In March 1975, Sandra (Amrita) McLanahan, MD, (pictured above with Swamiji) opened Satchidananda Clinic in Putnam, Connecticut. The Clinic was located in the town closest to Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville East. Dr. McLanahan had been a student of Swami Satchidananda for several years and sought to put into practice all she was learning from Swamiji on yogic approaches to health and healing. A year later, this practice expanded into a full-fledged integrative health center named, Integral Health Services (IHS). In a newly renovated building, other practitioners joined Dr. McLanahan to offer the first truly integrative health experience to patients.
Dr. Geoffrey Mitra Block in a treatment room at Integral Health Services, Connecticut
It was Swamiji’s vision to bring practitioners of every healing discipline together to individually make assessments and then to jointly diagnose and provide treatment options to the patient. Called a “Comprehensive Evaluation,” this idea of complementary and multimodal treatment was cutting edge in the mid-1970s. IHS offered diagnostic and outpatient treatment based on holistic and yogic therapies as well as traditional medical services. Joining Dr. McLanahan were several other medical doctors, Yoga and meditation teachers, nutritionists, chiropractors, massage therapists, psychotherapists, midwives, and nurses. Within a short time, Prevention magazine featured IHS in an article entitled, “The Clinic Where Love and Medicine Go Hand in Hand.” Soon, IHS had a 500-patient waiting list! The Clinic moved to Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville in Virginia in the early 1980s.
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