Ricky Williams, the running-back for the Miami Dolphins, is on a spiritual journey. The pro-football player has found his calling at an acupuncture and massage therapy college that is tucked away into a tiny strip mall in Miami.

Williams is officially a massage therapist in training, working on obtaining a license to help heal patients through touch. This change of career from NFL star to holistic practitioner represents another kind of transformation for Williams. As a self-described “poster child for marijuana”, he has endured through his fair share of controversy and tribulations. His foray into marijuana began during his senior year at the University of Texas and spiraled out of control until he failed a drug test and was suspended from the NFL back in 2006.

Williams quickly packed his bags and took off for exotic destinations in Australia, Fiji, India, Europe, and Japan. He took courses in ayurveda, a Hindu system of medicine that originates in India. While living in India for six weeks, he learned yoga and meditation, ancient Hindu scriptures and chanting techniques. According to Williams, the feeling that he got from becoming a more spiritual person was better than being high. This feeling took him to a yoga ashram in California, where he became interested in homeopathic pain remedies.

After returning to football, Williams broke his arm playing in the Canadian Football League. He attributes his quick healing time to the alternative treatments that his doctors performed on him. Afterwards, he signed up for massage therapy school and plans to earn a pre-medicine degree, followed by graduate school for osteopathy.

According to a New York Times article, Williams hopes to become “something like an N.F.L. shaman, responsible to a team or players for a holistic approach — body, mind, soul — to healing.” He wants the NFL to change its approach to healing and recovery techniques, using alternative medicine that incorporates the emotional health of the player.

Williams told reporters that “the more I pay attention to what’s going on inside, the more I realize that how I feel, and how I react to what I feel, really creates my reality. And the more in touch I can be, the better chance I have to control what’s happening in my life.”

Williams plans to play two more seasons with the Miami Dolphins. Earlier this month, however, you could find him standing over a fellow student on the massage table, perfecting his shiatsu massage techniques.