My Journey Towards Becoming a Taoist Acupuncturist by Nicole Holistic Healer

Taoism is very near and dear to my heart. I spent the last 15 years practicing, and the first decade of that was spent living and working in a commune-like international Korean Taoist spiritual organization. The Subtle Essence has always been with me. At the age of 14 years old for a school project I made a video of myself being an acupuncturist, poking a teddy bear with a 6 inch screw driver nail as my family read their scripts. I do not even remember the prompt for that particular project other than: do something creative to express things you’re interested in. So I decided to do something inspired by the Yin Yang symbol which intrigued me.

You can watch my funny & educational video here on Facebook (it was on VHS, so my family watched on big screen and re-filmed with iPhone): https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18MD9Umjfz/

Something fascinated me from a young age about health, wellness and ancient medicinal techniques. I attended Bergen County Academy for Medical Science and Technology, a magnet high school with a competitive acceptance process and a rigorous pre-undergrad curriculum, specifically because I wanted to be a doctor; a surgeon to be exact. For some reason I loved blood and gore at that age. I even attended an internship at a hospital one summer where we toured the operating floor and got to watch/hear the banging of someone’s new hip replacement! The body fascinates me, and the mind as well.

I believe spiritual wisdom is innate within me because since a young age I suffered from various disorders related to the 5 senses, and had extreme nervous system malfunctions due to the constant mental and emotional stress of wanting to be perfect and successful, and worrying about an uncertain future from a young age. I was diagnosed and medicated with anxiety and depression at 14 years old. I was severely anorexic for 2 years from being a competitive gymnast, which turned into 15 years of Bulimia. This also included 15 years of torturous insomnia, social phobias and even being too self-conscious to breathe around other people, god forbid the sound of my breath would bother or provoke them… I was hyper self-conscious, hyper aware and hyper obsessed with the 5 sense world.

All of this made me very wary of being a doctor, nonetheless a surgeon. I knew I had to be incredibly level-headed and unmoved by anyone or anything - not only in the operating room, but also for the next 15 years of schooling. It was hard NO. That’s why in college I started my journey on understanding the brain and mental health, studying psychology, sociology and majoring in Cultural Anthropology, because all aspects of human life (including my own mind) fascinated me. Through the study of culture, I started to open my heart to humanity on a different level: to the latin community, specifically the Mexican community, to the hungry and homeless through various work in local non-profits and teaching nutrition through the Food Stamp (SNAP-Ed) Program, and to heal Mother Earth with community action on climate change.  It was the beginning of my holistic health journey.

After college, I moved back home to northern NJ where my town was already almost 60% Asian, predominantly Korean immigrants.  I didn’t know what I really wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to do nonprofit work, particularly for the UN, and I was afraid of the “importance” of that work and not being level-headed enough for it.  I loved to swim, but my local gym dumped tons of chlorine in the water without proper cleaning and it was making me sick, so I searched on google and found “CGI Holistic Fitness & Spa”, a Jjimjilbang (Korean spa) with an ionized pool 20 minutes north of where I lived.

Instead of getting a membership at the gym, I ended up working there and practicing in their “yoga and tai chi” studio. The daily meridian stretching, tapping, shaking, ki-breathing and energy meditation practices deeply stimulated, circulated and enhanced my Chi (Ki/Qi) and helped me decide to become a modern day monk/nun, and join their international Taoist/Buddhist organization of healers with a Korean guru, a common mission to create 100 million healers on Earth and a centralized goal to keep the physical training centers financially afloat.

I am lucky to have a unique ability to sense people’s (and animal’s/nature’s) energy blockages, meridian pathways and chakra system health. Through the taoist practice with the Korean organization, I was able to tap into my innate sense of the Universe’s subtle energy and learned many purification rituals such as body tapping to awaken acu-points, and Buddhist style bowing (prostrations) of which I had to do 3,000 consecutively to be considered a “Master in Training” in the organization. There were many avenues of self-discipline to keep me focused on my inward path, such as ascetic practices like fasting, not drinking liquids, not sleeping, not using technology, not talking, as well as physical training such as yoga, tai chi and the ancient art of holding certain very challenging postures for up to an hour to gather, strengthen and solidify Chi in the lower Dantien (Dahnjon in Korean).

I completely got off of western medications after 3 years of training, and studied under some of the best Korean Master Healers - in acupressure, reiki, coaching, chakra healing, chanting and spiritual healing, as well as participating in beautiful Korean ancestral ceremonies. I held various roles from instructor, energy healer and studio manager to sales, marketing, program coordinator, PR and fundraising, all in order to sustain the company which had been founded in the US over 25 years before. I worked with clients from all walks of life and with a whole spectrum of ailments.

Through these practices I got to have direct understanding of what Hua-Ching Ni in his book Tao: the Subtle Universal Law and the Integral Way of Life calls the "master key”, and unlocked my "inner room" of Ultimate Truth. Taoist principles were taught to us in classroom or workshop settings by senior masters, but the practice is what changed my life. Through these trainings I got to experience the feeling of my own Chi: the sense of my pain moving through and leaving my body, my mind becoming lighter and brighter, my breath becoming the whole universe itself. This organization also used these taoist and chi principles to manifest its own destiny; every beginning of the month we would make a monetary goal or choose a number of people that we were going to make new members, and if we achieved our goal perfectly it was a direct representation of how connected to the Universal Consciousness we were, as well as watch (become aware of) all of our limiting beliefs, distractions, obsessions and character flaws in the process. It was, in essence, enlightening.

I am so excited now to become an acupuncturist because it’s what I’ve always thought myself to be - an energy practitioner. Wether stirring people’s emotions through movement, singing or dancing, counseling or touch, or even putting myself in unique and interesting new cultural environments to understand why people are and why people do  - its just what I’ve always done, and what the Universe wants from me.