Dr. John Whitney has long been credited with the vision of "wellness" as a natural extension of the chiropractic principle. His Guelph clinic, The Wellington Chiropractic Group, was the largest in Canada and served as the development and implementation sight for his unique approach to practice and patient management. The clinic owned by his daughter Rebecca for many years,continues to thrive.His daughter Michelle recently joined the group after a long and successful career in her own clinic.  

Strongly influenced by the work of Drs. Seyle, Simonton and Shealy, Dr. Whitney began working on a model of the doctor-patient relationship in the mid-sixties. Utilizing Maslow's work in identifying the hierarchy of needs, adding neurolinguistic programming and blending it with psychoneuroimmunology, Dr. Whitney developed a patient and practice management system that is still being taught to chiropractors today.  

After 30 years in practice, Dr. Whitney founded Whitney Transition which morphed into ChiroBizWizdom and has recently been updated to Practice Development Institute. These firms have always focused on providing emerging healthcare practitioners with outstanding patient management and success oriented business skills. Dr. Whitney has personally helped over 5000 who have benefited from his guidance during their transition into practice. He has co-authored two books and numerous articles.

The success stories of the clients he has ushered into chiropractic speak for themselves…. Some of his clients have gone on to be noteworthy leaders in chiropractic and significantly, positively, impact our profession. 

Work was not work for Dr. Whitney. It was always an extension and expression of all that he loved. An outstanding speaker, he  lectured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and South Africa. We were so fortunate to be able to learn from such a consummate professional.

Dr. Whitney's interests expanded from organic farming to quantum physics. And his desire to continuously grow and expand extended to sports as well. In  his  early years he was a competitive downhill skier and in his later years a competitive archer.  

Whatever he did, he did it with the memorable Whitney style - full on.

We had been threatening for years to take all of his teachings and create an online course for students, new graduates and staff.  I am pleased to say that much of this was completed and is awaiting the post production process.

As a legacy tribute to chiropractors who were taught by him and for those who have never been exposed to Dr. Whitneys teachings, I have roughly edited a section he referred to as Head Drycleaning..... as there is no one who could do this justice as he did.  I hope it reminds you not only of Dr. Whitney but of who you are and can be.   - Lyn  (you can play it and download it from here, but it also resides on Vimeo http://vimeo.com/60715929  )

For those who would share a glass of wine with John, his thoughts regarding the "big surprise" were no surprise.  He was absolutely NOT afraid of death.  He planned on dying in his sleep as his father had or leaving his body very quickly. 

Gotta love it when a plan comes together.  

John always had peace if not excitement about exploring the "cosmic vending machine" on the other side. 

From the files of JTW.... 

It’s Just a Ride

"Life is like a ride in an amusement
park...you think it's real because
that's how powerful our minds are.

The ride goes up and down, around
and around, it has thrills and chills,
and it's very brightly colored; and it's
often loud; and its fun for awhile.

Many people have been on the ride
a long time, and they begin to
wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this
just a ride?" And other people have
remembered, and they come back to
us and say, "Hey, don't worry; don't
be afraid, ever, because this is just a
ride, and the best is yet to come".

Reality is just over the big rock
candy mountain, past the field of
dreams; I’ll meet you there.

Bill Hicks

“Death”

I’m not wanting to be insensitive to what you are feeling, but I’m very much wanting you to put this death thing in the proper perspective: You know we are all going to die.  Except there is no death. We're all going to make our transition into Non-Physical.

The time has come to stop making ones transition into Non-Physical sound like a subject that is uncomfortable, and begin acknowledging that it is something that happens to everyone. This death thing is so misunderstood that we tend to use it to torture ourselves never-endingly.

There are those who feel such fulfillment of life and such connection to Source Energy, who understand that there is no separation between what is physical and Non-Physical; who understand that there is not even a lapse in consciousness, that "death" is a matter of closing one's eyes in this dimension and literally opening one's eyes in the other dimension.

And that, truly, is how all death is, no matter how it looks up to that point. The re-emergence into Source Energy is always a delightful thing. We weep only for ourselves and our loss of immediate physical contact, not the departed. 

( author unknown) 

Johns first encounter with archery was as a young boy at the YMCA.  He built a bow at 10, but didnt pursue the sport in any way until a lifetime later. 

In his 70's John signed up for a lesson at the Kennesaw Archery Club and was hooked.  Weeks into his new "hobby" a member at the club asked John if he ever competed.  John was so new to the sport, competing never occured to him.  Jim, the member, mentioned that there were not many 60 year olds in the category so John might have a chance at winning just because he could see the target! 

John asked "how many are in the 70 year old category?" and apparently there were few enough that he immediately agreed to start competing!  He liked to win. 

And win he did.  At age 76 John made it through the qualifying rounds against 500-600 other shooters in Georgia to win a spot in the 2009 Summer National Senior Olympic Games in California. 

John brought home the Gold Medal.  The picture is from his celebration party when he returned home. 

I have been overwhelmed with the enormity of the task to capture the life of my mentor, partner and dearest friend in a few paragraphs.  

As I began to read through his  "scribbles" as he called them, to give you a snapshot or an excerpt of his most recent or classic wisdom, I was struck that the most profound words  will be found in our individual experiences and memories of John. So it is my desire that you will take a moment and share your memories.( under the stories tab). It is my hope that through these memories and stories we will see the mirror of Johns life, work, joys, and passions.   

John was a gentleman's gentleman, kind and gracious and still strongly opinionated.  For those of us close to him, his message was unwavering.... "You become what you think about most. What are you thinking?"

He was a consummate student of the universe, seeking myriad ideas, ideals, philosophies, thoughts and writings... old, new, esoteric and classical.  

His passion was sharing these insights with us, in order to broaden our personal repertoires of positive, uplifting, life affirming, healing and existential thoughts. It was his hope that they would heighten our perspectives, enrich our lives, bolster our confidences, expand our thinking, and that in turn, we would pay them forward. 

He lived what he believed and was positive that today was "better"... no matter what the day or circumstance. 

It is my deepest wish that his days are indeed, as he fully expected they would be... "better".  

All IS well and we now have a dear friend to remind us of that through eternity.  

- Lyn