TRAILBLAZERS.png

 SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

Local.png

Meet Trailblazer Dr. Hillary Martin

Voyage Denver

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Hillary Martin

Hillary, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I feel so lucky to say I LOVE what I do. I started down the path of medicine knowing I wanted to be a “baby doctor” from the age of seven and pursued that in different forms from that point on to the present. Finally, I did it, I’m a doctor! I was raised in a home with chronic illness, cancer and chronic prevention unbeknownst to me at the time that was Naturopathic Medicine. My mother had cancer and was treated with chemo/radiation starting when I was two years old. Over the years, she engaged in the medical treatments but often felt worse so discovered a macrobiotic diet, laugh therapy, art therapy, and self-care. The more empowered she was the more health she radiated. This is the lesson I now know is more important than anything I learned in medical school.

“Happiness is the new perfect.”

I realize more and more, after almost 20 years in the medical field, health is really about true internal happiness and what brings us joy and how we radiate from a level that makes our soul thrive. Perfection can come out of trauma, rigidity, contracture, fear, and consume or create a lot of us (just like myself) as a mechanism of survival but true health I see more as expansive, inclusive, communication between cells, between others, between our community and nature. In this communication or flow is balance and HOMEOSTASIS. When the body, mind, and spirit are working in balance we thrive, we live, we pulse with life and radiate.

We don’t need to be perfect we just need to be happy. That goes for parenthood, partner hood, connection in our work, and most importantly, self-love. Everything we do, we do better when we’re happy and can find a place of peace and joy within that being perfect. We can never be perfect. We can never be enough. There are always more jobs to do, the list just gets longer or recreates itself in the morning, To attain perfection and everyone’s definition of perfection is different so it’s a double edged sword of constantly getting in one’s own way to strive for something that’s unattainable… this causes DIS-EASE. On the contrary, happiness you can find anywhere. Look inside yourself. What makes you happy? Do that. Go find it! It can be in a simple exhale, in a blade of grass, in audible laughter, in silence. Just listen. Take time, in nature if you can, be patient, find your pulse and move forward from there.

As a doctor, I approach things primarily from my medical brain to rule things in and rule things out. I uncover all the stones that haven’t been looked at before. I Iove testing. I love to investigate and solve the mystery but regardless of what the labs show or the testing concludes, I look at you, I talk to you and I treat my patients, not the condition. When we get into the depths, we go beyond the physical and into what is getting in the way of your happiness. Happiness is the new perfect and points us to true health.

This is how I got here and why I am here!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has been a rough road! Medical school alone almost killed me. This was the unhealthiest time of my life, not eating, not sleeping, irregular menses, total stress. I was doing what I wanted to do but my body was in overload. I finished undergrad in three years for pre-med, spent most of my life working 2-3 jobs, overachiever and hyperfocused. I feel so lucky I can say I love what I do but I manage that in my practice by only working 2-3 days a week. They are very full days but in years that I have worked more, I got to the point where I didn’t even remember patients names and that’s not why I practice medicine. I practice being connected. In retrospect, I would have taken more time to be in the here and now. While still achieving my goals at a slower pace, I would have taken a year abroad, a semester off, taken pottery or dance classes, taken TIME. There is no rush so don’t sacrifice your health to get there, it’s ok to break patterns and go at your own rhythm, in finding that rhythm, you will find YOU!

Please tell us about Naturopathic Womens Wellness – what should we know?
I specialize in women’s health, autoimmune conditions, and hormone changes, That being said I got into this field to be a pediatrician but when I opened up shop fresh out of medical school, guess who goes to the doctor? WOMEN! ages 30-60, and they bring their kids and their partners and their pets! Luckily women are just big kids! So, I treat women and their tribe! All people, all gender, all denominations.

I started my own practice in 2009 in CA from the ground up, a one-woman show, that has now evolved into Naturopathic Womens Wellness in Boulder, CO.

In my opinion, what sets me apart is TIME. My first consult is 90 minutes, if I do my job well, that time allows me to ask the right questions, to get my patients to tell me exactly what they need.

Do you recommend any apps, books or podcasts that have been helpful to you?
I’m kind low tech. I can email like a diva, but hey, I only learned to cut a paste a few years ago… I like books, all books. I have a thirst to learn and be challenged. I like pen and paper. I write everything down and still make my monthly calendars by hand each month with a ruler and blank 8.5×11 printer paper sheet. 🙂

Contact Info: