is that Chiropractic isn ’ t anything without spinal adjusting . There are a lot of chiropractors who want to do other things and more things and different things , but whatever else you add to Chiropractic , if you don ’ t have spinal adjusting at the heart of it , you ’ re wasting my time and your patients ’ time .
B . J . Palmer invented a word called “ spizzerinctum ,” which means chiropractic enthusiasm , or can you sell the concept that a person ’ s life will be enhanced by being under chiropractic care as opposed to just , “ You ’ ve got low back pain ? Maybe chiropractic care would help .” That ’ s a therapeutic concept , and medicine would say the same thing — that aspirin will help with your low back pain . Spizzerinctum says Chiropractic will help whatever ails you and make your life better even if you don ’ t have any diseases , because Chiropractic lets you express more of yourself . It ’ s really the innate concept — that healing comes from within . A chiropractor is not the healer ; a chiropractor is just the one who helps the body get an adjustment , and then all the things that happen in Chiropractic that we get credit for — patients in fact do themselves . All we did was open up the channels . That ’ s the most important lesson in my whole life , that health comes from within . The patient who walks into my office is the healer ; I ’ m not the healer . And if I don ’ t recognize that the patient is the one who ’ s going to create health within them , I ’ m actually working at cross purposes with their body .
I ’ ve been to a medical doctor for a broken bone , let them set it . But the healing comes from within the patient , no matter what . Eat great food , but it isn ’ t the food that gives you health ; it ’ s what you do with the food . That ’ s probably the most important chiropractic concept , and it ’ s not even unique to Chiropractic — just that living things create their own reality , including their own health , and Chiropractic can help them do that better . The chiropractor doesn ’ t make the adjustment . The chiropractor puts in a force , and the body uses that thrust to make the adjustment within the body . Every patient I ’ ve ever adjusted , it ’ s actually their innate intelligence that created the adjustment .
What are the most important lessons you have learned from your students ?
I have learned that you can ’ t teach anyone anything , but that you can provide them an “ educational adjustment .” You give them the right idea at the right time , and they can open up their understanding of the world using that idea . Education is under the same strictures that good diet and good health care are under . The educator can be an outside influence , but the learning comes from within the student . That ’ s what ’ s allowed me to teach for 40 years , teaching the same way that I adjust . I ’ m going to give you the best lecture I can , but you ’ re going to have to turn it into understanding .
What do you see as the future of Life University ?
I think Life University is doing awesome . Life University chose the word Vitalism ; it ’ s dedicated to this innate concept , that life comes from within . That ’ s what they mean when they say living things are vital beings — they have their own innate intelligence . The only reason I ’ m retiring is that I have taught nonstop for the last 40 years , and I ’ m 70 . It ’ s OK to be done with that phase of life . Life University is as exciting a place to me as ever because of all the things it ’ s doing , even the programs that are not Chiropractic . I just love being associated with a University that views life from the positive side instead of from the negative side — not what ’ s wrong but what ’ s right with life . If anything , there ’ s a little sadness in me because it ’ s time in my life to not be devoting 40 hours a week to teaching . I ’ ve got a grandson ; I ’ ve got a dad who ’ s 97 . It ’ s a very personal time for me . But Life University is the most powerful chiropractic-associated educational institution on the planet right now , bar none .
Even though it ’ s spread out from Chiropractic , it ’ s done it in ways that have supported and reinforced the chiropractic message , that life comes from within , and that patients heal themselves .
Life University — its athletic programs , its undergraduate programs , its business program and its chiropractic program — the whole University is dedicated to finding that place where your job in helping another person is to help them be more fully who they are . The greatest thing about Chiropractic is to help other people to be everything they can be . It ’ s selfempowerment and personal autonomy . I want my patient to be able to heal themselves even better than they could without chiropractic care . My legacy is that I have taught people that concept for 40 years . That ’ s been my goal , and I ’ m satisfied with how well I ’ ve been able to accomplish that .
Alumni . LIFE . edu | 2021
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