Today we’d like to introduce you to Khadijah Kysia.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
“You don’t have to become a poet to live a poetic life. What is the purpose of speaking if you’re not going to induce a dream in people” – Enrique Enriquez
I grew up in Detroit in the 80’s. The atmosphere was embattled and abandoned in a commercial/ sense but it overgrown and very green, many trees… I was always revived by this lushness – the mulberry stained streets, empowered by how Nature could not be restrained and the transformation was happening.
Somehow I intuited the answer to the trauma was in these deeper cycles and correspondences. I just thought I had the heart of a poet and that is what I intended to be. I studied creative writing at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. From that time I concentrated on transformation.
I have learned many things about essence and form from all kinds of craftspeople and philosophers- Sufis, midwives, and finally acupuncturist and qi gong medical practitioner. Soon after I ordered my first Amazon books about acupuncture, my husband at the time took a medical residency in Boston, that was 2001. I applied to New England School of acupuncture and was accepted.
By the time I get there, I am a mother of two kids and one on the way. My youngest was born that winter with many congenital anomalies and many surgeries ahead. That is a war story, but there I was, really testing the medicine and observing the movement of the Phases, still building my own compass.
We move again. I can transfer to pcom. I’m there for years. Now I’m divorced and the Hisham needs a kidney, and this medicine healer/friends and self-cultivation practices are sustaining us throughout all of these torrential life storms.
So my path is mirroring this spiraling course, river-channel like light and dark; popping in and out of portals; times I had to wrestle these tools out of the hands of my demons. Luckily I love being exploring and being taught. It grounded my decisions in the understanding of my own nature, not an on the avoidance of pain. We are human beings, always in need of nourishment and regeneration- always will be. It’s simple and quite profound, how we find that revitalization.
Some of my colleagues’ efforts are thankfully helping to forward integrative medicine with evidence-based models. I see my purpose as one of demonstrating these tools in languages that are not necessarily scientific. I am more interested in maintaining the independence of philosophies that have been applied for generations of humanity already.
My practices are not fixed in the clinic space or orientation partly due to this mission. I have been nurtured and moved forward in my practice by quite a few spontaneous meetings, where I felt a real affinity with a variety of culture workers, traditional healers, and artist that my practice is becoming more clarified by the contribution of their light. I feel joy at being able to observe many beautiful moments of clarity and resolution.
I feel proud to be adopted in a tradition that has served in palaces; on the battlefield; in the drug recovery centers; community clinics; and the jungle with remarkable efficacy. Acupuncture is a low cost, low tech healing modality can be highly mobile and adaptable to each environment without losing efficacy. The collective energy from which momentum is sourced depends on the integration of many networks.
An alternative title for an acupuncturist could be momentum strategist. This speaks to that aspect of the practice that is really discovering how to best work with the resources a person has access to in the moment, to create balance and a situation where there could be enough to store. An acupuncturist can make a transfer of energy to a resource-scarce area that has been isolated by stagnation.
This is in part enabled by the practitioner’s cultivation of themselves, their own storage capacity. I have been fortunate enough to have access to these great contexts for self-cultivation: Root Work Gallery, Haji Healing Salon Beauty Breaks, Free Body Wellness, Five Keys Yoga, Above and Beyond Family Recovery, Wrap Your Beauty Movement, Urban Escape
Thank you, Voyage Chicago for your interest in documenting the transmutation of pain in our communities and highlighting our methods of empowering life.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Right now, I struggle with access to health maintenance and prevention… Many people come with chronic conditions that have been treated in the conventional medical way, but symptoms did not abate until acupuncture, need acupuncture twice a week, but can’t cover it.
They need more frequent visits to get the proper acupuncture dosage, but lack of insurance compliance with paying for any and all the things acupuncture can address is preventative. I started a $30 walk-in clinic on Tuesday and Thursdays from 1-5. It helps. We can’t afford to wait until all the studies have been done.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Khadijah Kysia, L.Ac – what should we know?
I’m a sole proprietor. I love doing contract work with organizations as well, especially people working with trauma. Stress and trauma are major factors that lower the bodies defense mechanisms and slows the healing process on many levels. I am known for group work, and I’m a board-certified herbalist.
What sets me apart is that I am as interested in the art of being an acupuncturist, the state in which I am performing. For me, the treatment begins with the connection.
I am proud of how people inform me of their insights as well as how their physical condition changes- how the physical extends out into making positive changes in the environment they share with others. I am excited and encouraged by the ripples.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I have a strong mind that likes to solve puzzles, but what is most important is to be able to receive the images the body-mind is presenting and learn from the person in front of me. I am required to be quieter, more humble detached- not occluded.
I think the most important thing we do as an acupuncturist is to see as much of the person as possible. There is healing value in that alone.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2618 West Divsion Chicago, IL 60622
- Website: rayjingheart.com
- Phone: 312.444.0810
- Email: info@rayjingheart.com
- Instagram: @rayjingheart
- Facebook: Facebook.com/KhadijahKysiaLAc
Image Credit:
Aya Cooke, Haji Healing Salon; Yunyi Lui, Nicole Davis
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