Meet the Founder: Patrick Mummy

April 23rd, 2021

Meet Patrick

CEO and founder of Symmetry for Health Patrick Mummy is most known around the office for his comedy. Whether he is cracking jokes, singing along to a classic rock radio station, or generally spreading his joy to others, he always has a smile on his face. At heart, Patrick is a joyful, carefree being. With this, he was able to morph his easy going persona into life as an entrepreneur. Now, Symmetry's daily life is fueled by Patrick’s vitality and love for his company. Yet this wonderful accomplishment did not appear without years of dedication. 

I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with Patrick and learn about his journey with Symmetry. From the very first notion of Symmetry until now, and the heartache and obstacles in between, he has earned himself a very interesting life story. I have the privilege of sharing his story with Symmetry associates, past, present, or future, so we may all know the tale of how our beloved Symmetry came to be. 

Patrick’s Story

Patrick was born on February 14th, 1970, in Banning, California. He is the youngest of 6 children, and was raised in a traditional Catholic home. His family lived in Banning until Patrick was in first grade, when they moved to a small town in Amador County called Pine Grove. Patrick led a normal childhood, focused around his love for baseball. Everyone was asked at one point of our childhood, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. Patrick’s answer was always the same. He wanted to play division 1 baseball and make it to the big leagues. During his high school career, Patrick received multiple MVP awards, including the Senior Athlete of the Year award. After high school, Patrick attended Delta Community College where he played baseball for two years. During the summer of 1991, he received an offer by the head coach at San Diego State University Jim Dietz to play in the Alaskan semi-pro summer league for a team called the Fairbanks Goldpanners. While playing in this league, Patrick received a formal scholarship offer from San Diego State University. Patrick achieved his childhood dreams and played division 1 baseball at SDSU for two years. Within these two years, Patrick accomplished many impressive feats. He received the Most Valuable Player award, he hit .390 in league play, he earned the First-Team All-Star Western Athletic Conference Award in 1993, and in the same year, he was also deemed the Western Athletic Scholar Athlete of the Year. Yet even with everything he accomplished during his baseball career, becoming a professional baseball player wasn’t written in the stars. 

Patrick also had a very impressive sports career during high school where he played basketball, football, and baseball. Unfortunately, the precise cause for the creation of Symmetry began as a small ankle injury during high school. He first broke his right ankle in basketball, followed by a second degree ankle sprain the next year in football. He also had chronic recurring injuries, including hamstring pulls and lower back pain. With these underlying injuries, it proved tough for Patrick to push himself as a division 1 athlete without permanent relief. By the time senior year of college rolled around, Patrick was so focused on his future with baseball, that he trained harder than he ever had. He went from a 200 lb. to a 300 lb. bench press before the season had even started. Yet he found himself more injured than ever before. So he sought help in the form of physical therapists, athletic training professionals, and even chiropractors. Yet nothing helped. Patrick faked his health and continued to play on top of his pain, and that proved severely catastrophic for his baseball career. The next series of events that happened in Patrick's life were perhaps the largest catalysts in his decision to create Symmetry. During the last play of his very last game, he severely sprained his left ankle. The very next week, the St. Louis Cardinals chose four players from the San Diego State roster to try out for their team, Patrick being one of them. But when he showed up to the training room, he didn’t find anyone who could wrap his ankle. So, with no other choices, he went back to his own apartment and wrapped it himself. Because of his lack of resources surrounding his injury, he had a terrible tryout. 

Patrick began his San Diego State University education with a biology major. His backup plan to baseball had always been to delve into a physical therapy career, so, before graduation, he decided to change his major to athletic training as a gateway into physical therapy school. During those two years at San Diego State University, Patrick had interned at physical therapy clinics to get a taste for a possible future career. But because of the lack of results from his own injuries, he lost interest in physical therapy. So, after graduation he worked as a personal trainer at a sports club. Soon after, Patrick came to work at a company called Egoscue, where he maintained the title ‘Postural Therapist’. He was with Egoscue for two years, during which he evaluated clients and took them through exercises called ‘menus’. Patrick received lots of results regarding his own injuries through the Egoscue method, but what it lacked was education, training, or methodology to understand the program. Also, the Egoscue method didn’t involve taking quantitative measurements of clients or making personalized routines based on that data. When I asked Patrick what gave him the motivation to branch out on his own, he responded “[The Egoscue method] worked, but I knew I could create something that worked better”. So, that’s exactly what he did. But the Symmetry we know and love today did not happen without heartache. 

The Beginnings of Symmetry

Patrick met his first wife Lauren in 1996 through a coworker at Egoscue. As he began formulating the first ever notions of Symmetry, she became an integral part of this new dream. Patrick and Lauren started Symmetry in September of 1997. It came to life as any brand new business does, with a notebook full of scribbles and a few willing hearts eager to make a change. Patrick’s best friend and coworker Chris Rodahaffer left Egoscue with him and became his business partner. And thus, Patrick’s very first company was born: CRPM; Chris Rodahaffer, Patrick Mummy. However, it was a bumpy start. Lauren acted as Patrick’s General Manager and Sales & Marketing Director. She became the very first model for Patrick’s routines. In 1998, Patrick wrote and published his very first book: Symmetry - Relieve Pain and Optimize Performance. And for the first couple years of Symmetry’s existence, Lauren and Patrick juggled the birth of their company between the birth of their two children. The small family spent those years working out of their apartment clubhouse, where they measured clients and led them through the program. They participated in seminars, radio interviews, health fairs, and anything else to help them become known. Patrick left Egoscue because he knew something was missing: measurements. So, he found his very first device, called a palpation meter. This device looped between his index fingers and allowed him to gain authenticity. The reason he felt measurements were needed was because he knew his exercises were designed to realign but he didn’t know how to prove that they worked. So, he began measuring clients to discover patterns and provide evidence through quantitative data that validated the exercises. As his new system manifested and grew, he began to yearn for a system that could replicate his knowledge of the program and be taught to others. In 2001, Patrick sat beside the pool in Cabo San Lucas. He had been struggling to translate all of Symmetry’s moving parts from his head to his hand, and he became frustrated. His wife Lauren was a writer and a journalist, and that day by the pool she gave him a piece of advice that he still heeds today: “When I have writer's block,” she said, “I grab a notebook and scribble down every word that floats through my head, until I have enough to do something with”. So Patrick did just that. And eventually, through many trying trials and with the help of a software programmer, he was able to formulate his very first algorithm that taught anything and everything he thought of or did when he assessed a client, including planes, flexibility, measurements, pains, ability to follow direction, time commitment, and much much more. He figured out the science behind the program, applied the factors, and created the very first software. As this software was developed, he began teaching the art of Symmetry to anyone interested. He and Lauren held seminars for individuals or organizations in similar fields, such as personal trainers, massage therapists, and many more. In 2004, Patrick launched his second business: License to Heal LLC. This business was composed of an online software to teach the Symmetry certification. During the first four and a half years of the 21st century, both his small family & small business were thriving. Patrick was invited to speak at a conference in Canada, where he taught many courses. He met and worked with former St. Louis Rams player Az Hakim, who Patrick’s daughters now call Uncle Az. He even managed to work with a few New Orleans Saints football players in Texas. Life was going smoothly. Until the winter of 2005, when Lauren Mummy tragically and unexpectedly passed away. 

Perseverance

The next couple years of Patrick’s life were robotic. He had never anticipated having to raise his young daughters and continue building his business alone. Lauren was an integral pillar in the foundation of Symmetry, their family, and their lives. Without her, he found himself struggling to remain afloat. He was forced to dissolve License to Heal, for he couldn’t run it without Lauren. Without the online software, he didn’t teach Symmetry for three years. But he still believed in Symmetry’s potential, and he knew Lauren wanted him to keep going. So, Patrick continued seeing clients. In 2007, he remarried and moved his family and business to Sacramento. The next decade he spent making small but necessary improvements to ensure Symmetry could run smoothly. In the same year as his move, he acquired a design patent to begin creating his very own device. The palpation meter worked, but he was intent on creating a more detailed version that would give him the ability to measure more planes. He worked on this project from 2007 to 2012. 

In 2012, Patrick met Andy Rocklin, and the natural course of Symmetry’s potential took hold. Andy was born in Russia, and is an impressive entrepreneur in multiple fields. He funded the brand new License to Heal, which was renamed Symmetry for Health LLC. Patrick hired a software developer named Adam Frick, and thus began the process of recreating the online software that would allow Patrick to continue training. Eventually, he returned to guest speaking at conferences to teach Symmetry. In 2016, Adam created Patrick’s third company, Referrl. Referrl is a business to client marketing tool. It is designed to allow a customer who advocates for a business to easily refer other customers to them. In essence, it replaces the business card. Now, Patrick was the CEO and founder of three companies. CRPM, born in 1997, is the actual therapy part of Symmetry. Symmetry for Health LLC acts as the education to teach all of Symmetry to practitioners. And in 2017, Patrick created his fourth and last company. AlignSmart Technology focuses on the technology and the software used when measuring posture. AlignSmart was created for the purpose of granting practitioners all the necessary tools to practice Symmetry themselves. Essentially, AlignSmart sells the software that sequences the data from the measuring tools, and turns that data into corrective exercise routines. It also acts as a support system for practitioners so they are continually being educated in the program. 

For the next three years, Symmetry boomed. The office was expanded, the float tank was installed, and all of Patrick and Lauren’s original dreams for Symmetry were either in effect or in motion. In 2018, Patrick published his second book: Symmetry - The Physics of Pain and Becoming Pain Free. And in those few years, Symmetry was at its peak. Then all at once, Covid-19 shut down the nation. It hit Symmetry as it did all other small businesses. People stopped coming in, and business dwindled. However, the decrease in business proved beneficial in the end, because it allowed Patrick to focus on improving the basics of Symmetry daily life. In August of 2020, he hired a local entrepreneur named Justin Raithel as General Manager. Justin implemented new and valuable systems to polish the day to day interactions of Symmetry. The shutdown also allowed Patrick, Justin, and Adam to reformulate the online certification program to create an effortless education. The new and improved certification launched in January of 2021. Now, people can access the education globally, they no longer have to learn in person. Covid-19 essentially afforded the time to take the last 22+ years of Patrick’s life and put it into an educational platform to teach Symmetry around the world. Although Symmetry took a hit, it persevered through 2020 as an essential healthcare business. Now, back to record revenues, Symmetry is thriving. 

Patrick Mummy: Entrepreneur, Author, Superstar

Today, huge things are happening in the Symmetry empire. This September, Patrick is virtually guest speaking at a One Concept conference held in Canada. He is speaking at health fairs & seminars, and participating as a local business owner in the Folsom community. He published his third book in April, a second edition to The Physics of Pain. Symmetry sponsors UFC welterweight champion Max ‘Pain’ Griffin, and continues to work with athletes of all sports and expertise. In just three weeks, Symmetry is celebrating their Grand Reopening with a wine and cheese event and a ribbon cutting. And through it all, Symmetry has prevailed. In April of this year Patrick and his Sales Director Lee Anne tied the knot in a beautiful sunset wedding. Both of Patrick’s daughters are Symmetry partners, Patrick’s youngest works as their Content Writer, and Lee Anne’s daughter works reception for the float tank. This blended family works together to contribute to Symmetry’s success; They really put the family in family business. Yet Lauren began the Symmetry journey with Patrick hand in hand, and will live on through what Patrick has created. She is greatly loved & dearly missed, and will always be the very heart and soul of Symmetry. Patrick Mummy now looks back on this journey with pride. He took his heartache and grief and used it to create the business and the life he always wished for. As I sat in front of him and wrote down his incredible story, I could see the gratification beam from his face over what he has accomplished. This company was more than money for him. It was his firstborn child, his greatest challenge, and his most amazing achievement. Not everyone can raise two children, run a business, and somehow stay sane all at once. Patrick did. And with this, I will leave with Patrick’s favorite phrase: BHAG [bee-hag] - Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Every tiny moment of his life was simply a BHAG in disguise, and every BHAG was met with rigorous hard work and intense dedication. When I asked Patrick about his current BHAG, he responded with determination, “I want western medicine to recognize the value of what Symmetry is, and include it in their healthcare system. I want Symmetry to be a standard in the western medical model and in the physical therapy world so people have the tools they need to change habits at home, rather than rely on symptomatic treatments”. I have no doubt in my mind that this BHAG will become a reality in Patrick’s future. And the irony of it all ~ all the small seemingly unimportant moments or the profoundly cosmic events that alter the course of life as you know it ~ every single Big Hairy Audacious Goal starts with a mere thought and mess of incoherent scribbles in a notebook. Thanks so much to Patrick for letting me listen to his incredible journey.