Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr. Darren Murphy. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Dr. Darren, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
My parents did different things that impacted me in equally important ways. My dad was the first child of twelve kids, born into an Irish Catholic family in Casper, WY. He set the standard for all twelve kids. He has worked hard my entire life and still works hard at 70 years old crushing 60-70 hour weeks. He loves what he does, was always an amazing provider and supporter in everything I did. From him I discovered how to work, grind, and over deliver on promises.
My mother was born on a ranch in the Eastern Wyoming, you had to drive 45 miles on a two lane highway and 17 miles on a dirt road just to get there. I learned my “Cowboy Up” attitude from my mother, and her Dad, Jim Reed. From her time living on the ranch she embodied a more natural lifestyle, one where you honor the land, respect nature, and live life in accordance with nature. My mother was the one in our family who guided us (my brothers and I) into a more natural way of living that ultimately laid the groundwork for my Chiropractic journey.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Dr. Darren Murphy’s journey to becoming a chiropractor began over 20 years ago. A series of seemingly unrelated events over these 20+ years eventually lead him to graduate from Life Chiropractic College West in June 2017. After receiving the Frank Sovinsky award for Excellence in chiropractic business, art and philosophy he quickly transitioned into his role as associate doctor at Oakland’s award winning Source Chiropractic, where he mentored under Dr. Brett Jones. The next two years molded and shaped Dr. Darren on untold physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels. The Source Chiropractic – Oakland is notorious for being a “juggernaut of self development.” Here Dr. Darren served the great people of Oakland through chiropractic, learned how to operate a chiropractic business and be an integral part of Oakland’s finest chiropractic team (6 docs/4 staff). In fall 2018 he envisioned his return to Denver, eventually arriving in April 2019 with his girlfriend and now wife, Hannah Murphy. These two combined their efforts once arriving in Denver to locate, lease and tastefully customize a high vibrational chiropractic center. The Source Chiropractic – Denver is that center. Let’s take a look back to see how Dr. Darren and the Source – Denver came into BEing.
He suffered many sport related injuries in his childhood and teenage years. He often found himself in and out of surgery suites and a common visitor to the local orthopedic surgeon’s office in Casper, WY. The most severe of which was a radical break of his right femur in a high school football game. This break occurred directly through the growth plate which over the years caused his right leg to be an inch shorter than his left (and cause numerous other issues). From ages 10-18 he experienced a consistent cycle of injury, surgery, drugs and rehab. This cycle was effective, though, as it usually landed Dr. Darren back on the playing field participating in the activities he loved. The healing power of the surgeon’s hands amazed him and how they could take a broken body and put it back together, oftentimes in a more functional state than before.
Dr. Darren was so inspired by the surgeon’s healing abilities that he charged full steam ahead into pre-medical studies at The University of Colorado – Boulder in the fall of 2004. He excelled in Organic Chemistry, cried in Physics lectures and had a love/hate relationship with business classes. In the wake of a student hazing death in Fall 2004 he joined, and ultimately directed the Student Emergency Medical Service (SEMS) at CU, a group of EMT’s trained to prevent student deaths at Greek Life events.
Dr. Darren’s final semester at CU in Spring 2008 was far from enchanting. Each week of the semester he received a rejection letter from a different medical school, totaling 14 in all. By graduation he had been rejected from every medical school he applied to. The writing was on the wall, clearly, the medical path was not meant for Dr. Darren. The thought of re-applying made him wince in pain. Luckily, his two brothers had started some tech companies in Denver and invited him to join up. By June 2008 he had moved on from the medical doctor dream to become a tech entrepreneur…clearly a fish out of his home pond.
Dr. Darren created businesses with his brothers for the next two years out of their basement in Highlands Ranch, CO. The entrepreneurial dream was alive and well….sleeping upstairs, “horse-traughing” food in the kitchen and then diving into the basement each day to bang away at computers and watch money go out faster than it came in. This was literally back breaking work. Sitting at the computer for 12+ hours/day began to take a toll on Dr. Darren’s spine. He suffered severe mid back pain, digestive issues and other health complications. After a quick stint living in Santa Monica, CA. in 2010 Dr. Darren decided to leave the businesses and return home to Casper, WY. to “recover.” What was supposed to be one month in the parent’s basement turned into three years in the man cave. These years proved to be more prodigious for his life path than he ever could have imagined.
These basement years were filled with purpose and discovery. He cared for his parents during this time as they experienced an unforeseen amount of surgeries themselves. He’ll never forget the 1am emergency hospital run with his dad and the pesky kidney stone that decided it was time to exit! Caring for his parents and witnessing their healing reminded him of the lost love of healing once had. During this time he was also studying under a mentor who began to expose him to knowledge beyond what society would deem “typical.” Dr. Darren engrossed himself in ancient texts, devouring esoteric wisdom, and learning the patterns of sacred geometry. Books such as The Body Electric, The Field and The Holographic Universe began teaching him about the universal wisdom never taught in modern schools. Throughout these years he came to know and understand that the body is a SELF-HEALING mechanism, capable of incredible feats, if just given the chance. Throughout these basement dwelling years, his brother, Sean Murphy, serendipitously began to whisper in his ear “you’re a chiropractor, you just don’t know it yet,” roughly every six months. Dr. Darren vehemently denied these whispers, but as fate would have it, began getting adjusted and found his calling and applied to Life Chiropractic College West in fall 2013. He credits his brother Sean as being the primary inspiration who lead him to Chiropractic.
Other than the years spent in the basement, the 3.5 years of chiropractic college were the best of his life. He attended over 60 seminars, 10 international service trips and trained with the best of the best in the profession.
The Source Chiropractic Denver is nearing it’s fifth anniversary of service to the Denver community later this year. Our vision at The Source Chiropractic Denver is that we believe…
In a world inter-connected and in mutual support of each other’s well-being. We are of the opinion that our life belongs to the community, and as long as we live, it is our privilege to do for it whatever we can. We want to be thoroughly used up when we die, for the harder we work, the more we live. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to us. It is a splendid torch which we grasp only for a moment, and we want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to the future generations.
At our core, our mission is…
We EMPOWER each and every individual that steps foot into our office. The era of the “passive patient” is over. If someone wants real results, they must acknowledge the necessity to play an active role in their care. Here at The Source Chiropractic, empowerment starts with the understanding that the body has the power to heal itself. The body needs absolutely no help to heal, just no interference. It’s our job as the chiropractor to detect and correct the interference (subluxation) that is blocking the body’s innate ability to heal.
We EDUCATE our community on the laws of the body, mind and soul. We are much more than your ordinary chiropractic office, we are an Academy of Health. In addition to the chiropractic adjustment, we find it extremely important to provide opportunities for our patients to learn skills and tools that will help them shape the life of their dreams.
We ELEVATE global consciousness by living with a Lasting Purpose; to give, to love, to serve out of abundance, without attachment to receiving something in return. People come into our office as patients, but it is our goal to help them transition to a change agent- people who act as catalyst for change by supporting social causes. Every month, The Source volunteers for a day to give back to the community and be a part of the change we wish to see in the world.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
The process of unlearning is a massive part of any vitalistic chiropractic journey. Chiropractic school teaches people to operate from a mechanistic perspective. For example, school teaches you that bones move out of place and we put them back. That is so far from the truth.
In essence, the body misaligns due to stress that the body is not able to adapt to…and the chiropractic adjustment is a healing strategy to reconnect the nervous system to the body so a person can become more internally and externally adaptable to their environment.
Overall, I had to unlearn almost everything chiropractic school taught me about chiropractic and adjusting. I instead, “sat at the feet of masters” to learn everything from their wisdom. 98% of my adjusting technique comes from adjusting I learned outside of school. I learned how to adjust from chiropractors who have been in the profession for 20, 30 or 40+ years.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Covid was the best thing to ever happen to me and my chiropractic office. The world, society and humanity contracted big time from mid march to mid May 2020. Society was rattled with fear, people stayed in their houses and were glued to their computers, typically suffering more physical and mental pain than ever before. Many chiropractors were stifled with fear as well. Many closed their doors and refused to serve anyone.
Although things were quiet in the office, I still showed up. I showed the universe that regardless of what was going on in the world I would stay consistent and show up to serve humanity. During that time I started making chiropractic videos, preparing for the time when society would open up and be looking for a NATURAL solution to the mounting physical and emotional stress of covid. And sure enough, in mid May 2020 I released three Facebook ad videos and they absolutely caught wild-fire. Within the next three months my practice had quadrupled, not only with English speakers but Spanish speakers as well. I’ve never looked back since that time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sourcechirodenver.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdarrenmurphy/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drdarrenmurphy/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrentmurphy1
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.darrenmurphy9154
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-source-chiropractic-denver-denver
Image Credits
All images owned by Dr. Darren Murphy