Movement as Mantra: Dr. Libby Schwartz's Holistic Approach to Health and Connection

When most of us think about physical therapy, we imagine clinical settings, targeted exercises, and insurance forms. But for Dr. Libby Schwartz, founder of Movement Mantra Physical Therapy, healing the body requires a much broader perspective.

"Movement is my mantra," Libby explains. "In all things, whether it's running, lifting, dancing, yoga, hiking – all of that body movement comes into play."

But movement, for Libby, goes beyond the physical. It encompasses travel, personal growth, and the shifting connections that define our lives. It's about recognizing that change is the only constant, and embracing it fully.

This holistic approach has become the foundation of her business, a path she found not through a straight line, but through a winding journey of self-discovery and healing.

Finding Her Path Through Movement

Libby's wellness journey began at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she studied food science with a minor in nutrition.

Like many college students juggling new and abundant responsibilities, she gained the "Freshman 15" and started looking for ways to get healthier.

"I wasn't ever a big exerciser necessarily," Libby recalls. "So I kind of started going to the gym, taking some classes, and eventually got into running."

During her sophomore year, Libby traveled to New Zealand for six months. It was a pivotal experience that deepened her relationship with physical activity, though not always in healthy ways.

"I didn't want to pay for a gym membership, so I just ran every day," she says. "And actually, it became a really unhealthy habit. I went through this phase where I had a lot of body image issues that I needed to work through."

Despite these struggles, this period marked the beginning of Libby's understanding of how movement, nutrition, and mental health interconnect.

After returning home, a chance conversation at her brother's rugby game led to a job at Eddie's Health Shoppe in Knoxville.

"I was working with a lot of collegiate and post-collegiate athletes on the UT Track team," Libby explains. "I started to see this version of people who were eating so much food, super high performance, looked great – and I was still in this kind of funky mindset about eating less and just keep on running."

Observing these athletes flourish through strength training opened her eyes to different approaches to fitness and health. Meanwhile, she was pursuing a pre-med track, initially aiming to become a physician assistant.

"In my senior year, I shadowed a couple different people and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, they're just prescribing medication.' It did not align with the thought process I had on health."

But when she shadowed a physical therapist, something clicked.

"Out of all the people, the PT was the one I could see myself being the most aligned with," she recalls.

By this point, movement had become central to her life. She was strength training consistently, still running, and had started practicing yoga.

The Journey Beyond Borders

Before starting PT school, Libby took what she calls her "gap year," though it was far from a break. She bought a one-way ticket to Bali and backpacked through Southeast Asia for three and a half months. After a brief return home, she set off again for Portugal, spending another three and a half months exploring Europe.

These adventures represent the second meaning of "movement" in Movement Mantra – travel as a form of growth and transformation.

"Travel has been and will continue to be such a huge part of my life,” she reflects, because of the positive change and connections it’s allowed her to experience.

When she returned from her travels, she moved to Chattanooga to begin physical therapy school at UTC. She graduated in 2021, but quickly discovered that traditional healthcare settings weren't aligned with her vision of healing.

After seven months as a traveling physical therapist in Washington, Libby found herself disillusioned with the healthcare system.

"I saw how flawed our healthcare system was," she says. "These people had to wait forever to get on the schedule, but at the same time, they were just trying to get on the schedule because they had to fulfill some sort of insurance basis to get a surgery … there wasn't enough buy-in from the physical therapy component and exercise component."

She returned to Chattanooga, initially working as a trainer at a local gym while contemplating how to create a practice that would truly reflect her values.

Building Movement Mantra Physical Therapy

The name "Movement Mantra" had been in Libby's mind since PT school, when she reserved the Instagram handle without posting anything. She knew she wanted to create something different – a practice that addressed health holistically rather than treating isolated symptoms.

On January 1, 2023, Libby began building Movement Mantra Physical Therapy in earnest, officially opening in June 2023. As it is for many healthcare professionals venturing into business ownership, the journey was difficult.

"I don't know anything about business," Libby admits. "They don't do that in PT school, and they should. For me, it was a huge learning curve."

She describes her approach to health as a visual triangle: cardiovascular health at one point, mobility and stability at another, and strength at the third.

At the center lies nutrition, the foundation that supports everything else. Surrounding it all is mindset and, increasingly, connection with others.

"I discovered that I really needed that in 2024," Libby says of the connection piece.

"After going on another trip, I came home and I was like, 'Why is it so easy for me to make friends and immediate connections with people I meet for one day?' … but it had been really difficult for me to create those connections in Chattanooga."

This realization added yet another dimension to her definition of movement – the connections we form with others and how they help us grow.

The Heart of Healing

For Libby, the most rewarding aspect of her work comes when clients truly understand their bodies and the healing process.

"The biggest compliment I can get from somebody,” she says, “is when they tell me, 'I've never had an experience like this with a physical therapist. Thank you so much for taking the time with me to explain it.’”

One of her most memorable clients, she explains, was a former wrestler who had suffered from back pain for 15 years.

"Some days, if his back was flared up, he couldn't even unload the dishwasher. It was too painful. He was scared to deadlift, scared to do all of these things."

Over the course of a year, Libby worked with him to build core strength and confidence.

"We went from learning how to deadlift with just the bar and feeling safe with that, to him deadlifting close to 300 pounds."

"That's something that people don't realize," she adds. "Everything takes so much more time than they want it to. But the consistency – every time just one little thing clicks – all of that builds on each other."

Building Community Through Movement

Photos contributed by The Viomati Co

As Movement Mantra Physical Therapy has evolved, Libby has found that genuine connections are the foundation of her business growth.

"I've been much more pointed to literally just make connections with people – not even as a physical therapist," she explains.

Most of her clients come through these organic relationships – people from her yoga classes that she's been attending for a year and a half, friends from Brickyard where she works out and coaches start-up founders, and other community touchpoints.

"They see me working out; they see that I live the things that I tell people to do," she says.

Authenticity, rather than aggressive marketing tactics, has been key to her growth.

In fact, Libby tried the marketing-heavy approach early on, hiring a coach who instructed her to post daily on social media and send 40-50 cold DMs on both Instagram and Facebook every single day.

"I was so burnt out,” she recalls. “It was awful … it was so taxing in general, and I do not think that I was being authentic."

Now, she focuses on showing up genuinely, both online and in person. She hosts workshops through local organizations like The Chattery and Ember Health Studio, sends out newsletters with health tips, and offers free consultation calls to anyone interested in learning more.

Movement as a Lifelong Journey

Beyond traditional physical therapy, Movement Mantra encompasses corporate training, nutrition coaching, and holistic online programs that address all aspects of wellbeing.

"I'm kind of spread all over the place," Libby acknowledges. "I like to keep life interesting, and it keeps me doing different things. Movement Mantra is not just physical therapy. It's holistic health. It’s all those components together."

Her story reminds us that finding our path isn't always straightforward. It comes through movement – physically stretching our bodies, geographically exploring new places, emotionally connecting with others, and mentally remaining open to growth.

Libby found her calling by honoring her own journey of healing and growth. Through Movement Mantra Physical Therapy, she helps others do the same, creating a practice that treats not just injured bodies, but whole people seeking to move through life with greater ease, purpose, and connection.

In a world fixated on quick fixes, Libby Schwartz offers something different: a holistic approach to health that recognizes movement, in all its forms, as the only true constant in our lives. It's not just her business model. It's her mantra.