MEET: Jay & Kathi Handt
Jay didn’t know how involved he would become with Inner Winner. In fact, he did not choose to go to his first Inner Winners. As a matter of fact, he tried to do anything and everything to get out of the registration that Kathi signed them up for! It was way too out of the box for his analytical mind. Kathi, on the other hand, immediately fell in love with what Inner Winners represented to her: the Native American spirituality and its relationship to the innate philosophy of chiropractic, and how they seemed to be inter-twined and mirror each other, learning how to trust her inner guide from a Native American perspective and trust her inner voice from a chiropractic perspective.
Needless to say, Kathi won! They both wound up at their first program, Kathi excited and Jay – not so much! The journey to Inner Winners and their participation started many years before, when Jay started his schooling at New York Chiropractic College. There, he was taunted with the chiropractic philosophy and the thought of trusting a power or energy that he couldn’t see or feel. Kathi, on the other hand, who fell in love with the philosophy and was very in touch with that energy, convinced Jay to attend chiropractic philosophy nights, which eventually led them both to Atlanta to attend a seminar that was the mecca of chiropractic philosophy. It was at that program that Kathi and Jay met River and Sunshine Ruth.
Back to the early days in chiropractic school, one of Jay’s mentors started feeding him books not only on chiropractic philosophy but on metaphysics, trusting the universe, creating your life through your thoughts, etc. Jay and Kathi both fell in love with these books and their concepts and began to incorporated them into their lives.
Jay eventually graduated. He had fallen in love with the innate philosophy that he knew he would share with all of his patients. And as the universe would have it, one of his patients introduced him to the field of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Jay and Kathi read several books on NLP and then sought out training. They both became certified NLP practitioners.
Getting back to their Inner Winners experience, Kathi’s experience was exactly – and more – than she expected. It was wonderful, inspiring, enlightening, exhilarating and totally transforming. Jay, on the other hand, was still not sure although he knew something positive took place. More importantly, he was compelled to register for the next program when he missed out on the one event he really wanted to do! Thank goodness for that! Again, the universe wasn’t giving up on him!
At their second Inner Winners, Kathi continued on her path, becoming more involved in some of the events, sharing her knowledge. Jay finally completed the event that he dreamed of doing, became more and more open to what was happening inside him, and he found a new home to begin to express and share his ideas and knowledge using his NLP skills as well as his trust and belief in innate intelligence. In addition to all of the positive growth Kathi experienced, she also found an avenue to begin to use her compassion and NLP skills to bring out the best in her fellow participants.
River saw some magic in the two of them and at their third program (which they attended with all of their children), he asked if they wanted to facilitate their own events. By the end of the program he suggested that they form a partnership. The rest is Inner Winners history!
Since their first Inner Winners, Jay has run a successful chiropractic practice on Central Park West in New York City, which has been consistently ranked as one of the top ten in America and Best in NYC! He also was a founding member of the New York Chiropractic Council, a founding member of One Chiropractic, and a member of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association. He is on the Board of Trustees of Life University and both Kathi and Jay are on the board of New Beginnings.
Kathi holds a Master’s degree in Music and her creativity is evident in everything she does. She leads a spiritual part of the Inner Winners program which she has been doing since the early 1990’s. She also created meditations, along with Jay, using NLP hypnotic language patterns. Her music training enhanced her ability to create these meditations and understand the rhythm and flow necessary to make them even more effective.
Both Jay and Kathi are international speakers, speaking on chiropractic philosophy, business growth, personal growth and motivation. They also create programs for groups and businesses, addressing their individual needs. They present a ropes course for prospective students at Life University, allowing participants to develop and focus on skills for achieving personal growth in all phases of life.
Jay and Kathi co-authored “Retire In Practice,” a book that grew out of a dream at Inner Winners, helping others discover the perfect formula for more passion, purpose and abundance. Their mission is to constantly help others innately create excellence in their health and lives and their giving nature is evident in everything they do.
They have three amazing adult children. Josh and Morgan are chiropractors and Ryan is a photographer. All three grew up at Inner Winners and they followed their dreams. They grew up knowing that the universe is always conspiring in their favor, they can accomplish anything they set their mind to and that they live in an abundant universe, some of the lessons that Jay and Kathi, along with River and Sunshine have been sharing for many years.
When Jay and Kathi are asked why people choose to come back to Inner Winners time and time again, they tell them that since life is constantly changing, every Inner Winners provides continuing opportunities for unlimited growth and expansion to a higher state of consciousness, allowing participants to let go of what is no longer serving them, whatever is holding them back, and to continually move forward on their path towards the future they envision.
And for Kathi and Jay, every Inner Winners presents an opportunity for their own personal growth and transcendence. One of their favorite metaphors is, “You can’t row someone across the river without getting their yourself!” As they help facilitate exponential growth and unparalleled breakthroughs in the participants, they continually have new and exciting breakthroughs as well as constant and never-ending improvement as they watch the magic of the universe unfold in their lives.