My Journey

Andrea Wilson, Registered Acupuncturist & Herbalist

When I was a little girl, I remember playing outside and mixing up blades of grass with flowers, sticks and pebbles inside of a shoebox. I was making “medicine”. A very deep part of me knew that I wanted to be a helper in this life. My journey from then to now has been a winding path; and like any good story it has been full of unexpected twists.

As a young person, I suffered with regular headaches, and in my teens with severe PMS. I was an over achiever in high school and went on to university, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in engineering. This had been a stressful 4 years of school but I pushed on and got a job I didn’t enjoy, working for an engineering consulting firm. Three years later, I quit my engineering job and moved out west. I went back to school to study massage and began to practice. I found that I loved working with the body and learning more about it through my massage practice.

In my early-20’s the “regular headaches” I had lived with since childhood developed into migraines. These became a consistent part of my life for the next 15 years, negatively impacting my quality of life in many ways. I worked with numerous dietary modifications, supplements and alternative treatments, but still struggled to allay the migraines.

In my early-30’s I made the decision to study Chinese Medicine. During my 5 years in Chinese Medicine school, I began to understand the human body on a deeper level. I learned how to work with herbs and acupuncture to treat imbalance. However, some of the most profound teachings I absorbed were about the effects of our mental and emotional states on our physical health. Through my own lived experience, I really began to grasp how much of an impact this was having on my health. The more I was able to address my own mental and emotional imbalances, the more my physical body experienced healing. I continued to dive more deeply into my inner world through meditation and ceremony, realizing this (deeper inner dive) to be a key I had been missing. Learning to slow down from the frenetic pace of our culture has been of immeasurable help to me. It is through the lived experience of my own illness, healing and transformation that I practice. I understand how it feels to be out of balance. I have lived with chronic migraine pain and fatigue. I have a lot of compassion for others struggling with their own imbalances. These days, I have found I do best with a daily practice of tuning in and listening to what my body is asking for. This requires deep listening skills, which I consider part of the inner path of healing. Does my body want more sleep? More movement? Perhaps more quiet time? More (or less) social engagement? Are the foods I’m consuming nourishing my body? Is my inner world aligned with my outer world? Have I got a creative outlet for my energy? How do I really feel when I slow down and tune in? These are the kinds of questions I endevour to help others ask themselves. Because healing and getting well is an INSIDE job, yet we can’t do it alone. And I am so grateful to be of service to empower others looking for guidance on their healing path.

I have found that working in a way that is soothing to my nervous system has been a powerful approach for healing (for both myself and others). By listening within to the body’s innate wisdom, we are able to respond in kind. I aim to help others tune into their own innate body wisdom. This always includes helping the nervous system settle into the parasympathetic response (which is also known as “rest & digest”). It is from this place of deep rest that the body may restore and regenerate itself. This is the place healing can happen.