🌼 Cautiously Embracing the Woo: Rediscovering Natural Healing)
Welcome to this Start Fresh mini from the Om WOW Podcast! Let’s reset our mindset and start the week with clarity and intention.
Listen to the short episode:
Episode #26: Transcript
 Sometimes the path to wellness requires us to question everything we've been taught and cautiously crack open our minds to new possibilities.
Have you ever dismissed something as too 'woo-woo' only to discover years later it might have been exactly what you needed?
My Journey with Reiki
When my mom first introduced me to Reiki, my mind wasn't open enough. She was very excited about it. She had tried it with a friend and felt a warm healing sensation on her back, even though the practitioner hadn't touched her skin and was holding her hands a few inches away from mom's body.
I was extremely rooted in religion at that time, and all the religious websites I checked were basically saying that Reiki was some kind of dangerous voodoo from the devil, and it was not from God and I should stay away from it. So I dutifully did. Fast forward four or five years, and I witnessed a volunteer at the religious nonprofit organization I worked for.
She was giving a quick impromptu reiki session to another volunteer who had a headache. I was intrigued. It looked simple. It was quick, and it really seemed to help. There was nothing scary, sinister, or dangerous involved. I chatted with the Reiki practitioner afterwards and found out that she volunteers at the hospital providing Reiki to cancer patients and terminally ill patients to help relieve their pain.
And the hospital not only allows it, they encourage it. So doesn't that mean they believe it's helpful? I started opening my mind to the possibility that maybe Reiki and other forms of what is considered in the US as alternative medicine were really just the natural original forms of healing, and that they had been available to us all along!
Exploring Alternative Healing Modalities
Beyond Reiki, I explored a variety of alternative healing modalities, including sound healing, light therapy, EFT, tapping, somatic healing, craniosacral treatments, chiropractic care, and more. I researched natural supplements, healing herbs, and helpful foods. I sought out holistic healers and naturopaths, just trying everything I could find to help my body feel better, and I was relatively healthy for quite a while there until 2024.
My Knee Injury and the Turning Point
I was walking my son's dog in the woods and I took a step and all of a sudden could not bear any weight on my knee at all. Long story short, saw several doctors saw an orthopedic surgeon. I pushed for the MRIs and tests 'cause they were telling me nothing's wrong. Well, lo and behold, I had a ripped meniscus.
But they told me it wasn't operable, so I had to go to physical therapy, which helped a little bit, but wasn't great. And then I opened my own wallet and hired a kind of expensive personal trainer that was iffy. I didn't feel like it was really helping. And then earlier this year, I stumbled across a gym that's literally five minutes from my house.
Discovering Fascia and Real Results
That has an amazing, amazing, amazing trainer, and she specializes in something called fascia, which I'm just gonna say it's this stuff inside you that connects a whole bunch of body parts that you would never imagine, but it helps with like your posture and your movement. And I've been working with her since February, and she helped me almost completely heal a shoulder injury that I had. I can now reach and hold and move that shoulder and also the knee. She did an assessment with me on my very first day, and I could barely do things like squat or like do lunges and now I can. My knee is in no way a hundred percent back to normal… but a few months before going to this personal trainer, I went from being on crutches to being on a walker, and I just, I wasn't ready to give up my mobility. My husband and I had been active hikers for a few years. That's kind of how I stay healthy, and I had gotten away from it in 2024. And I really, really wanted to get back to it, but with a bum knee, you know, that wasn't safe.
Anyway, for those of you in New Hampshire, my fabulous trainer is Mariana, and she owns Valid Fitness in Hudson, New Hampshire. I highly, highly recommend her!
8 Keys to Rediscovering Wellness
Here are some keys to rediscovering wellness that we will be exploring on the show in more depth in upcoming episodes. But for now, I just wanna get you thinking about them.
Open your mind—even if just with a cautious crack—to alternative medicine and healing modalities you may have previously dismissed
Ask lots of questions about the health and wellness approaches you encounter
Don't rely solely on widely broadcasted or widely accepted popular information—think for yourself
Try and test things out for yourself and get your own firsthand experiences
Trust your own gut, your body, and your heart over any expert or guide
Do your own research from a broad range of truly diverse sources
Be willing to acknowledge and observe feelings and thoughts that might not be cheery and rosy
Be willing to change your perspective about longstanding beliefs
Your Wellness Challenge
As you head into this week, I challenge you to open your mind—even if just with a cautious crack—to one wellness approach you've previously dismissed. Do your own research from diverse sources, and trust your own gut and body over any expert or popular opinion.
Sometimes the healing we need comes from places we least expect, and you deserve to explore every option that might help you feel better. And as a bonus, most natural healing methods can work whether or not you BELIEVE in them…. so go ahead and be a skeptic as you try new things, and see for yourself what might happen! Thinking for yourself and trusting your own body might lead you to the breakthrough you've been searching for—even if it looks a little 'woo-woo' to others.
Have a fantastic week, and we'll see you next time. 
If this mini gave you a mindset boost, pass it on! Comment below & let me know— your energy makes a difference.
Meet Our Host: Jennifer Robin O’Keefe
Jennifer Robin serves as a relatable, down-to-earth, REAL Wellness & Success Coach. She’s not a fancy, perfect makeup, airbrushed kind of woman. She’s been told many times, in a variety of environments, that she’s easy to talk to, and makes others feel welcome and comfortable. Her mission in life is both simple and profound: to make others feel worthy.
Professionally, Jennifer holds several wellness certifications including Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Tapping, Thought Field Therapy (TFT) Tapping, Reiki, and more. She continuously expands her knowledge in the fields of Qi Gong, Xien Gong, Vibration/Energy Wellness and Natural Health. She also studied extensively with Jack Canfield, and serves as a Certified Canfield Trainer, authorized to teach "The Success Principles."
She’s an active reader and researcher who loves to learn, and one of her biggest joys is teaching and sharing what she’s discovered with others.
