Dr. Donald Leathers, ND
Dr. Leathers associates true health with the balances of body, mind, and spirit. He encourages his patients to take an active role in their own healing process. To facilitate this process, he utilizes a variety of conventional and integrative treatment modalities, considering each individual’s unique qualities.
Dr. Leathers has always had an interest in physical health, well-being and sports. In his home state of Pennsylvania, he began a 45 year study in the martial arts of Issynrhu Karate and Hapkido and in the internal arts of Taiqi, Baqua, Shing-I, Aikido and Qigong. He has had three significant teachers: Dr. Lilly Siou, Master Larry Eshelman and Master Ron Lew. This wealth of training in both internal arts and martial arts, has given Don huge insight as a teacher to which he has directly passed onto key students who are teaching this today.
In 1986 Don left his career as a mining engineer and went back to school to study naturopathic medicine at National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. On graduating in 1990, he went into private practice as a Naturopathic Doctor.
In 1998 Don met Master Li Junfeng and started to study Sheng Zhen Meditation. He has become a Certified Teacher and is on the Board of the Sheng Zhen Society of Americas, as well as is the Director of the international teacher’s training program. Sheng Zhen Meditation is now the main focus for his ongoing classes.
Don has been practicing medicine for 29 years and teaching for 35 years. He presently resides in Moab, Utah and has co-founded the Phoenix Rising Center with his wife, Catherine Leathers.
About Naturopathic Medicine
Naturopathic physicians (ND’s) are general practitioners trained as specialists in natural medicine. They are educated in the conventional medical sciences, but they are not orthodox medical doctors (MD’s). Naturopathic physicians facilitate the restoration of health using therapies from the sciences of clinical nutrition, herbal medicine, homeopathy, exercise therapy, counseling, hydrotherapy, Chinese medicine, etc. They tailor these approaches to the needs of the individual patient. Naturopathic medicine is effective in building and strengthening blood, organs, connective tissue, and the immune system. Naturopathic physicians cooperate with all other branches of medical science, referring patients to other practitioners for diagnosis or treatment when appropriate.
In practice, Naturopathic physicians perform physical exams, laboratory testing, gynecology exams, nutritional and dietary assessments, metabolic analysis, allergy testing, x-ray examinations and other diagnostic tests. They are the only primary care physicians clinically trained in the use of a wide variety of natural therapeutics. They combine and tailor these treatments to the needs of the individual, based on a the philosophy that acknowledges the patient as a participant.
The Naturopathic physician has a Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine (ND) degree from a four-year graduate level Naturopathic medical college. In states where they are regulated (as in Utah), Naturopathic physicians must pass either a national or a state level board examination, and their actions are subject to review by a State Board of Examiners.