We pursue health by attempting to optimize many qualities—movement, power, endurance—but these are just a few of the qualities needed to be healthy. How often do we look at optimizing all of our physiological systems? That’s where functional medicine became an area of interest for me. I was dealing with some health issues over the last couple years, and I sought out Ben House with great success. I was curious to learn more about this discipline, so I attended his retreat and went through his mentorship; learning a great deal in the process. It was at Ben’s retreat that I got to listen to Bryan Walsh, and was blown away. For those who don’t know, Bryan is a naturopathic physician who is a an absolute Jedi with understanding and designing treatments from physiological mechanisms. Bryan took us through an intense physiological journey over those few days, and I absolutely needed more. Thank the maker that Bryan announced his two day seminar. And boy did he not disappoint. Over two days I drank from the firehose of all things blood chemistry and functional medicine. The amount of research we went through was astounding, both on lab values and interventions. I was amazed at how many simple treatments could have profound effects on many common conditions we see people developing. This course contained useful protocols involving supplements, optimal lab ranges based on reducing all cause mortality, and so much more, but to list the exact to-dos would be a disservice to both Bryan
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Costa Rica Beginner’s Mind 2019 Retreat Review
Where can you combine learning, disengaging from life, connection, beach, sun, hiking, and so much more? That’s what Ben House has created with his Beginner’s Mind Retreat at Flō Retreat Center. A place where one can achieve all of the above and more. This trip marked the second time I’ve been here, and for good reason. It gives me the opportunity to personally recalibrate from the hectic work lifestyle I’ve grown accustomed too, while taking time out to better myself in more ways than one. This year’s retreat brought together several bright minds in the health and fitness realms, discussing topics ranging from training, mitochondria, stress, and more. The retreat is set up into two different weeks. The first week was functional medicine-oriented. After a three day break of chillin’ like Bob Dylan, the strength and conditioning week finished things off. The best part of this retreat is that learning is only one component. The lectures took up the morning, then the rest of the day was yours. You get time to train, go to the beach, hike, jump off of cliffs, eat good food, or just chill and play board games. The best part of this retreat is the people you encounter. It can be hard in our industry to find like-minded folks who live the lifestyle that fam like us live. But at Flo, healthy living is the norm. The people I’ve met at Ben’s place are people who I consider to be friends for a lifetime. That’s
Read MoreMovement Analysis and Breathing Strategies for Pain Relief and Improved Performance
Chris, a high level mountain biker, at first didn’t believe someone could help him move better over the internet. He had back issues for a hot minute, what the heck was an online consult going to do? A couple consults later with me, and Chris is pain-free, back to doing all the wild and crazy things he was doing before without issues. Chris was so juiced up about his results that he wanted to learn more about my thought process and what I do that he had me on his podcast. Chris Kelly is the owner of Nourish Balance Thrive, a really cool site that brings several great practitioners together to help clients remotely with whatever their goals are. Despite Chris technically not being in the field, he’s one of the best interviewers I’ve had the pleasure of podcasting with. He asked some great, unique questions, and we got into a wide variety of topics. Here are some of topics we discussed on the podcast: Ben House and Flō Retreat Center in Costa Rica How I got into physical therapy. The influence of Bill Hartman. Working with NBA basketball players. The influence of Dr. Bryan Walsh. Sleep and performance How to treat pain Assessing movement Movement variability The online assessment process Pain vs. tissue damage How we improved the host’s chronic lower back pain The importance of the pelvic floor What is considered normal breathing How to promote behavior change in our clients Applying the principle of minimal effective dose
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