The Rose + The Thorne
The Rose and The Thorn
Once upon a time, Sacred began as a major life setback. It was August of 2017 and as I peered down at my pink cast covering my right arm, I knew I had to shift everything I had ever known professionally. You see, I was a chiropractor, and my hands are arms were literally the tools I use to practice. After suffering this debilitating injury on a trip and spending the night in the ER. I was told I could not practice for at least 6 months while I healed.
That news was not an option for me, I instead got resourceful.
While I was not able to adjust patients, I taught myself how to give acupuncture with my left hand. One day a friend of mine wanted to host her mom and sisters in Kansas City for a girl's day with acupuncture. A split moment of inspiration dawned and instead of consuming their entire day performing one appointment after the other, I asked if she would like to have an acupuncture party in the coziness of her Downtown condo. Later, while everyone retreated into her living room, with lavender and rose aromatherapy lingering in the air and with the sun streaming in, Sacred was born.
From 2017 to 2020 Sacred was a mobile business called Haven that traveled to businesses, boutiques, breweries, parks and homes to create acupuncture and yoga retreats. The idea of creating beautiful experiences in spaces that once never existed was alluring and kept compelling myself forward to eventually decide to open our first brick and mortar practice in 2020.
On International Women’s Day 2020, I signed the lease to Sacred Chiropractic + Acupuncture. Our space was located within a 120-year-old Victorian Mansion in Kansas City, called The Ivy House. All was well and beautiful, until a month later when Covid-19 made its debut.
I wrestled internally on my timing but had faith, that for whatever reason my timing coincided with the singular most profound event in recent human history that was unfolding; that pushing forward, and opening May 1st of 2020 was still the right decision.
Kansas City was in a Shelter in Place lockdown the month of April leading up to our opening. After opening, our sweet and cozy Victorian house became a refuge, a place of normalcy for people, a place where people could reconnect with themselves and reflect on the wild ride of being human.
With that passage, Sacred continued to evolve and grow as a mainstay practice in Midtown Kansas City. In the meantime, my personal life was seismically shifting. I met my love, business partner and fellow owner of the farm, Anthony in Hot Springs Arkansas randomly at a pizza joint called Deluca’s (a must visit!). We were old school pen pals, writing to each other as good friends from afar – myself in KC, him on the East Coast and a year later decided to open Sacred NY together on a farm in Saratoga County.
In the years leading up to purchasing the farm, it had fallen by the wayside. It had been 7 years since a horse had been on the training track and the eurosizer had become a pigeon hotel. Methodically, it became our mission alongside our family and friends to bring the farm back to life and bring it back to its original grandeur.
What is now Sacred Spa + Wellness was once a horse barn and the arena at one time hosted concerts by the Beach Boys, Liza Minnelli and Willie Nelson – if only walls could talk! Our construction to bring the beauty back began in February 2022 and we opened August 1st of last year. The eurosizer and barns became a state-of-the-art equine rehab with a hyperbaric chamber, salt room, vibration plate and more, a true horse spa and the tapeta track featured its first two horses working out on it on a breezy April 2022 morning.
It’s been a poetic start. At times it has been bittersweet, but I have learned that every setback in life is an invitation to create new life, new roses out of thorns. Thank you for being on the Sacred journey alongside us. We love the way the farm, Sacred KC and Sacred NY continue to unfold.
How are you creating roses out of your thorns?