My Story

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Hello.  My name is Christopher Whyrick.  Nice to meet you!

 

Thank you for finding your way to my page.  Here I will share my history as it pertains to my practice of Natural Medicine.

 

I am a Florida licensed Acupuncture Physician (#AP4283), New Mexico licensed Doctor of Oriental Medicine (#DOM1265), Board Certified Diplomate of Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM #171089), and Board Certified Polarity Therapist with extensive experience in the modalities of Chinese and Western natural medicines.  I have been actively studying and practicing natural medicine since 1996 when I stumbled onto the School of Natural Medicine, in Boulder, Colorado.  But my story really began at birth when my mother was informed that I had Cystic Fibrosis and would not live past my first year of life.  Frantic, my mother found a local group of Reiki practitioners to give me weekly treatments.  The doctor was amazed.  He reclassified my illness to allergy-induced asthma, which continued to plague me growing up, finding myself dependent upon daily medication and a rescue inhaler.  My asthma mostly subsided when I moved to the high mountains of Colorado, where the air was clear and dry.  However, soon after I realized that my allergy-induced asthma had become exercise-induced asthma.  At 7,522 feet, I had problems getting enough air.  My saving grace was the School of Natural Medicine.  

 

Here I was taught that I could take charge of my health, and that nature would provide the means to do that.  I was introduced to the science and art of nature cure, herbal medicine, dietary therapies, fasting, raw food detoxification, and other naturopathic therapeutics under the tutelage of Dr. Farida Sharan, ND.  Influential teachers I studied with included Brigitte Mars, AHG and Marco Lam, L.Ac. and the philosophies and therapeutics of Dr. Henry Lindlahr, MD, Dr. Raymond Christopher, ND, and Dr. Edward Bach, MD.  I actively worked on purifying my diet, taking daily herbal formulas that both worked on the branch (symptoms) and root (etiology) of my illness.  I drank clean water.  I exercised daily.  I practiced pranayama and deep breathing.  I practiced meditation.  I skin brushed.  I performed weekly saunas and cold plunges.  I continued to heal and purify the environmental toxins my body had accumulated.  Before I knew it, no more breathing issues with exercise.  And I felt cleaner and clearer than I ever had.  I knew I was on to something.

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Fast-forward to 2003 where I encountered a practice at my local gym known as "Polarity Yoga".  I was an avid practitioner of yoga at the time but felt like I needed something more.  This practice combined the power of yoga therapy with self-balancing of energies by holding 2 points on the body.  The experience was profound to say the least, as I felt energy moving from one hand to the other!  I inquired about how to study further, and the polarity yoga teacher connected me with Dr. Johnny Henderson, Ph.D., RPP, RPE & 

Tom Langan, RCST.  For the next 4 years of my life, I studied the subtle art of Polarity energy healing & Craniosacral Theraapy, culminating in my Associate Polarity Practitioner (APP) in 2004, Registered Polarity Practitioner (RPP) in 2007 and Board Certified Polarity Practitioner (BCPP).    

 

Shortly after receiving my RPP, I was hired as a traditional Naturopath and Polarity Therapist at Tulsi Holistic Living in Washington, DC where I administered natural healing to my clientele.

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Fast forward one more time to Sugar Grove, NC where I pursed a master’s program in Classical Acupuncture.  Here I was introduced to the theories and practice of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine translated from the Classics by Dr. Nguyen Van Nghi, MD and Dr. Tran Viet Dzhung, MD.  Here I learned and began to understand the idea of Acupuncture needles creating "field effects" in the energetic body, coined by the founder of the school, Dr. Sean Marshall, D.Ac.  These field effects helped to create a synergy in the electrical system of the body, allowing for whole body synchronization, much like what I had studied and experienced in Polarity and Craniosacral therapies.  The notion that acupuncture is much more than placing needles in points that had a particular physiological action (pain relief, regulating the digestive system, etc.) really spoke to me.  I was enlivened by my studies there, however realized that my first love of herbal medicine was not included in the curriculum. 
 

Therefore I made my way to Portland, Oregon and enrolled at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, the #1 rated Chinese medicine school in the USA.  For the next 3 years I studied the theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine intensely and carefully and graduated with my master’s degree in 2018.  Wanting to finalize my education with a doctorate, I applied and was accepted into the doctoral program at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco, California, and 1 year later, my education was now complete.  While a student at ACTCM, I was a busy Teaching Assistant in the Department of Herbal Medicine at OCOM, under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Michael Berlitich, DAOM, the Chair of the Oriental Medicine Department.  Dr. Berlitich infused my soul with classical Chinese herbal medicine theory that still rings true to me today.

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Before relocating to Santa Fe, I stayed busy in 2 clinic practices, where I treated 50+ patients per week. These visits included orthopedic and Chinese medical assessments, as I administered Chinese medicine therapeutics of Tui Na and Shiatsu manual therapy, and Acupuncture and herbal medicine prescribing.  At Sunnyside Collaborative Care, I worked in a collaborative environment with NDs, DCs, and MDs and primarily focused upon Acupuncture & Herbal medicine for relief of Epstein-Barr, Lyme, pain and mental-emotional disorders.  I had the honor to mentor under Dr. Satya Ambrose, ND, L.Ac., where she focused upon Parasitic disorders as one of the primarily causes of illness.  Furthermore, I monitored and evaluated the patients' progress and condition and provided professional advice and recommendations to patients on a healthy lifestyle to help curtail remission of what was resolved in our encounters.  

 

My time in Portland also granted me an experience for which I am forever grateful, as I interned in a clinic that served the homeless, low income and underprivileged communities who suffered with primarily mental and emotional challenges.  What I witnessed was miraculous to say the least, and this was all do to the fine placement of needles at specific energetic centers along the body.  This experience helped me to realize the awesome power and possibilities that acupuncture offers, along with my ability to help those who suffer envision a greater possibility for life.   

 

I am currently in Gainesville, Florida, and am accepting new patients in general practice.  When I am not busy at my clinic seeing patients, I serve on Faculty at Gainesville's two acupuncture colleges - Dragon Rises College of Oriental Medicine and the Academy for Five Element Acupuncture, where I teach courses in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Oncology, Diagnosis, Herbal Medicine, History and Philosophy of Chinese Medicine, and Chinese Medical Theory.

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I am currently licensed to practice Chinese medicine in Florida and New Mexico.

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