Sharing ideas, interesting information gleaned from cutting-edge empirical brain research and training related to the body-mind connection, as well as daily work stories, was a common occurrence over dinner in the home Susan and Mark Stephenson, owners of Rejuvenate Active Recovery Centers, in Naples. Individually nurturing a common love of helping people feel better, as well as performing at a consistently higher level, the couple’s similar, but different interests enhanced their common bond and dovetailed perfectly into a business that today helps individuals improve their quality of life.

“While spending eight years working with the Navy SEALs [Sea, Air and Land forces] and consulting with professional sports teams and athletes, we discovered techniques through research and development that assisted in recovery from high chronic stress, led to improved sleep, a decrease in chronic pain, a balanced autonomic nervous system and improved mood. We felt that the public could benefit from the same type of technologies and protocols. This inspired us to bring the research substantiated benefits of flotation, whole body cryostimulation and photobiomodulation together under one roof, giving birth to Rejuvenate Active Recovery Centers. This made it possible for us to create something around our common passions, as well an enriching environment for recovery and rejuvenation. Now we can continue doing what each of us loves together,” says Mark.

“Right out of college, I began my career as a special needs elementary school teacher, and taught in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Colorado, Hawaii and Virginia over the course of my 27-year career. I made a concerted effort into staying on top of brain research, particularly what has been published in the last 15 years around the malleability of the brain, the mind-body connection and simple interventions that impact different parts of the brain, helping people of all ages to learn and grow. When I applied them in the classroom, I saw remarkable results. It was wonderful to have conversations with Mark and learn about how the brain/body connection was playing a significant role in the athletes ability to recover,” says Susan.

“Our business isn’t a change of careers for me; rather, it’s an extension of the one I started more than 30 years ago,” advises Mark. “I began as an athletic trainer in a private clinic working with patients that needed physical therapy and rehabilitation. That progressed to strength and conditioning training with athletes of all levels, including Division I collegiate, Olympic and professional. My career gained even more traction in 2004, when I had the opportunity to work with the Colorado Springs Special Weapons And Tactics Team (S.W.A.T.) at the National Strength and Conditioning Association performance center, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The center serves as a proving ground for the testing and application of scientific principles optimizing sport performance and offers private, semi-private and group training services for individuals and teams. This blossomed into an opportunity to work in Virginia Beach with U.S. Navy SEALs. We were tasked with determining how to get them to perform at the highest level; not just after day, but also year after year. We explored a lot of training methodologies. Oddly, the first one that worked was floating.”

Mark advises that in conversations with Susan, each learned about what techniques worked to optimize the brain-body connection. “It’s how we seriously began intertwining our careers and deciding that we could help more people by starting our own center, knowing that we would continue to be intellectually stimulated by being involved in research in the field of recovery through mind-body optimization.”

Rejuvenate Active Recovery Centers is located in the Uptown Center, at 2700 Immokalee Rd., Ste. 4, in Naples. To make an appointment, call 239-216-8105. For more information, visit RejuvenateActiveRecovery.com.