Graduate Spotlight
Jim Pullaro, PhD in Natural Health
Primal Health
Author Jim Pullaro is a philosopher and scientist by training and a nature's child at heart. He understands the biology of nutrition, the anatomy and physiology of T'ai Chi, and the spirituality of fresh air and trees. He teaches these diverse and interconnected approaches to clients and family, and lives them as a daily example.
Formerly a college philosophy instructor and long time student of environmental science and ethics, Jim now splits his working life between a "nature therapy cabin" in the woods (which he refers to as his "Zen House") and the equally therapeutic work of rehabilitating old homes in and around the New England border town of Pittsfield, Mass.
"I’ve always been attracted to nature’s solitude and the deep feeling of spirituality that it evokes. I notice that the natural world functions quite well on its own, without the help of human beings. Likewise, I have discovered that emotional health, especially recovery from trauma, is achieved in natural ways," he adds.
Jim says that he found Dr. Arthur Janov's primal therapy to be a highly effective naturopathic complement to conventional psychotherapies. His participation in PT has led to his own emotional self-healing. Jim describes his upcoming book, Fear Memory Integration – A Natural Health Alternative to Conventional Psychotherapy (available through iUniverse in Dec., 2005) as a natural outgrowth of his CCNH dissertation.
"It is the result of my curiosity as to why a natural health program could be so effective, without the aid of behavioral modification programs and the use of psychotropic medications. It contains research in the areas of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and fear memory formation and extinction," he says.
"During my five years of Clayton studies, while working full-time, I was able to complete a 300 hour primal therapy training program. P.T. is how clients can recognize, confront and release the long-term traumas that may have held them 'captive' for literally decades," he adds. "I designed a 36-week program with three volunteers who participated in ongoing sessions, and this longitudinal study generated data for my dissertation. My CCNH studies have helped me to develop a part-time practice in naturopathic emotional healing."
During his studies at CCNH, Jim's daughter was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Becoming frustrated with the narrow and essentially pessimistic approach to this disease taken by the neurologists, he decided to broaden the therapeutic focus to include whole-food nutrition, vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements, among many other natural health modalities.
"When I decided to immerse myself in the study of natural health alternatives for her condition, I found that there is a lot of very interesting information out there. I focused on the areas that made logical sense to me and which had research to back it up."
"We found a naturopath who worked with us to develop a broad based program for her, while keeping her in the care of her neurologist. Three years later it’s evident that this program has greatly improved my daughter's mind, body and spirit health, greatly easing the physical and emotional control of such a frightening disease."
“We found that one should not become a passive victim of this chronic condition. Formulating and implementing supplemental naturopathic modalities helped us to be pro-active. I am in the process of working this psychonuroimmunology (PNI) research into my practice, so that I can offer these integrated therapies to others.”
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