About Shawna Bowen
Many people have asked me, "Why did you leave rock and roll to be a therapist?" The truth is I didn't leave willingly. It was more a matter of circumstance. Three times, I was certain that I was in a band that was going to make it big, and three times, fate showed me it had other plans for me.
In the late 80's I played lead guitar for an all female, heavy metal band called Feline. I graduated high school and began college at San Jose State during this time. Our band was in high demand as we were the only heavy metal band in the San Francisco Bay Area at the time. I eventually dropped out of college to pursue a promise of stardom only to be left bitterly disappointed and broken hearted by liars in the music industry and lack of professionalism from my band-mates.
I decided to sign up for community college and vowed to never get my hopes up with rock and roll again. Within months though, I found myself in a new, amazing all female heavy metal band called Mischief. This band rocked and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to be a part of it! We were noticed by such record companies as Geffen Records and Warner Brothers. We blew everyone way that came to see us perform and everyone knew without a doubt we were headed for Rock Stardom!
Alas, by this time it was 1992 and anyone who was a part of the hair band/heavy metal scene knows that Nirvana came along that year and introduced grunge to the music scene. The hair band days pretty much died overnight. My band did get to play with such big-name bands as White Zombie and Warrant before it was all over.
During this same time, I was also suffering from carpel tunnel syndrome and in the early 90's surgery just wasn't an easy outpatient procedure. I decided that it wasn't an option for me. I eventually was forced to give up playing guitar just as hair band metal was forced to give up as well. My passion and dreams were stripped away yet again, so I put my guitar in the closet and stopped listening to music altogether. It was the only way I could get through each day. I loved music so much, especially rock and roll, and if I couldn't perform it then I didn't want to listen to it either.
I buried my sorrow in college studies. I eventually earned my Bachelor of Art degree in Psychology. I then spent another three years working on a Master of Art degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Wholistic Health and Psychosomatic Psychology. I never picked up my guitar, went to a concert, or listened to much music. Instead, I went to work as a therapist for an intensive outpatient rehab center for adolescents after graduation. I came to love the work that I was doing with at risk youth.
Then, out of nowhere, the bass player from my former band, Mischief, called and said she was putting together another all female band and asked if I wanted in. It was hard for me to think about opening myself back up to my love for music ten years later, but I just couldn't suppress the floodgates of excitement and decided to jump at the chance. I went to my childhood closet at my parents' home, pulled out my purple electric guitar, dusted it off and began to play again. It was as if I had been playing the whole time. I felt like a piece of my heart had awoken from a long sleep.
The new band was called Barbee Killed Kenn and we completely annihilated every crowd we played for. We were voted 'Best Punk Band in the Bay Area' in the year 2000. I had made a total comeback and thought that my rock and roll dream was going to finally be fulfilled! It was a wild life - a therapist by day and a rock star by night. I loved it; I was on top of the world!
As before, however, along came fate to hand me one of the biggest challenges I've ever faced. I started feeling tired and sick all of the time and was diagnosed with some kind of immune deficiency disease and suffered severely from Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia. That winter I almost died of the flu due to my weak and dysfunctional immune system. I was told that the only treatment was bed rest and that I would be sick and in pain for the rest of my life.
I lost my strong, healthy body, my job, my band, my social life, my apartment and, yes, in that order. I eventually became sick and homeless with two bags of stuff and my blue truck to my name. I house sat for people in town to keep a roof over my head and raided their refrigerators to keep food in my stomach.
Western Medicine said there was no cure, but given my degree in Wholistic Health Counseling, I turned to alternative ways to beat this disease once and for all. I went on a year-long journey of healing. I changed my diet, received acupuncture, took Chinese Herbs, did Chi Gong three times a day, meditated twice a day, participated in psycho-somatic therapy, did every cleanse under the sun and followed an energy management practice suggested by one of my favorite authors, Carolynn Myss. I made a full recovery and almost ten years later, I'm in the best health of my life. My doctors were amazed and begged me to write a book about what I had done to return to full health and to have a strong, immune system once again. (Book and CD series coming soon!)
When my health returned, I went right back into therapy with at risk youth and stayed there for another 11 years. I eventually turned to authoring books and speaking to larger audiences regarding health, healing and living your full potential.
Do I still play guitar? Yes, I still play, write music, sing and perform. I may not be a well known musician anymore, but after performing at one of my speaking events sometimes I sure do feel like a Rock Star!
My hope is to reach as many people with my music and words as possible within my life time. I hope to meet you one day and encourage you to live your full potential in every area of your life! Blessings and Peace to all reading this.
