Meet Anthony Carrillo from Turiya Chiropractic

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Carrillo.

Hi Anthony, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My story is riddled with many life-changing challenges. Challenges that have deepened my awareness of healing, strength and perseverance. In hindsight, I am very grateful for these challenges. They have continually shaped me in to the resilient person I am today. I know there are many readers out there who have been through similar challenges to these. I hope my share inspires others to keep trusting in their individual journey.

I grew up as a multi sport athlete in the San Francisco area and was always fascinated by the endless possibilities of dynamic movement. The power, speed, agility and mind-body connection that went in to each and every strategy behind the play, gave me a deep sense of purpose. While playing football in college, I sustained a traumatic injury to the spine and was quickly humbled by the contradiction between the desire to play and the physical inability to do so. I needed help to navigate this uncharted territory and had no idea where to begin. As time passed, I felt forced to give up my athleticism and in turn, a strong sense of my identity. I went to work as a high voltage electrician, still plagued by physical pain from the injury. “Pushing through” became the only option I was conscious of. My health quickly declined. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, had to quit my job and was bed ridden. As I reflect on this time in my life, this diagnosis was the body’s way of communicating that it would no longer support the pushing through approach. It was time to pause, reassess, and truly heal. My illness gave me the opportunity to connect to the imbalances I was experiencing in life.

The western world of medicine offered me many options to treat my symptoms. I began a routine of doctor’s visits, drugs and an inevitable prognosis of surgery to replace my colon. After several years, it became clear to me that this path was not helpful for me. My curiosity was strong. I began the journey of finding other avenues of healing, in the hopes to address the root cause. Once again, I was asked to pause, reassess and truly heal.

This chapter of my life is full of exploration, discovery, unlearning and growth. I began to receive chiropractic care and studied the spine’s connection to the nervous system. In the beginning, the adjustments were uncomfortable. The care was heavy handed and lacked intention. However, the science and philosophy of chiropractic kept me coming back. As my search for answers to my health continued, my understanding of chiropractic expanded. To be honest, this expansion felt very overwhelming at first. I started to see a variety of different doctors, each with their own magic. Some that worked for me and some that didn’t. I was introduced to numerous styles, techniques, approaches and even definitions of chiropractic. I almost felt as if I was getting further from the answers I needed. This time required trust and patience. I’m sure many of us have felt this state of overwhelm in our individual searches for healing.

I now know that I was right where I was suppose to be. It’s good to be lost in something, particularly the journey of healing. When you’re lost, you become vulnerable, and in vulnerability, you become open and receptive.

Yet again, I found myself in a new chiropractor’s office. I remember there was a completely different feeling from the moment I walked in. From the books, the decor, the heartfelt friendliness of the staff, the open adjusting style – I felt connection. I didn’t quite know my life would be forever changed in this moment, but I had a feeling I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. The disconnection and imbalances in my life still hadn’t become apparent, but the veil was certainly being lifted. The events that followed can only be described as truth. The answers I was looking for. I was immersed into a beautiful experience in that little chiropractic office. I was surrounded by complete strangers, yet, we were immediately connected through our like-minded choice to pause, reassess and truly heal.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wish I could say that healing my gut was the last big struggle I faced, but as many of us have experienced, life keeps hitting! Life continues to require the trust and patience it took me to find chiropractic. Although there have many other hits along the way, my most recent struggle was a near fatal car accident two years ago.

After feeling the life-enhancing benefits of chiropractic first hand, I went to school to become a chiropractor. I practiced in San Francisco and then moved to Denver, CO. Here I was in the thick of building my business in a new city, when a drunk driver rear ended me at 70mph on the highway. My car was crushed so severely that the firefighters had to remove my door with a machine and pull me out of the vehicle. I could not walk for a month. This next chapter of my life was an emotional journey through frustration, disbelief and sadness. I took each step with as much grace as I could muster.

I relied heavily on my yoga practice during this time to observe and integrate some of the heavier emotions I was feeling. As I reflect on the challenges during this period, I acknowledge the deep respect I have for a holistic view of healing. It is physical, but emotional and mental as well. Chiropractic and yoga helped me find forgiveness and understanding for this very difficult experience.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a doctor of chiropractic and yoga teacher. In each of these worlds of healing, we create an environment of curiosity to unlearn rigid beliefs that we have come to know through our western approach to movement, education, health and culture. In this environment, we can reconnect to the innate wisdom we were once connected to at a young age, before it was severed by our structures and systems that often suppress the very nature of life itself. To be free. To be dynamic. To trust.

Something I celebrate in my offerings of chiropractic and yoga is that my practice is not solely focused on the physical. Through my own life experiences, my lens has expanded to look at the body as an expression of intelligence. A communicator.

For example, in chiropractic we recognize that symptoms are a message from the body. Our symptoms are the intelligence of life expressing itself through the human body. Each symptom has great meaning and value, each one an integral role of healing. Some symptoms are cleansing the body. Others are adaptive symptoms, where we adapt to changes in the external or internal environment, and other times, symptoms are an invitation or message to change.

Overall, in chiropractic we honor healing as a process. Yet in our current culture, we have reduced healing to an event. A treatment. A session. A pill. A surgery. Each meant to suppress and ignore the symptom, the message from the body. We are at risk of losing the understanding of our fundamental connection to the meaning and the value of symptoms. The connection to our innate ability to heal.

In mainstream understanding, chiropractic has been perpetuated as a treatment for musculoskeletal conditions. Very similar to yoga, chiropractic goes much deeper than the physical “pose” or “adjustment.” I warmly invite you to visit me at Turiya Chiropractic, in Five Points, to experience the depth of this practice.

You can also join me for a yoga class at Urban Sanctuary, in Five Points.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.turiyachiropractic.com
• Instagram: @turiyachiropractic
• Other: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Turiya+Chiropractic/@39.7571851,-104.9761744,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x876c7963a25a68b1:0x74bb0a9affbf8cfc!8m2!3d39.7571851!4d-104.9735995!16s%2Fg%2F11p65z6v7p?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDYyMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Image Credits
Photos by @jag_soul