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"I like to think that everything happens for a reason, meeting Devo was not accidental coincidence. He will always be to me a great master of the art of living!" -Hunter McIntyre 
mark f. - San Francisco: "it was 2007 when i had the good fortune to meet devo brown. my life had narrowed and withered to the point where i was a physical and emotional wreck. years of searching for answers including self-medicating substance abuse had denigrated the quality of my life in every way imaginable. i had good reason to doubt my own judgment but when i sought advice from others, the difficulties only seemed to get worse. my friends and family, while meaning well, were not equipped to respond to what was going on with me. i checked into a facility in southern california. the doctor wanted to try one pill after another and therapy was such slow going that I couldn’t tell if it was really helping at all. two questions circled in my mind: “how did it come to this?” and “what in the world am I going to do now?” I was stuck and I was worried. I didn’t want to go back but I couldn’t imagine what moving forward would even look like. It was right about this time my therapist introduced me to devo. he was tremendously helpful in getting me unstuck. devo listened, not the way so many therapeutic professionals do, listening while they keep looking at the clock to see how many minutes are left, i mean really listened. there is a big difference between truly listening and just waiting for someone to stop talking so you can say what you want to say. he was unmistakably, genuinely interested in hearing about what was going on with me. i found it helpful that he wasn’t pushing anything. there was no authoritarian “i’m up here, you’re down there, so listen-up sonny” type of trip. I would describe devo’s style as more along the lines of “shall we go, and see what we see?” I think compassion, open-mindedness mixed with a sense of adventure are basically just who he is as a person. in the time i've worked with devo, i can't remember an instance he would try to convince me of something or change my opinion. his questions invariably produced from me the answers to my own dilemmas. he would ask things that often caused me to reconsider some experience that I had thought was unimportant. a laugh might say better than words ever could “to be human is, from time to time, to be a bit of a glorious mess.” he had a way of making sure that i was really listening to what i was saying, especially about myself, and that I was giving it its due. he gently taught me the tremendous importance of awareness, inside and out. we both shared about our personal experiences, positive and negative. our conversations ranged freely and on a wide range of topics. we talked about wellness from the level of sleep and neurotransmitters to nutrition and exercise to relationships, living sanely in the culture of the 21st century and how powerful it is to be truly open-minded. i didn't have a single breakthrough that cleared it all up for me instantly (though many 'aha' moments of self-realization certainly occurred). but over time, i started to see there was a direction that made sense to move in and that I could actually move toward it. the more I moved, the more the way opened up. life has become an adventurous journey. devo has been, and continues to be, a big part of that journey." |
M. L. - Southern California: "What’s amazing about the process Devo has shared with me is that so many of the feelings of being stuck and overwhelmed have just slipped away. They’ve been replaced with a personal sense of being powerful and not just able to handle my life but really enjoy it. He’s shown me how to look beyond the problem at hand and into myself, to notice why certain things make me uncomfortable, to deal with them from a fresh perspective. From personal relationships to the loss of friends and family members. He’s helped me learn to help myself. If the seemingly random events that led to our meeting hadn’t occurred, I can only imagine what my life would be like. I’m so glad I met him when I did. I didn’t think i needed any guidance or counsel but I’ve grown so much with his help. I can’t pinpoint an exact eye opening moment that caused me to change but I can say the collective of conversations with Devo have gently shaped my ability to see, helping me make better decisions in almost every aspect of my life. He helped me understand how simple it is to help myself and live a beautiful life." 
Jordin Tootoo, NHL Chicago Blackhawks *Professional and Client references available upon request. |
