Two different rivers, one extraordinary life

Naomi grew up shaped by two powerful forces. From her mother came a deep respect for the body, for natural healing, and for the intelligence that lives within every human being. Her mother studied herbs and natural healing with Dr. Christopher when Naomi was a baby. They drank herb teas and fresh juices daily. As a child Naomi was sent out into the yard to gather chamomile from the driveway, mint from the garden, plantain and mallow from the back field. Her mother would combine them according to what the family needed. They were rarely sick.

From her father — a pioneer in California whitewater kayaking who built his own fiberglass boats and explored rivers most people had never heard of — came a love of the outdoors, a life of adventure, and a lesson she never forgot: on the river, ultimately, you are responsible for yourself.

Andrew came from a different world entirely. Fired up on life, living on the edge, dating what he would cheerfully describe as vampires. He barely graduated from high school. He was not looking for anything to change.

They met in the early 1990s at California Canoe and Kayak. A month after Andrew started, Naomi joined the team. In the long quiet winter months with few customers and nothing but time, something unexpected began to develop — a friendship that neither of them was looking for and neither of them could ignore.

Then Naomi’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. She relocated to the Oakland store to be close to her family, and their paths separated. Naomi spent the following years watching her mother search for answers — not in western medicine but everywhere else. They travelled to Boston to study with Anne Wigmore, spent time at a wellness center in Los Angeles, visited the Gerson Clinic in Mexico. It was there that Naomi met a chiropractic graduate whose passion for the work lit something in her. She applied to chiropractic college. She started just after her mother passed — carrying both a deep sorrow and a great gratitude for the journey her mother had set her on.

Meanwhile Andrew’s mother bumped into Naomi at the Oakland store and passed along a hello. Andrew had recently ended a long relationship. He called Naomi to reconnect as a friend — genuinely, with no other motive — and asked if she wanted to go to dinner. She said yes. Then she called back and invited him to go kayaking on the Tuolumne River, running high. So they had a plan: drive to Oakland, go to dinner, then drive three hours up into the Sierra Nevada.

They camped under the stars. Andrew noticed that Naomi walked around without shoes, set up camp without a flashlight, and had no concern about bugs or darkness or anything. The women he was used to were fun and exciting in their own way — but not like this. Something shifted in him that he could not quite name.

The next morning they woke to 22 miles of class 4 and 5 whitewater at four times the recommended level. They paddled it together. Andrew found himself strangely concerned about Naomi’s safety — which was odd, he thought, since they were just friends. By the end of those few days something had been set in motion that would shape the rest of both of their lives. Travel, adventure, and truly exceptional life experiences.

Andrew followed Naomi into chiropractic college. Naomi had been valedictorian of her high school. Andrew had barely graduated from his. They both graduated from chiropractic college with high honors. For Naomi that was expected. For Andrew it was one of the proudest moments of his life.

The changes in people’s bodies, the transformation in their lives — it was astounding. Chiropractic done well was far more powerful than either of them had imagined. When the political climate in Chile made it time to leave they returned to California with nothing. They found a small practice in Fair Oaks whose owner was willing to let them make payments. Within six months it had grown into something alive — a place where people came not just to feel better but to genuinely transform.

In the early 2000s they had two sons, both born at home without midwives or medical doctors. Naomi stepped away from the office for several years to raise them. Andrew carried the practice forward. When she returned they were both more certain than ever about what they were building and why.

That certainty has only deepened over thirty years. They study for hours every day — the cutting edge of what makes a human ill, and what makes a human thrive. The ELAN Healing System — refined from Network Spinal Analysis and Somato Respiratory Integration — is the clinical distillation of everything they have learned and lived. It is not a technique. It is a way of understanding and working with the human being as a whole — body, mind, and life.