Behind the Scenes Special Section

Having grown frustrated from nearly 10 years in treating patients using Western medicine modalities only, Dr. Ken Cheng knew he needed to find a different direction.

“We were seeing the same patients we thought we had treated successfully return six months to a year later presenting with the same symptoms,” Cheng says of his time working as a physical therapist at a well-known traditional medical practice.

His new direction pointed east and led Cheng back to his own Chinese heritage. “My aunt and uncle were doctors practicing Eastern medicine, which focuses on treating the whole person and not just the symptoms,” he says.

Now owner of the South Jersey Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine (SJPT) facility, Cheng combines the best of both worlds, creating individualized treatment plans using time-tested Eastern and evidence-based Western medicine.

“We have made it our practice to educate our clientele and provide a clear roadmap on what steps are needed to optimize their health and wellness,” Cheng says.

“When an individual takes responsibility for educating themselves for their body’s dysfunctions, they reap the benefits and share that knowledge friends and family,” Cheng says. “Everyone around them gets healthier because of it!”

“We didn’t set out to change people’s lives in this way, but seemingly when people have a safe place to land and a clear roadmap, the bigger picture becomes so much easier to see … and life changes in fact!”

A much-needed change from the business model Cheng had experienced in a traditional practice was also an important step to developing his vision for delivering better care.

“Typically, most practices will have three to five scheduled patients waiting for the same appointment time,” Cheng explains. “At SJPT, we are intentional about scheduling one client at a time.” Initial consultations are 90 minutes with follow-up appointments one hour each.

Unexpected open-heart surgery in 2005 gave Cheng a unique perspective as a patient and led him, along with hard work and determination, to graduating at the top of his class with a doctor of physical therapy degree. Tapping into that same determination, Cheng later continued his studies with some of the premier and leading-edge functional medical practitioners and pioneers in healing.

His holistic approach to wellness includes helping his clients understand the importance of how they move and their lifestyle habits including diet, sleep and effective ways to reduce stress. The practice also holds seasonal workshops on a variety of topics covering the importance of the mind/body connection.

SJPT’s compassionate care continues in their work with their community partners. “The very people, who all day long, help others find wellness … the trainers, nutritionists and functional docs … are often suffering from the same health issues as their patients,” Cheng says. These cooperative events provide an important opportunity to exchange treatments with, and support to, other caregivers.

“We are proud to see our patients, some in as little as three to six weeks, go beyond fully recovering to feeling empowered and finally in charge of their own lives.”

South Jersey Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine is at 1299 Rte. 38, Ste. 9, in Hainesport, NJ. For more information or to make an appointment, call 609-845-3585, email info@SouthJerseyPT.com or visit www.SouthJerseyPT.com.

Reneau

William (Bill) Reneau is an entrepreneur, e-business consultant and is the owner and participating woodworker in the artisan store EarthShack. He has worked as a consultant, owner and partner for over the last 35 years in the fields of business and technology solutions. He is also a mesa carrier and initiated shaman within the Peruvian and Aztec traditions.

Reneau’s diverse array of talents and experiences gives him a unique and refreshing perspective to problem solving. His main strength is his ability to draw from and blend his knowledge of business and technology with shamanic principles to access, identify and utilize the various needs of a company.

Although he also has other businesses, “EarthShack is the one that feeds my soul,” he says. About 12 years ago, Reneau developed a renewed interest in herbalism and woodworking while creating pieces with his then-partner. They sold their creations at craft fairs for one year before establishing a location in an Amish Market in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, which was ultimately the genesis of EarthShack.

Reneau takes pride in how EarthShack has evolved. He now offers handmade and fair-trade pieces in the shop, along with more than 200 organic teas, essential oils, salves and hemp cannabidiol (CBD) products. He supports more than 300 artists that craft most of the items he carries.

Reneau has also just introduced Well-Being Services to his customers through his other company website www.BillReneau.com. Encompassing a diverse toolkit, this initiative offers apprenticeships, coaching, mentoring and shamanic practitioner services, providing people with many ways to nurture their inner selves.

“I’ve experienced a lot of personal growth during this journey,” Reneau reflects. “EarthShack was healing for me. I learned a lot over the years from the indigenous cultures and traditions.” And as an initiated shaman, he is honored to help pass those traditions on to future generations.

EarthShack is located at 108 Swedesboro Rd., Mullica Hill, NJ 08085 in the Amish Market. For more information, call 856-210-7662 or visit www.BillReneau.com or www.EarthShack.org.

A natural-born educator, Bonnie Fedge’s passionate and innate ability to inspire others to learn has led her on an extraordinary life adventure.

Beginning as a resourceful high schooler, Fedge taught herself how to heal by learning the not-very-well-known-at-the time connection between her own health issues and good nutrition. That same pioneering spirit led to a challenging and gifted career as a public school ESL teacher in the Bronx. From there, this trailblazing educator spent time in both Haiti and Chile wonderfully impacting hundreds of students along the way.

For the last three decades, Fedge’s journey brings her gift for teaching to her work as a holistic healer. She is a Reiki Master, Certified Integrative Wellness Coach, and an Advanced Akashic Records Reader.

“The Akashic Records are the vibrational memory of our soul’s story,” Fedge explains. As the owner and operator of her company, JADE ROSE, Bonnie helps her clients navigate a wide variety of life’s questions and issues. “About half of my clients are brand new to the Records with the other half being frequent and vibrant seekers, and we build a relationship.”

One-on-one sessions are over the phone and can help people better manage a particular part of their life, find purpose, discover personal or business insights and answers, or even work through grief and find peace.

“From the first time I learned of the Akashic Records, I loved it,” Fedge said. In addition to her practice, she holds workshops and seminars teaching.

“There is an unconditional love and joy that can be found in the Akashic Records, and healing, too. I love to share the clarity the Akashic Records offer.”

Go to www.Jaderose.org to learn more about the Akashic Records and other educational services provided including integrative wellness coaching, meditation, yoga, essential oils and workshops.

Staying on top of new emerging health issues and practicing “Root Cause Nutrition”, the experienced team at the Natural Health Improvement Center (NHIC) of South Jersey provide safe, natural and non-invasive solutions for the whole family.

“Post-COVID-19, pathogens are tougher, people are weaker and we’re having to use much stronger protocols and supplements to resolve the increase in infections and parasites we are seeing,” says owner and Director Sarah Outlaw, who oversees the South Jersey NHIC clinic and two other NHIC locations in Iowa and South Carolina, as well as a virtual worldwide practice.

Specializing in Advanced Muscle Testing, a science-based analysis of muscle function, the staff can pinpoint underlying sources of virtually any health problem. Nutritional guidance, custom-made whole-food supplements and a wide array of services ensure each client achieves optimal results.

NHIC of South Jersey offers comprehensive functional bloodwork, hormone and other lab testing, as well as emotional health services like Emotion Code and Body Code, revolutionary energy balancing systems, and Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMF) to manage pain. Herbal, nutritional and flower essence therapies, as well as homeopathy and nutritional coaching and ionic foot detox, are also offered.

Outlaw, who is working on her Doctorate, holds a master’s degree in Applied Clinical Nutrition from New York Chiropractic College, and has earned professional certificates as a Health Coach, Clinical Herbalist, Emotion Code/Body Code Practitioner, Advanced Nutrition Response Testing and Quantum Nutrition Testing Practitioner. She is the author and publisher of the Real Life Outlaw blog, where she writes about real food, natural living and holistic health. She is a renowned speaker nationwide and teaches on a variety of health topics.

The Natural Health Improvement Center of South Jersey, located at 1020 Kings Hwy. N., Ste. 110, in Cherry Hill, offers both in-person and virtual appointments. For more information or for appointments, call 856-667-6805, email info@nhicsouthjersey.com or visit www.NHICSouthJersey.com

Veronica Carpenter, a certified Yoga Therapist, helps anxious humans find balance in practical and playful ways to support self-love and stress relief. She is a “solopreneur” residing in Audubon, New Jersey, teaching through a trauma-informed lens under the name Blissful Butterfly Yoga. The inspiration for her business name is the courageous path of the butterfly, for it was first a caterpillar, then turns to goo inside a chrysalis before being rebuilt by the grace of the Divine into a butterfly. Then it must, with considerable effort, make its way out of the chrysalis to build up its wing strength to be able to fly free. This is just how life is: Metaphorically we are churned into mush by the waves of life time and time again throughout our journey here. It is only by the grace of the Divine, partnered with our own will and determination, that we can use these shattering stages of life to support our metamorphosis, which can lead us to living in alignment with our most blissful selves.

Through writing/blog and video, her social media presence and in conversation with her students, Carpenter often shares bits of her story, recovering from developmental and spiritual traumas, and living with androgenic alopecia, to inspire others to do the work of transforming times of crisis into tools for cultivating strength, courage, deeper understanding and resilience.

Her offerings are sacred spaces where students are encouraged to meet themselves with loving kindness, compassion and a dash of playfulness.

Carpenter currently offers live online accessible group yoga classes, 1:1 Yoga Therapy sessions and monthly Soulhood Circle Gatherings. She also leads in-person Yoga and Mindful Nature special events in southcentral New Jersey.

All of her services are aimed to make the ancient practices of yoga accessible to the average person.

For more information on her offerings, visit

www.BlissfulButterflyYoga.com

Born a creative, Kelly Lynch’s artistic bent wove its way through many iterations from a successful career as a hair stylist to furniture restoration. So, when the idea emerged to open her own Hammer & Stain wood and paint studio, it found a perfect match in Lynch’s boundless energy and people-oriented personality.

“Many clients will come in tightly wound and sure they have zero artistic ability,” Lynch says. “I love empowering them by encouraging—and sometimes pushing them—out of their comfort zone, helping them realize nothing is perfect and that all art is meant to be flawed.

“There is always a tipping point, and it’s my favorite moment during any workshop, where a participant begins to realize they are creating something really wonderful.”

Lynch’s ability to usher others into realizing their potential and discover the courage to express that side of themselves has been an evolution. It has been deeply enriched by the second hat this amazing entrepreneur wears—as distributor of Green Compass CBD.

“I began taking CBD to save myself,” she explains. “I had become completely overstressed to the point where I was breaking my teeth from clenching them so hard.”

Now, Lynch brings her more balanced and life-affirming message into the lives of others including at her studio where she holds regular wellness workshops. She strives to remind others that, through art and healing, living a better and healthier life is possible.

Hammer & Stain studio is located at 24 Haddon Ave., Haddon Township, NJ. For more information, email Kellyshopeinhemp@gmail.com or visit www.HammerAndStainNJ.com

Healther Hirsh

BURN BOOT CAMP

During a snowy winter in 2011, having recently moved from Bensalem, Pennsylvania, to Mount Laurel, New Jersey, away from family and friends, Heather Hirsh, a stay-at-home mom, realized she was struggling.

“I was feeling isolated, lonely, depressed and fatigued,” she says. Today the owner and operator of three South Jersey Burn Boot Camps and the newly launched Project LeanNation franchises reflects on her journey to wellness.

“I was never really athletic, but I remember loving aerobics class and how great I felt afterwards from the endorphins,” Hirsh says.

Hirsh dove into an opportunity to improve her overall wellness and began helping others which led to meeting the founders of what would become the popular nationwide model for Burn Boot Camps.

After visiting the first location in North Carolina, an inspired Hirsh recalls, “I felt welcomed, supported and encouraged by the women in the gym working out alongside me and when I returned home, I knew I wanted to bring this same community and sense of empowerment to our area.”

“In our gyms, we are intentional about creating a safe and welcoming environment where women, no matter where they are on their health and fitness journeys, feel accepted and not judged,” Hirsh adds. “Plus, we offer complimentary childwatch, which allows our members 45 minutes to focus on themselves.” In addition, members can have 1:1 Focus Meetings where trainers can help explore individual challenges, issues and goals.

“We are creating important connections and growing a community where we all can feel a sense of real belonging,” Hirsh says. “As our members, mostly women, begin to experience success, feel better and begin to thrive, many of their significant others notice the difference and are drawn in as well making it a family affair.”

The major next step for this dynamic entrepreneur and mother of three was the recent launch of a Project LeanNation franchise, a nutrition company dedicated to educating, supporting and creating better health through healthy prepared meals and protein shakes.

“You can’t out-train a bad diet,” Hirsh says. “People think walking into a gym is the hardest part of fitness, but really understanding the ‘how, when, what and why’ of eating well when you are home is most critical.”

“These are made-from-scratch, delicious, chef-crafted meals which can be served in under three minutes,” Hirsh relates. “With our busy lifestyles, it’s the perfect way to incorporate nutritious, responsibly sourced meals made with all-natural, gluten-free ingredients into our diets.” Advanced InBody scanning with one-on-one coaching is also available in addition to various, affordable meal plans.

Project LeanNation is located at 230 North Maple Ave., in the Crispin Square Shopping Center, in Marlton. For more information, call 856-7545899, email PLNMarlton@ProjectLeanNation.com or visit www.ProjectLeanNation.com/locations/marlton-nj

Area Burn Boot Camps: 652 W. Cuthbert Blvd., Haddon Township, 856-966-5802, HaddonTownshipNJ@BurnBootCamp.com, www.BurnBootCamp.com/locations/haddon-township-nj/. 872 Union Mill Rd., Mount Laurel, 856-924-8540, MtLaurel@BurnBootCamp.com, www.BurnBootCamp.com/locations/mt-laurel-nj/. 1140 White Horse Rd., Voorhees, 856-437-9112, VoorheesNJ@BurnBootCamp.com, www.BurnBootCamp.com/locations/voorhees-nj/

A renowned, high-profile chef and baker, Melissa Torre was reaching the pinnacle of her career as the owner of a popular bakery and a much-in-demand private chef.

“We were receiving tons of press with appearances on Chopped and Cupcake Wars, as well as local television programs,” Torre says.

But a persistent autoimmune condition resulting in chronic eczema and psoriasis led this successful baker to consider the impossible … avoiding wheat. North Jersey born and raised with Southern roots, bagels, pizza and biscuits had been mainstays in Torre’s diet.

“When I changed my diet, 90 percent of my symptoms disappeared almost immediately,” she says. In addition, Torre explored some good, old-fashioned home remedies. “I tried every medical prescription, but nothing worked on my skin issues, so I began experimenting with bacon fat.”

After receiving good results, Torre moved on to tallow and began discovering its amazing properties including vitamins A, D, E and K which support healthy skin.

“I began making other skincare products for myself and my friends, like lip balm and soap, and soon began, part time, selling them at local farmers markets and craft fairs,” Torre explains. It didn’t take long for success to follow, leading Torre to close her bakery and launch her new brainchild, Vellum Street.

The same standards for using only high-quality, organically and locally sourced ingredients Torre applied as a baker and chef carried over in her approach to producing Vellum Street products.

Also paramount is her commitment to reducing waste. “We source out ingredients from area restaurant kitchens and farms in the form of upcycled mater that would normally be thrown away,” Torre says. “There’s intrinsic value realized every time we are able to reuse.”

Cooking up healthy and healing products turns out to be the real secret ingredient to Vellum Street’s now decade-long success. For more information, visit www.VellumStSoapCompany.com

Maria Gerrow PELLOWAH Una McKenzie THE HAIR BOUTIQUE

Retired from a successful career working for Judiciary-Family Court, Marla Gerrow found she fell into a “very deep funk” after her mother, whom she was caring for, passed away and her daughter moved across the country.

“Five months later, it all hit,” Gerrow says. “I knew I was grieving on many different levels and needed guidance.”

That help came in the form of spiritual discoveries which ultimately led her to become a Reiki Master, Atlantean practitioner and Pellowah Energy Healer.

Pellowah is an ultra-high vibrational frequency energy which can help create significant shifts in perception, mindset, consciousness and overall outlook. A hands-off practice, Pellowah can be found it to be more effective energy than other healing modalities.

Popular and well-known throughout Europe, the UK and Australia, Gerrow went to Edinburgh, Scotland, for extensive training to also become a Pellowah practitioner.

Tapping into the same empathy, compassion and wisdom which served her so well in the past, Gerrow brings an amalgamation of healing power to each client.

Location: 1200 South Church St., Ste. 7A, Mount Laurel, NJ. For more information on her services or to make an appointment, call 609-923-7389 or visit Facebook.com/marla.gerrow.

Una McKenzie, Cranial Prosthesis Specialist of The Hair Boutique, is dedicated to helping individuals navigate their journey with hair loss with confidence and dignity.

Her journey began with a simple vision: to combine deep understanding of the challenges of hair loss with expert, compassionate guidance. She knows that hair loss isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s an experience that can profoundly impact one’s self-esteem and emotional well-being.

She specializes in medical-grade wigs that are sourced and crafted with the highest standards. Each piece is meticulously designed to provide a natural look, comfort and longevity, with a range of options to suit different styles and preferences. All of their products are part of their exclusive brand, ensuring customers receive a wig that’s as unique as they are are.

If desired, she is a cranial prosthesis specialist is available to provide individualized consultations. They consider client’s lifestyle, personal style and specific needs to ensure that their choice enhances their daily life and brings them confidence.

The Hair Boutique is more than just a business—it’s a community that understands and supports us through our hair loss journey.

know you found them in

Whether relaying a message from a baby in utero that doesn’t like the name the parents are planning to give them or explaining past trauma of a rescue dog to new owners or being on the receiving end of one of her life-changing, life-affirming energy readings, Sincearay, a natural-born intuitive, delivers powerful and transformative guidance to each and every experience.

Sincearay, a Heyoka empath, considered to be the rarest and strongest of intuitives, explains, “Energy is energy and my first step to tap into it is to simply start with a prayer.”

“Before every reading, I silently pray for the ability to pass on the knowledge and answers each person is seeking,” Sincearay says. “It’s important that I prepare and level down my own energy before I enter into theirs.”

Being highly sensitive to energy and vibration, Sincearay has a heightened awareness to her immediate surroundings. “Sound vibrations are the densest vibration. I feel them very physically. For example, sometimes at events, somewhere in the room someone uses a crystal sound bowl. Painful vibrations radiate through my bones. Crystal sound bowls are the most painful vibrations I have ever felt,” says Sincearay. “I also avoid movie theaters because of the loud, intense vibrations. It can be difficult to breath because of constant intense vibrations on my lungs.”

Having the ability to feel emotions, thoughts and energy of those around her began in childhood where she first experienced communicating with spirits at the tender age of 3. “I didn’t realize, when I was little that the people, I was speaking with had died and were in the non-physical realm.”

That, and the fact that she lived through epic and tragic trauma and loss as a child, left her vulnerable to loneliness and unacceptance. Humor, a Heyoka empath’s super

power, brought her through. “Everything was so incredibly sad in my life, the only thing I had left was my sense of humor.”

One of her most powerful gifts she shares is her artistic ability. Gifted and formally trained, Sincearay holds a degree in fine arts and creates custom personal energy portraits and conducts paint readings. Each piece displays the reflection of inner beauty and emanating light, and can serve as a touchstone to inspiration for the individual.

“The energy during a paint reading can actually move the paint around in very detailed and amazing ways, resulting in a finished piece that is similar to a revealing inkblot test,” says Sincearay, citing a recent work which revealed a samurai warrior.

Bringing her compassionate voice to those who are unable to express for themselves, Sincearay also offers readings on those experiencing autism, cognitive disabilities as well as coma patients. “These readings provide important understanding to caretakers and loved ones.”

Other services include in-person reading, paint reading, medium work, pet reading, phone reading appointments, email/text readings, Tarot Card reading, dream interpretation, personal or space cleansing, and more.

Her vast, dramatic life experiences combined with her natural giftedness in so many areas, Sincearay possesses an extraordinary wheelhouse of abilities to help others live their best lives.

For more information, call or text

971-409-2556, email Sincearay@gmail.com or visit www.Sincearay.com.