Dr. Michael B. Ackerman pursued his undergraduate studies in pre-medicine and psychology at Whitman College in Washington State. During these years in college, he developed an early interest in exercise physiology and physical education in order to enhance his knowledge and teaching abilities as a second degree black-belt instructor for the campus karate school.
Two years after graduation from college with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, Dr. Ackerman's interests in a more holistic and preventative approach to medicine led to a decision to enter graduate school at the National University of Health Sciences, Chicago, Illinois. In addition to a very demanding course load over the next five years of schooling, he worked as a teaching assistant for more than a dozen different courses, instructing in laboratories for the departments of Anatomy, Radiology, Biomechanics, and Orthopedics.
As a result of this teaching involvement, Dr. Ackerman received the honor of being published in a nationally recognized textbook of chiropractic clinical technique, and was selected as the recipient of the National University Anatomy Achievement Award. Following a one-year internship at Chicago General Health Services, Dr. Ackerman graduated as Class Valedictorian in 1986, receiving two degrees: Bachelor of Science in Human Biology and Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine. After graduation, the college faculty asked Dr. Ackerman to accept a full-time teaching position in the Department of Pathology, but he respectfully declined their offer.
In the succeeding two years, Dr. Ackerman entered an associateship in a sports medicine practice in New Orlean's, Louisiana. During this time, he treated amateur, collegiate, and professional athletes from most sports backgrounds, including the New Orleans Saints football team, the Delta Festival Ballet Company, national body building title holders, international martial arts champions, tri-athletes, gymnasts, pro-golfers, pro-bowlers, etc. Dr. Ackerman grew to become known as a lecturer on sports medicine, nutrition, and injury prevention at such places as the University of New Orleans, The National Physique Conference (NPC) Southern Regional Symposium, numerous martial arts schools, industries, and athletic clubs.
In 1988, Dr. Ackerman moved to Monterey, California, where he practiced as director of the Sports and Family Chiropractic Center, a clinic which operated with an average of eight employees, including associate doctors, massage therapists/physiotherapy aids, an exercise physiologist athletic-trainer, and front office support personnel. This clinic was well-known and successful, offering state-of-the-art care in sports medicine, nutrition, and holistic family practice. However, Dr. Ackerman also had a strong need to achieve a sense of a deep spiritual success in life, which up to this point he did not feel he had satisfied.
Thus, in 1994 he decided to fulfill a long awaited dream and chose a radical new path in his career: Dr. Ackerman sold his home and practice, and moved to India. There he had the great privilege of studying under a world-renowned spiritual teacher by the name of "Ammachi" (The Holy Mother), while having an opportunity to perform volunteer medical work in Her charitable institution. Over a period of three years, Dr. Ackerman experienced a deep inner transformation and a remarkable opening of intuitive abilities, which fundamentally changed his approach to life as well as his approach to healing.
With the wealth of knowledge and experience acquired in India, and with Ammachi's blessings, Dr. Ackerman returned to the West in 1997 and established "The Center for Chiropractic and Depth Healing”, in La Jolla, CA. After 16 years in La Jolla, in 2013 he moved to his present location near Sea World Drive. Dr. Ackerman now sees patients in-office and does stress & emotional healing work by phone and Skype with clients within the United States and around the world. In addition to treating people's physical and nutritional health needs, Dr. Ackerman also offers people a rare opportunity to understand and remove the inner root causes of their pain from psychological and emotional issues. This approach brings about a lasting and more profound healing of the whole person, addressing the deeper underlying emotional wounds which relate to their outward physical symptoms. Dr. Ackerman now achieves more rapid results with a wider scope of his patients' health problems through wedding Eastern and Western medicine into a unique and powerful synthesis for holistic healing -- going beyond the boundaries of most of the mainstream and alternative healing therapies available today