Dr. Dan's Chiropractic Story

Posted by: Dr. Dan Fedeli


Anyone who knows Dr. Dan Fedeli and the innovative healing work he does at The Balancing Center might think that he was just one of those people who always knew he was going to be a Chiropractic healer. On the contrary, Dr. Dan’s chiropractic journey began unexpectedly when he was a junior at Penn State, studying to become a veterinarian.

Growing up Dan Fedeli’s main interests revolved around horses. Throughout his childhood he experienced chronic back pain, and though he was athletic he avoided intensive sports because of the pain. One day almost by accident he met with a chiropractor who lived down the street. While he didn’t notice any drastic changes in his back, immediately his sinuses drained, his allergies cleared up, and his headaches went away! This was the moment when he realized the effect the nervous system has on the body, and how so many symptoms could be traced back to imbalances in the spine. He remembers wondering “Why hasn’t anyone told me about this?!”

The course of his life had now been altered. Dan had enough prerequisites to transfer to Palmer College of chiropractic, and thus began his chiropractic journey in the summer of 1978.

But it wasn’t quite so simple. Dr. Dan was feeling better, but he couldn’t help but wonder why he kept having to get readjusted all the time. He pursued the missing piece and discovered the National Upper Cervical Association (NUCCA). This was a brand new perspective on the relationship between the head and neck and the body’s self-correcting mechanisms, and it worked!

After graduating from Palmer Dr. Dan spent six years working as an associate in an office that specialized only in NUCCA. Still, something was missing. It wasn’t until he incorporated Bioenergetic Synchronization Technique (BEST) into his practice that he realized in order to feel full freedom and functioning in his body, and to make that freedom available to patients, his practice would have to evolve constantly; one technique on its own would never have the effects he knew were possible. Without sacrificing the power of what is already in place, it is this innovative combination of techniques that has made The Balancing Center such a success.

The Balancing Center has now been helping people live healthier more energetic lives since 1987. To this day Dr. Dan’s favorite part of the job is helping people look at health from a different perspective. He feels passionate about offering individuals and their families the tools and resources to manifest their potential. He also enjoys witnessing the transformations that occur when patients choose full health instead of only getting treated for pain.

The care Dr. Dan and his associates provide here at The Balancing Center is part of Dr.Dan’s vision of a more harmonious world in which people are no longer in conflict with their own bodies, and are therefore better able to get along with each other. Not only is Dr. Dan frequently invited to speak to diverse audiences about his work and his philosophies, but he has made it part of his mission to train other doctors to make a profound difference in the world.

A couple of things most patients probably don’t know about Dr. Dan: he has been practicing meditation for over 30 years, and he is an excellent marksman! 

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Dan Fedeli, or with one of his associates call (312)787-7222.

Madelyn's Chiropractic Story

Posted by: Madelyn George

My first time visiting The Balancing Center I had no intention of receiving any kind of chiropractic care. I was meeting with Dr. Dan Fedeli to talk about administrative tasks and goals. I was in great shape and perfect health...or so I thought. Having trained extensively as a dancer, and taught others about holistic wellness for years, I exercised regularly, took my supplements, and had no complaints. Then doctor Dan had me step onto “The Anatometer” and I discovered that one of my hips was way higher than the other!

To be honest, I wasn’t surprised at all. When I thought about it, I had been noticing differences between the left and right sides of my body since I was a young girl in ballet class. I had simply assumed that imbalances were a fact of life, and if I wanted to succeed I would have to learn to work through those imbalances on my own. I had no idea there was anyone out there who could help! Over the course of my dance training it was fairly normal to sit out of class every now and then due to minor injuries. Often the pain was intense enough that I might ask a teacher to recommend some kind of specialist. Physical therapy and massage were frequently recommended, but nobody told me that chiropractic could also help. It makes sense in retrospect; I had no idea that I was out of alignment, so I never thought to visit a chiropractor!

After my first adjustment, I have to admit I felt funny. My body was so used to living with imbalance that for a few days I felt like one of my legs had suddenly grown a few inches longer. One day I even tripped over it! I experienced some soreness, but it didn’t bother me because I had been told that my muscles would have to learn to support my newly balanced body. I couldn’t help but wonder how my dance training might have gone differently if I had been in balance all along. How many injuries could I have avoided?

I’ve been offering administrative support at The Balancing Center for about six months now, and the care I receive is a huge benefit. I love being part of the amazing Balancing Center Team and spending time in a healing environment each week, but every day I see patients coming back in after long stretches of time because they are in pain. I see patients checking out after their visits and making the decision not to reschedule until they are in pain again. When I began my care at The Balancing Center, I wasn’t in pain at all, and I am amazed out how great I feel, how free I am in my body, and how capable I am of using my body for all the various activities that make me feel more alive. I want you to know that the care provided at The Balancing Center could take you and everyone you know to the next level of health. Like me, you may be shocked to find out what you are capable of!

Dr. Taka's Chiropractic Story

Posted by: Dr. Taka Nakaseko

Long-term patients who have been working at The Balancing Center to achieve and maintain optimum health can attest to the fact that excellent chiropractic care is often an incredible journey. Dr. Taka's path to chiropractic care is no exception. Fifteen years ago, Dr. Taka's mother survived a serious car accident. She healed from the accident except for a strange numbness on the left side of her face. They tried everything; Dr. Taka accompanied his mother to appointments with multiple doctors, acupuncturists, and massage therapists. Six months later they found their way to a chiropractor's office. After two adjustments, Dr. Taka's mother had healthy sensation throughout her whole face and Taka new what he would do with his life.

Though Taka was finishing high school and contentedly studying mechanical engineering in Japan at the time, he decided to come to the United States. He learned English as quickly as he could to qualify for pre-chiropractic training, then he attended Palmer College of Chiropractic. Though he was far away from home, he never doubted his decision. He will confidently tell anyone who asks, "Chiro chose me."

Now that he has had a chance to settle into his work at The Balancing Center, Dr. Taka believes that the whole medical system could change if everyone had access to the type of integrative health care he offers. He is disappointed that so much of Western medicine is focused on surgery when lifestyle changes and preventative care are truly effective and much less invasive.

"My dream," he says, "is that everyone learns about the potential of holistic chiropractic to help them feel better and optimize their life."

He also imagines a day when families might use chiropractic instead of general practitioners to live healthier lives. "There are so many things we could help with," he says. Dr. Taka emphasizes the less invasive procedures and long-term effects of chiropractic. The care can be woven into a person's life.

Before he began his chiropractic training, Taka used to get painful sinus infections every year. Since he embarked on this path there have been no signs of it! He also used to struggle with a frustrating pollen allergy. This is also gone. He is grateful to have grown up with parents who preferred holistic health methods to traditional medical doctors. A preference for holistic care has been ingrained in him since his developmental years and may have been what got him where he is today.

When I asked Taka to describe his ideal patient he answered that he is excited about working with anyone who is ready to be healthy and do what it takes and stick with it. In his own words, "Chiropractic is a lifestyle."

Dr. Taka looks forward to helping you achieve optimal health at The Balancing Center.

Written by: Madelyn George

Dr. Ken's Chiropractic Story

Posted by: Dr. Ken Bennett:

Dr. Ken Bennett’s chiropractic story began when he was eight years old. He remembers having to head home from a vacation early. His mother was sweating profusely and he could tell she was in a great deal of pain. As they drove home she joked that he might have to drive. Despite the humor, there was an edge to her voice.

Something was very wrong with her back. She went in for surgery, but it didn’t help. It was only after the operation that she tried chiropractic care. She felt better immediately after the first adjustment. Even though Dr. Ken was very young his mother’s experience would influence the course of his life. Fast forward to Dr. Ken’s college years. He had the opportunity to observe a chiropractor who focused on the upper cervical spine. Dr. Ken describes the doctor he worked with as hilariously funny and full of energy. The technique he used was not the gentle approach Dr. Ken uses today, but it still inspired his work.

One day the doctor asked the young Dr. Ken what he thought chiropractic was. Dr. Ken really had no idea. From what he’d observed it looked like patients would have their backs “cracked” and they’d leave feeling better. That was the day he learned about the nervous system’s profound effect on the entire body, and the ways that Chiropractic care can support its healthy functioning. Dr. Ken already had interest in going into a health care field, but it was now clear that chiropractic was the way to go.

Dr. Ken has now been a chiropractor for over a decade. He can tell countless success stories of how people were transformed in the most unexpected ways due to their chiropractic care. In addition to structural work Dr. Ken also incorporates nutritional information and supplements into many of his care plans. When asked what he enjoys most about his job he said he loves seeing different people really start to learn how much power they have when it comes to their health. He also particularly enjoys all the different personalities he has the privilege of working with.

One of the things that makes Dr. Ken such an important part of The Balancing Center team is that he so firmly believes that covering up symptoms doesn’t work. In his own life he has rarely ever had to resort to medication. This is just one of many ways that Dr. Ken personally demonstrates the benefits of holistic care. He often says that taking care of your spine is like brushing your teeth. Everybody has a nervous system, and that’s all it takes to benefit from chiropractic care. Dr. Ken’s ideal patient is someone who asks questions. He believes everyone should take advantage of the free knowledge he and his associates here at The Balancing Center have to offer. The most amazing part, if you ask Dr. Bennett, is that so much transformation can take place with just a simple change of perspective.

Ortho-Bionomy: Body Work that Supports Your Healing Process

Posted by: Barry Krost


Ortho-Bionomy is one of the massage and bodywork techniques offered at The Balancing Center. It is easily incorporated into our philosophy of balance, support and integrate. Ortho-Bionomy supports the recovery and stability of the newly balanced body initiated by the adjustment of the upper cervical spine and enhanced by innovative Chiropractic techniques.

Ortho-Bionomy® can help with all phases of your recovery. Practitioners of this work support our natural ability to heal by paying close attention to the muscles, bones and joints. With this information they place the body into specific, often comfortable, healing positions. The founder of Ortho-Bionomy, Dr. Arthur Lincoln Pauls, D.O., believed that the body had an innate intelligence that knew how to self-correct. Ortho-Bionomy’s positions are meant to engage that capacity.

Each position helps reset the sensors within the muscles and joints known collectively as proprioceptors. Creating the right twist and pressure in the muscles can reset these sensors very quickly. This supports a fast and effective reduction in muscle spasm and increased mobility.

Patients arrive for their sessions wearing loose fitting clothing. Once on the table we assess the structure and function of the whole body and individual joints. Specific positions are explored and easy movements are employed to integrate changes. Most sessions are sixty minutes but shorter times are available.

Once the Practitioner moves a joint into a comfortable position, within 10 to 90 seconds the body begins to restore normal muscle tone, increase circulation, remove pressure on nerves, and allow bones and joints to move freely. All the energy and attention that was used to deal with imbalance is now available to the body’s healing process. When everything is in its proper place transformation is possible.

Ortho-Bionomy sessions are available at The Balancing Center Monday-Friday and select Saturdays.

The Right Place

Posted by: Barry Krost


I am thrilled to bring my Massage & Bodywork practice to The Balancing Center. For most of my 27 years of doing hands-on healing I have worked alone. In recent years it grew more apparent to me that a group setting would help my effectiveness with clients. It was clear that I would benefit from other perspectives, skills and energies. My recent training in Family Constellation Therapy brought home the importance of supportive relationships for health and well-being.

I was lucky enough that when I moved back to Chicago last summer I was given the opportunity to get to know Dan Fedeli and The Balancing Center better. I had known of Dan’s work over the years and met him in a training in 2003. A mutual friend encouraged us to network with each other.

Over the next months I began to get regular Chiropractic care from Dan, Ken and Taka. I have experienced a lot of healing modalities over the years and it was clear that what they were doing with me was amazing and unique. I also could easily see how my bodywork practice could fit into the center and I felt better.

Along the way Dan and I realized that many of my skills and experiences would be helpful to implementing a number of projects, and supporting various activities at the center. When I am not working on clients I am now actively involved in growing The Balancing Center.

As I begin to see clients here I know that this is the place and the people I was looking for. In this community my work has already reached new levels and I am very excited to see how my practice will evolve further. I am grateful that all the years of training in Ortho-Bionomy, Lymph Drainage Therapy and Energy Healing will finally have the home that was needed.

You can learn more about my techniques at: HealingBodyTherapeutics.com.

3 Ways to Boost Your Immune System this Winter!

Posted by: Ken Bennett

Before we get to the 3 ways that help boost your immune system let’s take a step back and think about why we get colds in the first place. Basically, when a germ or toxin we eat, drink or breathe gets past our defense system we get sick. Why aren’t we always sick, if we are always eating, drinking and breathing. Because our immune system usually has the resources to take care of germs easily. So maybe it’s a matter of resources…

At The Balancing Center we believe (and with each patient continue to see proof) that the body is designed to be healthy but programmed to survive. We know that the brain and nervous system control everything that happens in the body (digestion, breathing, immune system, pleasure, pain and the list goes on). There are a number of things that can put our bodies into survival mode such as: germs, accidents, spinal misalignments, injuries, stress, poor nutrition, environmental toxins and the list goes on. When our nervous system’s resources are being used to compensate for a problem, they aren’t available to do what they are designed to do; for example, if your nervous system has to figure out how to deal with a body that is structurally out of balance, digest poor food, deal with a deadline at work or a project at home. It is busy. This creates stress and uses up resources. Our nervous system can lose touch with the immune system. That’s the perfect time for a germ to take advantage and sneak past our defenses. Once the intruder alert goes off the most pressing matter for the nervous system is the germ. So it tells the immune system to get to work but it’s too late. The germ is in and we get sick.

A cold is actually a good thing. Our body is getting whatever shouldn’t be there out of our system. It might not feel good but it serves a very important purpose. What we call cold symptoms is really our immune system (under orders from the nervous system) trying to make our body as inhospitable as possible for the germs. Think about this, if the only water you have is contaminated with bacteria what are you going to do? Yes, boil it! Why? So the bacteria is killed off. Doesn’t that sound like a fever? I’d say so. Then why do people take Tylenol to lower a fever and let the bacteria live? I’m not saying don’t take medicine when you have a fever of 105. Next time you’re feeling a cold coming on, instead of running to the medicine cabinet you can run to your vitamin cabinet. Ride out the symptoms and try and do something to support the fever or congestion (it is there for a reason). Do something to make your body even more inhospitable.

Here’s what you can do.

The top of the list is to help your nervous system. The more resources your nervous system has, the more your nervous system is able to function as it is designed to function (healthy and well) the more resilient and vital every system in our body is, including the immune system. If your nervous system is primed from regular adjustments, when you do get sick (which is inevitable) but, the cold will rarely be bad and typically will be short lived. I know that’s true for my body and I’ve seen the same thing with thousands of patients. A well adjusted nervous system will help every organ, tissue and cell in your body. Immune system included.


#1 Way to Boost your Immune System = Get adjusted and let your nervous system do its thing.


Next, we get to nutrition. What we eat and drink and the vitamins and supplements we take either support us or hinder us. Not taking quality vitamins and supplements while eating processed foods, grains, sugars and dairy will weaken the body. These foods lead to increased levels of inflammation, acidity, glucose and insulin. All of which increase cortisol, stress hormone, levels. Cortisol directly inhibits the immune system.

Eating plenty of organic, fresh fruits and vegetables and organic and free range meat gives our body the vitamins, minerals, protein and good fats necessary to be healthy. These foods all help to decrease levels of inflammation, acidity, glucose and insulin. Hence, cortisol levels go down and the immune system is supported. It’s really not complicated at all.

The following supplements all help to support the immune system either directly or indirectly. I’m going to list the names of the products we have in the office and the main supplement in it. We are very careful only to carry to best products in the office, so everyone gets the most bang for their buck. If you have any questions about why just ask.

Orenda Immune - glucarate
Vitamin D
Detox Essentials – vitamin C with bioflavanoids
Orenda Balance – decreases cortisol
Alka Green – barley
Alka Pan – enzymes
Omega Sufficiency – omega 3 fats, fish oil
Thieves – essential oil blend

Instead of robotusin or Theraflu, when I’m feeling sick these are things I take to make my body more inhospitable and support my immune system. And I totally eliminate grains, dairy and sugar from my diet.

Another thing you can do to strengthen every system in your body is a detox diet but that’s a different blog entry.


#2 Way to Boost your Immune System – Eat a healthy diet and take quality supplements.


Last on my list is sweating. There are two ways to sweat that support your health in different ways.

First, passive sweating is sitting in a sauna or hot bath. As your internal temperature raises your body detox’s from the inside out. The cleaner we are on the inside, the fewer hiding places for germs. Sweating a couple times a week for 10 to 20 minutes is a great habit and it’s relaxing. You can sweat when your feel good or ill. It’s never bad to take a sweat.

Second, active sweating is exercise. You really don’t have to exercise until you are dripping wet. Just getting up and getting your body moving helps to increase circulation throughout your body but especially the circulation of your lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is similar to the circulatory system but your immune cells are in the lymph not red blood cells. Exercise doesn’t have to mean the treadmill or the gym. Those things are great but you can also walk, stretch, swim, bike, skate, etc. The specific activity isn’t important, the doing something is. You also gain the benefit of a stronger heart and lungs while losing weight…all while strengthening your immune system.


#3 Way to Boost your Immune System - Sweat


The bottom line is that the more things we do on a regular basis to support and optimize our body (nervous system) the more vitality and resiliency we will have. We are still going to get sick from time to time. However, a strong body and immune system will respond better and faster to germs and toxins. You can never have too much health. The more we do when we are healthy, the shorter and less severe our colds will be.