A doctor who teaches you to heal yourself.
Most people in chronic pain have spent years being told their body is broken and someone else needs to fix it. The Amari Method starts from the opposite premise: your body is already trying to rebalance itself, and the work is teaching you to listen. Dr. Garrett is the guide. You are the healer.
The body is simple.
Almost every chronic pain pattern reduces to one sentence: something is working too hard because something else isn't working enough. A muscle that should be supporting your spine has gone offline, so a different one overworks. A joint that's supposed to glide is locked, so the joint above it absorbs all the load. The diagnosis you've been given — disc degeneration, impingement, sciatica, frozen shoulder, runner's knee — is downstream of that pattern, not the cause of it.
The body wants balance, not pain relief. Pain is the messenger. The work isn't silencing the messenger; it's listening, finding what's overworking and what's underworking, and bringing them back into balance. That's what every session is. That's the whole method.
"Pain is just telling people, hey, I don't like this. We don't shoot the messenger."— Dr. Garrett
Two kinds of bodies. Two opposite paths.
In your first session, Dr. Garrett figures out which one you are. Most people are some combination of both.
If you're an active body…
Your muscles are gripping. You feel tight, contracted, lifted up in your body. After a session, you say "I feel more grounded." Your work is in letting go — finding positions where the overworked tissues finally release. The protocols look passive: lying on a yoga block, hanging from rings, breathing.
If you're a passive body…
Your joints move easily but your muscles aren't engaging. You feel heavy, slack, loaded into your bones. After a session, you say "I feel lighter." Your work is in waking up the muscles that stopped doing their job. The protocols look active: bridges, hand presses, micro-engagements you can feel.
Giving an active person more activation makes them worse. Giving a passive person more release makes them worse. Most clinicians don't make this distinction. Dr. Garrett's first session figures out where you are and matches the work to your body, not a generic protocol.
Your first session, in four parts.
Full assessment, guided protocols, and a take-home practice. 60 minutes.
Assessment
Dr. Garrett assesses how your body moves. Where it's overworking, where it's shut down. He's looking at your whole body, not just the part that hurts. The suspension squat on gymnastic rings and the bridge pose on a yoga block are his two primary tools — simple, but they reveal the pattern in minutes.
Guided protocols
Using simple props (yoga blocks, foam rollers, gymnastic rings), Dr. Garrett guides you through protocols adapted to your body in real time. You're not lying on a table while someone works on you. You're moving, finding positions where your body starts to rebalance itself.
What changes
Most clients feel a noticeable shift during the first session. The overworked areas release. The underworked areas start to re-engage. Walking out, people say things like "I feel taller," "my hips have reset," "I'm not efforting." You feel the difference before you leave.
Take-home practice
You leave with a short practice for what was worked on that session. About five minutes. You do it on your living room floor. It maintains the changes and keeps your body moving in the right direction between sessions.
Eight core protocols. Body-led order.
Every client eventually does all eight. Which you start with depends on what your body is asking for.
"Your practice evolves as your body changes. The bridge you do in week one is not the bridge you do in month six. The protocols shape-shift with you."— Dr. Garrett
Three layers of why this works.
Pain relief — it actually works.
Most clients feel a shift in their first session. That's the proof. It's the reason you came. It's the floor, not the ceiling.
Rebalancing — your body holds itself.
Once the pattern starts correcting, your body stops fighting itself. People walking out describe feeling stacked, not efforting, rooted to the ground. Pain relief is the side effect. Balance is the actual product.
Self-connection — a much better human experience.
Long-term clients describe slowing down, becoming more emotionally available, feeling more present in their lives. Pain-free is the starting line, not the finish.
Where the work goes.
Discovery
Pure experience. First sessions are about Dr. Garrett guiding you and you feeling what's possible. No curriculum. No homework you don't want. "Let me just walk you through it."
Transform
Teaching phase. You start running the protocols yourself. Home practice becomes a daily thing. Your body keeps changing between sessions, not just during them.
Awaken
Mastery. Dr. Garrett trains alongside you. Sessions become deeper — emotional release, full-body reorganization, the kind of work that's hard to describe to someone who hasn't experienced it. People stay in this phase for years.
The body wants balance, not pain relief.
Other approaches can help. Adjustments, manual therapy, injections, physical therapy, painkillers — they all do something. They can buy real relief in the short term. But they share an assumption: someone else does the work, and you receive it. The Amari Method inverts that. You're not on a table. You're moving, finding positions, learning what your body is doing and why. The relief is the side effect; the change in pattern is the point. Done well, it's the difference between renting relief and owning balance.
It sounds too simple.
The questions everyone asks.
How many sessions does it take?
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Most clients feel meaningful relief in their first session. How many sessions you need depends on how long the pattern has been established and how consistently you apply your take-home practice. Most clients with moderate patterns see lasting improvement in three to six sessions. Many continue beyond that because the deeper work — the Transform and Awaken phases — keeps unfolding.
Can I do this virtually?
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Yes. Virtual sessions work well for most conditions. Dr. Garrett assesses your posture and movement patterns via live video and guides you through protocols in real time. Most clients notice the same kind of shift virtually as in-person. Some bodies — usually very passive ones who need direct hands-on cuing — get more out of in-person. Dr. Garrett will tell you on your discovery call which is right for you.
I'm not flexible. Can I still do this?
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Yes. Flexibility isn't the goal. Balance is. Many of Dr. Garrett's clients are tight, stiff, or have lost mobility. Those bodies often respond fastest because the imbalance is obvious and correctable.
I've had surgery or have a serious diagnosis. Is this safe?
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In most cases, yes. The Amari Method is permission-based — you never push through pain, never force a position. If something doesn't feel right, you stop. Dr. Garrett adapts every protocol to your specific situation. For serious post-surgical or acute injury cases, a discovery call first lets him understand what's appropriate.
How is this different from yoga or Pilates?
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Yoga and Pilates teach you to do specific shapes well. The Amari Method teaches you to find what your body is asking for in the moment, then bring it into balance. Many of Dr. Garrett's clients are long-time yoga practitioners who plateaued — what was missing was the assessment of where they were overworking versus underworking, and protocols matched to their specific pattern.
What if it doesn't work for me?
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If you don't feel a noticeable shift in your first session, Dr. Garrett keeps working with you at no additional charge until you do. That's the guarantee.
Most clients feel a difference in their first session.
Book a session with Dr. Garrett. If you don't experience noticeable relief, we keep working with you until you do, at no additional charge.
$225 · First session · San Francisco + virtual