Podcast appearances and mentions of cynthia li

View the Show Notes For This EpisodeGet Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. HymanSign Up for Dr. Hyman's Weekly Longevity JournalAs a whole, autoimmune disease affects over 80 million Americans and five percent of the population in Western countries. They include type 1 diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, colitis, Crohn's disease, and dozens of others. While your body is designed to fight off harmful things like infections, toxins, allergens, or a stress response, with autoimmune issues the body directs a hostile attack on its own joints, brain, skin, and more.In this episode, Dr. Hyman speaks with Dr. Cynthia Li and Dr. Terry Wahls about their personal stories of working through autoimmunity and how it led them to help others using Functional Medicine. They also dive into the underlying triggers of inflammation such as stress, hidden infections, food allergies or sensitivities, toxic exposure, genetic predisposition, nutrient deficiencies, and leaky gut.This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, Mitopure, and Fatty15.Streamline your lab orders with Rupa Health. Access more than 3,000 specialty lab tests and register for a FREE live demo at RupaHealth.com.Support essential mitochondrial health and save 10% on Mitopure. Visit TimelineNutrition.com/Drhyman and use code DRHYMAN10.Fatty15 contains pure, award-winning C15:0 in a bioavailable form. Get an exclusive 10% off a 90-day starter kit subscription. Visit Fatty15.com and use code DRHYMAN10 today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

View the Show Notes For This Episode Get Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hyman Sign Up for Dr. Hyman's Weekly Longevity Journal As a whole, autoimmune disease affects over 80 million Americans and five percent of the population in Western countries. They include type 1 diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, colitis, Crohn's disease, and dozens of others. While your body is designed to fight off harmful things like infections, toxins, allergens, or a stress response, with autoimmune issues the body directs a hostile attack on its own joints, brain, skin, and more. In this episode, Dr. Hyman speaks with Dr. Cynthia Li and Dr. Terry Wahls about their personal stories of working through autoimmunity and how it led them to help others using Functional Medicine. They also dive into the underlying triggers of inflammation such as stress, hidden infections, food allergies or sensitivities, toxic exposure, genetic predisposition, nutrient deficiencies, and leaky gut. This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, Mitopure, and Fatty15. Streamline your lab orders with Rupa Health. Access more than 3,000 specialty lab tests and register for a FREE live demo at RupaHealth.com. Support essential mitochondrial health and save 10% on Mitopure. Visit TimelineNutrition.com/Drhyman and use code DRHYMAN10. Fatty15 contains pure, award-winning C15:0 in a bioavailable form. Get an exclusive 10% off a 90-day starter kit subscription. Visit Fatty15.com and use code DRHYMAN10 today.

This is one of the most popular podcast episodes - for good reason! The topic is Resilience, that ability to bounce back from life's hardships. With autoimmune disease, we get lots of practice. Sometimes we feel strong and capable of overcoming suffering. Other times we feel beaten down and frightened by our body's unpredictability. The good news is that resilience isn't something you either have or you don't. Resilience is a trait we can nurture. My guest is Dr. Cynthia Li, a functional medicine physician who has autoimmune disease herself. The intensity of her own health challenges ended up being a masterclass in resilience, and also changed the way she practiced medicine.

Discover the path to holistic wellness and transformation at https://nathancrane.com/. Join our conversation with Dr. Cynthia Li as we unravel the miraculous impact of qigong on her profound health transformation. Explore the ancient practice that became Dr. Li's secret weapon against autoimmune struggles and chronic conditions, and learn how this mind-body exercise played a pivotal role in her rehabilitation journey. Our discussion delves into the harmonious blend of traditional practices with cutting-edge insights.

"Make the world your Temple." In 2019, Sarah Tulivu had been given this clear instruction by two Taoist masters, including her direct teacher, Master Waysun Liao. At the time, Sarah, ordained as Fong Yi, was living and training full-time as a monk in a Taoist temple in Lago Atitlan, Guatemala. For six years, she had practiced meditation and the embodied consciousness practice of taiji (tai chi) in the lineage of Taiji Tao for six to seven hours a day. In the two years prior to her monastic life, Sarah had been a deep student of the Buddhist tradition across Nepal, India, and Thailand. It was now time for her to venture into the world. "Find the Teacher and the Teaching everywhere, and in everyone," said Master Liao. While she considers herself still in training, Sarah has done just that. With her gentle presence, light-filled eyes, and a tender smile, she shares her wisdom in retreats and workshops around the world, mostly in Tuscany, Ireland, Vienna, Lebanon, and Greece. She also returned to be part of the world of humanitarian aid, which she had been doing in East Africa and the Middle East before her immersion in contemplative practice. This second time around, Sarah was called to conflict in regions -- like the border of Lebanon and Syria during the Lebanese Revolution (2019-2020), and again in 2021. Sarah also led Taiji Tao practices in support of the aid workers, addressing burnout and healing at its root. She has seen how cultivating inner stillness and harmonizing the complementary forces within can sustain the great need for compassionate service. For her early childhood, Sarah was in Canada and Italy. Despite Catholic influences in the Italian town of her upbringing, her family didn't observe any particular spiritual or religious traditions. At 16, Sarah began to travel, and she encountered many different traditions and approaches to the spirit. She never felt herself an "-ist" of any particular doctrine, but rather, embracing the diversity of ways to find truth, love, service, freedom, and beauty. For Christianity, "it was only when I was in Kenya, in a slum of Nairobi," she reflects, "that I met the life of Jesus through different eyes, thanks to the volunteers there who lived his teachings in a very different way than what I had seen growing up. For example, I was reminded that Jesus lived with the poor and the marginalized, and spoke up to oppressive powers." When she moved to the Tao Temple at 24 years old, it happened in a very organic way, just as the "natural consequence, the natural next step in my journey." A monastic lifestyle seemed to be the best fit for her priority of "waking up," so she followed the call. The tradition happened to be Taiji Tao. Taiji, Sarah explains, is often translated as "the unlimited, absolute, boundless..." Similar to other wisdom traditions, Taiji Tao is a path that aims to return us to our origin, to our most natural state, which means to return us to a state of harmony, balance, and union of the yin (feminine) and yang (masculine) aspects of ourselves, our communities, and the world at large. For a taste of Sarah's presence and offerings, please explore her introductory video and a series of 10-minute meditations, for all levels. Please join Cynthia Li and Rohit Rajgarhia for this special offering -- part conversation, part workshop on taiji and embodied consciousness practice -- as a response to the great challenges and the great flux in the world.

Join us for another in the Spiritual Biography series, this time with Cynthia Li, MD. Cynthia's experiences as both doctor and patient through an internal “dark night of the soul” and a medical condition affecting her immune system point to tools for building personal immunity and resilience in the face of crises. She has been deeply involved with Commonweal's work in environmental health, Healing Circles, and Rachel Remen's Healer's Art program at UCSF School of Medicine, which began at Commonweal. Listen to Michael's past conversations with Cynthia here: Cynthia Li, MD Cynthia is a physician and author whose personal healing journey through a disabling autoimmune condition took her from public health in underserved populations, to integrative and functional medicine. For the past 15 years, she has studied and practiced with functional medicine experts, acupuncturists, and qigong masters, weaving together cutting-edge science and the art of intuition. She is the author of Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness, as well as a free e-booklet, How to Strengthen Your Inner Shield: Science-Based, Integrative Strategies for a Healthy Immune System During a Pandemic. Host Michael Lerner Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies(MIT Press). Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Dr. Cynthia Li had it all — a thriving medical career, a loving marriage, and children. But everything came crashing down when she was hit with a disabling autoimmune thyroid condition. Strange symptoms took over her life and, despite numerous tests, the results always came back "normal". It was a puzzle that left both Dr. Li and her doctors scratching their heads, which led her to embark on an unconventional journey of self-discovery and healing. In this episode you'll learn: * How fear makes autoimmunity worse* A journaling exercise for deep self inquiry* What your dreams can reveal about your subconscious * The healing potential of qigongCynthia Li, MD, is a medical doctor and author whose personal journey through a complex autoimmune condition took her from public health in underserved communities to integrative medicine and intuitive healing. She has studied with functional medicine experts, environmental health scientists, alternative healers, and qigong masters. She has served as faculty for Dr. Rachel Remen's Healer's Art program at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, and written a bestselling memoir called Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Journey to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness. What is most alive for her right now is coaching groups, where she integrates the powerful energy healing modality of qigong with clinical medicine. She also serves as co-anchor for Awakin Calls, a project of ServiceSpace. Episode is brought to you by Beeya:* If you're struggling with hormonal imbalances, go to https://beeyawellness.com/free to download the free guide to tackling hormonal imbalances* Get $10 off with promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE10 Follow Yasmin:* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/* Website: https://www.behindherempire.com/ Follow Cynthia:* Website: https://cynthialimd.com/ * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dr.cynthia.li/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In July 2021, Neil Douglas-Klotz gave an inspiring Awakin Call: Breathing life into words, prayers, and scriptures. A renowned teacher, scholar, author, and musician who specializes in the native traditions and ancient Semitic languages of the Middle East, Douglas-Klotz shared with this Awakin community his personal discovery of what he calls the “Aramaic Jesus” — or Jesus before the religion of Christianity — and guided some moving meditations in Jesus’s original words and sounds. Now he returns to share this wisdom even more deeply, both as specific to Jesus’s culture and time, and to its relevance today. Douglas-Klotz’s most recent book, Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus: The Hidden Teachings on Life and Death, released in October 2021, is the culmination of his life’s work over 40 years. By examining the “heart talks” of Jesus — the Lord’s Prayer and the Beatitudes — he addresses universal themes and challenges like, How do we respond to the critical state of the world, individually and globally? How do we find renewal and healing amidst challenging times? How do we keep our hearts open? Or more fundamentally, who am I? What is my purpose? From his previous call in July 2021, Douglas-Klotz provided a glimpse into the Aramaic Jesus’s hidden teachings on prayer and its power to transform, beyond words or concepts: At different times, Jesus's disciples would ask him, “How should we pray?” It's in the Gospel of Thomas, they ask him, and different times in the gospels. And at one point he says this prayer in words [The Lord’s Prayer]. At another point, he just says, as I mentioned earlier, pray b’shemy – with my, or within my “atmosphere.” So that's a prayer without words. That just means "In Jesus's name," although there's nothing wrong with saying, "In Jesus's name," because that can be a powerful invocation for a person for whom it is, or protection. I don't want to downplay that at all. But he's really saying, “Pray within my atmosphere, within my feeling, yet within. Do like a spiritual gestalt with me and sit within me or let me sit within you. And then pray.” So that's prayer without words. And the word prayer itself in Aramaic, I'll just finish up with that, actually doesn't indicate — it doesn't mean saying words. It means just to open oneself, shalutah, open yourself, hollow yourself out, create space within yourself. And then Big Reality fills in. Join Pavi Mehta and Cynthia Li in continued conversation with this illuminating teacher of wisdom and peace.

**Please note the special day for this event — the call falls on Monday, instead of our usual Saturday time. “The key to creating health,” says Dr. Mark Hyman, “is figuring out the cause of the problem and then providing the right conditions for the body and soul to thrive. It isn’t taking another medication.” Whether he’s in a gray suit or hospital scrubs, Mark Hyman, MD, is often carrying in his pockets a pack of walnuts, coconut butter, turkey jerky, or some other nutrient-dense snack. A family physician, author, and public figure, Hyman has been transforming the landscape of Western medicine for the past 30 years. His latest book, Young Forever: The Secrets to Living Your Longest, Healthiest Life, aims to provide a prescription for healthy longevity, challenging the public to go beyond the status quo of the average lifespan riddled with “diseases of aging.” At 63, Hyman says he feels better than he did when he was half his age; by scientific methods, his biological age measures 20 years younger. He believes everyone has the same potential to thrive, and he is on a mission to make that an equal opportunity for all. For as long as he can remember, Hyman's life has been about mind-body wellness and personal growth. Born in New York, Hyman moved with his family to Spain, where his mother shopped in local markets and grew a backyard garden. In high school, he became a vegetarian for 10 years. At Cornell University, he studied nutrition and Buddhism. And before he pursued a calling in medicine, he spent time teaching yoga and wandering the mountains of Tibet and Nepal in search of meaning. As a young doctor, Hyman became disheartened by practicing medicine with conventional methods. “The way we were treating disease wasn’t working,” he says. “We can’t just cover up symptoms with medications. We have to understand the body as a biological system — an ecosystem.” This led him to research root causes of chronic disease — a paradigm called “functional medicine,” which focuses on each person’s unique genetic, biochemical, and lifestyle factors, as well as the social determinants of health. Teaching underserved and privileged communities alike to cook nutritious, delicious food – and likening foods such as Oreos and Coke to addictive drugs – has long topped his priority list. Hyman’s professional journey has also been shaped by his personal challenges. When he was a young doctor, he developed chronic fatigue syndrome and intense “brain fog,” ultimately leading him to functional medicine and a path to heal himself. In 2012, his younger sister died from biliary cancer and his marriage ended. In this raw state, he returned to the East for another pilgrimage, this time accompanied by his daughter, to the sacred mountain of Jomolhari in Bhutan and a Tibetan orphanage at Menri Monastery in the Himalayas. Then in 2017, he himself came very close to death with a severe illness, now understanding by direct experience, rather than only conceptually in his mind, some of life’s essential lessons — like surrender.  Among Hyman’s many and varied roles is serving as the founder and director of The UltraWellness Center, Senior Advisor to the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, and board president of the Institute for Functional Medicine. He is the author of 14 New York Times best-selling books, the host of a popular podcast, The Doctor’s Farmacy, and a regular medical contributor for several television shows and networks, including CBS This Morning, Today, Good Morning America, The View, and CNN. Equally dedicated to the health of our food systems and the planet as a whole, Hyman founded a nonprofit organization, the Food Fix Campaign, to “transform the dysfunctional policies” that shape our food and agricultural systems. “What we do to our bodies, we do to the planet. What we do to the planet, we do to our bodies.”  Is there an inner compass that directs his outer work? A journal entry from Hyman’s pilgrimage to Bhutan and Tibet might give us a glimpse: I do not pretend to understand how this life works, my place in it, or how to arrive to a place that is settled, authentic, powerful, and clear, but I am trying….Being here, visiting the sacred places, in this sacred country where these Buddhist principles are their constitution, their declaration of interdependence and interconnection of all things, I am quieted and happy, but less certain than ever of how things should be – only open to how things might be if I relax, let go, be present, show up, pay attention, and listen for what is true in everything. Please join Pavi Mehta and Cynthia Li in conversation with this visionary doctor, changemaker, and student of life.

In this episode, Wellness Within Founder Patti Brown, MS LMFT is joined by our returning honored guest, Cynthia Li, MD. In this in-depth conversation, Dr. Li shares about her transformational experiences of grief, while providing insightful and uplifting wisdom for those who are ready to hear it. This episode invites listeners to see themselves in how they relate to the holding and release of their own grief.  Exemplifying how healing and grieving is not always linear, and how "you can't heal what you don't feel or what you are not connected to".  Are you ready?And in cased you missed their last podcast conversation together, be sure to check out the episode, Qigong Demystified with Dr. Cynthia Li where she shares how Zhineng (Wisdom Healing) Qigong contributed to her radical remission of  an autoimmune thyroid condition, and her observation of how science is evolving to measure and support the benefits of this ancient practice. Dr. Cynthia Li is a doctor and author whose personal healing journey through a disabling autoimmune condition took her from public health in underserved populations, to integrative and functional medicine.Her personal health challenges began in 2005, and they expanded her beyond her conventional training. She has studied and practiced with functional medicine experts, environmental health scientists, acupuncturists, qigong masters, and alternative healers, weaving together cutting-edge science and ancient healing arts. Currently, she has a private practice in Berkeley, CA, and serves as faculty for the Healer's Art program at the University of California San Francisco Medical School.After becoming an anchor for Awakin Calls, a podcast of the global, all-volunteer-run ServiceSpace community of 2M+, she modeled her clinical services on the gift economy, where patients contribute into a community fund according to their abilities, giving and receiving from each other based on trust.She is author of the book, Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness.This podcast is sponsored in part by UC Davis Health, Elizabeth A. Harmon D.D.S., and Columbia Bank. It is offered freely to ensure everyone has access to these practices and conversations offered by Wellness Within Cancer Support Services. If you feel inspired to donate to support Wellness Within offerings, please visit www.wellnesswithin.org/giveBEACON is a self-paced online system that provides cancer patients, caregivers, and survivors a place to learn and practice wellness. It is designed to support the individual based on where they are in their cancer experience. Enroll at https://beacon.wellnesswithin.org/Support the show

Today's special episode of the Passion Struck podcast highlights some of our best interviews from 2022, showcasing the power of intentional behavior change. There is growing interest in the intersection of neuroscience, behavior science, and alternative health. By studying these fields together, we can better understand the various factors influencing our behavior and well-being and develop more effective approaches to promoting health and reducing suffering.  The Power of Intentional Behavior Change Show Notes Today's episode unites a world-class interdisciplinary team of academic and healthcare experts to advance the science, research, and practice of intentional behavior change, including Katy Milkman, Don Moore, Cassie Holmes, Max Bazerman, Ayelet Fishbach, Jonah Berger, Sara Mednick David Vago, Jordyn Feingold, Scott Barry Kaufman, Kara Fitzgerald, Dominic D'Agostino, Cynthia Li, and Chris Palmer.  By integrating their insights from these fields, we may be able to develop more comprehensive and effective strategies for improving health and quality of life. Full show notes and resources can be found here: https://passionstruck.com/the-power-of-intentional-behavior-change/  Brought to you by American Giant. --► For information about advertisers and promo codes, go to: https://passionstruck.com/deals/  --► Prefer to watch this interview: https://youtu.be/LaMgOTvmwgE  Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter or Instagram handle so we can thank you personally! --► Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel Here: https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnRMiles Want to find your purpose in life? I provide my six simple steps to achieving it - passionstruck.com/5-simple-steps-to-find-your-passion-in-life/   Episode 155 with Dr. Katy Milkman: https://passionstruck.com/katy-milkman-behavior-change-for-good/ Episode 123 with Dr. David Vago: https://passionstruck.com/dr-david-vago-on-self-transcendence/ Episode 185 with Dr. Cassie Holmes: https://passionstruck.com/cassie-holmes-happier-hour-time-management/ Episode 227 with Dr. Jonah Berger: https://passionstruck.com/jonah-berger-the-catalyst-remove-change-barriers/ Episode 176 with Dr. Ayelet Fishbach: https://passionstruck.com/ayelet-fishbach-get-it-done-find-the-fun-path/ Episode 194 with Dr. Max Bazerman and Dr. Don Moore: https://passionstruck.com/max-bazerman-don-moore-better-choices/ Episode 188 with Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman and Dr. Jordyn Feinbold: https://passionstruck.com/jordyn-feingold-scott-barry-kaufman-chose-growth/ Episode 161 with Dr. Sara Mednick: https://passionstruck.com/sara-mednick-recharge-your-brain-body/ Episode 182 with Dr. Dominic D'Agostino: https://passionstruck.com/dr-dominic-dagostino-on-metabolic-health/ Episode 174 with Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: https://passionstruck.com/dr-kara-fitzgerald-become-younger-you/ Episode 216 with Dr. Chris Plamer: https://passionstruck.com/dr-chris-palmer-brain-energy-mental-health/ Episode 228 with Dr. Cynthia Li: https://passionstruck.com/dr-cynthia-li-on-intuitive-healing-using-qigong/   ===== FOLLOW ON THE SOCIALS ===== * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passion_struck_podcast * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnrmiles.c0m  Learn more about John: https://johnrmiles.com/ 

Dr. Cynthia Li is a leading expert in ecosystem medicine, Qigong, efficient healing, and intuition, and in this episode, she shares with you the journey to optimal health. Dr. Li takes you on a guided tour of the many facets of optimal health, from food and lifestyle choices to physical and emotional health.  Purchase Brave New Medicine: https://amzn.to/3UX3G55 (Amazon Link) What I Discuss with Dr. Cynthia Li About Intuitive Healing Are you looking for an alternative to traditional medical treatments? Do you want to explore more holistic approaches to health and well-being? If so, you'll want to listen to this interview. Dr. Cynthia Li received her medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She's practiced as an internist in many settings, including Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Francisco General Hospital, and St. Anthony Medical Clinic serving the homeless. She currently has a private practice in Berkeley, CA, and recently published her first book, Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness. Full show notes and resources can be found here: https://passionstruck.com/dr-cynthia-li-on-intuitive-healing-using-qigong/  Brought to you by MasterClass, Omaha Steaks, and POM Wonderful. --► For information about advertisers and promo codes, go to: https://passionstruck.com/deals/  --► Prefer to watch this interview: https://youtu.be/kQp6Phdoh1c  Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter or Instagram handle so we can thank you personally! --► Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel Here: https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnRMiles Want to find your purpose in life? I provide my six simple steps to achieving it - passionstruck.com/5-simple-steps-to-find-your-passion-in-life/ Did you miss my interview with NYU Stern School marketing professor Scott Galloway? Listen to episode 218 on why America is adrift and how to fix it. ===== FOLLOW ON THE SOCIALS ===== * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passion_struck_podcast * Gear: https://www.zazzle.com/store/passion_sruck_podcast Learn more about John: https://johnrmiles.com/ 

This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, InsideTracker, and Pique Tea.Hair loss is a commonly experienced issue and often signals something deeper going on in the body. And as there are many different types of hair loss, there are also many various drivers of hair loss, including hormonal imbalance, metabolic dysfunction, or even autoimmune disease. This is why Functional Medicine practitioners look at gut and metabolic health, nutrient status, and much more to find the root cause of hair loss.In today's episode, I talk with Dr. Elizabeth Boham, Dhru Purohit, and Dr. Cynthia Li about the many different types of hair loss and their associated underlying causes. Dr. Elizabeth Boham is a physician and nutritionist who practices Functional Medicine at The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, MA. Through her practice and lecturing, she has helped thousands of people achieve their goals of optimum health and wellness. She witnesses the power of nutrition every day in her practice and is committed to training other physicians to utilize nutrition in healing.Dhru Purohit is a podcast host, serial entrepreneur, and investor in the health and wellness industry. His podcast, The Dhru Purohit Podcast, is a top 50 global health podcast with over 30 million unique downloads. His interviews focus on the inner workings of the brain and the body and feature the brightest minds in wellness, medicine, and mindset.Dr. Cynthia Li received her medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She has practiced as an internist in settings as diverse as Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Francisco General Hospital, and St. Anthony Medical Clinic serving the homeless. Her personal health challenges led her to integrative and Functional Medicine, and she currently has a private practice in Berkeley, CA. She serves on the faculty of the Healer's Art program at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, and she is the author of Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness.This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, InsideTracker, and Pique Tea.Rupa Health is a place where Functional Medicine practitioners can access more than 2,000 specialty lab tests from over 20 labs like DUTCH, Vibrant America, Genova, and Great Plains. You can check out a free, live demo with a Q&A or create an account at RupaHealth.com.InsideTracker is a personalized health and wellness platform like no other. Right now they're offering my community 20% off at insidetracker.com/drhyman.Pique is offering up to 20% off plus free shipping on their Pu'er bundles. Just go to piquelife.com/farmacy for up to 20% off plus free shipping.Full-length episodes of these interviews can be found here:Dr. Elizabeth BohamDhru PurohitDr. Cynthia Li Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Mark Hyman This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, InsideTracker, and Pique Tea.Hair loss is a commonly experienced issue and often signals something deeper going on in the body. And as there are many different types of hair loss, there are also many various drivers of hair loss, including hormonal imbalance, metabolic dysfunction, or even autoimmune disease. This is why Functional Medicine practitioners look at gut and metabolic health, nutrient status, and much more to find the root cause of hair loss.In today’s episode, I talk with Dr. Elizabeth Boham, Dhru Purohit, and Dr. Cynthia Li about the many different types of hair loss and their associated underlying causes. Dr. Elizabeth Boham is a physician and nutritionist who practices Functional Medicine at The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, MA. Through her practice and lecturing, she has helped thousands of people achieve their goals of optimum health and wellness. She witnesses the power of nutrition every day in her practice and is committed to training other physicians to utilize nutrition in healing.Dhru Purohit is a podcast host, serial entrepreneur, and investor in the health and wellness industry. His podcast, The Dhru Purohit Podcast, is a top 50 global health podcast with over 30 million unique downloads. His interviews focus on the inner workings of the brain and the body and feature the brightest minds in wellness, medicine, and mindset.Dr. Cynthia Li received her medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She has practiced as an internist in settings as diverse as Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Francisco General Hospital, and St. Anthony Medical Clinic serving the homeless. Her personal health challenges led her to integrative and Functional Medicine, and she currently has a private practice in Berkeley, CA. She serves on the faculty of the Healer’s Art program at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, and she is the author of Brave New Medicine: A Doctor’s Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness.This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, InsideTracker, and Pique Tea.Rupa Health is a place where Functional Medicine practitioners can access more than 2,000 specialty lab tests from over 20 labs like DUTCH, Vibrant America, Genova, and Great Plains. You can check out a free, live demo with a Q&A or create an account at RupaHealth.com.InsideTracker is a personalized health and wellness platform like no other. Right now they’re offering my community 20% off at insidetracker.com/drhyman.Pique is offering up to 20% off plus free shipping on their Pu'er bundles. Just go to piquelife.com/farmacy for up to 20% off plus free shipping.Full-length episodes of these interviews can be found here:Dr. Elizabeth BohamDhru PurohitDr. Cynthia Li Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. https://www.listennotes.com/e/d2b92eddc5954dcd9a611defcc8962ec/

Lissa Rankin, MD, describes herself as a skeptic. She is a Western-trained ob-gyn, linear thinker, and evidence-informed scientist. In the same breath, however, she also describes herself as a mystic — an open-hearted, spiritually alive, empathic healer who has witnessed countless “miracles” of healing and has also experienced them firsthand herself. “I’m sort of a unicorn,” she says. Her private inquiries and outer discoveries have made her an unusual expert in the sometimes opposing worlds of conventional Western medicine and alternative healing. Rankin’s awakening began when she was thirty-six, only several years out from residency training. By this point, she was already disillusioned by her profession and “morally injured,” leaving the hospital where she worked, and eventually leaving clinical medicine altogether. Personally, she was taking seven prescription drugs for a variety of health conditions her doctors couldn’t cure, and she feared she wouldn’t live to forty. So she set off to learn what else might ease suffering when doctors say, “We’ve done all we can.”  Since then, Rankin has become a bestselling author, artist, activist, and thought leader in mind-body medicine, dedicated to “healing health care.” Having spent equal time practicing and studying in Western medicine as she has in complementary and alternative medicine (fourteen years in each), she is careful not to blindly praise one paradigm over another. “I found just as much shadow in that world [alternative medicine] as I did in the world of conventional medicine,” she writes. “You might say I’ve been a doe-eyed devotee of both camps, but I’ve also been disillusioned by both…both offer gems and garbage. Both can wow us with miracles or horrify us with malpractice….” Her latest explorations, which spanned a decade of deep investigation and culminated in her most recent book, Sacred Medicine: A Doctor’s Quest to Unravel the Mysteries of Healing, took her from holy mountains, faith healers, and prayer circles to trauma experts, cutting-edge scientists, and leading psychologists. Guiding her were some of her fundamental questions: when it comes to healing from illness and injury, how is it that some people do everything right and stay sick, while others seem to do nothing extraordinary yet fully recover? How does faith healing work, or does it? Can we make ourselves miracle-prone, and if so, how? In response to the need for more holistically trained doctors and healthcare professionals, Rankin founded the Whole Health Medicine Institute. She also founded the nonprofit organization Heal At Last, a trauma-informed, physician-designed community wellness program modeled after 12 Step programs, that seeks to provide equal access to spiritual practices, as well as the healing of trauma and the “epidemic of loneliness.” She is the author of six books, including the New York Times bestseller, Mind Over Medicine. Her work has been featured across national media outlets, including O Magazine, The New York Times, CNN, Health, Women’s Health, and Cosmopolitan. Her TEDx talks have been viewed over 4M times, and she leads workshops online and at retreat centers around the US. She is currently consulting for a Biden task force on vaccine hesitancy as a trauma symptom. She resides in Northern California. Please join Dr. Cynthia Li in conversation with this gifted and lively “unicorn” of a doctor as we explore the mysteries of healing together.

Aveen interviews Dr. Cynthia Li, physician and author of "Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness" Learn more about Dr. Cynthia Li here: https://cynthialimd.com

In this episode, Wellness Within Founder Patti Brown, MS LMFT is joined by Qigong Instructor, John Brewer. John is an honored instructor at Wellness Within and he provides Qigong classes in-person at the center and online. In this episode, he shares about how his own journey led him to Qigong and helped him heal. He discusses what is “qi”, breaks down the components of the Qigong practice, describes the power of Wisdom Healing Qigong, and much more.John has been studying, practicing, and teaching qigong for years.  He is a lifelong educator, versed in making learning effective and fun. He creates a safe, engaging environment through his practice of compassionate communication and empathy. John has been trained in, and will draw from, two systems: Wisdom Healing Qigong with Master Mingtong Gu, and Integral Qigong with Dr. Roger Jahnke. Should you wish to explore these two very compatible paths you are invited to examine the following websites:  www.chicenter.com or www.instituteofintegralqigongandtaichi.org  He looks forward to serving those who are interested in giving Qigong a try either in person or online via Zoom. Visit www.wellnesswithin.org to register for a class.Additional Resources:The Physiology of Tai Chi & Qigong – This is a 12-minute practical introduction to fundamentals of Qigong in relation to our human bodies.Qigong Demystified with Dr. Cynthia Li – Check out this previous Wellness Within Podcast episode with honored guest, Cynthia Li, MD. Dr. Li's health challenges with an autoimmune thyroid condition and chronic fatigue changed her life and her practice of medicine. In this in-depth conversation about healing, she shares her experience of how Zhineng (Wisdom Healing) Qigong contributed to her radical remission and her observation of how science is evolving to measure and support the benefits of this ancient practice.This podcast is sponsored in part by Koinonia Family Services, Consolidated Communications, and Merchants Bank of Commerce.  Guests and information on this podcast are not an endorsement of those individuals or practices. This podcast is offered freely to ensure everyone has access to these practices and conversations offered by Wellness Within Cancer Support Services. If you feel inspired to donate to support Wellness Within offerings, please visit www.wellnesswithin.org/give or click the link below.Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=4GNQH4LSJ6EKY)

*Please note the special time for this call, to accommodate Teacher Wei in China in honor of the vernal equinox.  “Through pure consciousness practice — Mingjue — we can reach a harmonious and stable mind state, balance the energy of the whole body, and clear away all kinds of illnesses.” — Teacher Wei In 2006, Wei Qifeng, an already esteemed qigong teacher and healer in China, found himself in a small, rented room near a legendary mountain west of Beijing called Xiangshan, alone in deep suffering. His life’s dream had seemingly ended several years earlier when the Huaxia Center (a.k.a, “Medicineless Qigong Hospital”) was closed down. He had returned to his family’s countryside home to serve the youth and the disabled, then onto Beijing to practice acupuncture and massage. But without the steady guidance of his teacher, Grandmaster Pang, and his community nearby, Wei felt adrift and empty. Now in the mountains, he wanted to resolve this dilemma, to find inner peace and freedom. The more he tried, however, the heavier his heart and mind became. Three months passed. So one day, he hiked up a tall peak, laid himself under the big, blue sky, and completely surrendered his practice of Zhineng Qigong, which was the very foundation of his life.   In this state of surrender, Teacher Wei traveled southward to Hainan, where he encountered a woman practicing Zhineng Qigong in the park. They spoke. She learned of his background — that he had gone through the two-year master training program with Grandmaster Pang, served as an editor at the center, advanced to a high level of healing abilities, and also guided some 500-600 hospital staff members in morning and evening practices — and she promptly invited him to lead a practice for her group. To his surprise, the same practices he had cultivated for over a decade felt different now. Something had shifted on the mountain, and the oneness of the universe felt clearer and simpler. “I enjoy this!” he realized. “It’s so playful!”   Born in the northwestern Gansu province to a family of farmers, Teacher Wei was given the name chosen by his older sister: Qifeng. “Feng means ‘pioneer,’” Teacher Wei explained. “Feng was also the name of a fictional character my sister had read about in school. This character was a very good man, always showing unconditional love to others.” As it turned out, English came easily to Teacher Wei, and he would become a pioneer in bringing Zhineng Qigong to the West, with students across Europe, Australia and New Zealand, South America, and America. As for the unconditional love of his namesake, his whole body exudes compassion and joy as he guides others to the depths of the cosmos with a lightness and clarity that is, at once, disarming and commanding.  Since his realization on the mountain in 2006, Teacher Wei has been highlighting the development of the pure consciousness state — or Mingjue — as his foundational teaching, with the qigong movements guided from this expanded mindset to amplify healing and awakening. This highest level of practice, he says, from a collective field where practitioners connect heart to heart in a state of pure consciousness, has the greatest potential for deep transformation, personal and global. Qigong (qi, pronounced “chi,” means life energy, gong means cultivation) is an embodied consciousness practice developed in China over the past 5,000 years, more recently revitalized through quantum science and integrative medicine. It is the foundation of martial arts, tai chi, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The lineage of Zhineng Qigong (zhi means wisdom, neng means capability) was founded by Grandmaster Dr. Pang Ming who trained under many different grandmasters, studied both Western and Eastern medicine, and also mastered several forms of martial arts. His theories and practices aim to describe the laws of the universe and human life, informed by Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, medical qigong, martial arts, folk qigong, contemporary science, medicine, and philosophy. At its core is a sense of universal oneness. Through consciousness training, integrated movement, visualization, sound, and scientific theory, Zhineng Qigong offers a system through which healing and awakening to extrasensory perceptions can arise.  At the Medicineless Hospital, there were no so-called “patients.” Instead, everyone was a “student,” which shifted the mindset from helpless to empowered, from passive to participatory. Countless people from all over China came to the hospital, more than 400,000 experiencing healing from terminal or debilitating conditions, most deemed incurable by their doctors and healers. Teacher Wei discovered he had the gift of healing, too. On his first trip home to his family, he found his mother afflicted with leg and knee pain, so much so that her posture was unnatural and she had to use the wall for support. At the end of the first day of his energy healing practices, she walked without assistance. “It’s not a miracle,” Teacher Wei says, matter-of-factly. “In Zhineng Qigong, we have a different reference framework.”  In 2018, Teacher Wei co-founded the World Consciousness Community to build a worldwide consciousness field — “to connect practitioners heart to heart in the Mingjue state, to support each other and to enhance a higher consciousness for peace, freedom, healing, love, happiness, and harmony for each individual as well as the whole world.” He is the founder and organizer of Harmonious Big Family and the Mingjue Academy. And he has also translated several of Grandmaster Pang's books into English.  Please join Cynthia Li, MD for a special vernal equinox session with Teacher Wei — part conversation, part qigong consciousness practice.

Dr. Cynthia Li is a physician and author who shares her own personal healing journey faced with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and dysautonomia. Dr. Li specializes in Integrative and Functional medicine and throughout her career has directed her work towards underserved communities. She has practiced in healthcare areas ranging from Kaiser Permanente's HIV group to Doctors Without Borders in rural China. Dr. Li is also an anchor for ServiceSpace, a global, all-volunteer-run organization of 2 million people that incubates labor of love projects to create positive transformation. In addition, she has a memoir called “Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness”. Dr. Li works with a variety of alternative healers and functional medicine experts, along with serving as faculty for Rachel Remen's Healer's Art program at the UC San Francisco School of Medicine.    In today's episode, host Shay Beider sits down with Dr. Li to discuss her personal journey of healing. Dr. Li emphasizes how she was able to shift her understanding of medicine towards an energetic view of the body. She talks about the importance of functional medicine and examining the root cause of illness, rather than just alleviating symptoms. Shay and Dr. Li also touch on the effect COVID-19 can have on the immune system and how the virus manifests differently in each person. They talk  about the importance of taking measures in everyday life to maximize health, such as eating the right foods and getting proper nutrients for your body. Finally, Dr. Li shares the importance of change and how healing, at its essence, heavily relies on embracing change both in the body and in our environment.   Transcripts for this episode are available at: https://www.integrativetouch.org/conversations-on-healing    Show Notes: Learn more about functional medicine Read up on Dr. Leo Galland's research here Study on the neurological effects of COVID “How to Strengthen Your Inner Shield” by Cynthia Li More on Dr. Stephen Porges and Deb Dana's work here Find out about HeartMath   Integrative Touch (InTouch) is working to change the way people experience health and healing. A leader in the field of pediatric integrative medicine, the organization supports caregivers and families whose children have any type of special health or medical need. This includes kids with cancers, genetic conditions, autism, cerebral palsy, traumatic stress, and other serious health issues. The founder, Shay Beider, pioneered a new therapy called Integrative Touch™ Therapy that supports healing from trauma and serious illness. The organization reaches thousands of people each year in hospitals and communities and offers unique Telehealth programs to families and healthcare providers around the world. Thanks to the incredible support of volunteers and contributors, individuals are able to receive wellness education and integrative medical services at little or no cost.

Cynthia Li, MD, is a doctor whose personal healing journey through a disabling autoimmune condition took her from public health in underserved populations to integrative and functional medicine. She is the author of Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness and free e-booklet How to Strengthen Your Inner Shield: Science-Based, Integrative Strategies for a Healthy Immune System During a Pandemic. Full show notes: https://maxlugavere.com/podcast/212-dr-cynthia-li

In this episode Wellness Within Founder Patti Brown, MS LMFT is joined by honored guest, Cynthia Li, MD.  Dr. Li's health challenges with an autoimmune thyroid condition and chronic fatigue changed her life and her practice of medicine. In this in-depth conversation about healing, she shares her experience of how Zhineng (Wisdom Healing) Qigong contributed to her radical remission and her observation of how science is evolving to measure and support the benefits of this ancient practice. Cynthia Li, MD, is a physician, author, and speaker. She has practiced in settings including Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Francisco General Hospital, St. Anthony's Medical Clinic for the homeless, and Doctors Without Borders in rural China. Currently, she has a private practice in integrative and functional medicine, and serves as faculty for the Healer's Art program at the University of California San Francisco Medical School. She is a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine, the Institute for Functional Medicine, and Integrative Medicine for the Underserved.  She is a contributor to Thrive Global and Psychology Today. She is author of the book, Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness. Below are her primary Qigong teachers that were mentioned in this episode: Teacher Wei - www.daohearts.com  Master Mingtong Gu -  www.chicenter.comBeyond this informative and insightful episode, she has provided a number of free resources below.Sutter Institute for Health & Healing Videos:Easing Anxiety In Times Of Change with Cynthia Li, M.D.Connect, Awaken & Restore with Cynthia Li, M.D.Article & Free E-Book:What Qi Gong Taught One Doctor About HealingHow to Strengthen Your Inner ShieldThis podcast is sponsored in part by Koinonia Family Services, Consolidated Communications, and Merchants Bank of Commerce. This podcast is offered freely to ensure everyone has access to these practices and conversations offered by Wellness Within Cancer Support Services. If you feel inspired to donate to support Wellness Within offerings, please visit www.wellnesswithin.org/give or click the link below.Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=4GNQH4LSJ6EKY)

This episode is sponsored by Rupa Health and Athletic Greens.Millions of individuals worldwide are affected by autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, type-1 diabetes, hypothyroidism, psoriasis, and many others. Simply put, autoimmune diseases are conditions where the body's immune system attacks its own tissues rather than a foreign molecule like bacteria. This happens when something confuses the immune system. In this compilation episode, I talk to Dr. Cynthia Li, Dr. George Papanicolaou, Dr. Todd LePine, Dr. Steven Phillips, and Dana Parish about out-of-the-box ways to treat autoimmune disease. We also discuss the importance of healing your gut and optimizing your diet, treating hidden infections, and more.Dr. Cynthia Li received her medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She currently has a private practice in Berkeley, CA and is the author of Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness.Dr. George Papanicolaou is a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and is Board Certified in Family Medicine from Abington Memorial Hospital. In 2015, he established Cornerstone Personal Health—a practice dedicated entirely to Functional Medicine. He joined The UltraWellness Center in 2017.Dr. Todd LePine graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, specializing in Integrative Functional Medicine. Prior to joining The UltraWellness Center, he worked as a physician at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA, for 10 years. Dr. LePine's focus at The UltraWellness Center is to help his patients achieve optimal health and vitality by restoring the natural balance to both the mind and the body. Dr. Steven Phillips is a renowned Yale-trained physician, international lecturer, and media go-to expert. Well-published in the medical literature, he has treated over 20,000 patients with complex, chronic illness from nearly 20 countries. Dr. Phillips experienced firsthand the nightmare of an undiagnosed, serious infection after nearly dying from his own mystery illness. He figured out how to save his own life when 25 doctors could not.Dana Parish developed Lyme-induced heart failure as a result of being improperly diagnosed by some of the “top” doctors in the country—and had her life saved by Dr. Steven Phillips. A chart-topping Sony/ATV singer/songwriter who has written songs for artists like Celine Dion and Idina Menzel, she has become a major voice in the world of chronic illness. Her popular column on Huffington Post has been read by more than one million people globally. This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health and Athletic Greens. Rupa Health is a place for Functional Medicine practitioners to access more than 2,000 specialty lab tests from over 20 labs like DUTCH, Vibrant America, Genova, Great Plains, and more. Check out a free live demo with a Q&A or create an account here. Athletic Greens is offering my listeners 10 free travel packs of AG1 when you make your first purchase here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In a retreat center in Suzhou, China, Mina Lee can be found sitting in the center of a dozen executives, a shawl draped over her shoulders and a metal drum at her lap, immersing the room in a “sound bath.” On another day, she's commanding the stage in front of hundreds of female business leaders in America, presenting on authentic leadership or conscious entrepreneurship. On yet another day, she's standing at the head of a long, wooden table in a redwood forest of Northern California, a teacup raised to her forehead, co-leading a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. As a facilitator, executive coach, and strategist for culture change, Mina lives as fluidly in the ancient mountains of Washington state as she does the contemporary high-rises of San Francisco or Shanghai, all of which she currently calls home. Through Mina’s eyes, though the external settings may vary, our inner worlds are the “greatest lever for systems change.” One of the primary vehicles she uses for inner transformation is the business sector.  At the heart of Mina’s life and work is the permission to be stretched by love. She is guided by the question of how to bridge cultural and intergenerational divides — the ways in which we dehumanize each other through misunderstanding, whether between investors and investees, business and non-business sectors, people living in the East and those in the West, and more specifically, China and the United States. “On a deeper level,” reflects Mina, “this is the healing of my own rift, from when my father said, ‘You’ll never be able to understand me — you, raised in America, versus me, in China.’” So, how can we let go of the stories that keep us separate? How can we relate more authentically to one another? What is the new aspirational story where self-awareness becomes the cultural norm? Mina’s questions go beyond geographical and political, and into the core of the personal realm: How do the constructs of our minds keep us separated from and in judgment of ourselves?  After her self-described “wild self” graduated from New York University with a BS in Economics and Finance with a focus on Social Entrepreneurship, Mina served in a series of positions — management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, Innovation and Economic Development Consultant at the World Bank, founder of an events company in New York City, and COO and Chief of Staff of Xiaomi Southeast Asia. The different organizational structures, whether for-profit or nonprofit, Western, Eastern or global, increasingly affirmed her realization that systemic and social dysfunctions stemmed from a disconnection to oneself. She began seeing her role in connecting leaders more intimately with their core selves, thereby repairing the ecosystems of their relationships, organizations, or companies. In 2018, Mina founded the East West Bridge, which she currently hosts, “an advisory firm that helps conscious leaders and companies grow.” During its inception, the East West Bridge organized a retreat of 28 leaders from China’s healing and wellbeing sector to meet their peers in the United States for the first time. From millennial to elder, the group ranged from teachers of psychology and mindfulness to entrepreneurs, corporate coaches, technology investors, philanthropists, systems change experts, and neuroscientists. Collectively, their platforms in China reached 25M+ people. Over the course of the week, the immersive exchange of skills and strategies, as well as the co-creation of a heart-centered field, manifested the holistic, inside-out transformation that Mina embodies and catalyzes.  Mina weaves skill as well as playful creativity throughout her professional projects, like coaching American, European, and Asian venture-backed CEOs, or advising the CEO of Innerland, a “Disneyland for Zen,” a still-in-development cultural ecotourism experience park in China to help make accessible the ancient wisdom of Chan (Zen). She has also conducted extensive research and mapping studies, from the philanthropic funding of consciousness to the underfunding of mindfulness teacher training for BIPOC and economically underserved communities.  In her personal life, she mirrors the same combination of creativity and contemplation, whether practicing yoga on a lone pier over a lake — or writing poetry about the romance of a cup of tea or the sensuality of a lychee fruit. She is fluent in Mandarin, as well as the language of the wooden flute, Kalimba (thumb piano), drums, and shakers. She is a certified Music Medicine Facilitator through the UCLA Arts & Healing program. Each year, she spends time in deep monastic study.  To try to encapsulate Mina’s person and mission? As one client shared, "What's unique about Mina is that she can work with all parts of me — the CEO, mother, wife, daughter, sister, and inner two-year-old and teenager. She helps me integrate these roles, experience deeper vulnerability, and relate to the one beneath the roles, without a mask. I'm able to balance serious execution with relaxation, rest, and joy." Please join Cynthia Li and Nicolas Boillot in conversation with this gifted weaver of inner and outer, business and beauty, strategy and consciousness. 

“A ‘Portal to Presence’ is exactly what it says,” writes Gunther Weil, “a simple doorway that points to the realm of Consciousness or Presence. It would be stretching the meaning of the word 'technique' or 'method' to apply it to this idea. One just walks through the portal as one becomes aware of its existence…. The portal opens, and Presence arises spontaneously.” Weil is a Harvard-trained psychologist, executive coach, and lifelong student of consciousness. His diverse and colorful life includes working as a music business executive and being instrumental in the production of Aerosmith’s first album; teaching at Brandeis University, recruited and mentored by psychologist Abraham Maslow; coaching international executives in leadership, wellness, organizational development, and conflict resolution in the private and public sectors; studying and teaching Tai Chi and becoming a recognized master teacher of Qigong; and perhaps most famously, pioneering the mass consciousness movement that began in the 1960s with Dr. Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (a.k.a., Ram Dass), Ralph Metzner and others that popularized the field of psychedelic therapies.  As a young child, Weil and his parents fled the Holocaust “on one of the last boats leaving for America.” They settled in Nebraska, then Milwaukee, with psychology, philosophy, and classical music infusing their family culture. His father was an internationally regarded psychologist and pioneering researcher in Europe on synesthesia, the phenomenon of crossed senses, like smelling colors or seeing music. Education was of paramount importance; it was his father’s academic work that was their ticket to the US. Weil went on to study psychology and philosophy at Kenyon College, receiving a Fulbright scholarship to study in Norway. While there, he often visited Paris in his free time, inspired by the expat beatniks, literati, and jazz musicians who preceded the hippie generation. Upon returning to the States, he earned his doctorate in psychology at Harvard University. His assigned faculty advisor was a prominent researcher in the field of personality — Dr. Timothy Leary. Among their research studies was the Concord Prison Experiment, a randomized, controlled study designed to evaluate whether psilocybin mushrooms, combined with psychotherapy, could have a healing effect on young adults convicted of felonies in a maximum-security prison. In addition to improved recidivism rates (the degree of which has been debated), personality tests before and after these interventions showed positive changes.  In the 1970s, Weil worked in the music industry, as CEO at Intermedia Recording Corporation and senior vice president of Intermedia Systems Corporation, a publicly held multi-media production firm. Two of his numerous music projects were the 1973 debut album, “Aerosmith,” and the 1978 recording of the song “Jet Airliner,” by the Steve Miller Band, which hit both gold and platinum for sales exceeding two million. The bulk of Weil’s life work sits at the intersection of his formative influences of psychology, philosophy, and spirituality, bringing others to what he calls a Portal to Presence — a simple doorway that effortlessly opens to an expansive awareness. He has conducted personal growth seminars in leadership, creativity, emotional intelligence and wellness for executives and their organizations throughout the world. He is certified in the HeartMath Inner Quality Management Program, Cultural Transformation Tools (CTT), and Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), and is a Master Values Mentor of the Minessence Group. In 2001, he was personally invited by Eckhart Tolle, bestselling author of The Power of Now, to teach and facilitate the Practice of Presence. An important Portal to Presence for Weil has been the internal arts of Tai Chi and Qigong. Fifty years ago, Weil began his studies in New York City in the Yang Style Cheng Man-Ching lineage, followed by the Dong Family Yang style and Chen Beijing style lineages. He deepened his experience of Qigong by traveling the world co-teaching with Master Mantak Chia, a renowned teacher of Taoist Inner Alchemy who, Weil recounts, “would scribble down Qigong practices like the microcosmic orbit onto scraps of paper,” with Weil scrambling to pick them up and study them. In 1996, Weil became the founding chairman of the National Qigong Association and has studied or taught with direct lineage holders in the wisdom traditions of Taoism, Buddhism, Advaita, and The Gurdjieff Work.  Please join David Bonbright and Cynthia Li in conversation with this quintessential student of life and consciousness. 

“A ‘Portal to Presence’ is exactly what it says,” writes Gunther Weil, “a simple doorway that points to the realm of Consciousness or Presence. It would be stretching the meaning of the word 'technique' or 'method' to apply it to this idea. One just walks through the portal as one becomes aware of its existence…. The portal opens, and Presence arises spontaneously.” Weil is a Harvard-trained psychologist, executive coach, and lifelong student of consciousness. His diverse and colorful life includes working as a music business executive and being instrumental in the production of Aerosmith’s first album; teaching at Brandeis University, recruited and mentored by psychologist Abraham Maslow; coaching international executives in leadership, wellness, organizational development, and conflict resolution in the private and public sectors; studying and teaching Tai Chi and becoming a recognized master teacher of Qigong; and perhaps most famously, pioneering the mass consciousness movement that began in the 1960s with Dr. Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (a.k.a., Ram Dass), Ralph Metzner and others that popularized the field of psychedelic therapies.  As a young child, Weil and his parents fled the Holocaust “on one of the last boats leaving for America.” They settled in Nebraska, then Milwaukee, with psychology, philosophy, and classical music infusing their family culture. His father was an internationally regarded psychologist and pioneering researcher in Europe on synesthesia, the phenomenon of crossed senses, like smelling colors or seeing music. Education was of paramount importance; it was his father’s academic work that was their ticket to the US. Weil went on to study psychology and philosophy at Kenyon College, receiving a Fulbright scholarship to study in Norway. While there, he often visited Paris in his free time, inspired by the expat beatniks, literati, and jazz musicians who preceded the hippie generation. Upon returning to the States, he earned his doctorate in psychology at Harvard University. His assigned faculty advisor was a prominent researcher in the field of personality — Dr. Timothy Leary. Among their research studies was the Concord Prison Experiment, a randomized, controlled study designed to evaluate whether psilocybin mushrooms, combined with psychotherapy, could have a healing effect on young adults convicted of felonies in a maximum-security prison. In addition to improved recidivism rates (the degree of which has been debated), personality tests before and after these interventions showed positive changes.  In the 1970s, Weil worked in the music industry, as CEO at Intermedia Recording Corporation and senior vice president of Intermedia Systems Corporation, a publicly held multi-media production firm. Two of his numerous music projects were the 1973 debut album, “Aerosmith,” and the 1978 recording of the song “Jet Airliner,” by the Steve Miller Band, which hit both gold and platinum for sales exceeding two million. The bulk of Weil’s life work sits at the intersection of his formative influences of psychology, philosophy, and spirituality, bringing others to what he calls a Portal to Presence — a simple doorway that effortlessly opens to an expansive awareness. He has conducted personal growth seminars in leadership, creativity, emotional intelligence and wellness for executives and their organizations throughout the world. He is certified in the HeartMath Inner Quality Management Program, Cultural Transformation Tools (CTT), and Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), and is a Master Values Mentor of the Minessence Group. In 2001, he was personally invited by Eckhart Tolle, bestselling author of The Power of Now, to teach and facilitate the Practice of Presence. An important Portal to Presence for Weil has been the internal arts of Tai Chi and Qigong. Fifty years ago, Weil began his studies in New York City in the Yang Style Cheng Man-Ching lineage, followed by the Dong Family Yang style and Chen Beijing style lineages. He deepened his experience of Qigong by traveling the world co-teaching with Master Mantak Chia, a renowned teacher of Taoist Inner Alchemy who, Weil recounts, “would scribble down Qigong practices like the microcosmic orbit onto scraps of paper,” with Weil scrambling to pick them up and study them. In 1996, Weil became the founding chairman of the National Qigong Association and has studied or taught with direct lineage holders in the wisdom traditions of Taoism, Buddhism, Advaita, and The Gurdjieff Work.  Please join David Bonbright and Cynthia Li in conversation with this quintessential student of life and consciousness. 

An Unconventional Path to Treating Autoimmune Disease | This episode is brought to you by Vivobarefoot and Cozy EarthDr. Cynthia Li seemingly had it all—a successful career in medicine, a loving marriage, and children. But it all came crashing down after developing an autoimmune thyroid condition, chronic fatigue syndrome, and dysautonomia. Mysterious symptoms began consuming her body—test after test came back “within” normal limits,” baffling her and her doctors. She was housebound for two years with two young children, and she began a solo odyssey from her living room couch to find a way to heal. In this episode of The Dhru Purohit Podcast, Dhru sits down with Dr. Cynthia Li to talk about her disabling autoimmune illness, the limitations of Western medicine, and her hard-won lessons on healing—mind, body, and spirit.Dr. Cynthia Li received her medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Her personal health challenges led her to integrative and Functional Medicine, and she currently has a private practice in Berkeley, CA. She serves on the faculty of the Healer's Art program at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, and she is the author of Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness.In this episode, we dive into: -How Dr. Li came to discover her autoimmune disease (5:56)-The importance of not being attached to one healing modality (12:53)-How Dr. Li's mindset was a big obstruction to seeking alternative help (18:06)-Why we have to distance ourselves from our diagnosis (33:22)-One of the first things Dr. Li did to heal her illness (39:35) -How Dr. Li learned to tune into her own intuition and use it to guide her (43:19)-Key pillars that were crucial in Dr. Li's healing (55:55) -The impact qigong had on her healing journey (59:01)-Hitting rock bottom for the second time (1:00:34)-Dr. Li's qigong practice (1:12:33)For more on Dr. Cynthia Li follow her on Facebook @dr.cynthia.li and through her website https://cynthialimd.com/. Get her book Brave New Medicine at https://cynthialimd.com/brave-new-medicine/.This episode is brought to you by Vivobarefoot and Cozy Earth.Vivobarefoot footwear is designed to be wide, thin, and flexible, so you feel as close to barefoot as possible. They promote your foot's natural strength and movement and studies show that foot strength increases by 60% in a matter of months just by walking around in them. Right now they're offering my community 20% off their first order at vivobarefoot.com/DHRU. If you're looking for super comfortable and stylish men's and women's pajamas, joggers, robes, pullovers and hoodies, basically all the stuff we're all wearing working from home these days, Cozy Earth has got you covered! So what's Cozy Earth's not so secret fabric that powers their superior comfort? It's the miracle plant bamboo! Right now, Cozy Earth is offering my audience 40% off. Just head over to cozyearth.com and use the discount code DHRUPODCAST. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health and Athletic Greens.As a whole, autoimmune disease affects over 80 million Americans and five percent of the population in Western countries. They include type 1 diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, colitis, Crohn's disease, and dozens of others. While your body is designed to fight off harmful things like infections, toxins, allergens, or a stress response, with autoimmune issues the body directs a hostile attack on its own joints, brain, skin, and more.In this episode, Dr. Hyman speaks with Dr. Cynthia Li and Dr. Terry Wahls about their personal stories of working through autoimmunity and how it led them to help others using Functional Medicine. They also dive into the underlying triggers of inflammation such as stress, hidden infections, food allergies or sensitivities, toxic exposure, genetic predisposition, nutrient deficiencies, and leaky gut. Dr. Cynthia Li received her medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She's practiced as an internist in many settings, including Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Francisco General Hospital, and St. Anthony Medical Clinic serving the homeless. She currently has a private practice in Berkeley, CA and is the author of, Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness.Dr. Terry Wahls is an Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner and a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa where she conducts clinical trials. In 2018, she was awarded the Institute for Functional Medicine's Linus Pauling Award for her contributions in research, clinical care, and patient advocacy. Dr. Wahls was confined to a tilt-recline wheelchair for four years. She restored her health using a diet and lifestyle program she designed specifically for her brain and now pedals her bike to work each day. She is the author of The Wahls Protocol: A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions Using Paleo Principles, and the cookbook The Wahls Protocol Cooking for Life.This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health and Athletic Greens. Rupa Health is a place for Functional Medicine practitioners to access more than 2,000 specialty lab tests from over 20 labs like DUTCH, Vibrant America, Genova, Great Plains, and more. You can check out a free live demo with a Q&A or create an account at RupaHealth.com. Right now, Athletic Greens is offering my listeners 10 free travel packs of AG1 when you make your first purchase. Just go to athleticgreens.com/hyman to take advantage of this great offer. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"Sometimes everything seems just like a podcast. It's not my podcast, it's somebody else's" We return with a new trilogy, focusing on some of the lesser-known works of Swedish Film director Ingmar Bergman. This week, we focus on his 1968 film Shame, where we talk about the human effects of war, the possible rare political statements in the film, and the power of its ending. Do we have what it takes to survive a war? Find out on our 81st episode! On this Episode: Rohan Patel, Stephanie Chuang, and Cynthia Li! If you're interested in learning more about UW Film Club, you can follow us @filmclubuw Twitter and Instagram. You can check out more of our podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Google Play.

As a physician, Dr. Cynthia Li wanted to help people feel better. What she didn't expect was a health crisis that defied explanation. It wasn't until she was able to connect to her body and energy that the healing could begin. Cynthia Li, MD, is a physician and bestselling author of Brave New Medicine, a very personal memoir of her healing journey through a disabling autoimmune condition that took her from conventional medicine in public health to integrative, functional, and intuitive medicine. She also serves as faculty for Rachel Remen's Healer's Art program at UC San Francisco School of Medicine, where she shares her hard-won wisdom with medical residents in training. Her writing has been featured in The New York Times, Huffington Post, and Psychology Today.  To connect more with Dr. Li, visit http://www.cynthialimd.com/ (http://www.cynthialimd.com/) https://www.facebook.com/dr.cynthia.li (https://www.facebook.com/dr.cynthia.li) Head over to https://rebelhealthtribe.com/kit (https://rebelhealthtribe.com/kit) to get a free download of our loaded quick start guide to help you along your healing journey.  If you like us, subscribe, review, and share us with your friends, and come join our https://www.facebook.com/groups/831283146908660 (Rebel Health Tribe group on Facebook.) A https://www.angiemjordan.com/podcast-launch-bestie (Podcast Launch Bestie )production

As a surgeon based in eastern Nebraska, Demetrio Aguila, MD, has drawn patients from 34 states, 6 countries, and 4 continents, not only because of his innovative, life-changing surgeries for people suffering with chronic pain, but because of the compassionate payment option he offers: in lieu of dollars, patients can donate community service hours for their procedures. For example, if a patient needs a surgery with an insurance fee of $5,000, a donation of 250 hours of community service can cover the cost. “In my heart of hearts,” says Aguila, who served for over 20 years in medical missions for the US Air Force, “I had this hope that we would rekindle in our neighbors, and in ourselves, a sense of volunteerism.” From its inception, the vision Aguila had for Healing Hands of Nebraska, the clinic he founded, has been to offer “world-class health care to all comers in a way that’s compassionate, innovative, forward-thinking, affordable, and fair.” The pricing options are transparent; by not contracting with commercial insurance, patients know exactly what their charges are. For those at risk of significant medical debt or bankruptcy — the vast majority of whom face such risks even though they actually have medical insurance — Aguila devised the M25 program, a reference to Matthew 25:40 in the Bible, which calls humanity to serve one another with dignity and equity. Through M25, patients can either fulfill the volunteer hours themselves, or they can invite friends, family, neighbors, and even strangers to contribute to their total hours. As one patient noted of a nursing program that donated some 180 hours to his total, “It was the kindness of strangers that got this accomplished for me.” It’s not the first time Aguila has found himself in such a role of great weight and responsibility. During his senior year at Boston University, he joined the US Air Force and, between active duty and reserve time, would spend a total of 21 years in diplomatic and combat missions across Japan, South Korea, eastern Europe, and the Washington, D.C., area. For a time during his deployment to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, Aguila was the only head and neck surgeon, and the large majority of the surgeries performed were on civilians. More recently, Aguila’s unique combination of skills and creativity led to “Sober Surgery,” or surgery that doesn’t involve narcotics or benzodiazepines, two notoriously addictive classes of drugs. Having studied pain medicine and medical acupuncture, Aguila realized that, while he could use a combination of nerve blocks and non-narcotic drugs to control surgical and post-surgical pain, many of his patients, having endured years of chronic pain, were coming to him already addicted to such medications. “I didn’t know what to do with the addiction,” Aguila said. Then Rise Recovery stepped in as a perfect complement — an organization that offered treatment and support for addictions, but didn’t know how to treat the underlying pain. “It was a match made in heaven,” says Aguila. In addition to comprehensive nerve surgery for chronic pain, Aguila performs reconstructive and cosmetic plastic surgery. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, as well as the American Board of Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose, Throat, or ENT). Aguila has received training at various institutions, including Johns Hopkins Hospital, University of Maryland, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Among his numerous awards, he was awarded the Air Force District of Washington Surgical Excellence Award, NATO Medal, and Surgeon of the Year. Aguila is also a doting husband and the father of four children. He is proficient in multiple languages, including Tagalog and Spanish. For the past four years, he has pursued an MA in Theology from The Augustine Institute. Please join Ameeta Martin and Cynthia Li in conversation with this inspiring humanitarian, skilled surgeon, and innovative thinker.

As a surgeon based in eastern Nebraska, Demetrio Aguila, MD, has drawn patients from 34 states, 6 countries, and 4 continents, not only because of his innovative, life-changing surgeries for people suffering with chronic pain, but because of the compassionate payment option he offers: in lieu of dollars, patients can donate community service hours for their procedures. For example, if a patient needs a surgery with an insurance fee of $5,000, a donation of 250 hours of community service can cover the cost. “In my heart of hearts,” says Aguila, who served for over 20 years in medical missions for the US Air Force, “I had this hope that we would rekindle in our neighbors, and in ourselves, a sense of volunteerism.” From its inception, the vision Aguila had for Healing Hands of Nebraska, the clinic he founded, has been to offer “world-class health care to all comers in a way that’s compassionate, innovative, forward-thinking, affordable, and fair.” The pricing options are transparent; by not contracting with commercial insurance, patients know exactly what their charges are. For those at risk of significant medical debt or bankruptcy — the vast majority of whom face such risks even though they actually have medical insurance — Aguila devised the M25 program, a reference to Matthew 25:40 in the Bible, which calls humanity to serve one another with dignity and equity. Through M25, patients can either fulfill the volunteer hours themselves, or they can invite friends, family, neighbors, and even strangers to contribute to their total hours. As one patient noted of a nursing program that donated some 180 hours to his total, “It was the kindness of strangers that got this accomplished for me.” It’s not the first time Aguila has found himself in such a role of great weight and responsibility. During his senior year at Boston University, he joined the US Air Force and, between active duty and reserve time, would spend a total of 21 years in diplomatic and combat missions across Japan, South Korea, eastern Europe, and the Washington, D.C., area. For a time during his deployment to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, Aguila was the only head and neck surgeon, and the large majority of the surgeries performed were on civilians. More recently, Aguila’s unique combination of skills and creativity led to “Sober Surgery,” or surgery that doesn’t involve narcotics or benzodiazepines, two notoriously addictive classes of drugs. Having studied pain medicine and medical acupuncture, Aguila realized that, while he could use a combination of nerve blocks and non-narcotic drugs to control surgical and post-surgical pain, many of his patients, having endured years of chronic pain, were coming to him already addicted to such medications. “I didn’t know what to do with the addiction,” Aguila said. Then Rise Recovery stepped in as a perfect complement — an organization that offered treatment and support for addictions, but didn’t know how to treat the underlying pain. “It was a match made in heaven,” says Aguila. In addition to comprehensive nerve surgery for chronic pain, Aguila performs reconstructive and cosmetic plastic surgery. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, as well as the American Board of Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose, Throat, or ENT). Aguila has received training at various institutions, including Johns Hopkins Hospital, University of Maryland, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Among his numerous awards, he was awarded the Air Force District of Washington Surgical Excellence Award, NATO Medal, and Surgeon of the Year. Aguila is also a doting husband and the father of four children. He is proficient in multiple languages, including Tagalog and Spanish. For the past four years, he has pursued an MA in Theology from The Augustine Institute. Please join Ameeta Martin and Cynthia Li in conversation with this inspiring humanitarian, skilled surgeon, and innovative thinker.

What Is Your Mouth Telling You About Your Overall Health? | This episode is brought to you by Athletic GreensTraditional medicine approaches the body by isolating single organs and dividing them up into medical specialties. Yet, by seeking to identify the root cause of symptoms and correcting imbalances, long-lasting healing can be attained. It comes as no surprise then that oral health is connected to full-body health in myriad ways. From infectious and chronic diseases, chronic low energy, inflammation, and even protection from Alzheimer's—it appears everything is tied to the health of your mouth, gums, teeth, and saliva.In this mini-episode, Dr. Hyman speaks with Dr. Cynthia Li about how a trip to the dentist's office led to valuable insight in her journey through autoimmune disease. He also speaks with Dr. Todd LePine about the important link between oral health and systemic health.Dr. Cynthia Li received her medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She's practiced as an internist in many settings, including Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Francisco General Hospital, and St. Anthony Medical Clinic serving the homeless. She currently has a private practice in Berkeley, CA and is the author of, Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness.Dr. Todd LePine graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, specializing in Integrative Functional Medicine. He is an Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner. Prior to joining The UltraWellness Center, he worked as a physician at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA, for 10 years. Dr. LePine's focus at The UltraWellness Center is to help his patients achieve optimal health and vitality by restoring the natural balance to both the mind and the body. His areas of interest include optimal aging, bio-detoxification, functional gastrointestinal health, systemic inflammation, autoimmune disorders and the neurobiology of mood and cognitive disorders. Dr. LePine teaches around the world, and has given lectures to doctors and patients at American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM), Age Management Medicine Group (AMMG), the University of Miami Integrative Medicine Conference, The Kripalu Center in Lenox, MA, and is on the faculty for American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M). Dr. LePine is the head of the Scientific Advisory Board for Designs for Health and a consultant for Diagnostic Solutions Laboratory. He enjoys skiing, kayaking, hiking, camping and golfing in the beautiful Berkshires, and is a fitness enthusiast.This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. Athletic Greens is offering Doctor's Farmacy listeners a full year supply of their Vitamin D3/K2 Liquid Formula free with your first purchase, plus 5 free travel packs. Just go to athleticgreens.com/hyman to take advantage of this great offer.Find Dr. Hyman's full-length conversation with Dr. Cynthia Li, “How a Doctor Cured Her Autoimmune Disease with Functional Medicine” here: https://DrMarkHyman.lnk.to/CynthiaLi Find Dr. Hyman's full-length conversation with Dr. Todd LePine, “The Functional Medicine Approach To Oral Health” here: https://DrMarkHyman.lnk.to/92CPnu7E See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"Why do you want to podcast?...Why do you want to live?" In our final film in our trilogy of the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, we examine the film many consider their magnum opus: The Red Shoes. In our conversation, we talk about our personal relationships to the backstage musical genre, the gorgeous ballet sequence in the middle of the films, and the ambiguity of the film's ending. Are you doomed to dance until death in the red shoes? Find out on our 80th episode! On this Episode: Rohan Patel, Cynthia Li, and Natalia Owen If you're interested in learning more about UW Film Club, you can follow us @filmclubuw Twitter and Instagram. You can check out more of our podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Google Play.

"Without podcasts, we shall all behave like children." In the second film of our trilogy of works from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, we talk about their 1947 film Black Narcissus. During the podcast, we dive into the beautiful cinematography, some of the problems with racial representation in the film, and the wild third act that kept us on our toes! Do we have what it takes to set up a monastery in the Himalayas? Find out on our 79th episode! On this Episode: Rohan Patel, Cynthia Li, and Natalia Owen If you're interested in learning more about UW Film Club, you can follow us @filmclubuw Twitter and Instagram. You can check out more of our podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Google Play.

“Unlike Greek, Aramaic presents a fluid and holistic view of the cosmos. The arbitrary borders found in Greek between ‘mind,’ ‘body,’ and ‘spirit’ fall away.” —Neil Douglas-Klotz, Prayers of the Cosmos  Neil Douglas-Klotz, a world-renowned scholar in religious studies and psychology, defies easy categorization. He is a poet. Musician. Teacher of embodied prayers. Citizen diplomat. A Sufi. Linguist fluent in Aramaic, Hebrew, Arabic, German, among other languages. Author of eleven books, best known for his translations of the Aramaic words of Jesus and of the Arabic of the Qur’an. Thought leader and philosopher. Matthew Fox wrote of Douglas-Klotz’s book Prayers of the Cosmos, “Reader beware: though this book is brief, it contains the seeds of a revolution.” This particular revolution began in 1977 when Douglas-Klotz, as a young man, received a transliteration in English phonetics of the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. He was curious to explore something that his teacher, Samuel L. Lewis—an American mystic, horticultural scientist, Zen master, and Sufi murshid (senior teacher)—had hoped to complete before his death, but hadn’t: to learn to pray the Lord’s Prayer in the original words spoken by Jesus. Douglas-Klotz began to recite the words, then chant the sounds over and over again. “My body began to feel feelings I hadn’t felt before,” Douglas-Klotz recounted. “It was a visionary experience, a hal [or an expanded state, in Arabic].” He thought either he was going crazy and hearing voices in his head, or these body prayers might be something to try out with others.  Since then, Douglas-Klotz has become a pioneer in the radical translation and transliteration of the Lord’s Prayer and other teachings of Jesus. Two of his books,  Prayers of the Cosmos: Reflections on the Original Meaning of Jesus's Words and The Hidden Gospel: Decoding the Spiritual Message of the Aramaic Jesus, reveal a mystical, feminist, and cosmic Christ. Douglas-Klotz teaches not only in concept, but by direct experience through body prayers and chants, how Aramaic differs from the better known Greek and English versions of the Christian Gospels. He explains how Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew all share the same roots. These Semitic languages emanate direction, color, and movement of a universe that is holistic, fluid, and conscious. He created a website, www.abwoon.org, with audio and video resources, so anyone can learn these prayers from anywhere in the world. Douglas-Klotz was raised in Chicago by a multicultural family. Both sets of his grandparents were refugees from Europe of mixed German, Jewish, Russian, and Polish blood. His father was a chiropractor, and his mother was a student of healer and mystic Edgar Cayce. They were devout Christians, telling him stories of Jesus’s miracles and cultivating a sense of reverence and awe; they also taught him to question everything that challenged the greatest law to “love your neighbor as yourself." Douglas-Klotz was also impacted by Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, and the importance of caring for the environment.  After graduating from college and working as a journalist in social justice, environmental issues, and consumer protection, he began to study with the early students of the mystic and scientist Samuel L. Lewis, through whom Douglas-Klotz was introduced to the spiritual practice involving Dances of Universal Peace. He then began a deep exploration of the body, mystical and expanded states of consciousness, and the early pre-religious ways of the three Abrahamic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In addition to academic studies at various universities, where he received a master’s degree in somatic psychology and a doctorate in religious studies with an emphasis in ancient Semitic language hermeneutics, he studied with teachers from the native traditions of the Middle East, Pakistan, and India. In 1982, together with the Rev. Tasnim Fernandez, he co-founded the International Network for the Dances of Universal Peace. Several years later, he led a multinational group of dancers for peace on a citizen diplomacy trip to the Soviet Union, where they “demonstrated peace” in many public places with hundreds of local people joining them. Douglas-Klotz’s other books include The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish, Kahlil Gibran’s Little Book of Wisdom, Desert Wisdom: A Nomad’s Guide to Life’s Big Questions from the Heart of the Native Middle East, The Little Book of Sufi Stories and a historical mystery called A Murder at Armageddon. He has served as faculty at the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality, begun by theologian Matthew Fox, which in the 1990s gathered scientists, artists, educators, and students across different cultures and races.  Douglas-Klotz and his partner live in Fife, Scotland, where in 2007 he co-founded the Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace with Neill Walker. He lectures worldwide. Under his Sufi name, Saadi Shakur Chishti, he also offers spiritual retreats combining his work with Native Middle Eastern spirituality with the lineage of Chishti Sufism. Please join Cynthia Li and Pavi Mehta in conversation with this illuminating teacher of wisdom and peace.

“Unlike Greek, Aramaic presents a fluid and holistic view of the cosmos. The arbitrary borders found in Greek between ‘mind,’ ‘body,’ and ‘spirit’ fall away.” —Neil Douglas-Klotz, Prayers of the Cosmos  Neil Douglas-Klotz, a world-renowned scholar in religious studies and psychology, defies easy categorization. He is a poet. Musician. Teacher of embodied prayers. Citizen diplomat. A Sufi. Linguist fluent in Aramaic, Hebrew, Arabic, German, among other languages. Author of eleven books, best known for his translations of the Aramaic words of Jesus and of the Arabic of the Qur’an. Thought leader and philosopher. Matthew Fox wrote of Douglas-Klotz’s book Prayers of the Cosmos, “Reader beware: though this book is brief, it contains the seeds of a revolution.” This particular revolution began in 1977 when Douglas-Klotz, as a young man, received a transliteration in English phonetics of the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. He was curious to explore something that his teacher, Samuel L. Lewis—an American mystic, horticultural scientist, Zen master, and Sufi murshid (senior teacher)—had hoped to complete before his death, but hadn’t: to learn to pray the Lord’s Prayer in the original words spoken by Jesus. Douglas-Klotz began to recite the words, then chant the sounds over and over again. “My body began to feel feelings I hadn’t felt before,” Douglas-Klotz recounted. “It was a visionary experience, a hal [or an expanded state, in Arabic].” He thought either he was going crazy and hearing voices in his head, or these body prayers might be something to try out with others.  Since then, Douglas-Klotz has become a pioneer in the radical translation and transliteration of the Lord’s Prayer and other teachings of Jesus. Two of his books,  Prayers of the Cosmos: Reflections on the Original Meaning of Jesus's Words and The Hidden Gospel: Decoding the Spiritual Message of the Aramaic Jesus, reveal a mystical, feminist, and cosmic Christ. Douglas-Klotz teaches not only in concept, but by direct experience through body prayers and chants, how Aramaic differs from the better known Greek and English versions of the Christian Gospels. He explains how Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew all share the same roots. These Semitic languages emanate direction, color, and movement of a universe that is holistic, fluid, and conscious. He created a website, www.abwoon.org, with audio and video resources, so anyone can learn these prayers from anywhere in the world. Douglas-Klotz was raised in Chicago by a multicultural family. Both sets of his grandparents were refugees from Europe of mixed German, Jewish, Russian, and Polish blood. His father was a chiropractor, and his mother was a student of healer and mystic Edgar Cayce. They were devout Christians, telling him stories of Jesus’s miracles and cultivating a sense of reverence and awe; they also taught him to question everything that challenged the greatest law to “love your neighbor as yourself." Douglas-Klotz was also impacted by Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, and the importance of caring for the environment.  After graduating from college and working as a journalist in social justice, environmental issues, and consumer protection, he began to study with the early students of the mystic and scientist Samuel L. Lewis, through whom Douglas-Klotz was introduced to the spiritual practice involving Dances of Universal Peace. He then began a deep exploration of the body, mystical and expanded states of consciousness, and the early pre-religious ways of the three Abrahamic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In addition to academic studies at various universities, where he received a master’s degree in somatic psychology and a doctorate in religious studies with an emphasis in ancient Semitic language hermeneutics, he studied with teachers from the native traditions of the Middle East, Pakistan, and India. In 1982, together with the Rev. Tasnim Fernandez, he co-founded the International Network for the Dances of Universal Peace. Several years later, he led a multinational group of dancers for peace on a citizen diplomacy trip to the Soviet Union, where they “demonstrated peace” in many public places with hundreds of local people joining them. Douglas-Klotz’s other books include The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish, Kahlil Gibran’s Little Book of Wisdom, Desert Wisdom: A Nomad’s Guide to Life’s Big Questions from the Heart of the Native Middle East, The Little Book of Sufi Stories and a historical mystery called A Murder at Armageddon. He has served as faculty at the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality, begun by theologian Matthew Fox, which in the 1990s gathered scientists, artists, educators, and students across different cultures and races.  Douglas-Klotz and his partner live in Fife, Scotland, where in 2007 he co-founded the Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace with Neill Walker. He lectures worldwide. Under his Sufi name, Saadi Shakur Chishti, he also offers spiritual retreats combining his work with Native Middle Eastern spirituality with the lineage of Chishti Sufism. Please join Cynthia Li and Pavi Mehta in conversation with this illuminating teacher of wisdom and peace.

"Don't be upset about the parachute, I'll have my podcast soon." We are kicking off a trilogy of podcasts on the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger with their 1946 film, A Matter of Life and Death. During the podcast, we talk about the beautiful cinematography, whether we bought into the romantic relationship between Peter and June, and if the ending meant it was all real or not. Can you fight for love in the afterlife? Find out on our 78th episode! On this episode: Rohan Patel, Piper Coyner, Joel Garcia, Cynthia Li, and Natalia Owen You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every week for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

"Quit whining! It's fun to listen to a new podcast, it's an adventure." Concluding our Miyazaki trilogy, we look back at the 2001's Spirited Away. During the podcast, we talk about the detailed animation and world-building, the film's messages about capitalism and pollution, and whether the ending's implication about the reality of the adventure. Can we all get lost visiting an abandoned theme park? Find out on our 77th episode! On this episode: Cynthia Li, Piper Coyner, Stephanie Chuang, Joel Garcia, and Rohan Patel You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every week for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

“They say that the best podcast burns brightest when circumstances are at their worst.” Continuing Piper and Natalia's introductory dive into Miyazaki oeuvre, we take a trip to 2004 with Stephanie's favorite Miyazaki film ‘Howl's Moving Castle.' In this podcast we talk about the intricate and beautiful display of animation, the staunch anti-war themes and how that work or does not work with the love story, whether the ending is ironic, and the intricate way the film explores self-love and what motivates self-hate. Does love truly conquer all? Find out on our 76th episode! On this episode: Cynthia Li, Stephanie Chuang, Natalia Owen, and Piper Coyner You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every week for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

"To listen to podcasts unclouded by hate." Inspired by our latest trilogy and our special guest's admission of never seeing a Studio Ghibli film, we've decided to start off a new trilogy exploring the films of Hayao Miyazaki. Starting off with host Joel's favorite Miyazaki film ‘Princess Mononoke' we talk about how all of us got into Studio Ghibli, our changed perception of the films as children compared to now, the oddly pessimistic, yet welcome themes on the environment and human duality, and our complicated feelings towards the character Lady Eboshi. Take a trip to Ironworks why don't you and check out the 75th episode of the UW Film Club podcast! On this episode: Cynthia Li, Joel Garcia, Stephanie Chuang, and Piper Coyner You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every week for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

“I always wanted to be a Tenenbaum podcaster!” To attempt to finish off Cynthia's quest of trying to figure out Wes Anderson, we are ending our Wes Anderson trilogy with a look into ‘Royal Tenenbaums'! In this episode we take a look to figure out if this is the perfect medium between Anderson's aesthetic of ‘Grand Budapest Hotel' and grounded empathy ‘Rushmore', discuss Anderson's lack of racial diversity in casting in general, marvel at Gwyneth Paltrow's ability to not be associated with Goop, and rank all the Anderson films we've seen so far. Get your red Adidas jumpsuit on and join us on 74th episode of the UW Film Club podcast! On this episode: Cynthia Li, Joel Garcia, Stephanie Chuang, and Natalia Owen You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every week for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

"Rudeness is merely the expression of fear. People fear they won't get what they want. The most dreadful and unattractive person only needs to listen to the UW Film Club Podcast and they will open up like a flower." After a hearty yet incomplete debate of "Why Wes Anderson?" in our last podcast, we decided to take a trip to Wes Anderson's most well-known and astounding film, 'Grand Budapest Hotel.' With returning guest/Wes Anderson expert Natalia Owen to guide us, we unpack if the film is too much aesthetic, whether the backdrop of war is explored well enough, and laugh/yell about our favorite comedic moments of the film. Join us with our 73rd episode as we try to get our hands on 'Boy with Apple!' On this episode: Cynthia Li, Joel Garcia, Stephanie Chuang, and Natalia Owen You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every week for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

"I guess you've just gotta find something you love to do and then... do it for the rest of your life. For me, it's to podcast!" With the school year coming to a close, we decided we will be kicking off our 2021 summer podcast series with a look back to our high school angst with Wes Anderson's second feature film 'Rushmore.' In this episode, special guest Natalia Owen talks about why it's her favorite film as we delve into the whimsicality of Wes Anderson, the complex characterizations that Anderson is able to create, and debate whether this is the most grounded work of his oeuvre. Check out our 72nd episode and get a glimpse of Cynthia's existential quandary of "Why Wes Anderson?" On this episode: Cynthia Li, Joel Garcia, Stephanie Chuang, Rohan Patel, and Natalia Owen You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every week for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

When doctors are stymied by a patient's case, they often label the patient "difficult." What can you do when that label has been put on you? Dr. Cynthia Li, author of “Brave New Medicine,” understands where you're coming from. Because it happened to her, too. A functional medicine physician, she once was labeled "difficult" while dealing with a debilitating auto-immune condition.   Today, she describes her own personal journey to health, and how she had to shift her paradigm from one of relying on external authorities and rationality, to moving toward embracing intuition, instinct, and ancestral wisdom. She discusses the importance of “not trying harder but trying differently.” And how, for her, true healing came as she pursued connecting with herself on a profound level.   Visit Cynthia's website: cynthialimd.com Check out our upcoming WAPF events. Rate and review our podcast. Join our email list. See our online store.

It's been a wild year, and we're *finally* back with a round-up of our favorite films from the last year! Tune into our 3-hour long 71st episode of the UW Film Club Podcast! On this episode: Jim Saunders, Cynthia Li, Joel Garcia, Stephanie Chuang, Issac Flores, Piper Coyner, and Rohan Patel You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every week for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

With a unique combination of researcher, doctor, and Buddhist practitioner, Dr. Emeran Mayer has been leading the movement to “bring the brain back into medicine” for the past 40 years. His work at the David Geffen School of Medicine has illumined the mysterious connection between the mind and the gut, which Mayer understands to be the body's "second brain".  “The gut contains wisdom,” Mayer says, and we’d do well to pay attention to it. In his best-selling book, The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Astonishing Dialogue Taking Place in Our Bodies Impacts Health, Weight, and Mood, Mayer explains how microbes in the human gut outnumber human cells 10:1. Imagine a world of darkness, nearly void of oxygen, where 100 trillion microbe inhabitants have been learning the art of peaceful coexistence and perfecting the science of wordless communication for billions of years. This is the mysterious ecosystem of the gut. So when the brain sends signals to the gut and the gut sends signals to the brain in a two-way conversation, occurring 24-7 and even when we’re sleeping, this micro-ecosystem—influenced by what we eat, drink, think, feel, and inherit—functions as the most sophisticated information gathering organ in our bodies. It influences our overall health, moods, appetites, and personalities. Mayer grew up in the Bavarian Alps in a line of four generations of German confectionery storeowners. Until he was 17, he worked in the family business and made pastries and cakes for all sorts of occasions. He recounts: ”I started to associate the sweet aromas of chocolate and vanilla and other ingredients with the seasons and the major holidays, without conscious awareness that I was laying the blueprints for my future career studying the complex interactions between food, the mind, and the gut.” When it was time for Mayer to go to college, he agonized over the decision to follow in the family tradition or pursue other interests. Pro-and-con lists proving futile, he chose to follow his “gut feeling.” He studied science at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and went on to Ludwig Maximilian University Medical School. Upon graduating, Mayer followed his passion in documentary filmmaking and traveled the world to study and film native healers in the Yanoama tribes of the Amazon rainforest and the Asmat people in current-day Papua New Guinea in Indonesia. Across cultures, he explored his interest in the gut-brain connection. At UCLA, Mayer runs the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience and co-directs the Digestive Diseases Research Center (CURE). He has published more than 370 scientific papers, co-edited 3 scientific books, and received numerous awards, including the 2016 David McLean Award from the American Psychosomatic Society. His current research focuses on the role of brain-gut interactions in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, autism, obesity, and inflammatory bowel disease. Mayer co-produced the award-winning documentary “In Search of Balance,” an exploration of a new paradigm of health, science, and medicine, based on the interconnections between us and Nature. He is currently working on a new documentary, “Interconnected Planet,” and a forthcoming book, The Gut-Immune Connection. In addition to his intellectual pursuits, Mayer is a deep student of Buddhism. He was a member of the UCLA Zen Center for several years, and he and his wife were married by Choekyi Nyima Rinpoche in a Tibetan monastery in Kathmandu. He has also practiced other mind-based strategies like Ericksonian hypnosis and autogenic training, a relaxation-desensitization technique.  Please join Andrew Kim and Cynthia Li in conversation with this pioneering doctor, scientist, and teacher.

With a unique combination of researcher, doctor, and Buddhist practitioner, Dr. Emeran Mayer has been leading the movement to “bring the brain back into medicine” for the past 40 years. His work at the David Geffen School of Medicine has illumined the mysterious connection between the mind and the gut, which Mayer understands to be the body's "second brain".  “The gut contains wisdom,” Mayer says, and we’d do well to pay attention to it. In his best-selling book, The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Astonishing Dialogue Taking Place in Our Bodies Impacts Health, Weight, and Mood, Mayer explains how microbes in the human gut outnumber human cells 10:1. Imagine a world of darkness, nearly void of oxygen, where 100 trillion microbe inhabitants have been learning the art of peaceful coexistence and perfecting the science of wordless communication for billions of years. This is the mysterious ecosystem of the gut. So when the brain sends signals to the gut and the gut sends signals to the brain in a two-way conversation, occurring 24-7 and even when we’re sleeping, this micro-ecosystem—influenced by what we eat, drink, think, feel, and inherit—functions as the most sophisticated information gathering organ in our bodies. It influences our overall health, moods, appetites, and personalities. Mayer grew up in the Bavarian Alps in a line of four generations of German confectionery storeowners. Until he was 17, he worked in the family business and made pastries and cakes for all sorts of occasions. He recounts: ”I started to associate the sweet aromas of chocolate and vanilla and other ingredients with the seasons and the major holidays, without conscious awareness that I was laying the blueprints for my future career studying the complex interactions between food, the mind, and the gut.” When it was time for Mayer to go to college, he agonized over the decision to follow in the family tradition or pursue other interests. Pro-and-con lists proving futile, he chose to follow his “gut feeling.” He studied science at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and went on to Ludwig Maximilian University Medical School. Upon graduating, Mayer followed his passion in documentary filmmaking and traveled the world to study and film native healers in the Yanoama tribes of the Amazon rainforest and the Asmat people in current-day Papua New Guinea in Indonesia. Across cultures, he explored his interest in the gut-brain connection. At UCLA, Mayer runs the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience and co-directs the Digestive Diseases Research Center (CURE). He has published more than 370 scientific papers, co-edited 3 scientific books, and received numerous awards, including the 2016 David McLean Award from the American Psychosomatic Society. His current research focuses on the role of brain-gut interactions in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, autism, obesity, and inflammatory bowel disease. Mayer co-produced the award-winning documentary “In Search of Balance,” an exploration of a new paradigm of health, science, and medicine, based on the interconnections between us and Nature. He is currently working on a new documentary, “Interconnected Planet,” and a forthcoming book, The Gut-Immune Connection. In addition to his intellectual pursuits, Mayer is a deep student of Buddhism. He was a member of the UCLA Zen Center for several years, and he and his wife were married by Choekyi Nyima Rinpoche in a Tibetan monastery in Kathmandu. He has also practiced other mind-based strategies like Ericksonian hypnosis and autogenic training, a relaxation-desensitization technique.  Please join Andrew Kim and Cynthia Li in conversation with this pioneering doctor, scientist, and teacher.

Doctor Cynthia Li shares the truth about her disabling autoimmune illness, the limitations of Western medicine, and her hard-won lessons on healing—mind, body, and spirit. Li had it all: a successful career in medicine, a loving marriage, children on the horizon. But it all came crashing down when, after developing an autoimmune thyroid condition, mysterious symptoms began consuming her body. Test after test came back “within normal limits,” baffling her doctors—and baffling herself. Housebound with two young children, Li began a solo odyssey from her living room couch to find a way to heal. Patients with complex ailments often are dismissed as difficult. Dr. Li faced this harsh reality of a doctor-turned-”difficult patient” Her book, Brave New Medicine details the physical and existential crisis that forces a young doctor to question her own medical training. She dives into the root causes of her illness, learning to unlock her body's innate intelligence and wholeness.

Doctor Cynthia Li shares the truth about her disabling autoimmune illness, the limitations of Western medicine, and her hard-won lessons on healing—mind, body, and spirit. Li had it all: a successful career in medicine, a loving marriage, children on the horizon. But it all came crashing down when, after developing an autoimmune thyroid condition, mysterious symptoms began consuming her body. Test after test came back “within normal limits,” baffling her doctors—and baffling herself. Housebound with two young children, Li began a solo odyssey from her living room couch to find a way to heal. Patients with complex ailments often are dismissed as difficult. Dr. Li faced this harsh reality of a doctor-turned-”difficult patient” Her book, Brave New Medicine details the physical and existential crisis that forces a young doctor to question her own medical training. She dives into the root causes of her illness, learning to unlock her body's innate intelligence and wholeness.

All over the world, millions of people have had their lives devastated due to unknown or unsolved illnesses. In addition, "many patients presenting with medically unexplained symptoms also meet the diagnostic criteria for anxiety and/or depression." (1) If you've ever experienced chronic illness, you know why these symptoms usually accompany depression. Feeling pain on a daily basis can cause depression. Concern over frightening symptoms can create anxiety and lead to panic attacks. It's all so hard to unravel. It's all in your head For those with chronic pain or symptoms of illness lasting more than six months, every day tasks can become challenging. When the illness is something that others can't see, there is another layer of complication. Living with an invisible illness can be an isolating experience which often brings about feelings of self-doubt. The first instinct when experiencing mysterious symptoms is typically to seek a diagnosis. A patient may feel disappointed after visiting the doctor a few times without receiving answers. In fact, among those with chronic illness, seeing many doctors without answers may become the norm. This can be even more frustrating when you pay a doctor only to hear, "there's nothing wrong with you." What can be even more discouraging is when a doctor tells you "it's psychosomatic." There is a mind-body connection but likely it's not all in your head. Definition of psychosomatic of, relating to, concerned with, or involving both mind and bodyof, relating to, involving, or concerned with bodily symptoms caused by mental or emotional disturbance If you've ever been told you are "perfectly normal" when seeking a help for what clearly feels like dis-ease in your physical body, you'll want to listen to A Healthy Bite with Dr. Cynthia Li. Brave New Medicine In her revelatory memoir, Dr. Li shares her path to healing; how she overcame debilitating symptoms and the journey to recovery. Dr. Li was enjoying a successful in her career in medicine, but this became a challenge when an autoimmune thyroid condition led to mysterious symptoms in her body. Like many people with an undiagnosed illness, test after test came back "within normal limits." She started to question her illness and, being a doctor, referred herself to a psychiatrist, who told her she was in good mental health. At this point, Dr. Li was sent back to other specialists for more tests. At home with two young children, Dr. Li embarks upon the journey to find a way to heal herself. She becomes more regimented, prioritizes sleep, and eats healthier. As a practicing vegetarian, she began to do more research which led to her altering her food choices. Brave New Medicine chronicles the quest of a young doctor and mother who bravely shifts her thinking. She undertakes an investigation into the root causes of her sickness. It is on this path, Dr. Li explores the emotional and spiritual side of healing. In spite of her medical training, Dr. Li's journey gives insight into one of the problems with western medicine. Dr. Li wrote her memoir in hopes it would offer support, validation, and a new perspective for doctors and patients alike. Through her story, she hopes to share how patients can also begin a healing journey. An amazing perspective Over the years, as I sought answers for myself or my daughter, as I've listened to the stories of countless friends and acquaintances with unexplained symptoms, I have often wondered what it's like for the doctor when these tests come back normal. This was a unique opportunity to talk to a physician who knows what it's like to be the patient. Dr. Li's book is a wonderful tool to help you on your path to healing. Meet Dr. Cynthia Li CYNTHIA LI, MD graduated from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and has practiced internal medicine in settings as diverse as Kaiser Permanente Medical Center,

Dr. Cynthia Li, MD, author of Brave New Medicine, joins us today to talk about her book, her journey with auto-immune disease, looking at the environmental health of your body, and much more.  Listen and share now! web: cultivatewellnesspodcast.com instagram: @cultivatewellnesspodcast Always brought to you by Peoples Rx, Austin's Favorite Pharmacy!

CYNTHIA LI, MD, received her medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She has practiced as an internist in settings as diverse as Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Francisco General Hospital, and St. Anthony Medical Clinic serving the homeless. After an autoimmune illness left her housebound for 2 years, she dove into the root causes of her illness, and returned to medicine as a very different doctor. Currently, she has a private practice in integrative and functional medicine, and serves on the faculty of the Healer's Art program at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine. She lives in Berkeley, CA, with her husband and their two daughters.