Humans helping Humans.

A healer does not heal you; a true healer awakens the healer within.

Degrees? We’ve got degrees . . . and cutting-edge technical skills. Underneath all the letters and professional accolades, we’re well-rounded humans who enjoy helping fellow humans.

The bottom line is we care,  we’re really good at caring, and we specialize in giving heart-centered care to our clients. What does that mean?   When you come into our home, you’re considered family.  We intend to provide potent, efficient therapy, without you feeling like you’re being rushed out the door. At a time when “productivity” runs the show, frequently leaving folks feeling like they’re not being seen or heard, we measure “productivity” by how you feel at session’s end, and by your satisfying, longterm results.

Christopher Warden

Owner/Director

Christopher’s development as a resource for ‘helping others to help themselves’ combines 25 years of professional education and life experiences around the world, serving all walks of life on the local, national, and international stage. He loves connecting with others and building relationships while supporting his clients’ pilgrimage towards health.

Known for his ability to connect the dots in the most puzzling of injuries and ailments, Christopher uses a combination of movement, touch, breath work, and mindset to help empower willing clients in achieving greater health and peak performance. He believes that awareness is the ultimate healer and often considers his role as being a mirror to help others to awaken and facilitate their own healing. As such, sessions with Christopher are famously known for ‘diving deeply’ mentally, emotionally, and spiritually – as well as physically – because “empowering you to heal you” requires addressing all aspects of one’s life as they impact physical wellbeing and the process of healing.

When not acting as his clients’ biggest advocate, he loves long dinners with friends and international travel. He can also be found tending to his homestead, supporting his children’s activities, taking long walks with his wife and overly energetic dogs, or diving deeper into his own personal training to more effectively embody the principles he teaches.

Andrew Cardinal

Andrew joined the Merz PT family after graduating from Des Moines University with a Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree in 2021. He has always been drawn to the healthcare field – his participation in athletics, an interest in human movement, and a passion for helping others made Physical Therapy a perfect fit.

Andrew enjoys working with patients covering a wide variety of ages and orthopedic conditions, developing an individualized treatment plan through a combination of hands-on manual therapy and corrective exercise. He first looks to build a therapeutic connection by understanding a person’s motivations, interests, and goals to quickly help them return to what is really important in their daily life. He looks forward to continuing his aspirations for lifelong learning via continuing education and advanced certifications to better help his patients and to achieve personal growth.

Outside the clinic, Andrew loves to experience the outdoors during each season Minnesota has to offer. Spending time on the lake fishing is a favorite of his. He also enjoys watching sports, getting together with friends, and working on his own health and fitness.

Sara Warden

Embodying health and performance has been a cornerstone to Sara meeting the challenges of her own life’s demands and milestones for more than seventeen years. As a dancer and new mom, she pushed her body to extremes, without meeting its needs. Eventually her body had had enough and symptoms of dis-ease proliferated, forcing her to make herself a priority again. Having already recognized a passion for healthy eating and traditional food preparations during her pregnancies, she returned to her roots and then dove deep, educating herself with how to use food as medicine. With time and consistency Sara’s health not only returned, but she felt better than she had in years, and others took notice and began seeking her guidance in reaching their potential. Since then, her knowledge and engaging style of educating others has led her to help countless individuals improve their health and wellbeing through a healthier lifestyle.

Experiencing the necessity of health and wellness in her own world, it seemed only natural that Sara and her husband, Christopher, an integrative physical therapist and coach, would expand Embody Health and Performance, LLC, with her skillset. After all, Sara and Christopher believe that the human body can’t be divided into separate systems, as each system works together as part of the whole. Embody Health and Performance is where their client’s wholeness emerges, from the inside-out, from lifestyle and food choices to movement intention and quality.

Sara’s experience has shown her that people are as layered as an onion and always worth listening to. The fifteen-minute appointments and one-size-fits-all treatment protocols dictated by insurance companies do not effectively care for people. Therefore, by taking a natural approach with an individualized care plan that includes testing, use of herbs and supplements, and educating on all aspects of lifestyle (food, mindset, sleep, and environmental toxins, to name a few), Sara is able to help her clients improve their health, so they can take control of their lives. Discovering the root of her client’s health concerns is her main focus, paired with inspiring them to embody healthy living for a lifetime. Sara’s role as a practitioner is built upon deep, trusting connections between herself and her clients. She holds with gratitude her client’s tasking of her to educate and guide them to help themselves journey back to balanced health.