My Autobiography

Early Years

I was born in Brooklyn, New York. Once I left the hospital my family moved to an elite neighborhood on Long Island. I had two siblings. My father died in a train accident on the Long Island Railroad and my mother remarried when I was five. I gained a new father, brother and a sister. After a year, my parents decided to move to California.

I remember being intrigued by nature at a very young age. My brother and sister would take pods from the local trees and stick them to our noses and we would catch fireflies. My favorite companion was our family dog, a German Shepherd. We would hide in the closet from lightning storms together and play hide and seek. I was a loner to some extent. I enjoyed reading, ice skating and drawing. In spite of my aloneness, I always loved to help people.

We moved to California, five days before my seventh birthday. We were all amazed at how warm it was in January and in those days there was no smog. I attended a local elementary school right in the middle of Hollywood. I attended Hollywood High for my high school years. My favorite electives were art, cooking, sewing and athletics. My swim teacher had me teaching the other kids. I flourished in water. I also was an avid dancer and took many years of ballet.

After high school, I soon became involved in the psychedelic revolution. I was involved in doing light shows at the Shrine Auditorium. Our group was named Single Wing Turquoise Bird. We did lights on many famous singers such as The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Doors, and Ike and Tina Turner.

The light show broke up and my husband and I decided to open a Model Train Store. It was there that I learned everything about running a business. Running your own business teaches you just about everything you need to know for running any kind of business. I learned by the seat of my pants.

I learned about marketing and how to handle customers. I dealt with employees and learned many secretarial skills (I taught myself to type). We were moving into the computer age and I learned computers. My store was one of the first in our industry to computerize. I designed the numbering system for my store. Toward the end, I was instrumental in starting a retail association for our industry.

In my mid 40s, I went through a major transition. I went to a hypnotherapist to get off of cigarettes. During that process, I discovered that I was in an abusive relationship. I had PTSD from the abuse. To help me cope with the abuse and the PTSD, I did drugs. I learned that the drugs were a symptom for what was going on in my life. I was extremely stuck in that relationship.

My therapist helped me get off the drugs and the cigarettes and then I woke up. The drugs were a smokescreen for keeping me stuck in the abuse. I eventually divorced and moved out of that abusive relationship.

I went to a group session and my therapist saw that I had a talent for working with others in a group setting. She also saw that I recognized patterns in people's behavior. She suggested that I would be a good therapist.

I always loved helping people. I was amazed at how well hypnosis worked for all my issues, so I decided to go back to school to study psychology and hypnosis. I focused on drug and alcohol counseling.

During my training, I worked at a Drug and Alcohol Rehab house in the middle of Hollywood. It was one of the most rewarding times of my life, and I decided that this was the path for me.

I also had an interest in metaphysical phenomena. I met Dr. Dianne Ruth and she became my mentor and trainer. She encouraged me to take some training in hypnosis and other alternative modalities. After awhile it seemed that we had similar goals. We both wanted to start a holistic center. We decided to become business partners and I went into practice.

Today

I spend most of my time helping my clients, building my practice, writing and learning my computer. I also enjoy belly dancing which I learned early on. I have done benefit performances for battered women’s shelters. In my spare time, I love to do gourmet cooking, exploring and photographing beautiful scenery, and spending as much time as I can reading.

I have many interests. I am intrigued with metaphysics and parapsychology. I read as many books as I can on these subjects. I also enjoy going to funky restaurants, coffee houses, movies, social events, doing volunteer work and anytime I can get on a dance floor really gets me going. Some of my friends always ask "who put a quarter in her."

These early life experiences, along with the many hours of mentoring that Dr. Ruth did, plus my educational training, have served me well. These are resources I continue to pull from to be able to be empathetic and resourceful when I am doing hypnotherapy and new life coaching.

My real life experiences help my clients more than anything. For them it helps to know that I really do "understand." I have been there. In this way I can teach them to reach answers within themselves and experience all that they can experience, and that there is nothing that can block their way. I give them tools to unlock their own power.

After living most of my life in California, I decided to move to Denver. Part of this move was to fulfill my dream of building The Healing Tree, Inc. I also started building my own new practice in Colorado called Healing Magic, International. It now has transitioned into Coaching as well as Hypnotherapy.

Back to California

Ten years later, I moved back to California. I’d always wanted to live near the beach. I’d visited San Diego often when I had previously lived in California so I decided to relocate in San Diego. I am now living my dream of living by the beach.