The story of how The Healing Studio came to be was a bit of a crooked one, but one worth telling. 

I started my energy healing business, as an independent contractor at a metaphysical shop nearby, in 2007. It was mostly for fun but as I began to get more experience, I also became more knowledgeable about how energy worked and how we could heal it. I moved out of the metaphysical shop and started to work out of my home, teaching classes in my basement. 

By 2014, it was time to expand my business. I was working as many hours as I could, with two young boys to transport around and asking my young boys to be quiet while I held sessions. It no longer seemed fair to the family. So, I looked for an office. 

It wasn’t long until I was happily measuring furniture and moving into a nice, sunny room on the second floor of an office building. It was a sublease for only a year, so it was temporary and, quite frankly, all I thought I could handle. The office was nice, but there was this definite feeling from my neighbors that they didn’t quite know what to think of my business. It was kind of unnerving. 

So, I decided the next place I moved to was going to include more people like me. I had a couple of volunteers who wanted to find a group space together and we began looking. We hired a real estate agent to help us, as commercial properties were not a thing I knew anything about...yet. We looked and looked for space. Each place seemed promising, but boy was it complicated! “Triple net leases”, “build-out costs”...all jargon I was not in the loop on. It was overwhelming! To top it off, there were rejections from landlords that didn’t want “that type of business” in their building. 

There became an option to buy a medical condominium nearby. (Yikes, buy?!) I hadn’t thought of doing that, nor did I think I should. But we tossed the idea around a bit, which got my real estate agent perking his ears up for potential buildings or spaces to buy.  

Meanwhile, on my own, I had found a quaint little office at the top of a farmhouse. The stairs were a challenge and there wasn’t much room for teaching, but I thought it could work. It was very inexpensive and close to my house. It didn’t have space to include the rest of the volunteers who wanted to go with me, but it met my needs. 

As I contemplated lowering my standards and shrinking my plans, my real estate agent found a building that was up for quick sale from the bank. We made arrangements to see it, with absolutely no idea how I would even qualify to fund it but just following the path.  

Well, we saw the place, and man, what a dump! It was falling apart and there was stuff everywhere. The guy who owned it last was living out of it. This is again something my naive self didn’t know yet...all the stuff that was cluttering the space does not have to be removed in a commercial sale. Clearing out space falls on the new owner. This place needed a ton of work and it needed to have an approved bank transaction in less than a month to meet my moving date deadline. It felt like an impossible task. 

I began to share my journey with a friend and she said “Do it!” I told her I had no way to fund it. “I’ll give you a mortgage,” she said. I was shocked, scared, and not sure that was a good idea. But I went ahead and put in an offer. The first offer was rejected by the bank and people around me started to tell me that quick sales are an oxymoron because they are never quick. 

Well, I needed this to be quick! The bank told me if I offered a certain amount they would approve my offer immediately and we could proceed. So I made that exact offer and I didn’t hear anything back for weeks! I was over it and running out of time.  I could either go with the small, little farmhouse room or (what felt like at the time) a huge building. I drove over to the building and sat in front of it. I spoke to the building and said “I have done all I can, now if you want me to be your caretaker you have to help move something.” Within 10 minutes I got the phone call that the bank had approved my offer and we were moving forward. I was terrified. 

At closing, in August 2015, no one knew what to do with a privately funded mortgage. I was in shock over any of this manifesting in the eyes of the title company and my mortgage lawyer, who I hired to write our contract. But I was handed a wad of keys and the place was mine. 

I drove over to the new space to get to work. Again, naive to what was coming next. The wad of keys I was handed, didn’t go to the front door. In fact, it didn’t seem to go to any doors! I thankfully had a door code and made my way into my newly purchased disaster. 

What have I done? This place isn’t inhabitable. Where am I going to get the money to fix it up? How am I going to do this? Why is there so much furniture, clothing, papers, and junk in my new place? When was he going to come to get his stuff? There was a large dumpster in the back that he had rented and partially filled. I knew that the dumpster was set to be hauled off, so we had to act fast. 

Family and friends jumped into action, to help me unload the junk. Diaries, pictures, tables, a washcloth that had sat on the shower floor so long it had turned into a black wad of goo and even a pair of dirty underwear. I was left to clean it all up. Looking back on it, I am so grateful for all my friends, family, and amazing clients. They helped. They were patient with me and shockingly stuck it out with me. I was not always pleasant. 

We painted walls, got a new roof, new windows, new HVAC, and more. I held a guided group healing in my tiny office, to muffle the sound of the jackhammer working on my new sidewalks. There was so much work accomplished in two months, I can’t even begin to tell you. It was shocking.

The next shock came promptly after getting it all together. My other partners in crime who wanted to go in on this space with me all disappeared. I was all alone in this. (Aside from what I have already established is my amazing friends and family.) I had a whole building to fill, I had no idea what I was doing and I was exhausted. 

I sat and spoke with the building and my guides again. I got the reassurance that when I stabilized, so too would The Healing Studio. Other healers would come and find sanctuary there and the community would grow and thrive. 

Guess what?! They did! We have a building full of amazing healers of all types plus fun and profound classes like sound baths, psychic classes, meditation, and more! We are growing and changing every day. 

I am sure I am leaving out all kinds of details, but you get the gist. This process was not planned, it was procured for me by the universe and I am so grateful for this space and that I get to share it with so many amazing people! 

Here’s to many more years to come!