Jamie of Rose Oak Wellness
One thing I notice when I'm poking around the many corners of our local holistic community is a business that knows exactly who it's here for.
And I found that special spark of specificity in Rose Oak Wellness.
Jamie Wilson is an herbalist and Womb Healing Practitioner, with a particular heart for those who have been through a hysterectomy or find themselves looking in the mirror and wondering where the woman they remember has gone.
Her work brings together herbalism, holistic health, and womb healing in a combination I hadn't encountered locally before.
As an entrepreneurial enthusiast, I immediately appreciated how clearly Jamie knew who she wanted to help.
As a woman, I was curious about the work itself.
So I asked Jamie if she'd let us shine a Lantern Spotlight her way.
When I read her story, I knew our little light was on the right path.
A Pantry Full of Tea
Technically, Jamie's story as an herbalist begins with animals, which is already a pretty good beginning, if you ask me.
She was in college when she started working at Unleashed, the holistic pet store owned by her brother and sister-in-law. The family took their product research seriously, which meant Jamie spent a lot of time investigating ingredient lists, sourcing, quality, and all the questionable stuff manufacturers occasionally sneak into a bag of pet food.
Eventually, the obvious question occurred to her: If we're going to care this much about what the animals are eating, perhaps I should investigate what's going into me.
And down the rabbit hole she went.
Jamie encountered herbs in supplements and skincare products at the store, then went home wanting to know what else they could do. She read about their traditional uses and began figuring out which ones she wanted to keep around the house. Somewhere in there, she developed what sounds like a fairly serious tea situation.
There was enough tea in the pantry that she started hosting tea parties for her book club. I appreciate a woman who can turn excessive purchasing into hospitality.
Soon, friends and family were calling Jamie when they were sick or standing bewildered in front of a wall of supplements trying to decide which brand was worth buying. She loved researching the questions she couldn't answer, which tells you quite a bit about the practitioner she would eventually become.
For years, this lived alongside her career at Unleashed, where Jamie eventually became Director of Outreach and Purchasing.
She also helped support local animal rescues and co-created Spring Fling, an annual rescue festival still going today.
Then good ole 2020 arrived and gave Jamie reason to reconsider what she wanted to do with all this curiosity she'd been collecting.
She opened Rose Oak Wellness in August 2021, initially planning to sell the herbs and products she trusted. But Jamie wasn't particularly interested in being a shopkeeper.
What she loved were the questions, the research, and the chance to help someone figure out what might be useful for them.
She wanted to work with people one-on-one.
By then, Jamie also knew from her own life how much it could matter to have someone willing to stand with you while you looked for answers.
Knowing When Something Is Wrong
Jamie was 26 and a relatively new mom when her health began to unravel.
She was sick constantly after the birth of her son, had very little energy, was in pain, and began losing enough weight to concern her. Like many women, she went from doctor to doctor trying to understand what was happening without finding an explanation.
Eventually, a naturopath looked at Jamie's history of ovarian cysts and suggested she have her ovaries checked. Her doctors were less convinced, and Jamie had to fight to get the ultrasound.
When it finally happened, they found ovarian cysts the size of a softball.
I had to read that twice, too.
Surgery was scheduled quickly, and Jamie remembers being reassured that she was young and would be fine. She went in expecting the cysts to be addressed and woke up to news she had never considered preparing herself for.
An emergency hysterectomy.
Jamie had always dreamed of having a big family. There are some losses that give us time to anticipate them and begin imagining what life might look like afterward. Jamie woke up from surgery and learned hers had already happened.
"It took me a long time to heal physically, mentally, and spiritually from that experience," she says. "I'm in a much better place now, but it's because I've had to piece a lot together myself over the last 10 years."
I don't want to skip too quickly to the tidy part of the story where something painful becomes purposeful. Jamie had to live through those years first, and she remembers how difficult it was to find the support she needed.
She also remembers being the one who kept insisting something was wrong.
"If I hadn't pushed to find an answer, I probably wouldn't be here today."
So when Jamie talks about women trusting their bodies, she remembers being the woman saying something is wrong before anyone could tell her what.
Coming Back to the Womb
Jamie continued her formal herbal education as Rose Oak Wellness grew, eventually completing more than 1,000 hours of study and interning with a Master Herbalist and Intuitive Healer in Colorado.
But her own body kept influencing the questions she wanted to ask.
A couple of years ago, Jamie decided to center her practice around women's health and began looking more closely at womb healing. It had been an important part of her own healing after hysterectomy, yet finding someone to help her explore it had been surprisingly difficult.
There is an interesting question tucked inside that, especially for women who no longer physically have a uterus: What does womb healing mean after hysterectomy?
For Jamie, the womb isn't erased from a woman's story because an organ has been removed. Her recovery showed her how much can remain to be tended after the surgical incision heals.
She became a Certified Womb Healing Practitioner trained in the InnerWomb Method and began bringing that work together with herbalism.
"It feels like such a natural progression, and they're so powerful together."
You don't need Jamie's exact medical history to understand the strange experience of becoming unfamiliar to yourself. Our bodies and lives can change in ways that leave us wondering where the person we knew so well wandered off to.
If that sounds like you, I’m sure it’s a relief to know that practitioners like Jamie are out here doing this work for women in our community.
A Little Room to Unfold
Of Jamie's current offerings, she's especially excited about her six-session Womb Journey because Womb Awakening sessions can bring up things a client wasn't expecting to encounter. Feelings and questions may continue unfolding long after the session ends.
Jamie wanted to make room for that.
The package alternates Womb Awakening work with integration sessions devoted to what surfaced and what the client has noticed since. Depending on the woman, Jamie may bring in herbs, healing foods, meditation, or other forms of support.
"Our bodies are intelligent and wise, if we slow down long enough to listen."
Jamie believes every body is different, and her work leaves room for that individuality. She wants women to trust what they know about themselves and feel comfortable making choices about their own care.
Along with Womb Awakening work, Jamie offers Holistic Health Sessions, dedicated Hysterectomy Recovery support, and classes and workshops throughout the year.
And she loves when something learned with her travels home. A quote she once came across has stuck with her: "Hurt people hurt people, healed people heal people."
When a client tells Jamie she's shared something she learned with a friend or family member, she gets to watch that knowledge travel a little farther.
Please Note the Dance Studio
At this point, we've spent quite a bit of time talking about Jamie's health history and professional work, so I feel obligated to make sure you also know there is a dance studio in her shed.
Sort of.
Jamie and her husband share the building, which means it is part-time dance studio and part-time golf simulator. I have questions about how the scheduling negotiations work, but apparently they've made it happen.
Dance and music feed Jamie's soul, and she's taken classes in everything from ballet to pole.
She's also a mom to her 11-year-old son and 17-year-old bonus son, and this fall she's added baseball mom to the mix.
She and her husband are big foodies who enjoy finding local restaurants for date nights, while Jamie loves exploring small businesses and supporting local coffee shops.
So clearly she understands the assignment around here.
Jamie says she can actually be pretty quiet in a large group or around people she doesn't know. Her friends would tell you not to let that fool you.
She's also a self-described recovering perfectionist, and working with other women has made her notice how differently she sometimes speaks to herself.
Jamie offers plenty of understanding when a client comes to her upset about going off track, and she's learning to extend some of that same kindness in her own direction.
Forever Student
If there is one piece of Jamie that has survived every version of this story intact, I think it's the woman who wants to know more.
The Book of Herbal Wisdom by Matthew Wood has been particularly influential in her studies, and right now, plant spirit has her attention. She's interested in deepening her relationship with plants beyond studying their uses, and seems perfectly content with the fact that herbalism is never going to let her reach the bottom of the reading list.
"The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know."
This is, apparently, excellent news to Jamie. An awesome quality in a practitioner and healer.
When I first discovered Rose Oak Wellness, I admired the specificity of what she had created. After reading Jamie's story, I found there's something much more meaningful to bring to light.
She knows what it's like to go looking for help and have trouble finding the person who understands the particular thing you're carrying.
Now, somewhere in Central North Carolina, another woman can search for support after a hysterectomy and discover that someone has built a whole corner of her work with her in mind.
I think that's pretty magical.
Find Jamie
Jamie offers virtual one-on-one sessions through Rose Oak Wellness, including Womb Awakening Sessions, Holistic Health Sessions, Womb Awakening Integration, and Hysterectomy Recovery support.
She also offers classes and workshops throughout the year.
Website
RoseOakWellness.com
Follow Along
Instagram: @roseoakwellness
Facebook: Rose Oak Wellness
