Susan was born to a traditional Jewish family with Eastern European roots that had migrated to the Bronx, in New York. “It was quite rare for the children of Jewish immigrants to stray far from the tribe, but both my parents had adventurous spirits, which lead them to leave New York,” Susan stated. They attended Duke University in Durham, North Carolina where Susan was born. Her father received his PhD in Psychology, charting new territory in the field of the mind. Her mother received her Masters Degree in Special Education; at a time when very few woman completed higher education. They eventually moved from North Carolina to Houston, Texas where her father pursued his research at Baylor University. At the age of 13, along with her younger brother and sister, the family moved from Houston to White Plains, New York where they lived on the grounds of Cornell Psychiatric Hospital while her father continued his research.
Susan describes relocating at the age of 13 as a pivotal moment in her young life. “It was a breath of fresh air, it felt great to break away from the discrimination and oppression that I witnessed in the conservative south. This was the 1960’s the start of the counter culture movement. Looking back I can see how significant this move was as I began to mature here and thrive. I had witnessed so much bigotry first hand directed at anyone who didn’t fit into the ‘white-norm’.” Susan has been guided throughout her life by these observations, retaining two very important impressions: her deep compassion for those who were oppressed and an unyielding connection to something bigger, which she identifies as connection to Source. “I am always reminded of our connection to Source when I am in nature, which prompted me to head west when it came time to select a college. The outdoors was readily available to me in Colorado and I chose to attend the University of Northern Colorado, in Greeley.”
Susan received her BS in counseling and rehabilitation services and sociology (at that time focusing on aging); she minored in art and anthropology. She went on to receive her MA in Public Administration and Organizational Communication. Early in her professional life she worked with special needs populations as a vocational rehabilitation counselor. She then signed on as a counselor for dislocated and incarcerated youth, which led to her work with Southeast Asian refugees in Denver, including displaced Cambodians, Laotians, Hmong, and Vietnamese. “Not only did they have to learn how to coexist with one another but in a new culture as well,” says Susan. “And so I became very interested in where they had come from.”
During this time, Susan who was 29, and had just entered her first Saturn return, became interested in going to Thailand to visit the refugee camps, where many of her current clients had come from. “I hoped to get a better understanding of the teens that I was working with, where they came from, and how to understand them on a deeper level. When I set off on my trip I had no idea how I would get into the camps. It was not as if you could just walk in. But somehow doors opened and I was able to get into places no one else was able to. I created a photo documentary of life in the Southeast Asian Refugee camps.” Susan goes on to describe a point in this journey, where she stood on the porch of a grass hut, observing Cambodian children. “I watched them play, laughing, making kites from newspaper, twigs and twine all carefully knotted together. I was so struck that there could be so much joy in the midst of so much tragedy.” At that moment, Susan made a quiet promise to herself that one day she would come back and adopt a Cambodian child. This thought surprised her and it was quickly tucked away.
“Becoming a mother was not part of my life’s plan, or so I thought,” says Susan from her home today in Fort Collins, Colorado. But the universe in its infinite wisdom years later, through a twist in fate, put into action a promise heard, made and remembered.
In 1986, Susan was offered a position as a Career Counselor and Guest Lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and she returned to North Carolina. She held the position for four years before taking the advice she frequently gave to her own students, to “Follow your bliss” (having been influenced by Joseph Campbell). “I was always interested in holistic medicine; it was my primary source of reading. And I had begun a spiritual quest during this time. So I signed up for a massage training program [at the Body Therapy Institute], and began science courses at UNC, thinking I’d get into the Western medical field with a more holistic approach,” says Susan. “Then I got sick.” She tried Western medicine first, but it didn’t resolve her problems. Six months later, she went to an acupuncturist and “the next day all of my signs and symptoms had resolved. At that point I knew it was like putting a square peg in a round hole when thinking of pursuing an allopathic career.” She explored acupuncture colleges and zigzagged back out west to Santa Fe, NM where she matriculated to the Southwestern College of Acupuncture.
In 1993, Susan received her East Asian Medical Degree and returned to North Carolina. She was the first full time acupuncturist in Winston Salem. A pioneer, much like her father, she was paving the way for a profession that was in its infancy. She became an educator of holistic medicine at Wake Forest University Medical School and in the local community. She had a thriving practice and was very content with her life. But that quiet promise, made years ago while in a Southeast Asian Refugee Camp was re-ignited in the summer of 1998 when a child’s voice kept her up at night. It was the voice of a little girl saying, “Mommy, come get me.” She realized that she needed to follow this voice, the voice of her higher self.
Susan looked into the possibility of adopting a child. At first, thinking she’d adopt a Chinese baby—because of her background in Chinese medicine. At this time single women were allowed to adopt from China, but it didn’t feel right, so she kept looking. Then she remembered the children she’d seen in that Cambodian refugee camp, “and the promise I’d made to myself at the time,” recalls Susan. Sure enough, there was a compassionate woman arranging adoptions of children from Cambodia. “The adoption process was started in August of 1998 and my 7 ½ month old daughter, Jesse, was placed in my arms in Kompong Speu Cambodia on January 21, 1999. “A process that should have taken 8-12 months took 5 months— this was truly divine intervention.”
And as is often the case with adoptees from foreign countries, Susan’s daughter had minor neurological issues. “I wanted to correct them, and I knew that Western medicine wouldn’t even acknowledge this until a child is older.”
Susan received training in Upledger CranioSacral Therapy, an Osteopathic technique proven to work for infants. She saw great results with her daughter. She then heard of a Pediatric Occupational Therapist in Denver, CO who used sound in her practice to work neurologically. She flew her daughter to Denver and received successful treatment with this practitioner. “Then I emailed my acupuncture friend about this method and said, “Wouldn’t it be great to incorporate sound into our practice?” recalls Susan. Her friend had just taken an Acutonics Seminar. “And the next thing I know I’m contacting Kairos [Acutonics’ original name] and having this long conversation with Donna,” laughs Susan. “They were in the middle of a whiteout down there at the Mothership in Llano. I remember Donna actually telling me she would pack up the tuning forks and get them to the post office that day!”
Susan started using those forks on her daughter, then in her practice. Then realized she wanted to train others, and went on to study Acutonics and become a Certified Acutonics Instructor. She adds, “I’ve been doing this for close to 15 years now.”
Now a licensed acupuncturist in Colorado and North Carolina, a licensed acupuncture physician in Florida and a diplomat of acupuncture through the National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine (NCCAOM), Susan has been Acutonics Senior Faculty since 2004; a full professor at the Southwest Acupuncture College in Boulder and has offered Acutonics sound healing seminars and harmonic sound healing sessions, and Gong Bath Meditations in her Goldstone Acupuncture & Whole Health ‘Sound Space’ for over 15 years. She uses Acutonics Tuning Forks and chimes, eight symphonic planetary gongs, Tibetan bowls and other ancient sound healing techniques.
She also studied Shen-Hammer Pulse Diagnosis with Dr. Leon Hammer and taught internationally as a senior faculty for Dragon Rises Contemporary Chinese Pulse Diagnosis for 10 years, and in 2010, she completed the Acupuncture Sports Medicine Apprenticeship Program with Whitfield Reaves. She is currently studying NSEV (Non Somatic Extraordinary Vessels) with Daniel Atkinson-Nevel.
After 20 years in North Carolina, maintaining a thriving practice she returned to the place that nourishes her soul, Colorado; this was during her second Saturn Return. She continues to draw on Acutonics for many reasons, one of which is the way it neurologically enhances the brain’s pathways with sounds; the other being that it brings balance back to the body, mind, spirit, and soul—and to integrative medicine in general and acupuncture points and meridians in particular. “Acutonics brings us back to the roots of East Asian Medicine and to the Taoist traditions,” says Susan. “Connecting Heaven and Earth within Humanity. We can return to our true nature.” She adds: “The archetypes and healing properties of the planets allow people to get in touch with their true nature. Not to say acupuncture can’t do that. But Acutonics really focuses on that.”
Susan reflects that her experience as a counselor helped her to understand how to meet a person where they are, “If someone wants to dive deep or deeper into their essence,” she explains, “then Acutonics is incorporated. If a person is not getting the results from acupuncture alone, then I’ll offer Acutonics.” Acutonics also allows Susan to tap into her true nature (just as it does for her clients and students). “When I’m being my authentic self it helps other people do that as well. People today are ready, and more open to Acutonics, and to integrative medicine, period. It is not as new as it was 10 or 15 years ago. People are beginning to understand that everything is vibration — everything is energy. Acutonics works with specific frequencies that have specific healing properties. Not only do people get that, they want that. People want to become their true nature.”
“Acutonics can go in so many different directions,” Susan adds. “Whether it’s polarity, acupuncture points, chakras, or healing touch. You can incorporate different therapies into it, or incorporate Acutonics into different therapies, and it engages those therapies. It’s not only very complementary to other modalities; it can stands on its own just as effectively.”
“I continue to learn from the body of work that I teach in Acutonics. ” she states, explaining her own reasons for teaching it and being so drawn to it. “Anytime I teach, I’m always amazed at the depth of knowledge and energy that it brings. This body of work is awe-inspiring. And sometimes I have to step back and take a breath, because there are still so many ah-ha moments at all levels of Acutonics.”
Susan will be offering Acutonics Level I July 7-9, Acutonics Level II June 16-18, and Acutonics Level III, July 21-24; she can be reached at susan@goldstoneacupuncture.com or visit her website to find additional classes http://goldstoneacupuncture.com/classes/.
Photos:
Susan Goldstone
Susan and Jesse Goldstone
Susan, Jesse, Donna Carey, and Shen Yun at Ghost Ranch 2008
Susan at the Acutonics Teacher Retreat in Mexico 2015