Six years ago, Lyndsey Cordova was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.
“I became very, very ill — very, very fast,” she said. “My diagnosis was a thyroid storm … I lost 30 pounds in weeks; I couldn’t eat,” she said.
As a local hospital technician who had spent 14 years assisting surgeons, she immediately sought treatment from the Longmont medical community.
“It was really hard getting answers and getting relief,” Cordova explained. “I got sicker and sicker and sicker.”
The single mother was desperate for help, and willing to try anything to alleviate her symptoms.
“I didn’t really know what I was looking for,” she said. “That was when I tried acupuncture for the first time … I made an appointment, I went in, and that night, I slept for the first time in weeks. And I woke up that morning and I thought, ‘what is this?’ and ‘how do I learn more?’”
Cordova said she began looking at holistic wellness differently, and tried herbal therapy in addition to acupuncture.
“My condition got a lot better without having to stay on Western meds,” she explained. “Western medicine has its place and it’s fascinating, and I have a lot of respect for it, but it was just a different approach … it was a look into how the disharmony happened, and how do we start healing at the root.”
Cordova began studying acupuncture and she’s now working towards her doctorate in the field, while practicing.
Her best friend of several decades, Erica McCullers, was looking for a career change, and the two single mothers decided to create their own wellness center in Longmont. The pair held a grand opening celebration on Friday for Misadora Healing Arts, which will offer infrared light therapy, acupuncture, herbal medicine and aesthetics.
Both co-owners are fourth generation Longmont natives, and said they are honored to open a business in the city.
“Our roots are so strong here, and so the community in general is so important to us, which makes this business mean a whole lot — it’s our heart, our baby,” Cordova said.
“In opening this business, not only do I want to provide healing for the community, but I want to make our families proud, because this is an opportunity that our grandparents — my grandma, didn’t have. My hope is to encourage not only my daughters, but the Latina community, that yes, you can do it — keep going, work hard.”
McCullers and Cordova put a lot of thought into the atmosphere of their clinic, and how to welcome their new clients.
“Ultimately it came down to the feeling you got when you step into your grandma’s house, and it’s welcoming, and she doesn’t care what you look like — you just come as you are, and you’re safe,” Cordova said.
The women decided to use a combination of their grandmothers’ names to create Misadora — Mickie Martinez, Sarah Valencia and Teodora Cordova — all longtime Longmont residents.
“That’s who shaped us and gave us our fire,” Lyndsey Cordova said.
