To study, and at times practice what one has learned, is that not a pleasure?
— Confucius
Serendipity and the Light Bulb.
Forty-some years ago my Mom used acupuncture to help her quit smoking. She had started smoking in college, but by the time she was forty she was highly motivated to quit as the habit had led to a rift in the family. Mom had unsuccessfully tried many other methods for smoking cessation prior to using acupuncture. None of them were effective, and she was unbearable to live with. A co-worker suggested seeing an acupuncturist.
The acupuncture treatments eliminated her cravings and crabbiness, and she literally never even wanted another cigarette. At the time I thought it was a miracle.
Fast forward 20 years, and I had just been laid off from a job at a Presentation Graphics lab. I knew it was time to move on after 19 years at the job, but to what I had no idea. I wasn’t finding any satisfaction in creating yet another Powerpoint presentation in the intense deadline-driven environment of a graphics lab.
I’m not much of a TV watcher (except for Julia Child’s cooking shows), but I happened to have had the TV on one day during a show that featured an acupuncturist interviewing a new patient. The acupuncturist asked many questions that impact health that a busy medical doctor doesn’t have time to ask such as, “Do you like your job? How much stress are you under? What do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner? How many times a day do you have a bowel movement?”
At that moment the light bulb went on. I just knew that I had to become an acupuncturist. The seed that had been planted from my Mom’s experience with acupuncture suddenly sprouted!
I went on to earn a Master of Oriental Medicine from the Minnesota College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine at Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, MN. I’ve been in practice for 17 years now, and it is tremendously rewarding to help people get back to their best self – with a smile on their face and a sparkle in their eye once their pain has been resolved, their depression lifted and they’re able to digest and enjoy their food.
+ Certified in acupuncture by the National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
+ Certified in acupuncture through the state of Wisconsin’s Department of Safety and Professional Services
+ Founder of Solidago Farm
+ Happily ensconced on a 15-acre farm in River Falls, WI with her wonderful husband, always entertaining cat, eleven lovely hens, and an abundance of medicinal herbs
Professional Associations
+ Minnesota Acupuncture Association, mnacupuncture.org
+ Wisconsin Society of Certified Acupuncturists, acupuncturewisconsin.org
+ North Country Herbalist Guild, nchg.org
+ Testimonials – Read what Katherine’s patients have to say about their experiences