Ryan Carr ~September Employee of the Month

Meet Ryan!

Have you met Ryan Carr, one of our Certified Symmetry Technicians? Around the office, Ryan is known for his beard, his man bun, and the uncanny pool of knowledge he gifts us with daily. Ryan has led an impressive life, from his D-2 National Rugby Championship, to his career as an educator for over 20 years. Ryan joined the Symmetry team in early 2020, after our Float Tank piqued his interest at a seminar he attended. Ryan has been with us ever since, as a Certified Symmetry Technician on his way to becoming a Practitioner. 

As a former adrenaline junkie, Ryan’s motivation is his own pain. It began when he was fifteen years old during a skiing incident, and because it provided him with a distraction, he tried to ignore his pain through his rugby career. After college, he became a teacher for 20 years and taught ages 3 to 22 years old. Ryan’s greatest challenge during this time was navigating the stress of teaching, which led to a change in careers toward health and wellness. Ryan was very attracted to the science behind the Float Tank and was interested in increasing the parasympathetic response which is responsible for stimulation of "rest-and-digest" or "feed and breed" activities that occur when the body is at rest (which Symmetry Therapy also utilizes). From the Float Spa, Ryan became interested in the benefits and science behind Symmetry, and began completing the Symmetry Technician certification in the beginning of 2020. He was immediately in rhythm with being a tech, because his background credentials as a teacher allowed the education part of Symmetry to be second nature to him. Ryan is now almost a Certified Symmetry Practitioner, and will soon be joining Michele and Holly in measuring clients & writing routines. 

Ryan has had many professions, and has lived many lives within them. I had the true honor of sitting down with him and hearing what he has to say about his great accomplishments. 

What is your work motto?

“Be persistent, be consistent, be curious, be creative”

What is your proudest accomplishment?

“Being a father, to my biological kids & to the children and young adults I’ve impacted over the years through my teaching. I’ve also coached youth sports, including volleyball, rugby, soccer, basketball, and karate.”

Who/what inspires you?

“ My main inspiration is Gary Ho, a past instructor, U.S. Marshall, Police Officer and Psychologist. He took me under his wing and taught me his form of meditation and martial art. If there’s one thing I do more than Symmetry it’s what Gary taught me. Also, being the smallest guy on the field in rugby introduced a lot of self-doubt, but I used that to help me achieve greater.”

What is the key to your success?

“The key to my success would be not caring about success. The prize comes in the end, & following my path and having faith something positive would happen in the end is how I got here today. Nobody should try to be anyone else but themselves.”

What is the best advice you can give to your colleagues?

“I would say learn to have thick skin & not take things personally. I use the acronym QTIP - Quit Taking It Personal. This was taught to educators and young adults in my school district.”

As a fellow Symmetry employee, it is not blind to our staff how knowledgeable and wise Ryan is. One of my favorite Ryan moments actually happened without him. I was chatting with our Office Manager Izzy, and she mentioned that she started looking up random interesting facts to memorize daily so she can be like Ryan, who always has something informative to speak with his clients about while he takes them through routines. This is one of the reasons we all immensely enjoy his presence in our office and our lives, because although he’s unaware of it, he pushes us all to become better versions of ourselves daily. The best thing about Ryan, however, and I believe our whole staff would agree with me, is his humility. Through all the great things he has done with his life, he has managed to uphold deferential energy and remain humble. He doesn’t think he is better than anyone, (though I’d argue he’s one of the kindest souls I’ve met), and he unleashes his knowledge and wisdom upon us, not to belittle, but so we may better ourselves along with him. The reason I chose Ryan as our September Employee of the Month, was because I noticed, going through our clients’ surveys, that almost every single one of them had something nice to say about him. I asked Ryan what he enjoys most about being a part of the Symmetry team, and he didn’t hesitate to say that because of his love for the therapy and the concept of Symmetry, that he would work here for free. Thank you Ryan for sitting down with me, and thank you for being you!