ABOUT THIS EPISODE
I have been curious about Cole Thornton for a while, so it was a joy to finally sit down with him. He's a doctor of physical therapy and the founder of Atman, a movement, breathwork, and meditation studio right down the street from us, and he has a gift for making an idea feel true in your body while he's still explaining it.
We start with the body. Cole says we're still living in "caveman bodies" in an artificial world, movement generalists who were built to crawl, climb, lift, and play. When we stop, he sees what he sees in any animal kept from its nature: stiffness, chronic pain, low mood, a quiet anxiety. Then we move to breath, which he calls the bridge, the one practice that is at once physical and inner, from slow, humming, nervous-system-soothing breathing to the bigger, faster work that can open a door to something deeper. And underneath all of it is a larger reframe: that we are healers, not mechanics, and our job is to guide a person toward their own healing rather than "fix" them like a car. This is Too Curious medicine at its most curious, science and spirit in the same breath. I loved every minute.
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About the Guest:
Cole Thornton is a doctor of physical therapy and the founder of Atman, a healing and wellness studio in Sacramento where he teaches functional movement, breathwork, and meditation alongside one-on-one physical therapy. A lifelong martial artist (Aikido and Tai Chi) turned EMT turned physical therapist, he stepped away from the mainstream medical model after years of hospital and neuro-rehab work to build a cash-pay practice centered on the whole person: body, breath, and mind.
His approach draws on natural human movement, both calming and more intensive styles of breathwork, and contemplative traditions, and he sees the practitioner's role as guiding a person toward their own healing. "Atman," he explains, is an old word for the self in its totality, physical, mental, and spiritual.
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Social Handles:
Website: https://atmansacramento.com
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Dr. Alya Ahmad, MD, FAAP
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alya-ahmad-md-0601b190/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shamynds/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shamynds
Website: https://shamynds.com/
Dr. Suraiya Simi Rahman, MD, FAAP
Website: https://palamedicine.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraiya-rahman-palamedicine/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pala_medicine/
Too Curious MDs
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