About Andrea

My name is Andrea, and this is my story.

 My great awakening began in the summer of 2010. At that time, I was a mom of three young children, and I was stuck in a toxic marriage. I felt that I didn't have a voice. I felt erased. I felt unseen. I was in a deep depression – a true "dark night of the soul" situation.

But that summer, I came into contact with an actual earth angel, a person who helped me see past where I was. All the dense energy that was in me and surrounding me – I was encouraged to just let it go, even though it was hard. For the first time in a very long time, I felt seen. I felt like I had worth and something to offer. I remain eternally grateful to this person for opening me up to knowing that true self-love can exist.

That same summer, I began distance running, which put me on a path of learning to be in love with the outdoors. Running on Pachamama’s back – on Mother Earth’s crust – and continuing for miles and miles became a beautiful coping mechanism for me. It let me get away, out of the miasma. I would get to mile six or seven, and I would be in the most blissful place! I could feel so much love coming into my heart. I also began to consider myself a sun worshipper, as I was recognizing the power and majesty and absolute awesomeness of the sun.

Running on the earth was opening me up to my spirituality. Signs began to point me in new directions. Over the next few years, I still struggled, but I was coming into myself.

Around the summer of 2014, my marriage finally began to come to an end. Until that point, my biggest obstacle had been my fear about my kids being okay. But as soon as I started the divorce process, immediately I got a sign that said, "Yes! Your kids will be just fine!"

That was when Reiki found me. I received Level 1 and Level 2 Reiki attunements, and then I became a Reiki Master. I truly believe Reiki is what saved me from going crazy. Up to that point, I had been using a lot of alcohol – not in an abusive way, but still – and Reiki came to show me a different way of living.

Over the next several years, I started to build a clientele and a business. It was slow going, as I still had a lot of self-doubt. But every step of the way, I would find a new mentor or a teacher to keep me going. I also did a lot of self-teaching. I learned about crystals and their healing energy, and I learned how to use color work and light in my healing.

Around 2016, I was finally introduced to my shamanic teacher, Barbara Hallnan. She was offering a meditative Reiki circle and healing group, and the first time I met her, I knew I was connecting with a strong spiritual teacher and guide. Barbara was on a shamanic path herself, and as I joined her for many of her workshops and classes, I began to realize that the shamanic path was also a path I was being called to.

Barbara soon became a Sanctioned Teacher in the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition (PMT), originated by don Oscar Miro-Quesada, and she began teaching the fundamental five-part apprenticeship. She offered me a place in a hoop two or three times, but I still had school-aged children at home at this point, and I got very little support with the day-to-day responsibilities of parenting from my ex-husband, so my time was very restricted.

Finally in 2021, just as my youngest went away to college, Barbara was again starting a new apprenticeship hoop. This time, when she reached out to me, I immediately knew that I would be starting on that path.

And boy, oh boy, did life just explode from there! Through working with the PMT practices, being able to fire up my own mesa -- my healing altar -- I was able to walk away from a 13-year career of working in the insurance industry. Suddenly I was really walking the path. I was discovering the miracle of what my life could look like when I made the choice to let go of conditioned beliefs like, “You must work a 40-hour work week, 50 weeks out of the year. You must only take vacations when prescribed. You must, you must, you must!” I was really fighting against that dogma, and working with the mesa gave me that courage.

Within that first year of my apprenticeship, I was able to attend four in-person retreats with don Oscar Miro-Quesada and his wife, dona Cindy Miro-Quesada. Being in an intensive retreat with a group of 70+ advanced energetic healers who are raising the vibration of a space was one of the most mind-blowing and exquisite experiences of my life. I’m so grateful to have been in that position four times.

After that, I knew immediately that I wanted to become a PMT Sanctioned Teacher. Teaching had always been in my heart, and this role would give me the opportunity to connect to my compassion, my empathy towards others, and the love that I have for everyone. It just made sense. Barbara has been so wonderful the entire time -- keeping me on track, asking the right questions, and always pushing me to extend my boundaries and expand my concept of who I thought I was.

When Barbara organized a 10-day trip to Peru for our entire hoop, most of us were able to attend, along with several others. We went on an excursion into the Sacred Valley, to Pisac and beyond. And in such a perfect moment of synchrony, it was while I was in standing in the middle of Machu Picchu that I got the notification from don Oscar that I had been accepted into the PMT lineage, into the realm of Sanctioned Teacher. Barbara was the very first person I shared that news with, and once again, I just felt so beautifully fortuitous to be in the land of Peru when that news came through.

All of this was less than two short years ago. Now I find my life ever-changing and ever-evolving, becoming exactly what I want it to be. I am diving farther into the world of teaching and the world of creating community healing circles, connecting people in community.

If you are still reading my long-winded story, and if this is something you are intrigued by, I invite you to reach out to me.

I can’t wait to hear your story.