To get in touch, simply use this contact form. I'll get back to you as soon as I am able. To learn more about me, read some of my story below. Thank you!
Hi, I'm Dave...PhD, RYT, TIYT, PDC
I'm a cognitive immunologist, researcher, permaculturalist and medicinal movement practitioner (i.e. yoga and fascial conditioning specialist) -- but also, and ultimately, a regular dude.
For many years, I have been tracking and studying what I now understand to be wétiko -- a "mind-virus" that has been spreading among humans for thousands of years. This might sound outlandish to you, but consider this: when researchers first proposed the idea of biological viruses, bacteria, and germs, they were mostly laughed at and sometimes outright dismissed.
To be sure, it's not like people had the full theory of viral and bacterial pathology and immunology right from the start. But you can see what I'm getting at. When these concepts were first proposed, they were largely dismissed with a flippant wave of the hand by short-sighted skeptics. The ideas were simply too weird and unusual to gain instant credibility. But now, countless such weird, wacky, seemingly unbelievable ideas constitute the core tenets and principles of the well-established fields of bacterial pathology, virology, oncology, and immunology.
My experience and education uniquely qualifies me to serve the development of this nascent field of cognitive immunology. This is because, as my doctoral research shows, "cognition" involves quite literally everything in human experience, not merely "mental" processes. All our best sciences reveal that there is no such simplistic mind-body, mental-physical duality; instead, everything in our existence is part of cognition, and cognition is ultimately an ecological-relational phenomenon that transcends physical boundaries and borders.
This means that cognition is an inherently inter- and trans-disciplinary phenomenon that involves not just individual psychological elements, as classically conceived, but also social-relational-political-ecological elements extending into the more-than-human worlds in which we are all inextricably enmeshed. My training, education, and experience reflects precisely this sort of complex inter/transdisciplinary scope.
What I uniquely bring to the table is a dynamic synthesis of high-level academic/scientific research and the direct knowledge of life that can only come from literal hands-on experience. In addition to previously owning and operating a psychotherapy practice in Denver, I have lived and worked in a wide range of occupations, professions, and industries, including:
- retail and customer service
- food service
- private sector, government, non-profit, and independent contract work
- produce farming, animal farming, and agricultural ecology
- publishing/editing
- backpacking guide
- heavy equipment operation
- public, private, non-profit, and for-profit colleges and universities (as instructor, researcher, staff, and academic advisor)
- sexual assault survivor advocacy
- manual labor (masonry, carpentry, construction, permaculture landscaping, trail building)
- high ropes course facilitator
- summer camp counselor
- gig economy (Lyft driver, food delivery driver)
- cannabis (retail and cultivation)
- non-profit animal sanctuary
- custodial work
My professional training spans a wide range of practices, theories, and modalities. I am trained in:
- Trauma Informed Yoga Therapy™ (Sundara Yoga Therapy Academy)
- trauma-sensitive mindfulness
- sexual assault survivor advocacy
- intergroup and interfaith/interreligious dialogue
- mindfulness and embodied cognition
- Registered Yoga Teacher - certified in Hatha, Vinyasa, and Yin Yoga
Through a Doctoral Research Fellowship, I earned my PhD from the School of Education at Syracuse University. My doctoral dissertation advances the current paradigm shift in the life-mind sciences that leaves behind the obsolete mind-body/mental-physical dualism in favor of what's called the "deep continuity of life and mind" at the core of the emerging paradigm of ecological cognition. In essence, where there is life, there is mind. As I like to say, mind is not inside the head; we are inside mind.
In my research, writing, and embodied practices, I draw from a variety of ancient and contemporary traditions including the Tzʼutujil Maya; Taoism; contemplative and mystical Christianity; modern postural yoga; and secular traditions/practices including Eugene Gendlin's "Focusing" method; American pragmatic psychology (specifically Deweyan); and postsecular mindfulness.
At the core of my approach to cognitive immunology and soul care is the idea that teachers, healers, clinicians, and guides of all sorts should be in the business of supporting people in connecting with and furthering their own inner/innate teacher, healer, and guide. As Sherri Mitchell (Weh'na Ha'mu Kwasset) says:
The primary role of an external teacher is to empower your relationship with your inner teacher. Your inner teacher is the all-knowing part of you that is connected to the Creator and the entire creation." (from Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change)
Aside from my professional work, I enjoy a wide range of activities including hiking, cycling, backpacking, reading/writing, cooking, slacklining, gardening, rock climbing, playing and listening to music, poetry, fixing my car and bikes, and walking labyrinths.
