Meet Dr. Beth
Dr. Beth Claxton
From an early age I was a caretaker. Sensitive to others emotions and sensations, I wanted everyone to “feel better”. My mother taught deaf children. My father, a metallurgical engineer, PhD, and entrepreneur, worked hard. I didn’t see him a lot. Their marriage lasted until I was 7.
From this moment, at age 7, I knew I needed to take care of myself. Many types of careers appealed to me: archaeology, anthropology, dancing, acting, commercial art. When it became apparent that I had an aptitude for science and math, my path became medicine. I knew at age 13 that as a doctor I could survive on my own. I became uncompromising to perform academically and I suspended a large part of my artistic expression. In high school (Corsicana High School) I was driven. In college (Trinity University), I became highly focused. Medical School (The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio), left me ungrounded. In residency (PIROG-Maricopa Medical Center and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix), I was driven, ungrounded and holding my breath. Once I passed my Obstetrics and Gynecology board certification, I came up for air. The world had changed. I had missed at least a decade of music, movies and trends. My immune system was deeply compromised.
My education had been peppered with abroad medical experiences from Nayarit, Mexico; National Women’s Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand; Colonial Hospital, Suva, Fiji; and Chidamoyo Christian Hospital, Karoi, Zimbabwe. These were the places where I felt humanity. Exposed to non-traditional medical practices, children with earaches would present with leaves and twigs in their ears. Many of the providers would laugh, yet I knew deep inside that it must have worked before or they wouldn’t be doing it now. The midwives in New Zealand infused love and deep caring into every single delivery they did. Being able to hold so much space for a woman in labor and postpartum was a wonder itself. In Africa, the medicine man would come into the hospital compound at night, after the staff had left, and make his rounds. In the morning, some patients were better. Some had passed on. And yet, these practices which did not always result in healing or a natural delivery, had persevered...for thousands of years.
As my career in medicine began, I followed guidelines to a tee and recommended interventions that resulted in the fastest route to alleviation of disease. Sometimes that’s what was needed; sometimes not. It became apparent to me that a space existed where healing occurred. I could see that many in Western Medicine had not yet realized this. What I did know was that loving my patients improved outcomes. Above all I learned that seeing, listening, believing, and connection were the most important medicines.
While in medical school, a friend approached me one day in our fourth and final year. (This is the year students are given some time to focus on what field they want to pursue and apply for residency programs.) He asked if I wanted to join a small group in a Transcendental Meditation class. I said "Yes!" Learning to meditate showed me how to create space where none exists by focusing the mind on one thing, the mantra. Everything else seemed to fall away. I kept this practice in my back pocket for emergency situations. A meditation practice became more regular with a group I joined in Taos, New Mexico in 1999. The benefits of a daily ritual became apparent. In 2008, I was introduced to Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 1970’s. “This is a missing link in medicine,” I remember thinking. Once I completed this course, mindfulness meditation became a part of my life as well as my practice of medicine. I taught people how to create space for healing inside themselves! Through MBSR I was introduced to an international group of MD’s, psychologists, and nurses who had views similar to mine.
More alternative methods of healing started revealing themselves to me. I experienced Traditional Chinese Medicine where cupping a running injury I had had for decades released the stuck qi and I was able to run pain-free again. Rolfing and fascial release realigned my body. Yoga brought me deep calm and evoked a release of deeply stored emotions within me. Chinese herbs resolved my breast mass. The medicine man helped cure my cervical dysplasia. Ayurveda resolved seasonal allergies and chronic back pain. I watched interventions including optimizing diet, exercise and lifestyle align my body to heal itself.
On a morning run in February 2018 when contemplating my position as the local hospital OB/Gyn Department chair and senior partner in my current clinic practice at a FQHC, I touched into a deep knowing that there was more. I admitted to myself that I was miserable, stressed out, and that I was not healing people the way I knew they could be healed. I was putting band-aids on, not finding the root cause. Then the message came to open a multidisciplinary integrative medical clinic. I called someone who had done something similar in Flagstaff five years earlier and talked with her about her experience. Her path had taken her away from Arizona. She introduced me to the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM.org). That afternoon I became a member and started learning from IFM’s online training. In December 2018, paralyzed in terror, I gave my notice at the Community Health Center where I worked, then went out and bought a laser machine. In 2019 the doors of Flagstaff Functional Medicine opened. During lockdown in 2020 I passed my IFM certification exam. In 2022 I met Dr. Daved Rosensweet and learned his Menopause Method form of compounded bioidentical hormone replenishment. In 2023 I relocated my home to Sedona.
My vision is building a community of like-minded, growth-centered, loving women in Northern Arizona who cherish health and wellness and support each other to live wisely, inspired, consciously, and connected in their second half of life.
I love you all! Come. Let’s connect, have fun and create magic all in the pursuit of health and wellness.
Dr. Beth
Surgery
Dr. Beth
Surgery
Dr. Beth
Baby
