3 Lessons from the Gate

 

 

Brat-o-Gram received 😂

 

Happy evening to you, sunshines! I hope you are enjoying the spring preview we are getting  😎🌱

 

I feel like I haven’t talked to you in forever!

 

Last week was a pretty crazy week for me, beginning with my flight from Denver to Chicago last Monday at 5:30AM (necessitating a 2:45AM wakeup! 😴😱😩)

 

And when I got back here last Monday after being in Colorado for the Transformational Gate with Donny Epstein, I hit the ground running. I never even had time to share much with you about my experience!

 

And now that I’m FINALLY sitting down to do some writing, I am feeling a little overwhelmed because there is SO MUCH I could say!

 

This February was my 13th time at the weekend-long healing event, that attracts hundreds of people from all over the world.

 

(If you have no idea what I’m talking about right now, I have some helpful links about The Gate in my last email to you).

 

And it’s not just for Network Spinal practitioners! You CAN go with me next year if you like 👯‍♀️

 

Here are my top 3 lessons from the event this year:

 

Express yourself

 

To begin, let’s rewind back to one month ago.

 

In January when you “apply” to go the Gate, you are required to fill out some questionnaires.

 

Answering questions such as “Why do you want to go to the Gate?” and “Please share anything relevant about your health or healing in the past year” give you a chance to reflect and set some intentions for yourself.

 

Supposedly Donny and his staff read all of the questionnaires.

 

I could have easily given a breezy, surface-level answer to these questions and left it at that.

 

After all, I’m a practitioner and I would be attending my 13th Gate, do I really need to share some big deep reason for going? Maybe i just want to be part of the group and see my friends!

 

But instead, I found that I had something bubbling up inside of me that would not be denied. I knew that I needed to be honest and truthful about some problems I was having, and how that left me feeling about some of Donny’s teachings and the Network Spinal community 💥

 

This is personal, so I won’t go into the detail here, but on the questionnaire I shared with Donny and his staff about some major health and life challenges I have had in the last year.

 

And I expressed that these experiences have contributed to doubts that I have about Network Spinal– the work itself and the community around it. I didn’t mince words. I hope you aren’t too shocked to read that I have felt that way and told Donny and the Network higher ups 😐

 

I understand that not everyone shares my compulsion to express their thoughts and individuality.

 

For example, after I submitted the questionnaire online, I shared my responses with my husband (who thinks very differently from me in such things) and he was pretty shocked (in fact, he referred to my transmission as my “brat-o-gram” 😂😂😂)

 

I, on the other hand, felt completely at peace and aligned in what I had shared 💗✨☀️

 

That is until moments after entering the adjusting room on the first morning of the Gate. . . 😱

 

It’s a small, small, world

 

8 Days ago, last Saturday morning, I walked into the adjusting room on the first morning of the Gate.

 

Picture this– a huge hotel ballroom with several dozen chiropractic adjusting tables in a huge circle.

 

The tables are full of people receiving care from the staff. Around the edges of the room are chairs filled with people who are waiting to get on a table or who just got off of a table. There are also people sitting on the floor. People are talking quietly, and there is music playing over the speakers.

 

It was my first of what would be 5 Network Spinal adjustments that I would be receiving at the Gate.

 

As I normally do upon entering the room, I walked around the perimeter of the room to look for people I know and to decide what table I wanted to get on 🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️

 

I had almost made 1 full lap around the room when I made eye contact with someone I recognized.

 

Recognizing other participants is obviously not going to be unusual for me at this event; I personally know, or at least recognize, a large percentage of people at the Gate. Me and this person smiled at each other and I stopped to talk to him.

 

That’s when I realized who it was I was stopping to talk to. It wasn’t another Network doctor. It wasn’t someone else I knew from the world of Network and Donny Epstein.

 

It was someone I NEVER EVER EVER would have expected to see at this event. It was someone that I used to date, just before I started dating my now-husband Josh 😱

 

This person is NOT a fellow chiropractor. And they live in Chicago (and to remind you this was happening in Denver). And I hadn’t seen him in years. I was COMPLETELY THROWN OFF 😱😱😱

 

We exchanged a few pleasantries, which I now don’t really remember, and then he left the room with the last of the people in his group (there are 2 groups at the Gate and he was not in my group but the other group).

 

I felt like I had seen a ghost. As I stood there, literally shaking and not knowing what to make of the whole situation, Darius, Donny’s main underling, came running up to me.

 

“Katie, get on any table. Donny wants to see you first.” 😱😯🤯

 

It’s happening for a reason

 

So there I was, trying to figure out what the eff was going on and why this person from my past was at The Gate, and now I suddenly find out Donny wants to see me right off the bat.

 

It’s regarded as special, if Donny wants to work with you. He doesn’t work with everyone ✨✨✨

 

Sometimes, as he walks around the room at the Gate he will just kind of zero in on someone he wants to work with and take over the adjusting for the doctor on staff.

 

Other times, he sees something on your questionnaire that you filled out ahead of time that makes him zero in on you.

 

It was then that I realized that Donny probably had something to say about my dramatic (and inflammatory?) statements on my pre-Gate questionnaires. The Brat-o-Gram had been received 😱😨😭

 

I waited for about 10 minutes, feeling more panicked with each passing moment.

 

As Donny walked up to my table I instantly (to my horror!) started CRYING 😂🙏😂

 

Bringing it home

 

As I realize I must wrap up this blog (I told you I was overwhelmed because there is SO MUCH to share!) I will cut to the chase and tell you that my experience with Donny was AMAZING 💥💥💥

 

He’s worked with me many times over the years, including last year in February of 2023, also at the first session at that Gate💥

 

This was by far the best experience I have ever had with Donny; both in terms of our conversation and in the work he did with me.

 

So let it be a lesson to you– EXPRESS YOURSELF. Even if it’s a “brat-o-gram,” it might be just the brat-o-gram that is needed to move healing and life forward 💗☀️🌍✨🌀

 

(And even if the brat-o-gram would happen to be for me and about my care. Get it all out in the open! I’ll hold space for you 😍)

 

My second big lesson to share is that it is a SMALL FREAKIN’ WORLD. I did end up finding out the reasons why my Ex was at the Gate, some of which were actually very mundane and “reasonable.”

 

But the larger truth is that, as BJ Palmer one of the original creators of chiropractic once said, “You may never know what something you may think, say, or do today will affect the lives of millions tomorrow.” ✨🙏✨

 

It takes my breath away to think of the opportunity each of us have to make a difference in the world, me through providing this care and you through what you do. We are truly each a cell in the body of humanity.

 

And we must never forget that there is a magic that is constantly working and bringing together the exact people and situations that the world needs for healing and evolution.

 

There’s a reason why I have stayed practicing this work and part of this Network Spinal community all these years 💗

 

And I know there is a reason why you are connected to me and why you are reading this email! ✨✨✨

 

I am so grateful for you and look forward to seeing you for your care with me this week 💖