As the rain poured outside, I sat down with a cup of tea for a nice chat via telephone with Heavenly Healer's April featured healer, Donnalee Tyler. Usually, I ask for a written bio by the healer, but Donnalee Tyler is a special case; Donnalee has been battling Hereditary Degenerative Retinal eye disease for many years.
"I had to reinvent myself at 50," says Donnalee. Now a Massage Therapist and Master of Usui, Karuna, and Violet Flame Reiki, Donnalee tells me it wasn't always so.
"I was an auditor for 12 years at Ceasar's Pocono Resort when one day my boss asked me if I knew I had trouble with my vision. I said no. He showed me something I had read incorrectly and all I could say was Oh! After that, it was coming to grips with my failing eyesight."
"When I could do the job no longer as auditor, I moved to a position as cook and cleaner for Highlights Retreat Center. It was a beautiful retreat area with about 20 cabins. Artists and Illustrators came to the retreat for various workshops offered. I worked at Highlights for four years until my eyesight got so bad I was cutting my fingers instead of the vegetables. It was time to leave that job also."
"Occasionally in downtime, I'd massage fellow workers backs to help them relax and it was one of these workers that gave me my next inspiration, she said 'you are so good with your hands, you should be a massage therapist.' And that is what I decided to do."
"Because of my eyesight, I knew anywhere around here would take me years to complete. I discovered a place in Sedona, Arizona, the Sedona School of Massage, that would work with my disability, finish within five months and this was doable for me."
"My husband and I moved to Sedona, Arizona for the time I was in school there. When I went to class the first day, I met a woman who was leaving for the season and offered me her place for $500 a month. Again, doable."
I ask Donnalee where the apartment was and she tells me "Bell Rock, do you know it?" Yes, I know it. I've wanted to go back to Sedona for years now. Never really done much but a drive-by day trip. I tell Donnalee what an inspiration she is because most people would have just given up and accepted blindness.
"No, not me. I just keep going on. I have to, life never stops for me."
"Consciousness is so different in Sedona." We talk of how people journey there for the vortexes, spiritual retreats, and beauty. "I spent some time hiking at Isis Rock. I remember seeing orchids growing between the rocks." Lovely.
She tells me that after she graduated from the class she moved back to Pennsylvania and played the waiting game (over a year) for a Reader to read the massage licensing test because of her eyesight. She had to make a special request for this and prove she could not see well enough to read the test on her own. She passed the test for licensing with no trouble and later the Reader, Joe, told her, he had never had a student pass that he had read the exam to. "I'm so glad he didn't tell me that until later!" she exclaims.
"I've come to understand that if you let go and enjoy the journey, never pushing too hard, everything else slips away, and you'll be okay. Awareness has to be present in every moment so we don't miss the gifts that are offered to us daily. If you are where you are supposed to be, things happen easily."
Wow, what a wonderful affirmation. I thank Donnalee for talking with me and tell her I am so happy we communicated this way instead of email. I tell her she has inspired me to do something with my life.
"You already have," she laughs.
Donnalee Tyler will be with us at our April HH clinic. This month it will be on the 4th Sunday of the month, April 27, 2-5 due to Easter. Donnalee integrates massage, Reiki, and aromatherapy. She is licensed in deep tissue, Swedish, Cranial Sacral and Ortho Bionomy.
Donnalee works at the Himalayan Institute, the Sanctuary of Oils & privately.
Article written by Cari Branning
