Third Path
Bryan Dieterich, MA, LPC, CHT
Bryan Dieterich's quest for the sacred and the whole emerged from the most unusual of places—the underground hardcore music scene which he was a fervent participant in during his adolescence and teen years in the late 80's and early 90's. In 1991 he began to study the Bhakti Yoga practices of Gaudiya Vaisnavism which drew him away from radical politics and rabid atheism and awoke a deep thirst for esoteric knowledge and self-actualization within him. As he deepened his understanding he began to look more broadly to the East, taking up the practice of Koryu Japanese martial arts and healing disciplines while grounding himself in outdoor primitive living skills (tracking, and general wilderness survival).
Shortly after training in Japan in the year 2000 Bryan became a certified Shiatsu bodywork therapist, blending his study of acupressure with several forms of te ate (palm healing) and setting up a private practice in Denver, Colorado. It was through this work that he began to treat clients struggling with psychological and physical trauma and that, in turn, led Bryan to deepen his skill set with graduate studies in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology at Naropa University (Boulder, CO) where he increased his understanding and capacity in supporting the healing process as a Masters level Licensed Professional Counselor.
It was at this time that Bryan underwent a “dark night of the soul” as he addressed his own unhealed childhood trauma—a process that ultimately led him from his extant study of primarily Eastern spiritual disciplines to the old ways of his own bloodline ancestors and Western esoterica/occultism.
Having studied with what some would call “shamanic” or animistic teachers from numerous cultures (and having traced similar threads all the way back into Old Europe), Bryan has learned to implement such ritualistic practices—from ancestral repair work and honoring of the dead to the obtainment and use of various methods of altered states of consciousness—for his own healing as well as the healing of others.
Relocating to rural Western North Carolina in 2007, Bryan spent the next decade living very close with the land and the cycles of the seasons on a 20 acre homestead where he grew much of his own food and lived a simple life while working in several wilderness therapy programs and building what would eventually become a full time private psychotherapy practice. In his private practice Bryan worked with individuals grappling with depression, addiction, grief and loss, anxiety, and trauma—blending somatic, humanistic and transpersonal psychotherapy with a strong ecopsychological focus. His practice eventually moved away from trauma and came to center on couples whose relationships were in jeopardy. In addition, throughout this time, he led groups around the Asheville area in personal growth and development while teaching at the Appalachian Gestalt Therapy Institute and serving as a part-time adjunct professor at Lenoir Rhyne University.
In 2017 Bryan relocated to the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex and co-founded Third Path alongside his partner Rachael Kruger as a means to combine his many years of training in all of the above disciplines with a focus on intensive therapeutic work. Bryan considers the offerings of Third Path to be the culmination of his long years of study. Alongside Third Path he maintains a small private therapy practice in McKinney, Texas
Bryan Dieterich's quest for the sacred and the whole emerged from the most unusual of places—the underground hardcore music scene which he was a fervent participant in during his adolescence and teen years in the late 80's and early 90's. In 1991 he began to study the Bhakti Yoga practices of Gaudiya Vaisnavism which drew him away from radical politics and rabid atheism and awoke a deep thirst for esoteric knowledge and self-actualization within him. As he deepened his understanding he began to look more broadly to the East, taking up the practice of Koryu Japanese martial arts and healing disciplines while grounding himself in outdoor primitive living skills (tracking, and general wilderness survival).
Shortly after training in Japan in the year 2000 Bryan became a certified Shiatsu bodywork therapist, blending his study of acupressure with several forms of te ate (palm healing) and setting up a private practice in Denver, Colorado. It was through this work that he began to treat clients struggling with psychological and physical trauma and that, in turn, led Bryan to deepen his skill set with graduate studies in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology at Naropa University (Boulder, CO) where he increased his understanding and capacity in supporting the healing process as a Masters level Licensed Professional Counselor.
It was at this time that Bryan underwent a “dark night of the soul” as he addressed his own unhealed childhood trauma—a process that ultimately led him from his extant study of primarily Eastern spiritual disciplines to the old ways of his own bloodline ancestors and Western esoterica/occultism.
Having studied with what some would call “shamanic” or animistic teachers from numerous cultures (and having traced similar threads all the way back into Old Europe), Bryan has learned to implement such ritualistic practices—from ancestral repair work and honoring of the dead to the obtainment and use of various methods of altered states of consciousness—for his own healing as well as the healing of others.
Relocating to rural Western North Carolina in 2007, Bryan spent the next decade living very close with the land and the cycles of the seasons on a 20 acre homestead where he grew much of his own food and lived a simple life while working in several wilderness therapy programs and building what would eventually become a full time private psychotherapy practice. In his private practice Bryan worked with individuals grappling with depression, addiction, grief and loss, anxiety, and trauma—blending somatic, humanistic and transpersonal psychotherapy with a strong ecopsychological focus. His practice eventually moved away from trauma and came to center on couples whose relationships were in jeopardy. In addition, throughout this time, he led groups around the Asheville area in personal growth and development while teaching at the Appalachian Gestalt Therapy Institute and serving as a part-time adjunct professor at Lenoir Rhyne University.
In 2017 Bryan relocated to the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex and co-founded Third Path alongside his partner Rachael Kruger as a means to combine his many years of training in all of the above disciplines with a focus on intensive therapeutic work. Bryan considers the offerings of Third Path to be the culmination of his long years of study. Alongside Third Path he maintains a small private therapy practice in McKinney, Texas