Katie Fasciano shares her journey as a Seimei practitioner, inspired by her daughter's cancer diagnosis. Facing this challenge, Katie learned to rely on her network for support and discovered Seimei, a Japanese healing practice. She emphasizes the importance of listening to your inner knowing when exploring new paths and finding parallels between past experiences and future opportunities. Katie's story illustrates how personal tragedies can lead to a life of purpose and healing.
Katie Fasciano is a trained level four Seimei practitioner and author. Katie leads workshops for nonprofits and corporations as well as providing sessions to individuals, to help them relieve physical and emotional symptoms, both chronic and acute.
Katie shares her transformative journey following her daughter Elizabeth's cancer diagnosis. Katie discusses her upbringing, her conventional career path, and how it shifted drastically when faced with her daughter's illness.
She explains how she stumbled upon Seimei, a Japanese healing practice, which not only gave her hope but also steered her into a new career path. Katie's story highlights the power of inner knowing, the importance of community support, and the unexpected parallels between her past profession and her current role as a practitioner.
Katie's experience reveals how personal tragedies can redefine one's notion of success and lead to a life of purpose and healing.
“I didn't have time, in my opinion, to research this thing.... anything. So thankfully that friend told me: Seimei and I went that night to check it out. I walked into the room and I had this inner knowing I was home, and I felt enveloped in love in the room and I was like, wow, what is this?” - Katie Fasciano
Some takeaways:
-Learn to lean on your network. Katie shared that her life changed when her young daughter, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with cancer. Katie had always been self-reliant, paying her way through college, and at times working both a full AND part-time job. As a result of her daughter’s diagnosis, she became a full-time caregiver and had to learn to reach out to her network for both emotional as well as financial help.
-When you are researching new ideas, notice your inner knowing in addition to your outer knowing. After her daughter’s cancer came back a third time, Katie decided to see if there was something else out there that could complement the traditional medicine her daughter was receiving. She attended an open night to learn about Seimei, and immediately felt an inner knowing, a feeling of being enveloped by love upon walking into the room.
-Notice the parallels between roles you’ve played, and new roles you’re considering. Katie had been a CPA professionally for many years. She noted the parallel between the level of detail required for that role, and the level of detail required to be a Seimei practitioner. She also mentioned the similarities between Roman Catholicism, the religion she practices, and some rituals of Seimei, which is a Japanese way of healing.
About the Guest:
Katie is a trained Level IV Seimei practitioner. Her training took place in America and Japan, where she received the Awarding of Power Ceremony at the Houjyushu Houjyukai Temple in the Seimei headquarters, Saga, Japan. As a member of the Board of Directors and the Event Coordinator of the Seimei Foundation USA, Katie keeps herself very involved with the Seimei community. Katie has a private practice, “Seimei Healing”, located in Westwood, NJ, where she works with her clients, both in-person and long-distance. She also offers Seimei demonstrations and workshops for her clients, organizations, and corporations. Katie continues to increase her knowledge of Seimei through classes and workshops held at the Seimei Foundation.
Website: www.seimeihealing.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/katiefasciano
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/seimeihealing
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katiefasciano
Katie's book on Amazon: Never Give Up Hope: The Little Girl Who Changed The World
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Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment or financial advice. It’s for informational purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information. financial advice. It’s for informational purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.
Katie Fasiano
I didn't have time in my opinion to research this thing, anything. So thankfully that friend told me, see me. And I, I went that night to check it out and I walked into the room and I was like, I had this inner knowing I was home and I felt enveloped in love in the room. And I was like, wow. What is this?
Narrator
Welcome to making change with your money, a podcast that highlights the stories and strategies of women who experienced a big life transition and overcame challenges as they redefined financial success for themselves. Now here's your host certified financial planner.
Laura Rotter
I am so excited to have as my guest today, Katie Fasiano.
Katie is a holistic practitioner and she's a new author. She's a trained Level 4 Seme practitioner. And Katie will share with us how she came to this practice, which helps with physical and emotional symptoms. for both chronic and acute conditions. So welcome Katie to the making change with your money podcast.
Katie Fasiano
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Laura Rotter
It should be fun. So Katie, I'm going to start with the question I always do, which is what was money like in your family growing up? What was money like?
Katie Fasiano
That's a good question. You stumped me right away. What was it like? I guess it's part of a, how do you call it? Beginning to an end? Like a, you know, like it's part of life.
Laura Rotter
You need it. So it sounds like you and your family sort of took money for granted. It wasn't something you really thought about or got clear messages about from your parents. Is that what you're saying?
Katie Fasiano
That we took it for granted? No.
Hmm. What did we do with it?
It was, you know, very practical, you need to go out there and, you know, have a job or a career or a company and you, you make your money and so that you can pay your bills, you know, just, you know, I guess the, I would say the, the regular kind of thing that people. You know, think about, yes, you need, you need to have a job to, to, or, or have a business to raise money to be able to take care of your, your bills.
Laura Rotter
Were you expected when you were younger to have a job either to contribute to the family or to have your own spending money, whether to babysit or mow lawns, or was there any expectation that you should be earning money before you were a young adult? Yes.
Katie Fasiano
I'm going to say no expectation, but I had quite a drive to make money.
Laura Rotter
Interesting. Yes. And so what kind of odd jobs do you remember your first job?
Katie Fasiano
Oh, sure. My very first job was I helped across the street to a woman that had gone blind later in her life. So I helped around the house with chores and paperwork.
Laura Rotter
Ah. That's interesting because it's reminding me that I actually, there was a woman I lived in an apartment building who, an older woman who had lost her eyesight and I would go to her apartment.
I would read to her and I would help her dial family members phone numbers for her to have a phone call.
Laura Rotter
Wow. We started out similar
Katie Fasiano
Look at that.
Laura Rotter
And so in the same way that there wasn't an expectation for you, you had an inner drive to earn money. Was there an expectation that you remember about what level of education you'd obtain?
Katie Fasiano
Hmm. I don't feel like my parents put the pressure on me for that. But again, I felt the drive of Oh, in my head, everyone went to college. So I will go to college too. And once I got to college, I said, well, I'm not stopping now. I want to tick off all these other things because I had something in the back of my head that said, well, once you stop, you won't go back.
So. You know, I did my undergrad. I got a job, but then did my CPA and then did my master's degree in taxation. So I, I did a lot of bells and whistles for, for my undergrad and graduate and, and having my CPA.
Laura Rotter
So Katie, for someone who didn't really think about money, you were clearly interested in numbers.
Katie Fasiano
Yes. Yes.
Laura Rotter
How did that come about?
I actually thought of becoming, I was interested in numbers and I, I liked the certainty of it until I got to college and had been majoring in math and realized that that was not for me. Became philosophy and so was no longer interested. I thought of becoming a CPA until I heard of the two years of auditing that one needed to do.
And so I, I thought twice about it, but what drew you to become a CPA?
Katie Fasiano
Because of when I was doing my undergrad, I worked full time and I went to school at night for the majority of the time and the job that I was able to get through a different job that I had in high school through a connection was at an accounting firm, and I thought to myself, well, I You know, I always knew I wanted to do business.
I just didn't know what to specialize in. And when I came across that accounting job, I thought this is good enough. Pay the bills. There was no love, no passion, but it was, this is practical. Yeah. Let me do this.
Laura Rotter
So I'm hearing that certainly when you were younger, you were quite practical. I mean, how did you, why did you decide to do your BA at night?
Again, as representing yourself as someone who didn't think about money, why were you working full time?
Katie Fasiano
When I was in high school, I saved lots of money. And together with my parents, we went through my money and what they could do. For one of their children you know they had more than one to think about so the monies they had and the money i had saved got me through a year and a half of college full time and then they posted to me they said katie you could get some loans.
You could keep going full time. And I said to myself, I don't want loans. I could do this differently. So I recrafted my journey to work full time so that I, in the moment, paid each and every semester as needed with the income I was earning. So it's very satisfying to be able to not have any loans and to just pay off as I went.
Laura Rotter
Thank you so much for sharing that. And I will say as someone who's getting to know you from your first reaction to the question, which with no basis makes me think that you grow up pretty affluent because you never thought about money. And now I'm learning that you, you thought quite a lot of bad money and you had a concept that you didn't want loans, which certainly not every 20 or so year old even knows what a loan is.
So. I don't know how it was communicated to you, perhaps you do, but money was something you were quite aware of, and there was some…
Katie Fasiano
Yes, uh, you know, just hearing the question without the expectation of the question, you know, I guess it just takes some time, and you are very good at questioning and bringing out more details from it.
Laura Rotter
So, I knew you to have started your career as a CPA and what did you like about it? What didn't you like about it?
Katie Fasiano
Well, my only experience upon graduating with my accounting degree was at a corporate company, a corporate fortune 500 company. And what did I like about it? I found, I, I went straight into the tax department and I started with state and local tax.
So it was, uh, doing sales tax returns and property tax returns and audits. And this was interesting to me. I did enjoy it. Eventually the company outsourced that department. So I was thankfully given another job. Not everyone was, and my job was in the federal tax department. And. I would say again, it was, it was fascinating.
I was mostly working as the liaison with the IRS. So it was fascinating, but I did find it a little bit tricky because we were going back many years and to have to pull out storage boxes and try to lean on field people to give me information ended up being quite difficult. I was not getting the information that I needed.
So I started liking the job less and less because I, I couldn't, I needed to count on too many others for the information I needed to do my job well. And I did my job and I reached out and, but it was tedious and, and sometimes difficult to get the information that I needed.
Laura Rotter
What I love hearing from you though, is that until, you know, You needed to rely on getting historical information and on others.
How interesting tax work can be and only now in my life do I understand that to be the case. Laws are always changing. It is very interesting when When you're not involved in taxes and numbers, you might think, Oh my God, that sounds so dry. How would you find it interesting? And to realize that there's a bit of creativity involved in taxes or a lot of creativity, as I see you shaking your head and, and that it is always changing.
And so you're learning new things and. I was going to say, you're also dealing with different people. You were in house at a corporation. So I don't know how much that was the case.
Katie Fasiano
All right. I, I never did individual taxation or, you know, independent separate corporations. I was always in house. So yes, it was more dealing with personnel within the company.
Laura Rotter
Yes. So what was your next step once you got frustrated by the role as a liaison with the IRS?
Katie Fasiano
Well, actually, it never came to that. There were frustrating moments, but never closure to that, per se, in that respect. That's not why I stepped away from my job. This other, now new life, per se? New career that I have him at actually not even at the end of my corporate career, maybe about eight years into that 10 year career, my eldest daughter at 13 months old was diagnosed with cancer.
I then, upon that diagnosis, took a family leave. She battled for, let's call it about nine months. Thankfully, went into remission. I returned to corporate. I was only at corporate maybe seven months. When cancer came again when she was two years old and at that point I needed to take another family leave My corporate job was very generous They allowed those two leaves and that second leave was far longer than probably even By the books that should have been but they had huge hearts and they allowed me to go on a very long leave Right.
Absolutely. I see you, you know, feeling that, you know, I, I was very blessed with the people I was working with and, and the support they were giving me, but practicality came in and they, after over a year of me being on that second leave, a much longer leave, they kind of told me, HR called and said, you need to return all of your This Friday.
It was a couple days later.
Laura Rotter
Wow. Yeah, that was sensitive.
Katie Fasiano
Right? That wasn't my that wasn't perfect. There is a little pre story to that, but there was abruptness because I didn't know there was a date looming that they wanted me back. But my calculation was different. So. The HR calling me to say, oh, I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday of the week, come back this Friday or you lose your job.
You know, like, you have a decision to make and it just happened to be that that Friday was a clinic day for my daughter at the hospital. So, it was lose my job or get back, you know, like, lose my job. If I don't go, if I choose to go to the hospital or, or go back to work that Friday and. I, I just, in my head, it was, there was not a decision, like I chose my daughter, like, I mean, yes, it's a decision, but like, it was not something that gave me pause because my daughter had to come first in my mind.
In that case, she was still recovering. She was through the treatments, but she was still recovering, still fragile. And I needed to at least be with her for another month or two before I would have considered getting back to work.
Laura Rotter
So it sounds like the abruptness of the notice made it an even easier decision than, perhaps it might have been anyway, but it was so clear that that was not something you were going to be able to do.
Katie Fasiano
Right. Yes, absolutely. That maybe was a blessing in disguise that it, you know, didn't, you know, I was expecting another date to return. And in my mind, I was going to return, like, you know, I didn't not think I wasn't going to return. I had returned the other time, you know, like, so it was like, You know, but again, it just the, the timing of it and the calculation that was off between myself and the HR, you know, I guess, yes, made for an easier, quicker decision because I, I wanted to be by my daughter's side that day in the hospital, you know, you just, uh, you know, I had already been through a lot with her and you just never knew how the blood counts would come back and what the, you know, the next something, you know, You know, that might have stirred up and and truly, I'm glad that I did end up picking my daughter because that was a long, much longer remission.
But the cancer came back a 3rd time. But this time I was, I was there as 100 percent just the caregiver, like the full caregiver, not counting on the babysitters or family members watching her. On me watching her and so a few years later when cancer came back, you know, I was there and you know, didn't have to arrange with work or, or any of that.
I just was honed in on that caregiver status. And, and, you know, when the cancer came a 3rd time, she now had 2 younger sisters. So I wasn't just caring for her. But also caring for her little sisters as well.
Laura Rotter
Can I assume there was a spouse involved? Was your husband around also helping out both financially as well as?
Katie Fasiano
Emotionally, at the time I was married. Yes, with, you know, with a husband and he absolutely was helping with the financial and, you know, and on that 3rd battle, it came to it that we've reached out to the community. We had a situation with insurance that insurance told us that this chemotherapy Elizabeth needed to be on was not.
Specific to her cancer, so they weren't going to cover it and it was over 6, 000 a month, which was beyond our means on top of all normal expenses. We swung that 1st month, but we started getting swallowed by these costs really fast. So thankfully, a friend that also had had a child battle cancer said.
Convinced me of the fact you need to reach out. You need to get, you know, like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We ended up finding a charity that helped us with the reach out to the community. So friends, families, and total stranger started helping. And thankfully, a few months later, we had a family friend that was in the insurance business and he knew how to appeal these kinds of things.
And it got denied in the first appeal, but then we, they told us we had a 50 50 chance to appeal it to the state of New Jersey, where I live. Thankfully, it was approved at that time, so they did retroactively pay those claims.
Laura Rotter
Wow.
Katie Fasiano
Yes, yes, which was wonderful.
Laura Rotter
Which is an example of how important it is. To use your network, to not try to go through things on your own and to reach out for support, which is not always easy to do. And so.
Katie Fasiano
Absolutely. Yes,
I mean, it really this this journey really humbled me and and I was as as you kind of heard early on. I was a person that took it on my own to pay for things, you know, like I didn't mind. I mean, at times I would have a full time job and a part time job. To make sure that I had over and above what I needed so at this point where I gave up my job, I'm the caregiver, you know, and yes, we have the income from Ben, my husband, it wasn't enough to try to then supplement another 6000 a month for the few months before.
We did get that gift of insurance getting overruled by the state, but, but, you know, it, it took a, it, it took a massive, there was a massive financial hit to us in all these years that she was battling because many of those years we, we took it on our own backs, whether, you know, however, we needed to, to pay what we had to for the things insurance didn't cover and whatnot.
Laura Rotter
Yeah. And what I'm hearing is. Of course, it's such a massive financial expense to shoulder treatment of cancer and also a shift in your own identity as someone who never relied on other people financially and to being a caregiver, which, as we hear the rest of your journey. You ultimately embraced, I don't know what it was like at the beginning,
But it was, it was rough at the beginning.
It was rough to try to make amends in my head to, to do that, reach out to the community. But I, I have to say that it was very. The thing that helped convince me to be willing to do it was the friend that I had that also had the child going through cancer, or had gone through cancer, and she herself had reached out to her community when the child was going through cancer.
So it, it, I guess I'll say normalized it. It's not a very normal thing. Thankfully that children have cancer, but to hear that another mother. Had done the same in kind of the same situation helped me to start coming around to the idea. Yeah.
Laura Rotter
Thank you for sharing that. So please tell us about your journey to help your daughter with Seimei and then how that's continued.
Katie Fasiano
Yeah, so it was that third battle with cancer that brought a new awareness to my thinking as well. I hadn't considered really any alternative treatments the first two battles. We went total traditional chemotherapy, radiation, whatever gyrations it was in those years. We still were doing that traditional medicine this third go round, but her cancer was very aggressive.
Her statistics, which we never wanted to know in the moment, but the statistics for a stage four brain tumor. Very rare one that she had was very, very low of survival. So in my mind, her third battle with the same cancer, you know, the statistics were little to none that she would survive by then, in my opinion.
And so it allowed me to shift the way I was thinking about it. And I said, there must be something else out there that could blend nicely compliment the traditional medicine. I was taking my daughter, Elizabeth to therapy for. Physical occupational speech from all the different trauma stuff she had medically and there was a lovely woman that I knew there that was taking her son for other purposes to those therapy appointments and I just asked her one day she was doing a lot of alternative things and I asked what she was doing and she had tried lots of things but that day.
What she told me was, I do this thing called Seimei, and they have an open night tonight for the public. Why don't you come by? I said, okay. Why not? Like, life was so busy. Now, unfortunately, again, with cancer and so many hospital and doctors and therapy appointments, etc. I didn't have time, in my opinion, to research this thing, anything.
So, thankfully, that friend told me Seimei. And I, I went that night to check it out and I walked into the room and I was like, I had this inner knowing I was home and I felt enveloped in love in the room. And I was like, wow, what is this? You know, this was not a normal reaction when I would walk into a room to have these feelings and, you know, it began there and a few weeks in, we had been going quite often.
They decided to focus on to help her to walk and run better. Her very first surgery left her hemiplegic. So she was paralyzed on the right side of her body. Thankfully, all these therapies we were going to helped. Get her back to walking, but it was never fluid. So that day at same, they said, well, we'll help her to walk and run better.
And I said, great, let's do it. She sat down in that chair. She got some same. And then they said, okay, Elizabeth, go run around the room. And it was the most beautiful. She'd ever walked or run in her entire life. She was a 6 year old at that point. And it was that that moment. It was like, okay. Where do I learn this and how fast can I learn it?
Like I don't want to just come here once or twice a week to get someone to work on her. I want to learn it for myself so that I can work as many times a day as possible. And luckily I signed up for the next class two months later. And that was January of 2012. So we're 12 years later. I have been studying ever since it's, it's a continuous education through your life as much as you choose to do.
And I do choose to do it weekly, sometimes biweekly. I do education with it.
Laura Rotter
Wow. So I'm curious. I'm picturing like when you walked in through how many people were there. And the practitioners, are they local or they, I mean, what was this like?
Katie Fasiano
Yeah, so I would say there was probably about 20 people in the room.
Okay. My friend was there with her son, her, that had his own things, not cancer, but, Definitely reasons that he needed same as well and so she was there and at least I knew someone there, but the rest of the room were strangers, which, you know, was a little bit intimidating because I'm more of an introverted person, but those, those, those feelings that I had, you know, like, allowed me to proceed into the room to explore it.
And there were members, you know, from like young twenties to eighties. And you asked, where are they located? I would say somewhere as local as five minutes down the road to a couple hours away. The practitioners or the attendees or, or, or are they? Well, I was talking about the practitioners, the attendees, it depends on the day who was there.
But yes, people come from a distance come, you know, they, they don't mind to drive quite a bit to get there.
Laura Rotter
And I'm curious, do you find like you clearly started as an attendee hiring other practitioners to work with your daughter and then became a practitioner yourself for lack of another way to ask it is that common or or or or not that's that's sort of
Katie Fasiano
Not too much, not too common. Not too common. I think we do have it happen where people do come for sessions or receive sessions this can be done from a distance also so I've had it where clients of mine have wanted to learn it and have so it's wonderful both in person experiences and remote experiences have driven people to make that choice to learn it for themselves.
Laura Rotter
So that leads into the other question that's coming up for me, Katie, which is. What parallels, if any, do you see between your becoming a CPA and becoming a Seimei practitioner in skills or characteristics in you that drew you to both? I'm wondering if you see any. Well,
Katie Fasiano
I do see parallels in my life, interestingly enough.
Uh, respect. Relating to the accounting part, it's very detail oriented. The accounting and same a. It's so incredible. Some of the very basic lessons, I will go to those lessons of the newer, younger students, and I've helped to assist in the teaching of those lessons now, and change it. Every single time there's nuances and more detail to pick up with each and every time you rehear let's say the same lesson but it's a deeper understanding every time i hear it so so that detail orientate.
Detailed oriented accountant leads to a detail oriented same a practitioner so that that I feel is mirrored and an interesting little thing of when I was that full time college student at the very beginning, one of my roommates for a semester was a woman that came over as an exchange student from Japan.
And it was like, wow, like, that was the only exchange student that I had as a roommate. And it was like, wow, like, that was the only exchange student that I had as a roommate. It was a Japanese woman and then go figure, you know, how many years later I should adopt into my life a lot more Japanese culture and understanding and words, even through the practice.
We have some Japanese words that we speak and, you know, to me that that was another echoing of, you know, of similarities from prior to same a to now with same a. And also I feel the religion that I am has a lot of, what do you call it? I don't know what you call it. I see a reflection of my religion to the The practices, I guess, of my religion, and then when you come to the spiritual practice of Seimei, there are different things that we do in practice with Seimei, and for me, I really like to lean into the ritual of, of it too, like the, and also the Japanese culture with, they're, they're very ceremonious or ritual based, like, you know, I think of like a, a tea ceremony.
In Japan, they is absolutely beautiful and so sacred in its own right. And I feel like, yes, I feel a sacredness from my religion. I feel a sacredness from the spiritual practice.
Laura Rotter
I love that. Can you share what religion you practice that you feel the parallel? Roman Catholic. Roman Catholic. Yes. A lot of rituals.
And I'm wondering for our listeners, if you could share what you think might be helpful. I'm thinking of maybe some rituals you do or anything that you think would help our listeners understand a more of what it is that Seimei is, what you're doing.
Katie Fasiano
So there's a chant that we do, and that's about a 30 minute chant, all in Japanese.
And that's, uh, to me like, you know, it's a repetitious thing. We do it the same each time. And that's like, you know, as a Catholic saying the Hail Mary, you know, kind of thing, not, you know, different because one's a religion, one's a spiritual practice, but But it's, it's got a common thread to it.
Laura Rotter
And are you chanting before you start at, while you're doing something?
When, when are you chanting?
Katie Fasiano
Actually, it's totally different. And it's not a mandatory thing. Nothing's mandatory with Seimei, which is lovely. We have some members with That just they don't resonate with it. So they choose not to do it.
Laura Rotter
Right. And you resonate with it.
Katie Fasiano
I do again, because, as I said, like, this is what I've grown up, you know, I've grown up with Catholicism with such ritual and and things that you do that.
It just kind of, feels comfortable to be doing a chant. Yes, I mean, that's very much like Japanese and it's like, what in the world? I don't even know how to say these words, but you know, the practice that you do daily. Just becomes, I'll say ingrained within me, at least it became ingrained within me, and just kind of, like I said, like I say prayers with my Catholicism, I chant along with, uh, with the Seimei.
Laura Rotter
It does resonate with me. I, I grew up going to synagogue regularly and still do, though my theology in some ways has shifted, but I do love ritual. There's a real strong place in my life for ritual. And so then when I've practiced yoga with teachers who chant at the beginning, I would recognize that other New Yorkers felt uncomfortable with the chant.
I'm like, I'm down. It's in a language, it's in Sanskrit. I may not know it, but the, the concept of the repetition and the, the non linear mind being activated very much resonates.
Katie Fasiano
Wow.
Thank you for sharing that. I didn't realize that that would also be a nice hearing in the Jewish religion as well.
Katie Fasiano
Yes, definitely. If you're someone who's gone to traditional prayer all your life, there are prayers that, you know, are very, very common. Perhaps we might change melodies, but very common. So, Again, I'd love you to talk more to the extent. I don't know. I know when we met the first time you actually did a little practice with me, but to perhaps talk about who you enjoy working with, and maybe the differences that you see that it makes.
Oh, and now I'm sorry to interrupt. I will repeat that question. But I was also wondering, as you've talked about your spirituality, do you feel that, you know, this was meant to be in a way? Is that something that resonates with you that because you shared about your Japanese roommate that…
Katie Fasiano
I think that life has a way to maybe, maybe I would call it like little winks, little, little hints in that path.
Yeah, I, I certainly didn't know any better when I was engaging with my Japanese roommate that I have to admit was. You know, the, the easiest roommate of, of my three in school, but who would have bunk like to, and, and gosh, I knew nothing about childhood cancer. So to me, you know, specifically childhood cancer, I wouldn't have seen that.
necessarily remembered anything in my earlier life that would have given me, given me a hint. But I did have an instance when, when my daughter was only a week and a half old, I brought her to mass for the first time. And I was looking in the bulletin, like it's a, like a newsletter kind of thing that is put out every week at church.
And I looked and I saw there's an Elizabeth ministry. Oh, I got really excited. I'm like something in Elizabeth's name. Well, then come to read what the ministry was for. The ministry was for children that were miscarriaged or stillborn. And I, I had the instance in my head saying, Oh my gosh, did I name Elizabeth the wrong name?
Does this mean she's going to die? Now to me, That was, you know, a little unfortunate. moment of perhaps I feel like, okay, brace yourself. Like this is your, your first hint in this might be a difficult road ahead of you. So Katie,
Laura Rotter
Who do you enjoy working with and how do you work with them?
Katie Fasiano
Uh, yes. So the people I relate to the most and work with the most are cancer patients, both adult and children.
But I also give a focus to those with chronic illnesses, things that are hard to be treated or not able to be treated by traditional medicine, because I find those individuals really have searched And looks for solutions and haven't found very many good solutions where same a is able to help in those cases.
Sometimes it's, it's to help slow down the situation. Sometimes it's stabilizing it for years when, when doctors say, no, that trajectory is only going to get worse and worse. And we see stability with those chronic issues. So those are, those are, I would say the, the strongest and most frequent of clients that I work with.
Laura Rotter
Thank you. And when you say stability, is it stability of symptoms such as pain? I know we did a brief session when we first met for, you know, I have a chronic back pain. So is it stability of symptoms or, or other things as well?
Katie Fasiano
So yes, stability of symptoms. If you say, And as well, I would also include in that there is a component, both of physical and emotional every time I work with someone, one of my very first clients said to me, I would love to come twice a week if I could, because I feel so peaceful and calm after the sessions, but you spoke about your back at the time she was dealing with the back thing.
And then, you know, eventually that resolved, thankfully, and she stayed on for maintenance after that. For emotional maintenance as well as? Physical. Yes, emotional and physical maintenance. And, you know, so that that condition of the back didn't start up again. You know, there's so many factors, you know, to us as humans where if you have a stressful job, that's going to have a continuum.
If unfortunately, you don't have the healthiest of eating habits that could continue or perpetuate. A situation in your body, there's all sorts of things are, you know, life events that have happened in good or bad ways can can throw you again into perhaps. You know, a chronic thing that stirs back up, but if you're doing that maintenance of same a, you know, typically I advise weekly sessions of same a, you have that continuum and that base there that if, and when something stirs up in your life, you, you have a stronger foundation to manage through that.
Laura Rotter
Thank you.
So what I'm hearing is when you're meeting with people, you're meeting at least once a week. Is that correct?
Katie Fasiano
Once a week, or sometimes it's every two weeks. Okay. And it depends on the person.
Laura Rotter
And how long is each session?
Katie Fasiano
They're about an hour. About an hour.
Laura Rotter
And are there practices, I mean, I'm, you know, it's not PT, I'm imagining, right, PT, you might be giving exercises to do in between, as that's, would say may also have.
Exercises more emotional, perhaps, or?
Katie Fasiano
I guess the short answer is not necessarily, but there are tools that I teach in workshops. And I also teach to my clients of things. You can do it on your own to help support you in between sessions. So that's that's part of the teachings that I do with my clients.
So there there is things they can do. But again, that's, you know, to each and every person. And do they have time to do these kind of things? You know, certainly if they do, progress can be faster.
Laura Rotter
Thank you. So, Katie, as we get towards the end of our conversation, I always like to ask, as someone who was a CPA and very much changed her life, how has your definition of success?
And that could also be financial success, but not necessarily.
Katie Fasiano
Yeah. So success. I mean, the first thing I would think is I found my way. I was lost when I first went to college. I knew that I wanted to be in business, but they didn't know what. And it just happened to be that I stumbled across that accounting job to get me through the rest of college.
So I just kind of did it as a kind of a default for accounting. And. It was always math was the easier subject for me. So interesting. So for me, it also made sense from that perspective, from the math perspective, then go figure here, fast forward. Now I've, I've written a book. So I'm dabbling into the subject matter.
That was not as familiar or comfortable back in school days. What's the name of your book? My book is Never Give Up Hope, The Little Girl Who Changed the World.
Laura Rotter
And I will link to that. I'm assuming it's out. Is it out yet? Yes, it's on Amazon. Okay. I will link to that in the show notes. Oh, thank you. So you've mastered language in addition to the language of math.
Katie Fasiano
When you have a special story to tell, you find a way to tell it. And Elizabeth's story is very special and very near and dear to my heart. So I didn't want to keep that to myself or just keep it to my family and friends. I wanted it to be given a bigger platform. So my book is doing that and I'm also actively pursuing more and more speaking engagements so that I can reach bigger and bigger audiences.
Laura Rotter
Yeah, you have an important story to tell, Katie. So in addition to your book, I heard you mention workshops. What resources do you offer? And if someone's listening to this and would like to reach out, what's the best way to do it?
Katie Fasiano
The best way to reach out is through my website. Contact information is there on the website.
And I, I publish events on my website, I offer, as I said, workshops, some, some are meet and greets regarding my book, others are workshops of how to use Seimei for you, for, for the, for the, you know, for the public, how can you use this tool for yourself today?
Laura Rotter
Thank you. I'm, I see in your face and I hear in your voice that you do feel like you're on your path, that this is what you're meant to be doing.
You know, clearly a sad reason why you came to be doing this and yet or and you're energized to bring your healing. to others, if you will, to bring Elizabeth's healing to others.
Katie Fasiano
Yes, I, I feel like if I could have found Seimei sooner in her battle, I feel she would be here telling her own story. We found it very late in her journey, so unfortunately, It wasn't soon enough to keep her here permanently, but it did give us an extra nine months beyond what doctors had thought.
Laura Rotter
Wow. That's beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, Katie.
Katie Fasiano
No, thank you. I appreciate you having me on your show.
I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Katie Fasiano, a holistic health practitioner. And some of the takeaways I received were Learn to lean on your network. Katie shared that her life changed when her young daughter, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with cancer. Katie had always been self reliant, paying her way through college, and at times working both a full and a part time job.
As a result of her daughter's diagnosis, she became a full time caregiver. And had to learn to reach out to her network for both emotional as well as financial help. Second takeaway, when you are researching new ideas, notice your inner knowing in addition to your outer knowing. After her daughter's cancer came back a third time, Katie decided to see if there was something else out there that could complement the traditional medicine her daughter was receiving.
She attended an open night to learn about Seimei and immediately felt an inner knowing, a feeling of being enveloped by love upon walking into the room. Finally, Notice the parallels between roles you've played and new roles you're considering. Katie had been a CPA professionally for many years. She noted the parallel between the level of detail required for that role and the level of detail required to be a SAME practitioner.
She also mentioned the similarities between Roman Catholicism, the religion she practices, and some rituals of Seimei, a Japanese way of healing. If this interview has struck a chord with you, and you'd like to explore how to move towards your purpose, please don't hesitate to schedule a consult with me by reaching out to me at Laura at true abundance advisors.com. Are you enjoying this podcast? Don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss next week's episode. And if you love the show, a rating and a review would be greatly appreciated and will help others just like you to find it. Thanks so much.
Narrator
Thanks for listening to making change with your money. Certified financial planner, Laura Rotter, specializes in helping people just like you, organized, clarify, and invest their money in order to support a life of purpose and meaning. Go to www.trueabundanceadvisors/workbook for a free resource to help you on your journey.
Disclaimer. Please remember that the information shared by this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. It's for information purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.