“What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a chiropractor.” Dr. Erica Periard posted that quote on her Instagram story recently and it encapsulates so much of I know about her and her husband, Dr. Felix Periard.

I was an Atlas Spine and Wellness client before the Periards bought the practice. I started there because it was a different kind of chiropractic experience. It was precise and gentle, and it helped me overcome a decade of chronic neck and lower back pain. But when the Periards took the helm, I felt a shift the moment I walked in. It wasn’t just the addition of relaxing music, subtle aroma, and custom-made neck pillows. There was something more intangible but no less real to the senses. It was the energy. The atmosphere had changed. I relaxed more. I didn’t feel rushed. I felt heard and seen in ways that surprised me.

Erica and Felix each bring different strengths rooted in the same purpose. They believe in a world where health is a daily practice and individuals feel empowered to discover their natural healing potential, and they believe in the same kind, gentle, and painless approach that attracted me to the practice in the first place.

Together, they’ve built something rare: a service that aligns the spine, but also, in a way, the spirit too. They take their work seriously, but perhaps more importantly, they take people seriously. Their care is technical, yes, but it’s also intuitive, deliberate, and deeply kind. For them, being good chiropractors starts with being good humans.

“I love your energy.” It’s a compliment that sticks with Erica, she said. “It’s not, ‘Oh, you have beautiful eyes,’ or, ‘Your hair…’ It’s not a physical feature. It’s the energy—how I’m making them feel.”

That kind of presence is hard to teach and even harder to fake. It’s exactly what I hope to capture with each of these Kind Light entries. I don’t choose people for these sessions based on title or training or even appearance. It’s their energy that draws me. In a way, you could say they chose me. I feel compelled by that energy because I know there’s something more to it than what most people see on the surface. All the while, I’m learning more and more how often genuinely kind energy gets misread, and Erica knows what that feels like.

“I have a very bubbly personality,” she said. “I think people assume I’m…” As she searched for the right words, Felix helped finish her thought: “Silly,” he offered with a look that said he understands all too well the type of underestimation that many women experience, especially in their field. But Erica meets it with a quiet fire: “I’m a professional with a lot of specialized knowledge.”

“She’s come a long way in taking care of people,” Felix said. “I think she’s become more herself, rather than this image of a doctor that maybe she thought she needed to be. That’s why people love her so much, because she’s really good at what she does, and she’s really caring. She knows her work and she embodies herself more than an image.”

Since they bought the practice in 2021, both mentioned it can be all-consuming at times. “We’re always working and always brainstorming. There’s a lot of that back and forth in and out of the office.” Felix said, “Work is a lot of our life.” They’re in what Erica calls “the building phase,” and while there’s joy in creation, there’s also strain. They know better than anyone that strain can lead to misalignment, especially when it’s the kind of strain that creeps into every conversation, every dinner, every quiet moment unless you learn to gently realign each other. 

“We don’t always have to be talking about work,” Erica said, acknowledging the intentional effort it takes to carve out space for rest and for each other. Erica is also an avid runner and a good one, if I may say so. She posted a time two minutes faster than mine at the Cooper River Bridge Run 10K back in April. Felix relaxes with fly fishing, a passion he picked up last fall.

While they enjoy those endeavors, they understand that they’ve earned them as a team; a couple who helps the other see through the challenges of building a business in a competitive and expensive market.

“I used to think you could just manifest and meditate your way into the life you wanted,” Erica admitted. “That’s part of it, but you also have to go out and do the work, talk to people, and put in the time behind the scenes. You’ve got to work for it.”

Felix lives by a similar code. “I think that as human beings, we are constantly in motion. I just don’t think life is made to be easy,” he said. “I think life is made for us to struggle a little bit and to shape us through these struggles.” 

I found something deeply comforting in that idea—that the hard parts of life aren’t failures but invitations to grow. “The challenges help us evolve and stay in motion,” Erica added.

In their practice and in their relationship, the Periards move through life with this sense of forward motion. They travel frequently, sometimes to add to their own worldly experience, most other times to develop as professionals at conferences around the nation, but always seemingly in service of something bigger.

“I’m really proud of Felix,” Erica said, “number one for moving to the United States and starting grad school, hardly speaking English. French is his first language so he had to learn English and study all the technical stuff that native English-speakers were all studying at the same time. But, you know, he never had to retake a class or anything, which is amazing.”

She turned to him. “I’m also proud of everything you’ve done for our clinic. You work so hard every day, and you’ve been so diligent in doing the work and getting better and better.”

The kindness they show each other and their clients isn’t just a philosophy—it’s a practice. Literally. It’s who they are as people. It’s the kind of kindness that shows up in the ways they adjust each other—figuratively and physically—and in the deep trust that they’re building something unique and worthwhile. 

What they’re building is steady and strong and it makes me feel more steady and strong every time I visit, both physically and spiritually. What they’re building is evolving and constantly in motion. It is filled with care and I think, in its own way, it gently reveals the best in others. I know it has for me.

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Kind Light Charleston is an emerging professional headshot and personal portrait photography studio based in Charleston, South Carolina. I’m always looking for people to highlight in my blog, so if you know someone who shines a kind light in this world, I want to meet them! Reach out to josh@kindlightcharleston.com.