Medical Consultations Overview

The Chopra Center is pleased to offer integrated medical consultations by Valencia Porter, M.D.; Sheila Patel, M.D.; and Tim Brieske, M.D. These consultations address a person's health concerns from a physical, emotional and spiritual perspective. Integrating the theoretical frameworks of Ayurveda and modern science, these sessions focus as much on the person who is facing a health challenge as the health challenge being faced.

During a typical evaluation, the doctor takes a complete medical and lifestyle history and performs a physical examination that looks at the body both as a physical system as well as a field of intelligence, reflecting the needs and choices of a person's life. Based upon this assessment, a personalized body-mind-spirit health-enhancing prescription is formulated, including recommendations on diet, stress management, exercise, emotional healing, nutritional and herbal supplements, and sensory modulation. If indicated, appropriate laboratory testing or specialty consultation is suggested.

If you are facing a condition that you believe can be influenced by your perceptions, interpretations or lifestyle choices, an integrative medical consultation as developed by Drs. David Simon and Deepak Chopra can help you become an active, empowered partner in your healing process.

Medical consultations are available either on an outpatient basis or as a component of the Perfect Health program. Those interested in medical consultations will receive their mind-body consultation in person at the Chopra Center in Carlsbad, California. Phone consultations are not available at this time.

To schedule an appointment or learn more, call us today at 888.736.6895 or 760.494.1604 x 1639 or request more information here.

*Please note: The Chopra Center does not have a direct relationship with insurance companies. We provide guests with the documentation needed to provide to their companies for reimbursement.

Medical Consultations FAQ

"Ultimately the best use of a physicians knowledge is to
teach people how to heal themselves."
David Simon, M.D.

What is a Chopra Center integrative medical consultation?

Conventional medicine focuses on making precise diagnoses and applying disease-targeted interventions to alter the course of illness. The intention of an integrative medical consultation is to understand sickness in the context of one's life, drawing upon a broad range of approaches to awaken and support a person's inner healing response. Health challenges impact many aspects of a person's life, and many aspects of a person's life can influence illness and the restoration of health.

What can I expect in a Chopra Center integrative medical consultation?

During an integrative medical consultation with a Chopra Center physician, your doctor will explore the problem you are facing, the diagnostic and therapeutic experiences you've been through, and your understanding of your health concern. Your doctor will ask you a broad range of questions about your lifestyle, relationships, work, and emotional state, seeking to identify opportunities to awaken healing and transformation.

While taking your history and examining you, a Chopra Center doctor applies principles from both Western conventional medicine and ayurveda, the 5,000-year-old healing science from India. The goal is to understand deeply not only the illness, but also the person facing the health challenge.

What can I expect to take away from the experience?

Based upon the information revealed, your doctor will formulate a personalized mind body prescription designed to enhance your natural healing resources. Recommendations will usually include suggestions to manage stress, improve your nutritional status, normalize your sleep-wake cycles, reduce physical and emotional toxicity, and use nutritional supplements wisely. When appropriate, a program of detoxification and rejuvenation may be recommended. Your doctor will help you integrate holistic mind body approaches with your conventional medicine treatments, at times suggesting ways to safely reduce optional medications and supplements.

Our choices are metabolized into our biology. The Chopra Center Medical Staff believes that if we make different choices, we can manifest different outcomes. If you believe that there are choices you can make to enhance your health and vitality, and are seeking reliable and compassionate guidance, an integrative medical consultation will help you become a more conscious and empowered partner on your healing journey.

Please call 888-424-6772 x1639 or click here to request more information.

Practitioners

Valencia Porter, M.D., M.P.H., Lead Physician Educator

Patients and guests who visit the Chopra Center have the opportunity to receive a mind-body medical consultation with holistic health expert Valencia Porter, M.D., M.P.H. Board-certified in both General Preventive Medicine and Integrative Holistic Medicine, Dr. Porter has an integrative approach that incorporates many areas of health and healing, including Ayurveda, biofield (energy) therapies, and functional medicine.

As a medical student at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, she began to explore complementary and alternative medicine. After training in Pediatrics and Child Neurology, she completed a residency in Preventive Medicine at U.C. San Diego – as well as a master’s degree in public health focusing on Environmental Health at San Diego State University.

Before coming to the Chopra Center, Dr. Porter served as a physician and researcher at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in San Diego, where she provided integrative care to children and adults coping with ADD/ADHD, stress and anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and weight management. Dr. Porter completed a fellowship as a Bravewell Collaborative scholar at the renowned Program for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. In addition to serving as the Chopra Center's Lead Physician Educator, she is a volunteer faculty member of U.C. San Diego's department of family and preventive medicine.

Dr. Porter has a caring, individualized approach that encompasses all aspects of her patients’ lives. During your consultation, she will work with you to explore the mind-body connection behind your current symptoms and develop practical behaviors that will set you on a course of wellness.

“I love supporting people in restoring balance and health in their lives,” she said. “In reality, doctors don’t ‘heal’ anybody . . . their true role is educating patients to make healing choices for themselves. The word doctor actually comes from the Latin root docere, meaning ‘to teach.’”

With more than 15 years of medical experience, Dr. Porter has helped thousands of patients find relief and healing from conditions including:

• Arthritis
• Chronic pain
• Cancer
• Fibromyalgia
• Anxiety & depression
• Hypertension
• Stress disorders
• Weight issues
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Allergies & asthma
• Infertility
• Immune dysfunction
• Osteoporosis
• Headache & migraine
• Chronic fatigue

Read about Dr. Porter’s personal experience of mind-body healing

Sheila Patel, M.D., Director of Health Programming

Dr. Sheila Patel is the a board-certified family physician who earned her M.D. at the University of Wisconsin Medical School and completed her residency in family medicine at the Ventura County Medical Center in Southern California. For more than a decade, she has been practicing full-spectrum family medicine (from prenatal care and deliveries, to ER coverage, and inpatient and outpatient primary care for all ages) in a variety of settings.

Dr. Patel’s integrative healing approach combines the best in conventional Western medicine with the wisdom of ancient healing traditions. “I believe in a holistic individualized approach to patient care that incorporates a wide variety of healing modalities. Every person is unique, so what works for one person may not be effective for someone else. I work with patients to develop individual treatments plans that address body, mind, and spirit," states Dr. Patel.

“Before coming to the Chopra Center, I chose to practice in small communities for the last twelve years – initially in southeast Alaska, and then in rural Wisconsin, where I was able to develop close relationships with patients and their families and provide patient-centered care in a supportive environment.

"I was drawn to serve as a physician at the Chopra Center because I could continue to offer individualized medical care in a loving, nurturing setting where patients feel empowered and supported on their healing path."

Dr. Patel's special interests include preventive medicine and mind-body medicine with an emphasis on Ayurveda. She has also taken additional continuing medical education courses in integrative medicine and has received further training in mindfulness-based stress reduction.

“My practice has always focused on preventive medicine for all ages, as well as management of a wide variety of chronic and acute health conditions. I believe that the best way to achieve wellness is to integrate all of the knowledge available to us from modern conventional medicine as well as from traditional healing systems. I have particular interests in meditation and yoga, which I have practiced for many years," she said.

“I have been interested in Ayurveda since I began my medical training at the University of Wisconsin, and was influenced early on by Dr. Deepak Chopra’s writings. Working at the Chopra Center allows me to blend the Vedic spiritual tradition of my childhood with the practice of medicine, which is both personally and professionally fulfilling."

Dr. Patel is a compassionate, caring doctor whose areas of expertise include:

• High cholesterol
• Diabetes
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Heart disease
• Chronic pain/fibromyalgia
• Back and joint pain
• Depression and anxiety
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Cancer screening
• Symptoms related to menopause
• Stress reduction
• Allergies and asthma

Tim Brieske, M.D., Medical Director

Dr. Tim Brieske is a board-certified family physician, mind-body healing expert, and core member of the Chopra Center medical staff. With his characteristic compassion, wisdom, and lighthearted nature, he provides medical consultations for guests and patients and offers mind-body guidance at the Center’s events and programs. He also teaches the healing tools and techniques of Ayurveda and leads walking meditations in nature.

Before coming to the Center, Dr. Brieske was in medical practice for more than 13 years in Southeast Alaska and rural Wisconsin, where he was able to experience and practice the full range of primary care and emergency medicine while developing and performing the skills necessary to care for people in all stages and transitions of life.

In working with patients, Dr. Brieske combines the wisdom of traditional healings arts – including Ayurveda – with modern medicine. “Ayurveda teaches that our natural state is balance and health, and that illness is the result of imbalances or stresses that disrupt this equilibrium. I have found my dharma or purpose in life is helping people restore their balance and experience greater levels of happiness, purpose, and optimal health,” he said.

Dr. Brieske’s path to becoming a doctor began with service as a medic in the military. He then completed an undergraduate degree in biochemistry, geology, and bacteriology, reflecting his love of nature and a strong desire to understand how the world works. Continuing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he earned his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree. Enjoying all aspects of medical care, he completed residency training and board certification in Family Medicine at Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, California.

Walking long distances is a passion that allows Dr. Brieske the continued evolution and development of a meditative and contemplative practice. He enjoys and regularly practices meditation and yoga. He is a certified instructor of Perfect Health and is currently completing his certification as a Primordial Sound Meditation teacher. He is on the Chopra Center University Teachers’ Path for certification as a Vedic Master.

“Fully recognizing and appreciating our divine ability to participate in the enjoyment and understanding of this existence allows us the opportunity to discover, manifest, and promote balance as a means toward optimal health,” he said.

As a family physician, Dr. Brieske has a wide range of expertise in many areas of health and wellbeing, including the treatment of:

• Heart disease
• Addiction
• Depression and anxiety
• High cholesterol and blood pressure
• Men’s health issues
• Diabetes
• Cancer
• Stress-related illness
• Lung disease
• Skin problems
• And many other health concerns

Please call 888-424-6772 x1639 or click here to request more information.