Here’s some great insights from Mike Biltonen (my darling husband), about his journey. 

There are times in life when things just aren’t right. Oh, sure you believe you have it all figured out, but it isn’t until that lightning bolt hits and you are shaken into a streaming light of reality that you realize how much you needed that something (or someone) to put you back on track. My lightning bolt struck about 14 years ago. It struck at a time while I was attempting to get my life back on track after a rather turbulent few years. That lightning bolt was my soul mate, guru, and soon to be wife, Debbie Lewis.

At the time, I met Debbie I was in the midst of transformational period in life. I had just moved back to New York and in attempt to get things right, I began practicing yoga, running, and paying attention to the spiritual side of myself. I didn’t realize how superficial the  things I was doing really were. In retrospect, I was doing each of these things in a very half-assed way.  I wasn’t really eating right. I was eating well, but not right. I wasn’t consistent with any of my practices whether it be jogging, yoga, or even work. I had stuck my toe in, but had refrained from diving in.

After I met Debbie, she began to teach me and lead me in the direction I needed to go. If Debbie is anything, she is consistent, so she taught me to be consistent. Although I was very much a conservationist, she taught me to be true and thorough, not superficial. She opened up the worlds of herbs and holistic medicine and helped me learn to heal myself when I was sick. She opened up new worlds and parallel universes to me in just about all aspects of my life.

On this point, I must be very clear, as it will probably end up having saved my life. I was not a particularly strong believer in western medicine, but neither was I a skeptic. Prior to meeting Debbie, whenever I was sick I would take the normal regimen of OTC drugs and cures, including antibiotics, to get better. What Debbie taught me straight out of the gate was that nature provides a better way. I guess I always knew that, but she showed me the way. In fact the first bad cold I ever had (after I met her), she cured with a potent tea of garlic, ginger, Tabasco, herbs and magic. As she described it, it scared the flu bug right out of me. But as we’ve since learned (but, as our ancestors knew all along), many of these ingredients have natural antibiotic and germ fighting properties. We just need to believe and practice and be consistent.

Since that time, nearly 14 years ago, I have sometimes fought against but always followed Debbie’s advice. And though I had been a long-time believer in the real and spiritual powers of Mother Earth, she opened up the doors and got me to lay in her arms without question of who was really in charge. Today, Debbie creates these incredible healing tinctures, salves, and teas for our family. I often question whether we should just abandon western medicine altogether given her powers. I know who’s in charge and I get to lie in her arms every night.