- Submitted by Sherri Nicholas

Ann Sheridan was an HIV clinical nurse supervisor and researcher who ran an outpatient HIV clinic for a nonprofit organization in Newark, New Jersey. Working with patients from diverse backgrounds, Ann noticed that those who sought out complementary therapies seemed to show significant improvement compared to patients just receiving conventional treatment. These non-Western types of treatment seemed, however, to be making the greatest impact on patients who were more financially well off.  

Being an inner-city nurse most of her 35 years, she was always on the look-out for therapies for people who were not so well off. Ann learned about energy medicine from Donna Eden‘s first book, Energy Medicine, when it was published in 1999. When her job became more stressful, she also used Donna’s Energy Medicine Kit to create a routine for herself before she went to work. 

 Ann would do EEM techniques with her staff before the clinic’s doors opened. Her staff recognized that their very busy clinic days were less chaotic when they all started their mornings with the blow out, zip up, and hook up. 

Ann also introduced EEM to her patients and explained how it made a difference for her. She saw patients start to realize that their diagnosis was not necessarily a death sentence when they were able to see that they could shift energy with these methods. 

But Ann’s life drastically changed on June 2, 2012, when she was in a car accident where she was hit from behind by a large Nissan SUV. She walked away but suffered multiple injuries that forced her to stop working as a nurse.  In the weeks following the accident, Ann struggled with dizziness, double vision, and short-term memory loss, and she no longer was able to multitask. She became a recipient of the healthcare system that she had worked in her whole life.

After exhausting many conventional treatments, Ann sought help from Lisa Buford, an advanced Eden Energy Medicine Practitioner, because the energy exercises seemed to be making a difference every day. Lisa evaluated her and and modified her energy exercises based on this assessment.

When modifications were made to the homolateral-repatterning exercise, for instance, Ann felt an immediate shift. Her head felt clearer, and she knew it was possible to get her life back. Relieved and elated, Ann decided to enroll that same year in the local Eden Energy Medicine Foundations program being taught by Lisa.

The stresses of life did not, however, stop there. The next few years brought major changes and more stress. But attending Foundations (the first year of the two-year Eden Energy Medicine Certification Program) in 2014 gave focus, purpose, and empowerment in her recovery. After completing Year One, Ann knew she needed to continue on to Year Two and become an Eden Energy Medicine Certified Practitioner so she could reinvent her life and continue to serve by teaching what she was learning.

Sherri Nicholas is Ann’s life partner of 30 years. Sherri is a massage therapist and has worked in orthopedic physical therapy. She also had been using Eden Energy Medicine during the same time frame as Ann, but in her massage practice.

Sherri went through the Foundations Program in 2014 and both decided to go on to Year Two in 2015. However, without the income from Ann’s nursing job, finances presented a barrier. Thankfully, through the generous donations from the Scholarship Fund and the EEM Community, Sherri and Ann were able to enroll in year two together.

But their story does not end there.

During their Foundations year in 2014, Ann’s brother and sister-in-law tragically died, and Sherri’s father was diagnosed with leukemia and eventually passed at home with hospice. The EEM Community they were now a part of became their support system and family.

 As Ann went through Foundations and Certification, they realized her ability to hold on to information and learn had changed drastically. Ann was frustrated and disappointed, but Sherri began to draw the Eden Energy Medicine concepts so Ann could see the information in pictures, instead of only pages of words, in order to remember better. 

It wasn’t until 2017 that Ann was finally diagnosed with fourth and sixth nerve palsy. This diagnosis explained more specifically why her eyes, her brain, her learning, and her reading abilities had all changed. Ann did complete Year Two with the help of Sherri‘s energy illustrations (aka “sherridoodles”).

The story goes on.

In 2016, after graduating from the Certification Program, Sherri fell, hit her head, and suffered a concussion. The resulting loss of their second income started them down the road of losing their home to foreclosure and moving in with Sherri’s mother.

Sherri enrolled into the Doodle Institute to learn how to focus her energy drawings so she could share her depictions of energy medicine to a wider audience. Since the drawings helped Ann learn easier, and drawing helped Sherri feel calmer and think clearer, they both began to see the mission that was unfolding.