Rebecca Nye, DOM   ~   Body Wisdom Acupuncture

My Personal Story

I informally and unknowingly began my journey to become a healer in my teens and early 20's. Growing up in the 1970's, I was aware of and fascinated by certain spiritual practices and healing traditions like herbal folk medicine, yoga, meditation and the mysterious medical system of Acupuncture from the Far East. I read about the energetic nature of living organisms, delved into study of auras, Kirlian photography, the Secret Life of Plants, and any number of exciting ideas that were gaining cultural exposure in that time. In my teens my father bought me a book called The Roots of Consciousness, where I explored various esoteric traditions and scientific theories of the mind-brain-psyche, and theories of our non-physical being ('the soul', 'astral body', etc.). I became a meditator at age 16, and had a number of profound spiritual experiences which transformed my ideas of what we, as humans, really are. I directly experienced that we are energetic beings in our true nature - any purely mechanical view of the body could no longer adequately explain for me the complexity and mystery of our biological human forms. It has always made sense that we are so much more.

I began to have the dream to go to school to learn Acupuncture, but at that time in my life, the goal was put aside to pursue a more mainstream ("sensible") career in Nursing, then to focus on marriage, children and what became a 'complicated' young family life. Nonetheless, I took Iyengyar Yoga classes at UNM, and studied Karate-Do at the Dojo on Silver Ave to feed my passion for Eastern mind-body practices, and to try to become mentally and physically stronger.

At the end of my 20's I moved with my husband back East to be near our parents. Our marriage was going through very difficult times, and my nursing education had been derailed due to family and personal health issues. We finally separated, and I then worked for several years as the only female cabinet maker at a large custom architectural woodworking company, which was high pressure and physically demanding work. In a drafty, dusty and noisy machine-filled warehouse environment, I began to experience work related health issues. I eventually sought out acupuncture therapy myself to address what felt like extreme health imbalances, characterized by severe chronic pain, depression and anxiety. By then I was divorced, struggling financially, raising my 2 school aged boys and feeling very stuck in my life. I was still practicing Buddhist meditation and was trying to understand how my life had gone down such a difficult path. The gentle treatments and the compassion of the wonderful Acupuncturist who treated me over six months completely transformed my health and my emotional state. My pain disappeared, my sleep and energy improved, I was more relaxed, happier and I had hope again. It was remarkable to me that such a relaxing and non-invasive therapy could do all of this. Beyond the emotional and physical benefits, I began to have new realizations about my life, my relationships, where I wanted to go. Most importantly, this healing experience re-ignited the long sidelined dream to become an acupuncturist myself. I went through many more changes after that, but fast-forward years later, I had realized that dream, and become a practicing acupuncturist in my own right, joining the life work of other compassionate healers who helped me through many health and emotional challenges. Though I entered the field later in my life as a second career, I am grateful and inspired every day to be part of this amazing tradition and community of Doctors of Oriental Medicine.