Kim and I have been trying to connect since the beginning weeks of Fit for Broadway. Truly! I remember seeing her in Bullets over Broadway when I featured a few of her cast mates (like Beth & Amanda!) and for whatever reason, we never connected. Years later, we tried to coordinate a feature while she was in Cats and again, life whisked us both off into separate seas. I always trust the timing of the universe and believe Kim and I weren't meant to link up until a few weeks ago when I walked into her energy healing practice.

I've tried oodles of methods focused on holistic, functional healing over the last four years to avoid western medicine. Sound healing, crystals, meditation, energy work, massage, and so many more modalities to cure imbalances including physical, emotional and spiritual.

I had yet to experience energy healing, at least in the particular practice Kim teaches, which she'll explain throughout the interview. I have had an interesting few weeks of change with relationships ending, work related stressors, and life just feeling a bit uneasy. I have tried a lot to find peace and nothing has rebalanced me quiet like Kim's energy healing sessions. I remember walking out of the first session feeling somewhere between a massage hangover (the good kind!) and an emotional awakening. Every time I see Kim I leave feeling lighter and more in tune with my body. Plus, she always follows up with a a few at home practice video tutorials so I can keep centered on my own. Enjoy, enjoy you guys, she's a light. 

Note from Kim: Hi, I’m Kim Fauré, Broadway performer and newly certified Eden Energy Practitioner. Eden Energy is an acupressure modality started by Donna Eden, that works to restore the body’s energies that have become weak, out of balance, or inefficiently repatterned. Energy needs space to move and communicate in order to support the health of our physical bodies, but in our fast paced world, things can get out of whack. As an Eden Energy Practitioner, I look at the overall health of the energy body, find where there are imbalances, and use certain protocols to restore balance. There are also soooo many exercises and techniques you can do yourself to promote your own healing, which is one of the main reasons I love this work! I am so inspired by the message of Eden Energy to empower people to be active participants in supporting their own health and creating more vitality in their lives!

Q: Kim! You have been a bright light  in my life over the last month or so. I’m so inspired by you following your heart and calling to energy healing. Let’s start at the beginning though and with performing. What was your journey to Broadway?

A: I started in the ballet realm at the age of 12 and didn’t really know anything about music theater besides that fact that I wanted to be in Cats one day. Then in my senior year of high school, I went to Debbie Allen’s Dance Academy for the summer and discovered the magical world of music theater and was hooked. I auditioned for Music Theater programs across the country and literally didn’t get in anywhere! Last minute, I found out about Oklahoma City University’s dance program, got excited, applied, and got in. While at OCU, I also performed at Music Theater of Wichita during the summers. Between OCU and MTW, I had an amazing foundation and incredible contacts who vouched for me as I prepped for the big move to NYC and started auditioning. I ended up booking my first Broadway show after two months in the city. I am endlessly grateful that certain people took a chance on me, and whenever I get the chance in the future, I can’t wait to pay it forward.

Q: You have such a deep understanding of self and other’s health and well-being. How has your approach to wellness developed over the years?

A: I have always been very sensitive, but my wellness practice was strongly lacking for the first half of my NYC journey. I would get sick a lot, I ate a lot of crap to keep my energy up at night, and I was NOT great at warming up/cooling down/taking care of my body. As I got older and more injured, I couldn’t get away with the same behaviors. So I wish I could say I grew wiser, but basically my body forced me to pay attention! Thankfully, I listened, so I guess I did get a little wiser!

As performers, we are naturally very aware of our bodies. We have to be. But at the same time, the show must go on, and we quickly learn how to ignore some of our body’s signals. Doing daily energy work on myself facilitated a dialogue between me and my deeper self on a level that I have never had. I quickly realized that even though I needed to push through certain times, I couldn’t just push through life. There had to be a balance. And that’s why I am so passionate about this work. Eden Energy helped me find that balance and truly changed who I was, how I cared for myself, and how I lived my life.

Q: What was your introduction to energy healing?

A: My mom actually. I didn’t know anything about alternative healing modalities except for acupuncture. So, I am actually still exploring a lot of other kinds of energy healing since I don’t have much of a foundation in it. My mom had a lot of health issues and was trying all sorts of things. Eden Energy was the only thing that changed everything for her. I watched that transformation and was like, I gotta get me some of that.

The first year of training was for my own sake. I wanted to own the information for myself and my own healing. The more I was exposed to it, the more I wanted to share. I couldn’t believe how effective it was and could not keep that all for myself.

Q: I remember being a bit skeptical the first time I was introduced to healing stones, energy healing and sound baths. It all felt a bit “woo woo” but now I have such a deep appreciation and understanding for healing practices that are less mainstream. What would be your “spiel” to someone who thinks it’s a practice that is “woo woo” and “out there”?

A: I totally get it, but actually there is a lot of scientific research on this “woo woo” stuff. Plus, a lot of this “out there” energy stuff is a part of our everyday lives and we don’t even realize.. Anything electronic is made of some kind of semi-conductive crystal that allows for electronic to function. Crystal Healing, Sound Healing, and smelling essential oils work because the frequency of the crystal, sound, or smell interact with our body’s energy to raise our vibration or unblock energy pathways and help them flow more efficiently. Our iPhones, computers, etc., are all emitting energetic frequencies in order to communicate with each other. Does it really seem that weird that we also function in a similar way? Energy is vibration, frequency, electricity and waves. All that 8th grade biology stuff.

Also, a lot of “woo woo” stuff isn’t “woo woo” in other parts of the world. We are all used to Western Medicine because it is what we grew up with. Western Medicine works with your body’s chemical processes and its tools for healing are medication and surgery. Totally necessary. But how about those times when there is no explanation for your symptoms or you are more interested in prevention or you just need more vitality in your life or your issues are stress related? Chinese medicine, which acupuncture and Eden Energy are based on, is thousands of years old, way older than Western medicine, and it looks at the whole body when assessing an issue. No two headaches are alike when it comes to their root cause. So it’s a much bigger picture approach. And I think they are both necessary. These ancient remedies were all anyone had before modern medicine, and thank goodness modern medicine exists, but there is so much wisdom that was lost. I think the pendulum swung super far when modern medicine came on the scene, and now it’s beginning to balance out as people are growing more and more conscious of complementary methods.

Q: You have been sending me amazing tutorial videos to help create my home practice! Are there any basic exercises we can share for people to try on their own?

A: Absolutely. The unique part of the Eden Energy modality are the exercises that you can do on your own. Donna Eden’s vision is to give people the power to keep themselves as healthy and resilient as possible so they can live life to the fullest.

That’s why she created the Daily Energy Routine. Something to do once or twice a day to counteract the stressful lives we live and bring our energy bodies back to center each day. I have all the basic exercises on my Instagram @baer.necessitees but there are also a lot of YouTube videos if you search Donna Eden Daily Energy Routine.

I will share one of my favorites here. Place one of your middle fingers at the top of your belly button and the other middle finger at the center of your forehead, one inch above your eyebrows. Gently press in and tug upwards with both fingers. Hold this for about a minute, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. This technique connects the vital energies that come up the front and back of your body.

Q: What are common misconceptions about energy healing?

A: I guess the first would be that Energy workers are healers. We are not at all. What we do is find places where the energy in your body is blocked or not working efficiently and help get the energy flowing again. Once the energy is flowing, the body has the energy to heal itself!

Also, a lot people just don’t know what Energy Healing is. Energy Healing is the big umbrella term for any modality that works to support the healthy flow of your body’s subtle energies: its frequencies, electrical impulses, electromagnetic field, etc to promote your body to heal itself. There are hundreds of different methods of Energy Healing including Acupuncture, Reflexology, Emotional Freedom Technique, Reiki, Crystal Healing, and Touch for Health. These methods work because electromagnetic and subtle energies form the foundational infrastructure of your physical body.

Q: Who or what inspires you?

A: My husband, Danny Baer, is my biggest inspiration ever. If I could be like anyone it would be him, but I can’t, so I married him instead! He is so grounded and down to earth. He loves life’s simplicities and is just so loveable.

Donna Eden obviously inspires me tremendously. Her vision of empowering people to take their health in their own hands is a purpose greater than myself that I so vibe with, which is why I started my Instagram account in the first place. I am so excited to help spread her message. I also love Abraham Hicks and Tony Robbins and just started getting acquainted with the works of Brené Brown, which I am very excited about. And I would say one of my favorite books that inspired me is “The Untethered Soul”. In fact, I need to pull it out and reread it again.

Q: What’s your advice for…

• Aspiring performers? Find ways to foster self-love and acceptance so that your worth is not based on the jobs you book or how many people say how awesome you were in the show. Or on the flip side, how many rejections you had at auditions that week. We love to perform! But we are so much more than performers. I invite you to go within and develop that relationship with yourself at the same time that you are developing your craft and are hustling to make things happen. It will only make you a better performer, auditioner, and human.

• Anyone interested in integrating energy healing into their wellness practice? There is no right or wrong way to integrate energy healing. For one person, seeing an energy healer once a month will be their practice. For another, doing meditation and exercises daily will be theirs. And this will grow and change depending on where you are in life. There is also no wrong way to incorporate the Daily Energy. You can do it when you wake up, in the shower, on the toilet, before a show, in bed as you’re falling asleep. You will probably see me doing it on the subway since the subway stresses me out! Make it work for you. Also, Experiment. There are lots of modalities/methods out there. Find which work for you. And this also may change as you change through life.

Q: How can energy healing be beneficial backstage or when integrated into a performer’s lifestyle?

A: I did the daily energy routine before every show. A lot of performers are ritualistic in their show routines including me, so these exercises fit perfectly into that rhythm. They are easy, don’t take a lot of time, and help for centering, communicating to an audience, clearing your head, and getting your energies flowing before you perform or audition.

The exercises were also an important part of my bedtime routine. We rev up a lot of adrenaline doing shows and auditions, so it can be a nice way to calm the body down and come back to neutral.

Photos & Interview by Jane Jourdan.

Kim and I love to frequent Inday after our sessions! (their motto: "Food Karma") It's delicious if you're looking for healthy food in Flatiron after a session with her! Also, check out my recent post, "Your Gluten-Free Guide to the Theater District" on Showtickets.com for a list of awesome healthy, FFB-Approved eats near Broadway!