CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Katherine Lopez exhausted physical therapy and spinal injection pain management from 1996-2005.
The self-described 'energy intuitive' said she suffered severe PTSD after a drunk driver caused an accident that left her in and out of wheelchairs, reliant on walking aids and eventually in need of three back surgeries.
"It took a year to learn how to walk again, steadily," she said.
Her injuries also required spinal-fusion surgery that left her with titanium bars her back in 2005.
"I had PTSD after the car accident," she said. "I had a hard time being in a vehicle."
Her healing journey left her searching for alternatives to traditional medicine, she said. That's when she learned about how 'frequencies and vibrations' could restore a person's energy using sound baths -- crystal bowls which produce soothing, meditative sounds.
"I was able to heal depression, anxiety and fear," she said. "Being able to function, being able to use the meditation and being able to use the frequencies to help myself -- that's my passion, to be able to help others to heal as well."
That's why now, she and her partner host a weekly guided meditation and sound-bath session that is free for veterans and retirees at the Positive Intentions botanica at 5334 Everhart Rd, Ste 101.
The meditation group meets at 6:30 p.m. most Wednesdays.
Kristi Hatley attends those sessions and says she knows it makes a difference in her mental and spiritual health. The 20-year U.S. Navy veteran said she has been on inactive duty for 10 years, but that PTSD is still a part of her everyday life.
What is sound bath or sound healing meditation? Here's a bite-sized meditation you can check out now.
"Our mind continuously thinks," she said. "We're always on-guard with regards to (life) after being in the military."
She said the unconventional treatment has helped calm her mind, her soul and her PTSD, and thinks more veterans could benefit from knowing that it exists.
"When I leave here, I can rest better at night, I sleep better," said the mother, whose three children also have served. "I notice that when I don't come, I don't sleep very well."
Hatley said she believes the group meditation is something other veterans should keep an open mind about trying, even if it's just once.
"A lot of us experience that PTSD," she said. "There's sexual trauma within the military. There's so much that I think that this, personally, would calm them."
"I'm very calm after I do this, I notice when I'm not doing it, that my energy and anxiety is a little bit higher."
Michelle Glynn and her daughter found the group through Positive Intentions owner Victoria Prewitt years ago.
Glynn said she was drawn to the community through the authenticity of the people she met there, and the sound bath meditations quickly became an alternative to traditional therapies for her daughter's ADHD treatment.
"It's way more grounding for her than, like, any form of therapy or any kind of ADHD medicine," Glynn said. "We've learned a lot about breathing and finding yourself," she said. "It's just been so helpful for her, and also helpful for me, broadening myself as her parent."
For those who might be skeptical of alternative health, Glynn said her experiences with the group have taught her that it's not a practice that looks to influence people's current beliefs.
"I think a misconception a lot of people have is that we're trying to change something about them or go against what they already believe, and it's the opposite of that," she said. "It's what do you believe, and then finding ways to find strength in those areas, as opposed to being taught that the way you think about something is wrong."
Prewitt said she opened her store and holds events such as the midweek group meditation to help the community heal.
"It aids them and calms them down; it's helping them in their day to day lives," she said. "People from ages 8-80 come in. Veterans and even active-duty military attend. Everyone is pretty much having the same issues. I've found even in talking to folks that we're more alike than different."
As for Lopez, she said it's not a surprise that the group has attracted a wide range of attendees. She believes the alternative therapy and sound-bath meditation brings healing on an "elemental level."
"They help you with having focus, and that focus is what's going to help you have clarity for your self-awareness," she said. "For whatever trauma you're trying to heal."
It's a process she said she wishes her father, a Vietnam veteran, could have had at his disposal for his PTSD.
"I believe working with energy would have helped him, too," she said.
So in honor of that, she chooses to work with people like him and like the person who caused her years of pain, at no cost.
"Here's the level of my healing: The car accident happened because of a drunk military officer. Now I'm guiding and teaching energy healing to military veterans and enlisted personnel for free."