As Featured in VoyageBaltimore
Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Darrien Jamar.
Hi Dr. Jamar, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I typically describe it as a calling, and it was. However, more accurately, it was an answer. Chiropractic was the answer to many of the questions I held for so many years, especially as a child. I knew the body had this way of healing itself, I knew it was better to eat a salad than a double cheeseburger, and I knew I felt better when I exercised and that such a routine kept me sane—but none of the things I knew had yet been affirmed and solidified within me.
It was a timely answer that I received in 2014, at a time in my life when I found myself in desperate need of reconnecting with my inner being, my truth. I was ready to receive, to know, and be changed in a drastic way. I packed up my two-door Acura coupe and drove 10 hours to Marietta, Georgia where I’d begin not only Chiropractic school, but my spiritual healing journey. It was there that I would also earn my Master’s in Positive Psychology.
What guided me there, then, is what continues to guide me in both my personal life and in practice: listening, and obeying the inner voice within.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think smooth is boring. I believe the straight path leads to a bland life. Although I admit, I used to desire such things—for a long time I resisted the bumpy back roads with potholes on them that my life had taken me down. With time, growing in my awareness, listening, and learning self-acceptance—I understand that I have gone the way I needed to go.
I have learned that life will take you where you need to go. So, no, it hasn’t been smooth, but it has taught me a lot and that has enriched my life… given me flavor, and wisdom that I can share with others.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
It’s taken me a while and a lot of inner work to understand that I, and, really, all of us are Artists, Creators in our own right. Whether we can paint like Horace Pippin or compose like Mozart, matters not. Those forms, the physical elements of artistry, are a form—not the form. Your life is art. Our lives, our experiences, our relationships, our highs, and lows—they are our threads, the materials we have been given. What we do with them, how we choose to mix the colors, the love, the fears, the trauma, and the pain—is up to us.
For so long I understood and viewed my life through the lens of pain, pressure, inferiority, fear, anxiety, and struggle. It was during my journey and education in Chiropractic school that I began to detach from that way of thinking—I began to add more color and slowly, began to experience greater inner harmony Today, I am a practicing Doctor of Chiropractic, Reiki Practitioner, and Life Coach with a Masters in Positive Psychology in Washington, D.C.
My approach and process are inspired by my late 104-year-old, Great Grandma Hattie.
We would sit together in her twin rocking chairs; she’d listen, ask questions, and listen some more. Inevitably, she would leave me with a story that cleared away my initial confusion. Then, she’d say, “you want some cornbread baby?” My Great Grandma Hattie gave me my first true education and degree: she taught me how to be present, to listen, and to share compassionately. I have blended all this together as a way of guiding others to see themselves clearly and fully.
Who else deserves credit for your story?
My life has been rich with individuals who have imprinted upon me words of wisdom, love, virtues, and the gift of their presence. I will be forever grateful for the relationships I have today and how many of them, family and friends, continue to flourish.
To access the full article from VoyageBaltimore click below:
https://voyagebaltimore.com/interview/rising-stars-meet-dr-darrien-jamar-of-washington-d-c/