filled with dozens of light columns stretching from floor to ceiling. A glowing, grid-like pattern of light covered the space, as though I were inside the actual matrix. I didn’t blink, not wanting to lose this extraordinary sight!
In that moment, the excitement took over and I freaking saw magic! I finally understood: we are surrounded by energy and light, even though most of us are unaware of it. As Nikola Tesla once said, “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.” What I would add to his words is light.
The next day, I described my experience to Master Ming Tong. He laughed and said, “Now you know how the Universe works.” He also explained that the “stars” I often saw during Qi Gong practice were glimpses into higher-frequency dimensions. I was captivated—I needed to know everything about what I had experienced. I was HUNGRY to know it all!
After 30 days, I returned to Los Angeles. For the first time in my life, I was able to read a book cover to cover without triggering a brain seizure. Naturally, I devoured the Harry Potter series. Experiencing magic on the page felt like the magic I now knew was real. I read every book I could find that supported what I just experienced in China.
I was eager to share what I’d learned with the world. I believed that if people understood the power of their minds, they could heal themselves. I became an EMT, working on ambulances and in emergency rooms, but I quickly realized the world wasn’t ready to embrace this perspective. In the early 2000’s Western medicine dominated, and holistic approaches were often dismissed.
So, I became a massage therapist, quietly incorporating energy and light work into my practice. My sessions became highly sought after, though I never revealed my “secret ingredient.”
Two decades later, the world has shifted. People are ready to elevate their consciousness and embrace the mind’s power for healing. When the movie Doctor Strange released in 2016, it felt surreal. Scene by scene, it mirrored my experiences in China. I wanted to shout on the mountain tops, “That’s what happened to me!” but I couldn’t find the words to explain nor did I think anyone would really believe me.
Today, teachers like Dr. Joe Dispenza and dozens of others are leading this movement, demonstrating that healing and transformation are possible through the magic of our brains and our minds. The time is now. I finally get to share my story, in hopes to inspire others and help people unlock the magic that is all around us.
When you tap into this energy and flow with it, you create a life filled with joy, fulfillment, and boundless possibilities.
