Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Fry.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Shannon. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
The moment I finished my art history degree at UCLA I went to school to become an acupuncturist. This was what I wanted to do since I graduated high school and so I decided, why not?
With an education and license under my belt, I began practicing. I treated established acupuncturist’s overflow of patients for experience and rented rooms to treat my own clients.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being a new entrepreneur in the first years of practice was more of a struggle than I had planned, and the stress that this caused continued to lead me along my path. With nowhere to go and not much to spend I could still sit, light a candle, meditate and eventually find peace for hours on end.
I found that sitting in silence can be an access point into the unknown. It holds a bleakness- a wildness- that causes worries to dissipate. Go into the unknown and your intuition will strengthen.
With silence the voice of the soul emerges, and here my energy work practice began.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I opened the Healing Studio LA in 2011. I often treat musculoskeletal pain and stress related issues; two strong points of Chinese medicine. I treat anxiety, depression, and other physical and emotional issues from a holistic standpoint incorporating acupuncture, cups, essential oils, energy work and Chinese herbs.
Lately I’ve been reviving the ancient tradition of making herbal “honey balls” for clients. These are ground herbs in their raw form hand-rolled with raw, local honey. This form of herbal nutritional support is more helpful than ever in modern times!
When I’m not working with clients the Healing Studio becomes an atelier, and the massage table transforms into my workbench. I make jewelry out of gemstones, crystals, silks, feathers and other natural elements.
The colors I see with my mind’s eye during energy work have a tone-color-vibration I will find in physical forms through the gemstones. The classical style of writing Chinese herbal formulas in multiples of 3 (grams) is a style I also use proportionally when creating jewelry. There are myriads of possibilities in combining both opposing and complimentary colors and elements. When the outcome is balance, both health and beauty are created.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role? My greatest teacher in Chinese medicine is Master Tung, an acupuncturist from Northern China who died in 1975. After fleeing China for Taiwan, he shared generations of family knowledge for the first time with outsiders, and improved the practice of acupuncture for future practitioners and the potential millions it could help. I came across his knowledge after graduating and it has helped me clinically in treating pain more than any other teachings.
As for a main teacher to learn from in person, they have not shown up in this way. Instead many will show up as they step into a working archetype. The “Innovator” is one such working archetype for me which works as a spiritual mentor. “Innovators” are pioneers and way showers. They may draw from the wisdom of the past when it lies outside of the current mainstream practice, or go to the natural world to inspire a different rhythm to current practices in their field. They are brave enough to map their course and have enough faith in themselves to see it through.
They may show up in the form of a person to meet such as when I met Los Angeles based raw food chef Lesa Carlson. They have also surfaced at the right time as people to learn or read about such as “Innovators” Bev Boss, a play-based early childhood educator, or midwife Ina May Gaskin. An “Innovator” can also show up at any given time during a seemingly mundane day with a word or action to bring inspiration or enough understanding to continue.
I suggest picking just a few archetypes that strike a chord. Working this way allows many guides to be your teacher.
Pricing:
- Acupuncture with Energy Work $95.00
- Traditional Acupuncture $75.00
Contact Info:
- Address: Healing Studio LA
183 N. Martel Ave., Ste. 210
Los Angeles, CA 90036 - Website: www.healingstudiola.com
- Phone: (310) 927-2595
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit: Josh Madson of Madson Media
Pierson
April 18, 2017 at 16:55
She is a healer with an artist’s heart.