The Whole Truth…
Photo by Cari Bollinger 2002
The Truth is everywhere. Wherever you are, it's right where you are.” Ram Dass
I am Karianne Elisabeth, Holistic Health Coach, energy medicine practitioner, and intuitive writer. I created my company, The Whole Truth LLC, because what I needed didn’t exist. As I was suffering through sleepless nights, severe muscle spasms, invasive medical procedures, and the inability to work or even function normally, I was frustrated and devastated, wondering why I wasn’t healing despite all of conventional medicine’s attempts, wondering why this had happened to me and what had I done wrong.
Rewind twelve years to the beginning of my career as a firefighter, which I chose because of my enthusiasm for health and fitness and a strong desire to be of service to others. It was the first time in my life that I had felt so strong, capable, and confident after struggling through my teens and early twenties, plagued with bouts of depression, low self-esteem, disordered eating, and an overall dysfunctional relationship with myself, my body, and food.
I had overcome these obstacles and forged ahead into firefighting with perseverance, enthusiasm, and optimism, despite my gender and relatively small size.
“Though she be but little, she is fierce” William Shakespeare
I began as an Emergency Medical Technician, and then became a Certified Emergency Paramedic later in my career. It was empowering and fulfilling to be able to help people in an acute trauma or medical situation. But I started to feel like I wasn’t doing what I was meant to do. I was helping people in a crisis, but I wasn’t helping them to live in a way that prevented the crisis from happening. I saw the effects of chronic illness in our patients, many of whom would ask for help from the medical system often and repeatedly. I started to notice the pattern of increased medication usage, increased side effects, decreased quality of life, increased suffering, and even death. These people were not being helped, were not being saved, despite their requests and our best attempts.
And then it happened. I was injured at work. It was not heroic, just what would normally be expected on a fire scene, only it was not an actual emergency; it was a drill. I felt like something had been drilled into my neck, but thought it was probably just a pulled muscle. It wasn’t. It was several herniated disks in my cervical spine, one of which eventually required surgery. That was the beginning of my experience as a chronic pain patient, and I learned from a personal perspective what it was like to have chronic illness. I had become like the patients I had treated.
At one of my surgical follow up appointments, I pleaded in desperation to the man who had skillfully removed and replaced my body parts for something to help me actually heal. I had done all the conventional therapies; physical therapy, trigger point injections, steroids, epidural injections, and radiofrequency ablation. I wore a TENS unit and was on multiple medications for pain, muscle spasm, insomnia, and depression, yet I still couldn’t turn my head, sleep, drive, or do anything without pain, fatigue, and a deep sadness and confusion. I felt completely betrayed by my body, by my career, and by conventional medicine.
“You could try acupuncture. It’s been shown to help with back and neck pain,” the neurosurgeon replied. Bless this man, this neurosurgeon who could allow into his reality the notion that something might help more than surgery. He even had the card of a local acupuncturist whose office was nearby.
Eagerly, I went to acupuncture. And I deeply bless this man, the acupuncturist, for changing the trajectory of my life. I used Chinese herbs. I changed my nutrition to an anti-inflammatory diet comprised mainly of plant based whole foods. And in the process of healing my own body, I realized that THIS is what I am meant for: To help others learn to help their bodies heal. To help people reclaim their power and their health, instead of giving them away to a medical system that is mostly ineffective at treating chronic illness. I studied plant based nutrition and integrative nutrition, earning a certificate from eCornell and the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies, and becoming an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach.
And then, something even more unexpected happened. I learned more about my true purpose. From myself. I could hear my own intuition and soul guidance more clearly. I learned that when the physical body heals, the spiritual, mental, and emotional bodies heal, too, because they are all connected. I realized that we are already healed and whole in a spiritual sense because we were created that way, and that if we could tap into that, physical healing would follow. And I knew that I was uniquely qualified to give people the help that they needed, the help that I didn’t have but could now provide based on my experiences. And that is how The Whole Truth came to be.
I now live a pain free life, without depression, with gratitude for all the people who are with me on this journey-past, present, and future. I continually explore and learn healing modalities both ancient and modern in nutrition, energy work, and beyond. I seek each day to continue to expand in love, to remember and explore my Truth, and to live out my Soul purpose as I help others to do the same.
Love, Karianne
“Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life, and share with people the same happiness" Kahlil Gibran