What Forty+ Years of Studying Health Has Taught Me About Healing

What Forty+ Years of Studying Health Has Taught Me About Healing

I Don't Belong to One School of Thought

Over the years, people have asked me what kind of practitioner I am. The longer I work in health, the more difficult that question has become to answer.

I've studied biology, nutrition, herbal medicine, physiology, environmental health, functional testing, Ayurvedic medicine, spagyrics, iridology, muscle testing, lymphatic techniques, and many other approaches to understanding health. I've learned something valuable from each of them. I've also learned that none of them fully explain the remarkable complexity of the human person.

Early in my career, I assumed there would eventually be one model that answered everything. Instead, I found myself becoming less attached to individual systems and more interested in the patterns they seemed to describe.

Modern medicine excels at identifying acute disease, understanding anatomy, physiology, and the biochemical mechanisms that underlie health and illness. Nutritional science continues to reveal how food influences metabolism, inflammation, and chronic disease. Herbal medicine offers centuries of careful observation, many of which modern research has begun to explain through pharmacology and phytochemistry. Ayurveda views health through the lens of balance, adaptation, and constitutional tendencies. Other traditional systems contribute perspectives that, while expressed in different languages, often point toward similar physiological principles.

Rather than asking which system is right, I began asking a different question:

Is Each System Describing the Same Human Being from a Different Perspective?

That thought got me excited and changed the way I practice. I no longer begin with a protocol, a diagnosis, or a preferred theory. I begin with curiosity and ask the individual questions that strengthen the information I'm looking for regarding patterns. For example, how are they producing energy, adapting to stress, and where do multiple systems seem to converge?

My faith has also shaped this perspective. I believe the human body reflects extraordinary design. I believe nutrition, movement, restorative sleep, healthy relationships, fresh air, sunlight, meaningful purpose, and a well-nourished mind all influence health. I also believe science is one of the most powerful tools we've been given to better understand that design. The two are not enemies—they often illuminate one another.

Looking for the Connecting Patterns

Over time, I began noticing the underlying ideas of the different systems were often remarkably similar. One emphasized inflammation, another focused on impaired digestion, another spoke of weakened vitality, disturbed energy, constitutional imbalance, or reduced adaptability. At first, these appeared to be completely different ways of understanding health, but the more I studied, the more I realized they were often describing the same human physiology.

One practitioner might talk about mitochondrial dysfunction. Another might describe diminished digestive fire. An herbalist might focus on supporting the liver, while another emphasizes detoxification pathways. The terminology changes, but many of the underlying themes overlap: energy production, adaptation, resilience, nourishment, elimination, communication, and repair.

Rather than asking which model is correct, I became increasingly interested in where they converge, and today, I don't see my role as defending one philosophy over another. I see my role as integrating the strongest observations from each discipline while remaining grounded in physiology, scientific evidence, clinical experience, and a deep respect for the body's remarkable design.

For me, health and healing isn't about choosing between modern science and traditional wisdom. It's about understanding what each can teach us, and using those insights to better understand the person sitting in front of me.

Continue Exploring

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If you've spent years moving from one diagnosis, one protocol, or one theory to the next, perhaps the next question isn't, "Which system is right?" Perhaps it's, "What patterns are all of these systems trying to show me?"

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