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Foreign [Applause] Because you're not your average you're Not your average doctor and we'll get Into some of that but was there an Awakening Health experience that you had Or was it a wide variety of things that Well I kind of went in you know like Subversive right so I I actually was a Yoga teacher before I was a doctor 40 Years ago when yoga was really weird and There was one Yoga Studio in our city Above East West bookstore which is now a Cute kitchen on 14 to 5th Avenue and it Was weird there were like three people In the class and you know but And um and so I I always sort of brought That in to medical school with me the Unders and I studied ancient healing Systems I studied uh You know the theoretical aspects of Chinese medicine and Ancient healing Traditions around the World Planet medicine that was sort of Embedded in me in college Um and then I um then I went to medical School and and sort of tried to hold my Ground and I think I kept it but I slowly got Brainwashed into that Paradigm yeah and It was tough and I um and I felt like I Was doing a good job and I think I was a Good doctor I was a family doctor I went To a small town in Idaho and
Practice there for a number of years and Deliver babies and did everything Um And then I Kind of left and went to China for a Year came back worked in the ER and then I Um decided I wanted to do more you know Mind-body medicine and Integrative Medicine And I got a job as the medical director Of Canyon Ranch which is where I began To sort of do all this and really like a Few months after I got that job I got Really sick And um He went went from like riding my bike 100 miles a day and you know remembering 30 patients in a day seeing them without Any notes and being able to do the Charts to not be able to walk up the Stairs and not only where I was at the End of a sentence And Everything broke down my gut broke down My immune system broke down my brain Broke down I couldn't focus think I Couldn't sleep And I'm just getting over a cold I Haven't found the cure for that yet And I was giving a talk at a conference Yesterday on Alzheimer's and autism I Said we can cure Alzheimer's and autism But I can't figure out how to cure the
Company And so I I literally had to sort of Reverse engineer my way back to health And at that point functional medicine Was a very unknown and really fairly Undeveloped discipline Um and I discovered I had mercury Poisoning from living in China and it Just broke down everything in my system And I I literally had to go system by System fixing everything my gut my Mitochondria my brain my immune system My hormones and it took a long time and Through that process and then applying That to my patients and seeing the Results and having this amazing Incubator where you know I was able to Work with very wealthy people who could Do all the Diagnostics we could explore Together I was very open with everything Let's just try this nothing else works And people would have Miracles you know We literally see people wake up from Alzheimer's and people reverse autism or People without immune diseases that were Untreatable get cured or depression go Away or all sorts of things And and so that process led me to just Become passionate about sharing this Model of Medicine with the world because It just to me it was a paradigm shift It's like saying okay well the Earth Isn't flat anymore and yet everybody Around you is like the Earth is flat
What are you talking about and it's it's Like living in a different reality yeah What's exciting now is 20 plus years Later now it's starting to become in the Conversation people are aware of it People know about it and people are I Mean I was in Abu Dhabi a couple weeks Ago with Cleveland Clinic program there And the whole real family is into it you Know you know just you hear people Really becoming aware and looking for This so it was a it was a hard journey But Um but it led me to be really passion And Advocate about having to share this With the world and write about it and Teach about it great and I know you you Had another medical uh or challenge yeah Recently that's been my uh that was I Don't know if you've spoken about it Publicly I have I have I mean that's Been sort of my uh Um path is essentially having to learn By getting sick and figuring it out and Then telling him which I don't recommend Not fun but uh yeah I was uh I had a House an old barn I lived in is from 1800s Um and it was full of mold and didn't Realize it and I started coughing and Getting sick and tired and then a bunch Of things happened where I I got a root canal that went bad and Took an antibiotic and then I broke my
Arm and it all happened within like Three weeks And I ended up going into massive Physical collapse I got C diff which is A horrible intestinal infection from Antibiotics I lost 30 pounds from my Already skinny ass self here and uh and I was in bed for five months I mean when I was really sick with chronic fatigue I Didn't have that I was literally just Just could not function I had no Cognitive function I couldn't be on the Phone or answer emails I was in bed back And forth to the bathroom I developed Colitis gastritis severe pain 24 7. Severe cognitive dysfunction Um and I literally there was like Nothing left of me emotionally Physically mentally and it was kind of An interesting experience because you Know all the years of yoga meditation And Buddhist training I sort of I I knew intellectually that I'm Not My Thoughts I'm not my emotions I'm not my Behaviors I'm not all that not my Physical body Uh but like when you're in it it's like Yeah but I it was I just surrendered Like and I just was in this very Peaceful place I didn't know if I was Going to die or not I I mean I thought I Was a number of times and um It was a very profound experience for me Because I literally just had to be in
And I was actually happy my wife was Here who really was there for me the Whole time and uh it was it was striking You know like how I was able to sort of Not fall into despair or Darkness or Fear but just like just be in whatever It was that was happening which right I Don't recommend but I I finally figured Out how to fix it and all and all my Usual tricks didn't work so I had to Think of another set of Tricks which did Work which is kind of fun
