To nationally share this extremely good news – how to prevent the preventable – I founded and co-directed The Run: Moving Natural Medicine Forward, and ran 3,000 miles across the USA, at a 30 mile per day clip, over 4 months, to promote a healthier America and to increase the visibility of naturopathic medicine (see www.TheRun.org). After talking to thousands of people across 16 states and Washington, DC, over 124 days on the highways and byways of America, I found that there is a virtual consensus across the USA that our nation is not preventing the preventable, that our very lifestyles are killing us, and that as a nation, we are overusing pharmaceutical drugs!

The Mind-Body-Spirit Connection

I became very passionate about exercise, while training for track, and other sports. Through running, I discovered the mind-body-spirit connection. I experienced the power of endorphins, also known as the “runner’s high,” long before I studied about these hormones in physiology class. I became a lifelong runner, while also enjoying other rigorous activities such as lake swimming, bicycle commuting, and hiking. From my earliest memories, I have had a deep appreciation for food and healthy eating. Growing up with California’s abundant fresh fruit and vegetables, a mother that grew up on a farm and provided many meals for frequent guests, I became interested in nutrition at an early age.

Testing the Limits of Human Endurance

After taking a college fitness appreciation class, I changed my major to Health and P.E., emphasizing exercise physiology and nutrition. To encourage running and physical fitness I organized family “fun runs” in my college community. To test the limits of human endurance and promote physical fitness and nutrition I ran to Alberta, Canada, from Corvallis, Oregon, attempting the longest run ever, without a support team. Running 39 miles a day, alone, for 37 days, over the Cascades and Canadian Rockies, pushed my physical and mental limits, and also provided a tremendous source of spiritual growth. After college I became more aware of the African famines and world hunger, and thus began my increased involvement in social justice work. My conscience would not allow me to do nothing upon learning that our global brothers and sisters were dying prematurely, and unable to reach their potential – simply because of a lack of food, and social justice! After much study and traveling throughout the U.S. on a “Journey of Truth,” I spent the next decade working as a community organizer for peace and justice in Latin America. I had the opportunity along the way to meet and advocate for Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees being protected in the Sanctuary Movement. I was fortunate to be able to make many journeys to Central and South America. I learned Spanish, and fell in love with the Latin American people and culture.

Across the North American Continent

Again, using running as the way that I could best contribute my energies towards peace and justice in Central America, I organized and ran across the North American continent, from Sacramento to Washington, D.C. This 3,006 mile run took place over a 16 week period, in the middle of winter, and became known in the media as a “Run of Conscience.” Having the yearning for a deeper spirituality, and more academic grounding, I attended the Maryknoll School of Theology, receiving a fellowship. After receiving my M.A. in Theological Studies, with an emphasis in social justice and peace, I taught high school religious studies courses and public school E.S.L. classes, for over a decade. My students and colleagues had a profound impact on my life! It was here that I discovered that the most significant element in the learning process as a teacher was not in imparting information to students, but in developing genuine relationships with my students. Interactive relationships provided a much greater opportunity for education to flourish and this experience has provided the backbone of my medical practice today. Leaving teaching was emotionally difficult, but I left with a leap of faith that there was something else I was supposed to do: to articulate the body-mind-spirit relationship of holistic health as a physician-teacher of natural medicine.