Survey Response: Ryan Walsh
This survey was last updated in August 2014.
Degrees/Licenses Held: Bachelor's from Princeton University
Contact Information: http://mindoverpain.org/contact/
Number of years in practice helping people with TMS: 2
Number of clients you have seen who have had TMS: 5
What is your association to the TMS community?
I am a huge proponent of mindbody research and about teaching the general population about how to benefit from what Dr. Sarno and others have learned.
Have you ever suffered from TMS? If so, how did you recover?
Yes, I was miserable. I had debilitating headaches, back pain, wrist pain, and more. See my story at http://mindoverpain.org/story/
What insurance plans do you currently accept? N/A
Do you have a sliding scale of payment for people who are not covered by insurance? no
Are you able to conduct sessions over the phone and/or via internet video services (i.e. Skype or FaceTime)? yes
What have you done to educate yourself about TMS, and what plans do you have for further education about TMS?
Over several years, I've become an expert on TMS/PPD through personal experience, by reading books by Dr. Sarno and many other authors, by participating in this online community, and by receiving coaching and counseling from experts.
What mindbody books do you recommend to your patients? In particular do you recommend Dr. Sarno's books?
Of course I recommend The Divided Mind and The Mindbody Prescription since those are the first books that introduced me to this field. They helped me tremendously. I also recommend my own book, which I wrote because I know that many people suffering from chronic pain want to hear directly from someone who personally recovered from a similar situation. I'm someone relatable (and reachable for asking questions)—not a doctor using confusing language.
As we are going to post your answers on the TMS Wiki, feel free to write some text to introduce yourself:
Ryan Walsh had been an analyst at a hedge fund and then a software engineer at high-tech web companies before learning about TMS and deciding to change careers to become a mindbody coach. He had suffered from debilitating headaches, back pain, wrist pain, and more. The many health professionals he visited were unable to (correctly) diagnose the root cause. Eventually Ryan found Dr. John Sarno's books and started feeling results within a week of reading them. For the past couple years, he has been simplifying these powerful mindbody concepts to make them more accessible to the general population.
Questions Specific to Coaches
What sort of services do you provide?
I teach people how to feel better quickly. It often takes less than a week to make small changes to your thought patterns in a way that drastically improves how your physical body works and feels. I've written a book about it, and I also offer 1-on-1 coaching services.
Please walk us through one or more examples of what happens during a session, and how that changes over the course of working with a client.
I see myself as sort of a translator: on one side are medical doctors, scientists with PhDs, and other pioneers in neuroscience and mindbody research; on the other side is a person in tremendous pain who is exhausted from trying conventional methods (that didn't work) and is overwhelmed and confused by this talk about "mindbody interaction". I try to simplify these concepts and provide easy ways to think and act. So, a typical "lesson" involves me describing (and illustrating via video) a principle about PPD and why it's happening and how to opt out of it. Then there are activities that the client engages in, with my guidance. And we discuss until the new concepts "click" and the client feels excited to move to the next one.
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