We were lucky to catch up with Serena Shaw recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Serena, thanks for joining us today. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

There was a point when my business was in a tight spot financially and the tough question of “will I survive and if so how?” was on the table. My business itself could survive but could I personally survive scraping from the bottom of the barrel what little was left over. It was an emotional time and the idea of closing my business and taking a job I didn’t absolutely love was really devastating. Anyway, I have a friend, a 75 year old retired veteran, I love him dearly. He has helped me in so many ways and this time was above and beyond. We were on one of our walk and talks and he said to me, “you can’t close your business what you do is to important.” That by itself was super meaningful. For someone to say I see what you do and that it makes the world a better place. That means a lot. He then proceeded to tell me that he had $2000.00 that he was willing to invest in my business so that I could keep doing what I loved and what he felt like people needed.
So I am still here and growing and I am so grateful for him and for the potential he sees in me and what I do even when I struggle to see it myself.

Serena, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My undergraduate work was actually in environmental science and environmental art. While in college I got really involved in martial arts. I started practicing a Japanese style of ju jitsu which involved a lot of judo style throwing. I was training six days a week and on track to get my black belt and was injured during my training. Part of my recovery involved seeing a chiropractor and a massage therapist. I feel in love with body work but decided to go ahead and finish my bachelors because I was already in it for 3.5 years. Once I was out I was back in massage therapy school. I had been practicing massage therapy for about 4 or 5 years and really had a desire to help people on a deeper level and felt like I had more to give with regard to peoples health. I was headed toward nursing but kept dragging my feet and had a few dissatisfactory experiences with western medicine. While I was procrastinating on seeing schools and entrance interviews I met an acupuncturist and as they say the rest is history. In my practice I have a few things that I really love to treat. I love working on stress and anxiety, treating pain and also working on fertility issues. I have just recently gotten my training in cosmetic facial acupuncture, which is a holistic treatment for fine lines, wrinkles, skin health and treating the whole body as a way to help with aging. I am really excited to be offering that now.
I love learning new things and this medicine has no shortage of things to learn. I am always excited to learn about each client. If they have something going on that I don’t know about or understand I am always ready to learn about it and discovery how we can work through it together. At the heart of it I like taking care of people and helping people take care of themselves. I want each person to live their best life.
I am also very proud to be a part of the community care program and work with our veteran population. I really enjoy helping fill in some of the gaps in their care.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

I would defiantly choose my same profession but I may have chosen a different undergraduate degree. I may have tried to study more neuro science but my self confidence was low in college and I never thought I was “smart” enough to pursue what I considered harder sciences. Having said that everything that we have done in the past informs us now, so I look back and see things that I may have done differently but it all led me to where I am now. If I studied at Hiram College would I have done all the traveling I did, found martial arts, come to Denver, found massage therapy, met acupuncture? Who knows? But I am grateful everyday for having found this medicine and that I get to share it with as many people as I can.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I have had to unlearn many lessons around money and my personal views and relationship with money and my finances. I have always been programed that money is scarce, there isn’t enough, and that having money is in some way dirty or not for me. It is very emotionally charged topic for me and something I have to learn more about. I work on this every day and am continually trying to change my relationship with money and how I view it. It is a on going processes and as a female business owner something I am learning to embrace.

Contact Info:

• Website: nourishingenergyacu.com
• Instagram: nourishingenergyacu
• Facebook: Nourishing Energy Acupuncture

Image Credits
Portrait of me and my daughter is by Aurora Adams. All other photos are my own.