Interview with Geo

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Can you tell us how you first became interested
in a career in health and healing?

GEO: My first interest in healing came about as a result of my own health challenge while I was in high school when I experienced panic attacks for one full year before finding relief. The sensations of anxiety was extremely uncomfortable, exhausting and challenging both mentally and physically. It pushed me to my edges and challenged me to find my own path to healing. I was offered pharmaceuticals to treat the panic disorder but chose instead to seek natural solutions. Ultimately I learned to overcome the anxiety attacks with breath medicine and yoga techniques. That experience although I would never wish it upon anyone helped me recognize two things. First, it helped me experience first hand the power we have within us to find harmony and peace. It helped instill a meditation and centering practice as part of my daily routine. Secondly, I remember being so grateful once I overcame this health challenge, and having an intense desire to help others who felt lost or needed guidance and wanting to spend my life uplifting others and giving hope and empowerment for others to help themselves heal.

How did you choose to
become a physical therapist?

GEO: Sometimes you don’t choose something, it chooses you. In 2001, I decided to live in Destin, Florida for a year following graduation from University of Richmond. I had an opportunity to serve others food in a most incredible resort oasis. It was a temporary work vacation that gave me a chance to make money while contemplating next steps. Like most recent grads, I had large student loans, a (Leadership) Degree, a deep seed of passion to serve in health care but no focused idea of what that looked like or what to do next. I did not want to waste my time at a job I didn’t feel was part of a bigger picture just to pay back loans and get caught in the rat race. Luckily my prayers were answered. One afternoon, serving food to a customer in the most serene and tranquil location with the backdrop of the emerald coast, I ended up having a wonderful conversation with a customer. He happened to be carrying with him two books which he placed on the table, called Siddhartha and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. These were books I had read and loved about the subjects of spirituality and deep knowledge. During our unexpected conversation into the realms of existence and meaning, he asked me what my plans were with my life professionally. I told him a bit about myself, my desire to serve others along their healing path with energy medicine combined with a scientific understanding of anatomy. He did not hesitate in asking if I had ever thought of becoming a physical therapist. Surprisingly the thought had never crossed my mind. I didn’t even understand what a physical therapist did or their scope of practice. I rushed home after work that day and searched the internet for “What is a Physical Therapist.” When I read about the practice of PT it sounded like the perfect profession for me. You have an opportunity to delve into applied anatomy, physiology and movement in medical school, work to rehabilitate and make a profound impact on the lives of individuals after their injury, work and treat 1 on 1 for at least 30 minutes at a time, practice using hands on manual therapy approach, and choose between a variety of setting to work in. Most people don’t understand the depth of knowledge, skill, and heart that physical therapists have. It is a profession that attracts incredible human beings of service and wisdom. I knew after that synchronistic meeting with the customer at the beach I would one day earn my degree in Physical Therapy, blend it with my passion and understanding of energy medicine, and spend my life uplifting others through this path. And almost 20 years later that is exactly what I am doing. I feel so blessed to have met that stranger. He was in my eyes an angel sent to guide my way. I may never see him again but give gratitude for him and all the other helpers known and unknown along the way that have opened the path for me to practice healing and serving through the profession of PT.

What individuals have influenced how you practice?

GEO: I am so grateful for my mentors on this path. What would our lives be like without great teaches and visionaries who have come before us to help guide the way.

I would like to honor and give thanks my first teacher of energy medicine and reiki John Moon. My professor at University of Richmond Miss Johnson introduced me to John after I told her I wanted to pursue a career in complementary and alternative medicine. She did not hesitate to tell me that this was an emerging field and there are not many practicing in the way I envisioned. John welcomed me with open arms and taught me meditation, visualization, healing techniques and became a great friend. He had overcome living with AIDS by using energy medicine and offsetting the negative and toxic effects of drugs he was taking at the time using Reiki. I met with John once a week for about 3 years and he became a great friend and teacher. I read a book by Mitch Album titled “Tuesdays with Morrie” and felt I could write a similar book called “Sundays with John Moon”. It was with his confidence and encouragement that I started experimenting working on friends and family in my early 20s to see if this practice of Reiki I was learning actually worked and had results. To my amazement my clients (mostly friends and family in the beginning) would report extraordinary experiences relating to pleasant sensations in their body, (many times at a distance from where I was actually placing my hands), heat around injured areas that healed very fast, deep deep relaxation, a sense of lightness and floating, tingling and warmth, peace, insights, improved sleep, more joy, and sometimes mystical like visions and healings. These experiences left such an impact on my mind that I wanted to delve even more into this mystery of energy medicine. It baffled me why more people were not talking about how profound these experiences were. This was in 1997 and energy medicine 20+ years later is just now gaining momentum and acceptance, integrated into hospital and clinical settings, and supported by scientific literature. (thanks to pioneers such as biologist James Oshmans book “ Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis and Medical Doctor Gerber’s book “Vibrational Medicine”). My first teacher in this field of energy medicine, John Moon was way way ahead of his time. And I am grateful for his vision and teachings.

I befriended Tom Wojick at St Marys Hospital Mind Body Center (SMMBC) when I was a student at University of Richmond as part of a school outreach project. The Center was located in Richmond, VA and was a sister clinic of Harvard’s Center for Mind Body Medicine founded by the great research medical doctor Herbert Benson, also known for the pioneering book to support the mind body connection scientifically called “The Relaxation Response”. I had a first hand taste of what it was like to run programs for reducing anxiety and improving immune response while working at SMMBC. Tom was the head of the clinic and because of him I was able to offer Reiki at St Marys hospital, learn directly from Dr Benson, and teach Stress Reduction classes at the University of Richmond. Tom now teaches and certifies individuals and companies in Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Tom saw in me something I didn’t necessarily see in myself despite my young age. I am forever grateful for Tom and his ability to look beyond age and teach an eager student of life. When the student is ready the teacher appears.

Perhaps the most influential person on my physical therapy career is Rich Nyberg, owner of the renowned “Atlanta Back Clinic”. Rich was and is still known throughout Atlanta as the premier go to clinician for hands on manual physical therapy. He is a master of understanding human anatomy as it relates to body function and movement. He is not only one of the most knowledgeable physical therapist I have ever met but also practices with a great blend of head and heart energy. He offered me my first PT job just after graduating from Emory University and mentored me for 5 years, meeting with me weekly to give me one on one advice and coaching on how to treat patients from a holistic perspective. Rich is a great example of a conscious healer/physical therapist always keeping the best interest of his patients and his staff in mind. When I opened up my physical therapy practice in Del Mar, CA in 2011, I based how I practiced as a clinician and business owner on what I learned from my mentor Rich Nyberg.

I was introduced to the oldest system of healing in the world called Ayurveda when I was a few years into my PT practice. I was invited to a week long training in Ayurveda with Deepak Chopra. MD and David Simon, MD. They blew my mind in their birds eye integrative perspective on medicine and life. I was inspired and every cell in my being wanted to learn more about this amazing way to practice and I kept asking myself how I could integrate Ayurvedic principles into the practice of physical therapy and energy medicine. This path led me to get certified in Ayurveda and Yoga through the Chopra Center. Eventually I was offered a job at the Chopra Center to offer hand on healing, teach to participants from around the world about Ayurveda and overcoming chronic pain, teach anatomy and physiology to the Yoga Teachers in Training, and eventually offer Integrative Physical Therapy at the Chopra Centers Mind Body Center. I was inspired and grateful for Jennifer Johnson, Dr Valencia Porter, and Dr Sheila Patel for their kindness, professionalism, and amazing models of practicing conscious medicine. I will always be grateful for my friends and colleagues at the Chopra Center. There was an energy of collective joy and sacred possibility whenever I would visit, teach, and work there.

There are 2 other practitioner master teachers that I had a chance to meet briefly for consultations and workshop in the field of Ayurveda that left a lasting impression on me. The first is the great Vasant Lad, who in my view is the embodiment of compassion in action. He founded the Ayurvedic Institute and the way he speaks and acts is always with mindful grace, reverence, and love. I was inspired from the first time I heard him speak at a Chopra event about the many ways to observe and understand an individual and their constitution and health. He taught based on true knowledge on how to live in harmony with nature to restore balance to body and mind using natural medicine based on the wisdom of Ayurveda. His books and tapes and teachings are still kept on my bookshelf for constant reference. I had an opportunity to go through a panchakarma treatment week with him in which I was a patient and I had 2 consultations with him in front of all his students. The information he was able to give me just based on my pulse, observation and brief assessment was incredible. His presence alone felt healing to me. It was as if he could see straight through my soul to the root of who I am. One my the most memorable moments of my life was when he essentially gave me a blessing to teach Marma Therapy. He told me that I will be great Marma Therapy teacher and I should pursue this path. This coming from one of the greatest teachers of Ayurveda on the planet who also authored the gold standard of textbooks on the subject called “Marma Points of Ayurveda”. The courses I teach called Marma Manual Therapy for clinical practice and self care are based largely on Vasant Lad and David Frawleys teachings.

Mark Halpern is the Director of the California College of Ayurveda and also a fantastic Marma Therapy teacher and practitioner. He is doing so much for the profession of Ayurveda and it’s advancement. He helped take the initial steps for Ayureveda to be an accredited profession. The course I took from him on Marma Therapy in 2008 opened my eyes to the power and healing potential of this form of energy medicine which opens our awareness to the access points for healing through the junction of the physical and energy bodies according to Ayurvedic thought system. Thank you Mark for you continued teaching and support of the essence of Ayurveda and healing.

I must make mention of my teacher of Mantra Therapy whom I never met in the flesh, Thomas Ashley Farrand (Namadeva) and his teacher Sadguru Sant Keshavadas. These 2 beings influenced my life deeply through their teachings and training in Mantra, the power of sound. During and after going through the Mantra Teacher Certification course which took me 2 years I felt profound and deep lasting shifts within my mind and soul. The course of my life is forever changed for the better because of the knowledge and power of mantra. Since becoming certified to teach through Sanatana Dharma, founded by Namadeva and now carried on by his amazing and powerful wife Satyabhama, I have taught many individuals and groups mantra chants and how to perform a 40 day practice/discipline mantra meditation. The power of these mantras to clear blockages, attract desired outcomes, cut through karma/challenges, clear the path, and gain personal and spiritual power and guidance is remarkable to say the least. I have learned that chanting mantras is one of the fastest ways to make both personal and spiritual progress in this lifetime. I get calls and emails regularly from students that thank me for passing on this knowledge. I am called to share the power and teachings of mantra as taught to me through my teachers Namadeva, Satyabhama, Sant Keshavadas, and Bharata. It gives me great joy that we live in a time that people are feeling called to utilize mantra as part of a daily practice and routine. I give deep thanks for Spirit to have brought these teachers and teachings into my life.

Lastly, and most important, I consider myself (and everyone else for that matter) spiritual in nature. We are all embodied spirit. I do not identify with one religion over another. I believe there are many paths and we are all an extension/manifestation of One God/Creator. My life path has led me to connect with many great teachers. I would be remiss not to take a moment to honor the great Light of the Holy Spirit/Christ that guides my way. Each day I wake up and surrender my ego desires and ask for “Thy Will to be done” and I ask to be guided by the Holy Spirit in service to humanity. I am an open vessel and am aware that any healing or progress made in treatments and relationships with my fellow friends/human family is not because of me - it is because it is the power of Creator working through both of us. I thank God for my life and I thank the Holy Spirit for walking with me and guiding my life path.

What authors/books have had a big impact on how you practice?

GEO: The list is so long…but here are just a few:

James Oschman on the subject of Energy Medicine
Deepak Chopra and David Simon in Mind-Body Medicine and Yoga
Vasant Lad and David Frawley in Ayurveda and Marma Therapy
Ray Long in Yoga Anatomy
Joseph Campbell on Following your dreams and bliss
Thomas Ashley Farrand & Sant Keshavadas in Mantra Therapy
A Course in Miracles ,Ken Wapnick & Gary Renard in Spirituality
Fritjof Capra and Margaret Wheatley in Systems Thinking
Marshall Rosenberg and Don Rosenthal in Peaceful Communication
Wayne Dyer for Inspiration and Positive Thinking
Eknath Easwaran on Spirituality and Philosophy
Yogananda, Herman Hesse, and Shankara
Shakti Gawain for Creative Visualization
The biology of belief
Konstantine Korotkov on GDV and the Biowell
Neal Donald Walsch for re-minding me about the soul
Hafiz and Rumi for poetic and eternal wisdom

How do you stay in balance, and what is your health routine?

GEO: Keeping myself healthy is essential. It is a primary value for me. If I am not healthy then I cannot serve to the capacity I would like. I believe we would have no health or life at all without our Creator God whom I give thanks. I also believe while living in these bodies we can’t just be idle but we have to do our part to keep the mind and body clear and balanced so the flow of energy can be kept alive and vibrant within us. David Simon, confounder of the Chopra Center, defined health as having energy and information flowing freely through every cell of the body, from head to toe. This implies it would serve us to allow information (through the hormones, nervous system, and communication signals within us) to flow without blockages. How do we keep the body running and functioning properly?

We know good blood flow is of utmost importance because along with blood flow comes oxygen which every cell depends upon, as well as the delivery of nutrients, and the removal of waste from cells. The waste is carried through the lymph and circulatory system to be eliminated through the sweat, urine and feces. Both the delivery of nutrients and elimination of toxins requires us to eat, move, and breathe properly.

Food is medicine. What we put in our mouths becomes our body. Thus one cannot have a complete health routine without taking account the spectrum, variety, and quality of food that we literally build our bodily form with. These are the nutrients and phytochemical that become our cell walls, mitochondria, muscle fibers, bone and every other cell in our body. While we have a body to take care of - it is important for me to feed it properly. For me that means taking whole foods, many colors, daily organic juices including cucumber, celery, apple, parsely, cilantro, lemon, ginger, beets, among others. I also carry around a huge 32 ounce water bottle that I drink throughout the day with a goal of drinking 2-3 of them (80+ ounces a day). I eat protein in the morning, a big lunch around 1, and lighter dinner like a salad.

Each day I meditate for at least 20 minutes, and depending on the day it may be as long as 90+ minutes. I keep track of my meditation on an app called Insight Timer. I usually do a breathing practice of diaphragmatic or alternate nostril breathing along with chanting and mantra, followed by silent meditation. Typically I will pray for guidance, health, and love for family, friends, earth, children, humanity. I also will send a healing prayer to individual patients or family that may need it.

I know that if I exercise in the morning, I feel so much better the rest of the day. This will include 30-60 minutes of swimming, stretching/yoga, core exercise, resistance training, jogging, or biking. Exercise removes stagnation and blockages and enhances awareness and blood flow, mood, and must about every other area of health. It just feels good and when I fall out of my routine occasionally I notice a huge difference…fatigue, negativity, weakness, heavy feelings, poor motivation, slower healing, and the list goes on. Exercise is a cornerstone along with meditation and proper food for my secrets to feeling alive and at ease.

I have also made a routine of how I think in a certain way. I did a thought exercise when I was 19 years old to spend 3 days just watching my thoughts without identifying with them. It changed my life. I realized how many thoughts I had that I didn’t even want to be thinking, I didn’t believe in, and they felt self defeating and negative. Then I started to change the way I thought about things and people by letting go of belief systems that didn’t serve me. I started surrounding myself with books, people, and audio that supported positivity and love and success. I would shift conversations when I felt they were going down a rabbit hole of negativity or blame. I started rethinking how I was thinking. Now I can reframe most any situation and catch myself before overcoming my self with fear and negativity mental activity that is in no way helpful. It takes a lot of time and courage to look at our belief systems and change the way we approach life and people when sometimes it is so easy to play the role of victim. It takes great strength and self awareness and faith to no be tempted into negative ways of thinking, speaking and behaving, Yet if we want to truly live up to our potential as kind loving beings and radiate light and love then it is our responsibility to look deeply within and change our thinking and the domino effect will carry over into uplifting words and behaviors that end up beautifying the lives of those around us instead of the opposite.

Spending time with friends and those I love dearly is essential to a balanced life. Finding community and a sense of belonging for me is key and where I feel most alive and appreciative. Doing things that I love with people I love is medicine. For me time with my kids and my partner Larissa is what gives me so much joy. Singing, dancing, relaxing, playing guitar, creative projects, adventures…doing fun things and laughing and playing with people I love is the essence of what gives me joy and pleasure.

I guess to sum it up my main health practices consist of:

Eating whole foods that are life supporting
Exercising regularly (5x or more a week for 30+ minutes)
Meditating, chanting and praying daily
Spending time with community, ideally in nature settings
Playing and having fun with friends and family
Living a life of purpose
Thinking positively (and reframing negative beliefs and patterns that don’t serve)
Speaking and acting in a loving and kind way
Reading and listening to inspirational material
Forgiving myself and others for any grievances I am holding onto

Who will benefit from the services you offer?

GEO: People typically schedule a consult or treatment with me for 1 of 3 reasons.

Health care practitioners seeking to learn integrative strategies that work to help their patients.
Patients seeking to avoid surgery or help to improve the function of their body through rehabilitation.
Individual seeking to access deeper healing or awareness through specialized holistic tools and energy medicine techniques.

As a practicing clinical physical therapist in outpatient orthopedics for 15 years I still have great joy treating people who need traditional physical therapy to heal from an injury or chronic musculoskeletal condition. About half of my clients see me for physical therapy related injuries. I worked at the Atlanta Back Clinic for 5 years and became more specialized in low back and neck injuries and consider any spinal condition an area of expertise, including sciatica, low back pain, degenerative conditions, nerve pain, and mid back pain. These conditions respond very well to both physical and energy modalities as well as lifestyle and postural shifts. Yoga based treatment is very effective if guided by an experienced therapist in conjunction with rehabilitation. The other physical therapy patients I see very often are those with balance problems, being unsteady and unconfident on their feet. I wrote the book Radiant Balance to help reduce fall risk and improve balance using a combination of PT, yoga for all ages, and integrative strategies. I have many clients who want me to guide them one one to help improve balance. It gives me much joy to assist others in this way. The combination of physical therapy and yoga techniques and postures is a perfect combination to help improve balance.

The other half of my private 1 on 1 practice is focused on helping individuals overcome healing obstacles and accessing higher awareness through energy medicine. This approach can be used for any nervous system problem from sleep issues to pain to connecting deeply to one’s higher self. The energy work combines an ancient hands on healing approach for deep relaxation called reiki, with Ayurvedic hands on junction points of healing called marma therapy, and mantra sounds/chants which help remove energy blocks and promote a healing response in the body. This combination of hands on healing over specific areas of the body is tailored to each individual based on their needs, diagnosis, desires, and current state of balance. It is wonderful work to help others access greater innate wisdom while also feeling a great flow of energy and sensation coursing through the body and improving clarity of mind and connection to spirit. When a practitioner and recipient of energy medicine collaborate together with a shared purpose and intent with an open heart and mind the experience can be profound and indescribable.

Health care professional benefit from the services of mentoring and workshops to help assist the use of these integrative services in their own practice. Marma manual therapy training can be incorporated into any clinician/therapists practice who work one on one with clients - in helping to to utilize these energy points to facilitate healing. Radiant Balance training helps practitioners combine yoga with physical therapy exercises to enhance the rate and degrees to which individuals improve their balance. Sound medicine training is also available for practitioners and non practitioners to learn how to incorporate sound, mantra, and chanting to help assist remove obstacles, create harmony, and enhance the healing process in a most uplifting way.

What are the qualities of people who make improvements?

GEO: I find that while the form of how and the timing of when healing takes place can be unpredictable, there are a few key qualities of those that make large improvements. Some of these include:

Taking 100% responsibility for one's health and lifestyle.
A willingness to look at and change unhealthy patterns of thought, movement, and behavior.
Letting go of victim mindset and/or projection of blame and grievances.
Passion to know oneself.
Deep interest in accessing your inner power (to heal and create).
Open mind and kind heart.
Living a life of integrity and kindness.
Eating whole foods and letting go of inflammatory foods and emotions.
Exercise mindset - taking time for a positive lifestyle and routine.
Knowing when to rest and when to work.
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