Positive Intentions, a local metaphysical shop, hosts weekly meditation sessions for former and current military members and veterans. This group uses “sound healing” meditation.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — From 1996 to 2005, Katherine Lopez was exhausted by pain management through physical therapy and spinal injections.
A self-described “energy intuitive,” she suffered from severe PTSD after being involved in a drunk driver accident, ended up in and out of a wheelchair, relied on walking aids, and eventually suffered third-degree back pain. He said he needed surgery.
“It took me a year to steadily learn how to walk again,” she said.
Her injuries also required spinal fusion surgery, and a titanium bar was implanted in her back in 2005.
“I had PTSD after the car accident,” she said. “It was difficult to get into the car.”
Her healing journey led her to seek alternatives to traditional medicine, she said. That’s when she learned how “frequency and vibration” can restore a person’s energy using a sound bath – a crystal bowl that produces soothing meditative sounds.
“I was able to heal from depression, anxiety and fear,” she said. “Being able to function, being able to meditate, being able to use frequencies to help myself, that’s my passion and being able to help others heal.”
That’s why she and her partners host free guided meditation and sound bath sessions for veterans and retirees every week at Positive Intentions Botanical Garden, located at 5334 Everhart Rd, Ste 101.
The meditation group meets most Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.
Christy Hatley attends these sessions and says she knows they make a difference to her mental and emotional health. Although she is a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Navy and has been out of action for 10 years, she said her PTSD is still a part of her daily life.
What is a Sound Bath or Sound Healing Meditation? Here are some bite-sized meditations you can check out right now.
“Our minds are constantly thinking,” she said. “We are always on guard about life after military service.”
She said the unconventional treatment helped calm her mind, soul and PTSD, and she thinks more veterans could benefit from knowing it exists.
“When I leave here, I get a good night’s rest and sleep well,” said the mother, whose three children also served. “I realized that I couldn’t sleep well if I didn’t come.”
Hatley said she believes other veterans should try group meditation with an open mind, even if it’s just once.
“Many of us experience that kind of PTSD,” she said. “There’s sexual trauma in the military. Personally, there’s so much that I think this might calm them down.”
“I feel a lot calmer after doing this. When I’m not doing it, I notice that my energy and anxiety are a little higher.”
Michelle Glynn and her daughter discovered the group several years ago through Victoria Prewitt, owner of Positive Intentions.
Glynn said she was drawn to the community through the authenticity of the people she met there, and sound bath meditation quickly became an alternative to traditional therapy for treating her daughter’s ADHD.
“That’s far more grounding for her than any therapy or any type of ADHD medication,” Glynn said. “We learned a lot about breathing and finding ourselves,” she said. “It was very helpful for her and it was helpful for me as well, allowing me to expand as a parent for her.”
For those who are skeptical about alternative medicine, Glynn said her experience with the group has taught her that alternative medicine is not a practice that influences people’s current beliefs.
“I think a misconception that a lot of people have is that we’re trying to change something about them or go against what they already believe, but it’s the opposite.” she said. “Rather than being told that the way you think about something is wrong, it’s about finding a way to figure out what you believe and find strength in that area.”
Prewitt said she opened the store to help heal the community and holds events such as midweek group meditations.
“It helps them, calms them down and helps them with their daily lives,” she says. “We’ll have people from 8 to 80 years old. We’ll have veterans and active duty military. We all have pretty much the same problems. As I talk to people, we’re not different. I found out that they are similar.”
As for Lopez, she said it’s no surprise that the group attracts a wide range of participants. She believes that alternative therapies and sound bath meditation bring healing on an “elemental level.”
“They help increase focus, and that focus helps clarify self-awareness,” she said. “Whatever trauma you are trying to heal.”
It’s a process she said she wished her father, a Vietnam veteran, could have treated for his PTSD.
“I think working with energy would have helped him as well,” she says.
So, in honor of that, she chose to work gratuitously with people like him, and people like the man who caused her years of pain.
“My level of healing is as follows: A car accident was caused by a drunk military member. Currently, I coach and teach energy healing to veterans and non-commissioned officers for free.”
