Audrey Schoomaker, RN, BSN, E-RYT
“There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” Patanjali
I started my military career as an Army nurse, working at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, caring for World War II-era soldiers and other recipients of care in a state-of-the-art facility.
As my career evolved, I struggled with intractable lower back pain from bulging, herniated discs in my spine. I tried all treatments conventional medicine had to offer—ice massage, physical therapy, steroids, swimming therapy, even a week of narcotics—all to no avail.
I found my way back to health through yoga and acupuncture—with no medication. Inspired by my personal experience, I became a 500-hour-trained yoga instructor, and discovered the same benefits that helped change my life were changing the lives of hundreds of students who studied with me at the university.
This simple practice inspired me to train more fully in integrative health. I became a certified mind-body skills facilitator through the Center for Mind Body Medicine. I co-facilitated patient groups in the Walter Reed addiction program, using gentle yoga, meditation, and breath work to help patients recover from addiction. I was impressed by the benefits so many participants received, and the changes I witnessed in them through the years.
My husband observed the deep change in me as I restored my back to health through a disciplined practice of yoga, meditation, and breath work. When he served as 42nd Surgeon General of the US Army as a three-star general, he became, and remains, a champion of integrative health approaches for Army medicine and beyond.
The direction of conventional medicine has created my resolve, as an integrative nurse, to do no harm by creating health. To that end, I served as a project coordinator for a randomized controlled trial at Walter Reed using therapeutic yoga for chronic lower back pain. I contributed integrative health skills for a DoD website at the Uniformed Services University to reach larger audiences and help more people heal themselves of chronic pain. I also taught yoga and meditation to medical students at the University, and continue to support the interest in developing an evidence-based integrative health curriculum.
My passion is to promote health and well-being in our communities, and I’m delighted to be joining Drs. Huynh and Diefenbach at TruPoint Health.
