Today we’d like to introduce you to Raelyn Hokulani Augustin.
Raelyn, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always been interested in health and feeling better and living a vibrant, active life. I was born with extreme asthma and hospitalized with pneumonia multiple times as a child and young adult. I was on meds to treat asthma, then meds to treat all the side effects of the asthma meds. By 25, I had a team of specialists and a long list of meds. I looked healthy and fit, but I was exhausted and feeling hopeless. I took pills to breathe, pills to calm my stomach pain, pills to treat the allergies, inhaled steroids to open my lungs, pills for because my hormones were not balanced, pills to sleep, and pills for all the pain. The only thing left was to begin pills for the depression that was in my shadows as I became more and more frustrated, and less involved with activities until it all took a toll and I landed in bed for months. The diagnosis was fibromyalgia and depression. At 28, I had an awakening in my final hospital stay. I needed to find an alternate path to health. Medicating was only making things worse and adding more symptoms with no solution in sight. I wanted so much to live and yet, I just wanted to die. Teams of doctors, weeks in bed, more meds, this was not living.
I met Gladys, a hospital nurse assigned to my care and she reminded me that I needed to pray. I think in all my pain and frustration over the last two years, I eventually stopped praying, or at least doubted my beliefs. This time I prayed with conviction. I asked to show me a new way and to make the direction clear so that my clouded mind could understand. Then, I turned on the TV (not much else to do in a hospital bed.) the first thing on tv was an ad that said something like “if finding an alternate path to health is what you’re looking for, massage school may be right for you”. Wow! The answer couldn’t be clearer!
As soon as I was released from the hospital, I packed my suitcase and in 2 days, I was in a spa in Sedona, AZ learning about different healing modalities and exercise. I discovered craniosacral therapy, reiki, yoga, tai chi, lymphatic drainage. I felt like there were hope and people who cared. They wanted to teach me and help me get healthy not just keep me coming back for more meds. I’m not saying doctors don’t care. I’m saying, I needed help to get healthier and stronger and not just get by. I needed to be proactive, but first I needed some guidance to get there.
After leaving the spa, I enrolled in massage school and booked an appointment with a medical doctor in Texas who was advanced in his beliefs of treating hormones and autoimmune disorders. It was the most expensive office visit I’d ever had, but worth every dollar! In 8 hours of clinic time, we discovered that the pain id had was actually the result of weak bones. specifically osteoporosis of the cervical spine, and osteopenia of the lumbar, with weak bones in the thoracic region. depression was not the issue, it was a symptom of living with pain and no resolution. my thyroid was also imbalanced, I was deficient in multiple nutrients especially B and D along with calcium, iron, etc. years of steroids and antacids will do this and because I was under 30 and looked healthy, no one ever thought to check on the structure of my body.
We also discovered I was highly allergic to almost everything I’d been eating even as I thought I was on a healthy diet. And because of nutrition deficiency, and meds, even what I was doing right was not being processed or absorbed.
I returned home with a new meal plan, an incredible amount of supplements and homeopathic allergy drops, a prescription for a whole body cleanse, a support team to answer questions, and recommendations for a new workout and body rebalancing. I hired a personal trainer, began whole body vibration therapy, acupuncture, and began my classes in massage school where I also learned nutrition, energetics, and yoga therapy.
My own personal journey to health is what has been the catalyst or my very own direct experience and motivation to help others find health. 13 years later, I am still free of prescription pills, my thyroid is balanced, my bones are stronger than ever, my fibromyalgia is proactively managed by bodywork and other forms of self-care. A huge change from the girl who took pills daily from age 3.
I truly empathize with those in pain. I try earnestly to be a partner in their journey to health by sharing and helping, however, I can, be it sharing knowledge and experience or through bodywork or prayer or just listening. The body is amazing and the layers even beyond the physical body are truly a miracle. Life is a miracle. Its meant to be lived. That is the meaning of life. To live and to experience it in its fullness. I am so blessed every day to be a part of the healing process and to be witness to the miracles of healing.
I never imagined being a bodyworker or someone others rely on for support and relief, but I don’t spend one day ever not thankful and excited to see what the day will bring myself and any I am blessed to know.
Has it been a smooth road?
The road has not been easy. I had times of self-doubt. Am I good enough? Can I really make it? I did not have a months saving or even $500 for my office rent deposit or money for a website. My advice is to pray. trust listen observe. Ask lots of questions, but listen even more. Trust yourself and the inner wisdom within, trust the guiding force behind that wisdom. seek always the best and the highest solution. Don’t just settle with what you’re served up. Make sure that is the best option. Know your options.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Massage as Therapy with Raelyn Hokulani story. Tell us more about the business.
I can do traditional massage therapy such as deep tissue or sport therapeutic massage, but my strength and gifts lie in the medical aspect of bodywork such as treating edema, pre and post-surgical healing, trauma both physical and emotional. management of autoimmune challenges and pain. I listen to the body each time because every person is different, every day brings new symptoms, nothing and no person is ever the same from this day to the next. I love to weave in different modalities such as craniosacral work for head, jaw, neck pain, along with lymph drainage to reduce swelling, lomilomi therapy to relax and rebalance the body, reflexology for multiple systems and energy pathways, I utilize only pure, organic, therapeutic grade oils. I take time to get to know my clients because it’s not just important to treat the physical manifestation of imbalance, but also important to acknowledge the emotional, spiritual, mental imbalance that was there even before the obvious, I enjoy working with doctors and patients and feel honored to have their trust and confidence.
For good reason, society often focuses more on the problems rather than the opportunities that exist, because the problems need to be solved. However, we’d probably also benefit from looking for and recognizing the opportunities that women are better positioned to capitalize on. Have you discovered such opportunities?
I feel that women more than ever have a voice and that we are nurturers by default and that men, in general, want to do the right thing if they are given the opportunity and are called on to do the right thing. We have a say in healthy eating, what our children will learn, and what direction we want our world to go in. Women naturally come from the heart, and if we always lead first with our heart, the world will only get better. It begins with us. We have an entire sisterhood of support out there if we simply look to connect with it
Contact Info:
- Address: 1991 Village Parkway
Encinitas, CA 92024 - Website: raelynhokulani.com
- Phone: 760-994-5264
- Email: raelyn@raelynhokulani.com
- Other: https://www.yelp.com/biz/raelyn-hokulani-hhp-encinitas
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
