Shelli Stanger-Nelson

Shelli Stanger Nelson, RN, BS is the first blind Registered Nurse in the state of Minnesota and holds a baccalaureate degree in energy medicine therapy. She developed the Cardiac After Care department at Fairview Hospital and single handedly started and taught the first out PT patient education programs: Helping Hearts and Healing Hearts, group classes for people with both acute and chronic heart conditions. She was a favorite teacher in the “Stroke Survivors’” program at the hospital for many years. Here Shelli inspired and encouraged stroke survivors and their loved ones to rise above the limitations left behind after a cerebral event and to believe they could still live fiercely.

Nelson is the founder and president of Rukha® Academy of Healing Arts and Science, a program of energy medicine and personal transfiguration in Minnesota she co-founded with her husband Brent Nelson in 2009. She also operates a private practice through her company Healing professionals, LLC (founded in 2003). Shelli has lectured internationally on the interface of medicine and spiritual maturation with the science of energy medicine modalities.

The unique experiences of Shelli’s personal and professional journey have given birth to many inspiring traits. She is known for her irreverent sense of humor, unflappable belief in what is possible, and compassion for fellow travelers that is beyond measure. Her capacity to be transparent, vulnerable and authentic gives her students, audience and readers permission to be the same.

Professional highlights

Finalist for Minnesota Nurse of the Year in 1990 for her extraordinary keystone accomplishment of her contribution to nursing by being the first blind person to hold an RN license and to work as a Registered Nurse in the state of Minnesota.

Clinical Researcher: Nelson was the first person to receive approval from the University of Minnesota Institutional Review Board (IRB) to perform human subject research using bio-energy medicine therapy on patients undergoing total joint replacement surgery. Nelson’s research demonstrated that subjects who received four treatments of bio-energy medicine therapy did statistically better in the following areas than those who did not receive the holistic therapy: pain control, length of time using narcotics after hospital discharge, strength and endurance, sleep quality and quantity and incisional healing.