When Dr. Divi Chandna graduated from medical school 20 years ago, it was not the standard of care for doctors to refer to chiropractors or massage therapists. But times have changed, and Dr. Chandna believes that the unique clinic she has launched in Vancouver is again the future of integrated medicine.
For people wanting a family doctor, The Bridge Health is happy to fill that need (covered by MSP). For those willing to explore beyond Western drugs and diagnostics, the clinic also offers other Eastern, energetic approaches to health.
Dr. Chandna became interested in alternative therapies when she noticed how incorporating yoga into her then Victoria-based practice was benefiting her patients. People who had been reliant on medications for anxiety, depression and pain were requiring less and less by using meditation and deep breathing. Since then she has added more services to her repertoire, including intuitive healing.
"We think of the body as solid, but it's not," says Dr. Chandna. "It's an energetic being. We create it through our thoughts and beliefs."
If people are onions, then the Bridge Health team, which also includes an acupuncturist, an Emotional Freedom Technique therapist, a hypnotherapist and a spiritual healer, love to peel away the outer layers and find the healthy core in everyone.
One of Dr. Chandna's recent cases involved an Olympic athlete with severe anxiety. The athlete had spent six months and had visited numerous specialists to help address her panic attacks. Working with Dr. Chandna, they discovered that the cause was emotional and was related to a recent relationship break-up. And as soon as she came to terms with the break-up, she was back training again.
In another recent case, a woman in chronic hip pain managed to reduce her pain by over 60 percent using the meditation, deep breathing and imagery techniques that Dr. Chandna teaches on Wednesday evenings.
"We believe our role is to empower the patient, because they often feel so disempowered," says Dr. Chandna. "Sometimes it's really hard at the beginning and people need support. We give them options."
Divi Chandna, MD, The Bridge Health www.thebridgehealth.com (604) 739-3484