I was in my first-grade class when I first started having trouble breathing. It was springtime and the trees and grasses were in full bloom in California. I told my teacher I needed to call my mom and she said I needed to sit down, and that school would be out soon. In those days I walked a mile to my home. When I walked through the front door, my mom took one look at me and rushed to get me help to open my lungs, as she listened to me with a railing wheeze. That day I had 2 shots of adrenaline to open my lungs.

Shortly after that day I had scratch tests and started allergy shots. I was told I was allergic to grasses trees and mold ( whos not?), and that I would need to use an inhaler when I couldn’t breathe. I had nights I was so congested and had labored breathing. I would sit in the hot shower and if that didn’t work it was off to the emergency room for more adrenaline.

This went on until my mid-teens with allergy shots, inhalers, decongestants, and other nasty meds. Along the way, I discovered that I also had a deviated nasal septum which prevented me from breathing correctly through my nose.

Growing up I was physically active but would find myself on the side of the soccer field wheezing at practice. I was getting tired of all the medical doctors throwing drugs at me. They weren’t helping except for in the moment sometimes.

Never once did anybody suggest that my food may have had something to do with what was going on in my body. How about the quality of my breathing or how I was managing my stress? I remember as a child, driving past a sign which said “CHIROPRACTOR”. Every day we drove past this sign but I didn’t know what it meant and I didn't ask.

I later found out that my mom had fears and biases against chiropractic. Since then she and my sister were the first to go to a chiropractor but never said anything to me.

I went off to college after high school and was still immune-stressed. The school “Health” center was there for me to start.

I decided to start taking yoga because my roommate was doing it. Turns out the instructor was a well-known yoga teacher named Bobbe Norisse. I also signed up for Tai Chi and autogenic training that semester. I explored meditation, herbs, and eastern healing traditions. I had some amazing teachers that helped give direction to my healing journey.

At one point I decided to book a massage at a local university. I found an incredible bodyworker named Marina Alyea. She was the first person who ever used their hands on me. I had experienced acupuncture but this was different. I booked some sessions with Marina every couple of weeks for many months. I really love the feeling of being worked on.

While in a conversation with a friend, she mentioned she was studying bodywork and suggested maybe I should consider it too. I decided to enroll in Bodywork/Massage school that summer.

I was hanging out with this girl from my bodywork class who asked me if I wanted to come to meet her friends who were both Chiropractors. At that point in my life, I said yes to almost anything that had to do with health and the human body and jumped at the opportunity.

My first chiropractor’s name was with Dr. Alan Lazar who currently still practices in southern California. He and Dr. Jennifer Gardner explained chiropractic to me. It was literally… bone, nerve, subluxation. Made sense to me.

At the time I cared way less about subluxations and more about how amazing my body felt after being adjusted. Up until this point, my body was healing but I still had work to do. I felt good, but not great and I thought I should feel great. Or at least I wanted to feel great.