Kimberly [Kimo] Shotz

In the time before internet (?!), I spent 5 months living in the “mid-hills” of Nepal while visiting my Peace Corp Volunteer friend.  I was taken by the incredible strength and beauty of this land and people, and their closer connection to Nature and the endless cycles of life.  At that time I formed a strong future vision to return to Nepal as a healthcare volunteer Nurse.  In fact I thought I’d spend the rest of my life volunteering/working as a nurse around the world.

Ambitious and inspired, yes, but I am not one to force an agenda.  I prefer to ride the wave of life and see where it guides me, all the while maintaining, and possibly reshaping, my vision. (I encourage everyone to read Paolo Coehlo’s The Alchemist).  Now, almost 20 years later, I am actualizing my old vision, only with a much larger healer’s “tool belt.” I have practiced as a Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner for the past 14 years and am now graduating from Oregon College Of Oriental Medicine as a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).  I have tremendous respect for both medicines, yet I think I will forever be awestruck by the beauty and healing potential of TCM, its’ simplicity, universality, and ever-expanding accessibility (thanks to organizations like ARP and community acupuncture clinics) as compared to high-tech/high cost Western medicine.  It seems an ideal medicine for a setting and culture such as in Nepal.  So now I find myself on the crest of the wave of Integrative medicine in the United States and around the world.  I can barely contain myself.