TIC Masterclass 2 – Subluxation and Innate, how confident are you?
Have you ever found that you lack confidence when someone challenges your idea of the vertebral subluxation?
Have you ever seen chiropractors branded as B.J.-followers, disciples, or called dogmatic?
Have you ever heard the claim that B.J. believed it had to be HIO and nothing else?
Have you ever been told that the vertebral subluxation is an outdated model, that has not evolved since D.D.?
Do you think you would struggle at all in clarifying your position on any of these, or discussing where you stand on vertebral subluxation in general?

BJ Palmer
From the collection of the Palmer College of Chiropractic
TIC Masterclass 2 was developed to help you build your confidence in vertebral subluxation foundations and Innate philosophy. Also, the class is designed to grow your own level of consciousness so that you may enact the richness of the chiropractic paradigm from a greater perspective.
Here’s some examples of where our understanding has been derailed and where your self-esteem and self-confidence as a chiropractor may have been hit:
Navigating the Bias Against B.J. Palmer
The history of ideas in chiropractic cannot be understood without confronting the legacy of B.J. Palmer. He was a brilliant and polarizing figure. During his lifetime he feuded with many chiropractic leaders. Those feuds led to a charged, complex, and sometimes biased literature.
It has been very difficult for chiropractors to maintain certainty about central moments in chiropractic history in part because of this problem with the literature.
Chiropractors who have never read B.J. Palmer or studied his theories have opinions about him. And those that have studied him are often maligned as “followers,” “disciples,” and dogmatic believers.
It is time for the profession to recover from this misuse of historical writing.
TIC Masterclass 2 is designed to give you the tools to lead this recovery by learning the facts.
- You will learn how to navigate the bias against B.J. Palmer.
- The lectures do this by teaching you basic historical facts about his life and the development of his ideas.
- These facts are then used to demonstrate errors and bias in the literature.
Vertebral Subluxation Certainty
Another goal of TIC Masterclass 2 is to help chiropractors build certainty about the vertebral subluxation.
Learn to distinguish between subluxation theories and historical models of subluxation in three ways:
- The empirical research underpinning the evolution of subluxation models at the Palmer School.
- How vertebral subluxation models evolved in the Green Books from 1906 to 1956.
- Develop a solid foundation for understanding contemporary subluxation theory.
You will develop the skills to successfully refute statements like, “If D.D. could change his theory three times then why on earth would the chiropractic profession want to pick one of D.D.’s or his son’s theories and etch them in stone? That is dogma that has no place in modern health care or modern chiropractic.”
In TIC Masterclass 2 you will learn that the history of ideas in chiropractic is fascinating and rich.
The Innate Philosophy
B.J. Palmer’s Innate philosophy is another area of the literature that is often confusing and difficult to navigate.
This is true because Innate Intelligence was used to describe at least two different types of activity:
- The body’s ability to self-organize through the expression of function and health.
- As a source of inherent wisdom with an “Innate radar,” like intuition, inspiration, and soul.
The chiropractic Innate philosophy is very complex. It begins with D.D. Palmer’s original ideas and was developed over the decades by B.J. Palmer and many other chiropractors. It embodied several levels of meaning.

BJ Palmer 1920 Diagram
From the collection of the Palmer College of Chiropractic
TIC Masterclass 2 is designed to teach you a basic history of Innate theory and how to apply it:
- Explore Innate Intelligence using new models in philosophy, consciousness studies, and dynamical biology.
- Deepen your chiropractic foundation by distinguishing between Innate, Homeostasis, and Allostasis.
- Apply B.J. Palmer’s methodology on how to “find yourself,” become more in-tune, and enter regular flow states.
TIC Masterclass 2 is designed to help you better understand the richness of our chiropractic ideas as a meaningful foundation for the great work that you do.
Sign Up Today!
The first module goes live June 18, 2018
TIC Masterclass 2 is available to all members of The Institute Chiropractic.
There are two ways to sign up:
- Become a regular member @ $50 per month.
- Purchase the four-month course for $150. (Regular membership will begin auto billing on month five.)
TIC Master Masterclass 2 –Schedule and Format
Each weekly lecture for TIC Masterclass includes 20-30 minutes of content.
Reading assignments are suggested each month to supplement the lectures.
Discussion questions are posted each week on the TIC forum.
Tentative Schedule (Lecture Titles and Order may change)
June 18 – What does B.J. Palmer mean by “Innate radar?”
June 25 – How D.D. Palmer’s theory of Innate Intelligence developed and changed?
July 2 –B.J. Palmer expanded on Innate Theory in three phases over his career.
July 9 – Homeostasis and Allostasis are important ways to describe Innate functions.
July 16 – B.J. Palmer’s systematic methodology for developing excellence and flow-states.
July 23 – Confronting the bias in the literature about B.J. Palmer and the Keating Debacle.
July 30 – How does “subluxation denying” show up in the literature?
August 6 – Foundation of Subluxation Theory 1 – D.D. Palmer’s methods and models.
August 13 – Foundation of Subluxation Theory 2 – B.J. Palmer’s early innovations and research.
August 20 – Foundation of Subluxation Theory 3 – B.J. Palmer’s research in the 1920s.
August 27 – Foundation of Subluxation Theory 4 – Development of theory in the Green Books.
September 3 – Foundation of Subluxation Theory 5 – B.J. Palmer’s final subluxation research.
September 10 – Historical subluxation models and contemporary subluxation theories.
September 17 – Criticisms of Innate Intelligence in the literature.
September 24 – Contemporary frameworks for developing Innate Theory.
October 1 – Cultivating greater presence, certainty, and personal growth in daily practice.