I Will Survive: Guests: Anne McCullough & Maura Youle

In January of 2006 Anne and her family moved in down the block from where Maura was living, and the two met that first day. The move was necessary because Anne was living with symptoms of an auto-immune disease and her family needed a ranch style house so she wouldn't have to negotiate stairs. At that time, Anne wore thick glasses, used a cane and was unable to drive due to optic neuritis - a common symptom of Multiple Sclerosis. She had difficulties with her speech, balance, memory and cognitive abilities. Her emotions ran high - she cried several times a day - while her energy levels were terribly low, needing 3 or 4 naps a day and often going to bed at 7:00 PM. Daily she took 8 types of medication for the symptoms. Maura was a yoga teacher who also practiced an energy "massage" technique called Reiki. She had a yoga therapy book which had a specific practice for MS and offered to help Anne with the series. One yoga posture was an inversion in which Anne's upper body was upside-down for a bit. When she came back up the knives were stabbing her head. Maura thought, "OH NO! I'VE BROKEN HER!" and began to give Reiki to her head. Anne felt the energy immediately and her pain began to subside. Something worked! This was the beginning of what turned out to be a miraculous trip for both women. Over the next 2 years, Anne changed her diet, started to exercise, and continued to practice yoga and Reiki - all of which helped her get back in touch with her body. Perhaps most importantly, Anne began to do some inner exploration. What she recognized was that she had beliefs and patterns of thought which could be summed up by the phrase, "I'm not good enough". Today she is symptom free, medication free, working and driving, and is training for her black belt in Muay Thai Kickboxing. How she arrived here is the compilation of information and methods she and Maura call Hopeology