More on Me
I am a Registered Nurse of 25 years, with a primarily perinatal background, and have my Master's in Nursing Education. I was a proud member of the Navy Nurse Corps for over 4 years. I've worked in both high-risk units and in a free-standing birth center, and taught in the clinical setting and the classroom at the University level. Even did a stint in Kuwait caring for Marines - I had never taken care of an adult male in my nursing practice before that! After having my first child, I became a Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and supported my mamas in a different way through education, hands-on care in my private practice, and a weekly breastfeeding support group. With the birth of my son and impending moves due to my husband’s military career, I shifted my efforts more homeward and hung up my professional nursing hat in lieu of homeschooling my children. Who knew I’d end up homeschooling myself, too? This time lead me to learning about low tox living, and growing health concerns had me researching solutions to help myself.
I found functional medicine after many frustrations in working with the traditional medical model that was failing me. Understanding and addressing the root cause of an issue is everything! Nutrition, movement, stress-management, sleep, self-care - lifestyle matters. It all starts with a simple choice, do you want to be made well?
This experience has fueled my fire to help others optimize their health and wellness so they can live their best lives to the full.
I put a lot of effort into my own journey. Studying and advocacy for myself as I navigated through my health issues. Digging a little deeper to uncover more than what most providers were willing to give me. Learning ingredients, searching for safe products/supplements, and rediscovering natural health and wholistic wellness as I walked my own path. Unlearning what I thought was true, and opening myself up to new ideas. A very personal journey, yes, but one that is SO common. Along the way, I meet many people who feel lost, confused, and overwhelmed. And I know from experience that if you can’t navigate through the innundation of information, paralysis ensues and no positive changes are made.
So here I am! Right beside you, as a friendly voice, advocate, hype girl, professional hand holder, and big squishy hugger offering my self-education and toolkit so you can empower yourself to take action. Shall we begin?
MY MISSION
To accompany you on the path of healing and wholeness in pursuit and cultivation of your Viriditas.
I believe…
healing is a journey, it is not linear
wellness involves the whole person - body, mind, soul, and spirit
in taking a chance and investing in yourself, and in taking charge of your health
in a root cause approach, not bandaids
we have only to begin (again and again)
living low tox makes a difference
our bodies were designed beautifully and can heal if given the right support
in self advocacy and personal empowerment
we should live our lives vibrantly, to the full
small steps done consistently lead to BIG results
when we know better, we do better
we are created for community and life is a lot better when we walk together.
What the heck is Viriditas?
Saint Hildegard was a German Benedictine abbess and writer, composer, playwright, philosopher, mystic, visionary, medical writer and practitioner during the High Middle Ages. She authored multiple theological, botanical, and medicinal works, as well as letters, hymns, and antiphons for the liturgy. St Hildegard is one of the most famous composers of sacred chant, as well as the most recorded in modern history; she is one of the few known composers to have written both the music and the words. She has been considered by a number of scholars to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany, and is one of four female Doctors of the Catholic Church.
St Hildegard articulated a vision of God as a pulsating life-force present in our lives. Viriditas is a guiding theme, throughout all of her works. It has been translated in various ways, such as freshness, vitality, fertility, fecundity, fruitfulness, verdure, or growth. In Hildegard’s understanding, it is literal and metaphorical for spiritual and physical health, which is visible in the divine word.
“The origin of Viriditas may be the union of two Latin words: Green and Truth. But like most Latin words, Viriditas does not easily translate into convenient, straightforward English. While being difficult to translate may be frustrating to some, there is beauty in this complexity. In much of her work, viriditas was “the greening power of God.” It was in everything, including humans.
This “greenness” was an expression of heaven, the creative power of life, which can be witnessed in the gardens, forests, and farmland all around us. And like those lands, she saw viriditas as something to be cultivated in both our bodies and our souls.
Hildegard believed viriditas was to not just be witnessed, but sought out. Hildegard spoke of this pursuit of viriditas through her metaphors of moistness, fruitfulness, and vigor of the soul. These attributes were how she saw life, signs of being alive, and of engaging in this living force of the creator.
She saw viriditas as the living part of the duality with ariditas, the “dryness”, “drought”, “aridity”, and “infection” that can arise when the flow of viriditas is blocked. She saw the tension between the life affirming and balance seeking attributes of viriditas and the barrenness and dryness of ariditas as motivation for constant inquiry into how to encourage the flow of greening power. Physical disease and spiritual decay were evidence of this lacking flow, a flow of greenness that penetrated every aspect of all life, and was a reflection of the Divine on Earth.
Regardless of how viriditas is translated, the word is full of life.”
— excerpts taken from Healthy Hildegard