The Road To Now

Hello everyone, Caleb here! I would like to start my first blog post with a huge thank you to all the current and future members of the Uplifted community. As you will come to read, this company was born out of a restless desire for more, for better. Uplifted Restorative Therapies is driven by a recognition of, and an insatiable desire for healing: healing of self, family, community, and I dare to say even for all of humanity. That is a lofty statement that requires some context to digest. Here is the appetizer :)

Growing Up in a Time of Change

Having been both born and raised in Savannah, Georgia during the 90’s, I grew up in a time where it feels like the fast-forward button had been pushed on the world’s clock. From the rise of personal computers, smartphones, and the internet, to the reuniting of Germany, the end of the Cold War, and the formation of the EU, the world looked more than just different from the decades before. In Savannah, this also meant waves of cultural and economic shifts were crashing onto the “tradition-heavy” shores of the southeast. I also grew up in an environment where I spent more time with adults than children, so I was constantly made aware of the frighteningly rapid changes. To me, change was just the way of the world.

Much of my free time in my youth was spent nerding out to things like TLC, Discovery, and Travel Channel programs. With pastimes like watching surgery on TV then learning about global cultures, I quickly became enamored with the mystery of the human experience. This fascination never left me as I transitioned into the school years. 

Early Passion for Healing

Around the age of 8, I began walking and pressing on my father’s back to help alleviate his frequent back pain and headaches. By the 8th grade, I had begun to massage my classmates' shoulders, then in high school, I joined a medical magnet program from which point my classmates and teammates began to come to me to work on simple body aches. Upon entering my senior year, physical therapy seemed like the obvious career path for me.

A Shift in Perspective

While in college, the world around me continued to churn, forcing my hand to seek a quicker, alternative career path. I had to drop out of college to get a job that would allow me to work for a decent enough pay to help cover the cost of college and living expenses as I returned to my DPT program. What was supposed to be a temporary detour ultimately became the most defining educational experience of my life. I had just stepped out of the well-refined and culturally accepted modern medical perspective and jumped headfirst into the world of holistic medicine.

Fascinatingly, I had never truly been exposed to an alternative view of health and wellness. Up until this point, my entire idea of medicine was dressed in a white coat and spoke Latin. Ideal health was a line graph reaching from 0-10. Pursuing health meant treating symptoms one segment at a time. But, beginning at the Savannah School of Massage Therapy, my perspective slowly began to shift. From that massage school, to CEU courses, and learning to truly listen to my patients, the idea of a sterile medicine slowly morphed into a much more vibrant, rounded, and open-ended pursuit. Textbook medicine evolved into medical art. I did end up returning to college for physical therapy, but as a PTA. It was in these classes that I became all the more aware of the inadequacy of the mainstream medical model.

Recognizing the Problem

You see, in spite of all of the incredible and powerful advancements spawned from the modern medical movement, medicine has managed to lose its footing. We’ve transitioned from a system of human relations intertwined with spiritual power to a dogmatic, sterile science using formulas to address symptoms. This is by no means to say that the modern medical advancements are invalid. I simply believe that our medical system is out of balance. We often diagnose and treat complications by merely covering up the symptoms. We will often treat a single condition without following the chain to address the root cause. We chase numbers on a chart over functional outcomes.

The Uplifted Philosophy

This is where Uplifted Restorative Therapies stands out. My lack of capacity to diagnose, prescribe medication, and perform surgery has in fact become my biggest strength. The only tools I have at my disposal are my hands and my words, but oftentimes this leads to more genuine change than what can be found within a pill or under a scalpel. I have realized that the true physician is not the person wearing that white coat; the physician is that which resides inside of the patient. Healing can only come from within. This shift in perspective means that the power of health comes from the patient, and the role of the practitioner is to facilitate the patient’s innate healing capacity.

When a patient comes into my practice, I often spend as much time educating and encouraging the patient as I do treating them with modalities. I seek regions that have skewed posture or disrupted movement patterns, then while correcting them I encourage patients to test if there are emotional correlations. I pick through my patients' words with a fine-tooth comb, looking for layers of unnecessary guilt or dismay, then I encourage them to work through those congested emotions with words of hope and love. I may even find myself getting lost in a single joint for 30 minutes as I look for the exact release needed to restore full range of motion. Once we have achieved a more centered state, I then look to recommend exercises that are specific to each case so that the healing journey can continue, even after the session. It is on this road of self-discovery and healing that true wellness can be pursued.

A Journey of Integration and Balance

This “road to now” has had many unexpected turns and detours, but I am deeply grateful for each of them. I had to learn from both Western and Eastern medical approaches in order to see the possible harmony between the two. I had to treat patients both analytically and intuitively in order to find an effective balance. I had to work in both clinical and holistic settings in order to feel the opportunity for the two to merge. Now, I must learn to grow a holistic business model that encompasses all of the passion for wellbeing without compromising value, and an educational platform that extends far beyond the walls of one building.

An Open Invitation

I invite you to join me in this journey of change. To stand as a beacon of hope in an era searching for healing. Explore our services, engage with our community, and stand by our side as we work together on the Uplifted journey…