Katherine Fisher, MAc, LAc, Acutonics Faculty
While it's said that you can’t step into the same river twice, I always make sure to pack my trusty tuning forks for any journey. Whether crossing a metaphorical river or preparing for a harmonious Thanksgiving gathering, tuning forks are my companions. I might slip a set of gem-tipped Ohm Octaves into my carry-on or tuck some galactic chimes into a picnic basket for a playdate. These versatile tools enhance yoga workshops by facilitating hip openers, improving balance, and grounding. They’ve also been essential in life transitions, offering grief support in hospice settings and helping friends recover etheric body integrity after surgery. The combination of purple and gold galaxy Ohm Forks (Zodiac 3rd) after a hip or knee replacement can be remarkably effective for reducing pain and reconnecting qi across the new titanium upgrades. Hot Tip: Tuning forks make beautiful host appreciation gifts when visiting Japan, or India, or any host culture where there is respect and appreciation for deep listening, nonverbal sound healing and quality instruments!
Sharing tuning forks and specific frequencies—both on and off the body—helps individuals connect with their higher selves and quickly build communities across cultures and demographics. In my ideal world, every classroom and ER would have tuning forks by the door. Even teenagers love them! These tools can help people focus, lighten moods, hone intuition, instill courage for necessary shifts, and foster deep listening. This practice becomes even more profound when shared in a group setting, using frequencies to unlock knowledge and wisdom.
For over three decades, I’ve been a perpetual student of cultural healing traditions, studying under venerable teachers in braided lineages of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Mongolian, Tibetan, Indian (Ayurvedic), European, and Polynesian learning herbs and bodywork practices. As a licensed health practitioner with a Master’s in Oriental Medicine, I’ve traveled the world with tuning forks as part of my healing toolkit. From the Himalayas of Nepal to the steppes of Mongolia, from heliports at U.S. Marine bases to the active volcanic lava fields of Hawaii, tuning forks have been integral to my practice.
After completing my degree and practicing acupuncture and herbal medicine in Honolulu for over 15 years, I organized the Hawaii Healing Garden Festivals, bringing together elders from different cultures on all islands to share and teach the commonalities of medicinal and healing plants, music, and dance. I’ve served on the Kauai mayor’s and Hawaii state governor’s boards for cultural healthcare in Hawaii, acting locally but thinking globally while respecting traditional practices. Alongside other teams of acupuncturists, we’ve integrated tuning forks into community work with Acupuncturists Without Borders International, setting up temporary PTSD treatment in remote areas affected by natural disasters, civil wars, refugee camps, and military training accidents. These efforts have touched thousands of lives around the world, helping to stem generational trauma.
Before becoming a licensed acupuncturist, tuning forks had already profoundly impacted my well-being. My journey into sound healing began with a deep connection to nature as a child in rainy Oregon. I explored and listened to the sounds of mountain lakes, glacier-fed rivers, tropical waterfalls, and the ocean. Music, too, played a significant role in my life, from playing piano and saxophone to experiencing the sensation of creating music with others in jazz and big band orchestras.
My interest in sound healing grew as I sought ways to help friends dealing with cancer. I attended Sound Healing and Vibrational Medicine conferences in New Mexico and California, where sonic pioneers gathered to share their knowledge. These experiences led me to create and lead sound healing circles in Hawaii, offering support care for those undergoing cancer treatment and other challenging situations.
My first set of tuning forks—an octave set of green weighted Chiron (the wounded healer)—was specifically chosen for me by Donna Carey and Ellen Franklin at a National Acupuncture Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Though they were a significant investment at the time, I still use those same forks today, nearly 20 years later. Over the years, different forks have become favorites—Venus and Mars helped me open to love, while Sedna/Ohm aligned my Capricorn energy with understanding how to shift into new time streams.
The early 2020s brought rapid professional expansion, thanks to Jupiter’s energy. I played the Galactic Sun chime before the Sphinx in Egypt and headlined sound healing events in Hawaii, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Dubai, and India. In 2022, I co-led a sound healing retreat in Sri Lanka, during a time of exploding interest in sound healing and the creation of beautiful tuning forks by Acutonics®. One of my teachers Katie Mink came to Sri Lanka, and I attended her Mt Shasta Acutonics summer camp, these rich collaborations further strengthened the Acutonics community. I will never forget the memories of classes at the mothership, including working with Jude and Paul Ponton on our selected study case patient together, an elderly black lab dog with a sore hip. Never start with limiting yourself with possibilities of patients, global situations, species, even greenhouse occupants. If Donna can grow happier plants with tuning forks, why not share the possibilities of planetary intervals, stack up the octaves, high frequency showers, grounding infinity signs and harmonic overtones.
In 2024, I find myself deeply connected with Hygeia, the goddess of wellness and health, using her energy through tuning forks, gongs, and octave chimes. Her intentional work has been a great help. I run a holistic massage school after COVID and train future healers. Hygeia’s energy helps clear the mental and emotional baggage left over from the COVID era, and her teachings resonate deeply with my students.
During COVID, sound healing sessions were shared online via Zoom, bridging distances and connecting people across challenging times, with a focus on physical and mental health. In Hawaii, my husband and I had the sudden opportunity to purchase an accredited and licensed massage school in Honolulu—Quantum School of Massage and Holistic Health. https://www.quantumschoolofmassage.com It was a classic COVID professional pivot. We’ve since added sound healing as an adjunct modality, and tuning forks are now a staple in our students’ toolkits. Combined with bodywork, energy work, crystal bowls, Tibetan bowls, bells, chimes, essential oils, and flower essences, our students create transformative treatments for our community, allowing clients to experience profound shifts and healing.
Our school offers training that leads to a Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT) certification, as well as a Holistic Health Practitioner Certificate encompassing physical, etheric, emotional, mental, causal/karmic, spiritual, divine, and galactic energies. We also offer a Sound Healing Practitioner Certificate and a 2-week summer 40-hour immersion each August in Honolulu.
When I first started using tuning forks decades ago, sound healing was considered outside the mainstream. Discussions about frequency, vibration, intention, galactic influences, and resonance were shared among a select few. Today, these concepts are more widely accepted, but the most important message remains: the power of pure tone, quality instruments, and foundational frequencies.
Recently, my students treated an 81-year-old client with sleep issues and scoliosis. After just 15 minutes of tuning fork therapy, she left feeling buoyant and later reported a great night’s sleep and newfound mental clarity. Whether addressing rotator cuff injuries, swollen knees, sore backs, tender hearts, headaches, menstrual cramps, or tight
calf muscles, tuning forks, combined with massage or acupuncture, offer profound healing.
As we approach 2025, I’m excited to share Acutonics training with future students and practitioners, passing on this knowledge to a new generation facing new challenges in creative ways. Sound may be ancient, but it’s ever evolving. I remain this day a fan of hands-on retreat style learning but look forward to being effective on-line as well.
This fall, I look forward to a restoration week of camping and walking along the bird sanctuaries of southern Portugal, exploring the Azores—a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean similar to Hawaii. I’ll also attend a Formula 1 race in Las Vegas with my acupuncturist husband, a professor of martial arts and Cirque du Soleil stunt-loving man. Balancing the yin and yang, I’m convinced that Formula 1 racing is a form of sound healing for men.
In 2025, I will continue my private acupuncture practice, integrating tuning forks and sound healing in Honolulu. I will also offer in-person sound healing practitioner training at the Quantum School of Massage and Holistic Health in a retreat format for small groups. In the spring of 2025, I’m excited to teach a “Galaxy Flyby” course, introducing the power of Galactic Chimes for group sound healing, focusing on astronomical events and planetary conjunctions. I’ll also offer short introductory courses on Ohm/Sedna and Hygeia for practitioners and Acutonics Levels I and II and Venus Mars self-care online.
I am filled with gratitude for the ever-flowing song line that connects and flows through everything.
Much aloha, Katie
You can find me online at my Acutonics Certified Teacher/Instructor profile, (link here) mighty networks (link here) Quantum School of Massage and Holistic Health, or via email at qsmhh.school@gmail.com or 7treasuresacupuncture@gmail.com. (808) 721-8342