Health Grooves

Decision making is one of the most challenging aspects of leading, as we never have all the information we need and yet we still need to act. Especially in these unprecedented times of great uncertainty. Our special guest, Rick Snyder, executive coach, and author of “ decisive Intuition," researches and implements how to incorporate intuition into the decision-making process make better and faster decisions that impact all areas of the business. And this conversation is more timely than ever. I talk to Rick about how to stay balanced and keep moving forward personally and professionally in this “time of Covid.

Veronika Gold, a psychologist from the Czech Republic and a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California, has an expertise in the treatment of anxiety, depression, and PTSD. She is a co-founder and CEO of Polaris Insight Center in San Francisco, clinic providing Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy treatment for depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other mental health issues. Veronika provides Psychedelic Integration Therapy and serves as a consultant, trainer, and presenter on Psychedelic Assisted Therapies. In this conversation, we discuss her cutting edge work with psychoactive substances, her evolution as a therapist and the future of these modalities. Links: www.polarisinsight.com www.veronikagold.com Polaris Pulse

Dr. Stephanie Wellington, also known as “The Nurturing MD” is an award winning physician, international keynote speaker, certified professional coach and the founder of “Nurturing MDs.” In this conversation, we discuss her work with medical doctors and other health care professionals suffering from burnout, an alarming trend throughout the medical profession. Her core curriculum, “Lessons in Life and Medicine,” is based on the premise that personal discovery is the missing piece to life and career success. We also discuss the unique challenges of being on the front lines in the battle against COVID-19, another layer of stress being faced by practitioners in hospitals around the country. Link: nurturingmds.com/

Larry Cammarata, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist specializing in mindfulness-based therapy and education. He’s the Director of Education for Mindfulness Travels, an organization that provides educational retreats around the world with leaders in the fields of mindfulness and mindful movement. Larry is also an instructor of the ancient Chinese movement arts of Qigong and Tai Chi. In this conversation, we discuss the challenges people are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic and how mindfulness based practices can help relieve stress and support peace of mind during this difficult time. Links: MindfulnessTravels.com Mind-BodyWellness.org

Bradley Angel is the Executive Director of Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice. In 1997, Bradley joined with grassroots urban, rural and indigenous community leaders from California and Arizona to form Greenaction, a multiracial organization working with low income, working class and communities of color on the frontlines of environmental racism, injustice, and climate change. For over 30 years, Bradley has been a local and national leader in the environmental health and justice movement and has helped communities win some of the most significant victories in the history of the environmental justice movement. Prior to co-founding Greenaction, Bradley was the Southwest Toxics Campaigner for Greenpeace USA from 1986 through 1997. In this conversation we discuss Brad’s work over the past decades and what he is working on today as well as the disparate health and economic effects on marginalized communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Ruchi Puri is a San Francisco based Ob/Gyn who teaches clients holistic approaches to transforming their health. She is a graduate of George Washington and Duke Universities with additional education in Ayurvedic Medicine, Five Element Acupuncture, Trauma and Modalities of Spiritual Healing. She has an integrative women’s wellness platform with on-line courses and groups to support women embody their wellness potential and regain their vitality. Her blog: Unveiling Being on www.ruchipuri.com helps readers redefine their understanding of many of the modern challenges to health we are facing today. In this conversation, Ruchi gives her perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic, how we are treating it and its meaning on an individual and a collective level. She says that there is much for us to learn from what we are going through right now. The question is: will we learn those lessons.

Dr. David Seaman graduated from New York Chiropractic College in 1986 and almost immediately fell into inflammation, nutrition, and pain research. His scientific scientific papers on these topics have been cited by scientists at internationally. He has coined the term “DeFlame Nutrition” which describes the low grade chronic inflammatory process that afflicts much of our population and is the cause of most chronic disease. This is especially important in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in which it has been determined that those most at risk of infection with severe complications are suffering from chronic conditions. In this conversation, we discuss both the causes of this inflammation as well as the nutritional and lifestyle approaches we need to adopt to reverse the process. With the bulk of chronic disease today caused by lifestyle choices, from diet to exercise to sleep, Dr. Seaman’s work is especially poignant. Links: Web: www.DeFlame.com You Tube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC01BY1nkLX15_RdTd4LOK1g Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeFlameNutrition/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARArbNVkbI5GtF8u6HY1ZD_SG9b5ZtIRWIvs93oRapO_g3Wwp2DQU-ANdBvs6LBBKRCcWESfd7DK-rNy

George has been a spiritual teacher and counselor in the Bay Area for over 30 years. He is an Elder of Medicine Path Native American Church in the San Francisco Bay Area. He lives and works in Berkeley, California. In this conversation we discuss the challenges of having our worlds turned upside down by the corona virus. From lost jobs and the financial strains suddenly thrust upon us to questions about the meaning for us individually and collectively in this time of great disruption. How has this crisis impacted our ideas of who we are and how do we move forward in a changed world? George provides important incites that can help guide us through this turbulent time. Links: medicinepath.org

MusiCares is the health and human services wing of the Recording Academy (which also produces the Grammys.) Musicares provides vital assistance to musicians in need of a variety of health services, from addiction services to dental, medical and even housing support. Harold Owens, Senior Director, has been providing lifelines for those in the music industry since 1999. As a musician who struggled with his own addiction, Harold understands the challenges and struggles that come with a life in the music business. In this conversation we discuss Harold’s evolution to become one of the most trusted and respected people in the music community and his work with MusiCares; from setting up Safe Harbor Rooms at music festivals to advocating for musicians who have fallen on hard times and need a helping hand. We discuss his personal road to recovery and his advice for musicians struggling with “the creativity myth.” Link: Musicares: www.grammy.com/musicares

Denise Cicuto is a Licensed Acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist, and a diplomate in Oriental Medicine with certifications in Gua Sha, Alchemical healing, and advanced training in pregnancy and postpartum care. Denise once suffered from chronic pain, which lead her to try acupuncture and become an acupuncturist herself. Now Denise helps people live beyond emotional and physical pain. In this conversation we discuss Denise’s work with alchemical acupuncture, addressing the emotional components that underlie the manifestation of physical symptoms.

Ed Marshall has spent the last twenty years as the production and stage manager for Devo. From 2013 until 2016 he was on the road with Blondie and before that with TSOL. He is a veteran of many years on the road from touring in a van to high end rock festivals. As part of a series on musicians health and healing, Ed and Ricky talk about life on the road, its effects on musicians both physically and emotionally, and how one cares for ones body, mind and soul under what can be some rough conditions. Ed describes the less glamorous life behind the stage and how he has successfully coped with the stresses of the “road life.” Ed still tours and plays in his own band, “The Ooks of Hazzard.” Links: www.linkedin.com/in/ed-marshall-59b81732/ www.facebook.com/ooksofhazzard/

Thomas De Raedt, MSE, Ph.D., is a leading cancer researcher and an Investigator at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Center for Childhood Cancer Research . Dr. De Raedt joined CHOP from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow. He earned his Master’s degree in Engineering of Cell and Gene Biotechnology from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, in Leuven, Belgium and his Ph.D. in Medical Sciences at the same institution in the Lab of Dr. Eric Legius, working on Neurofibromatosis type I. In this conversation, we discuss the state of cancer research in America, controversies over the direction of that research and the specific work he is doing in his lab. It was an honor to have the conversation with someone at the cutting edge of cancer research.

Dr. Ruchi Puri is a San Francisco based Ob/Gyn who teaches clients holistic approaches to transforming their health. She is a graduate of George Washington and Duke Universities with additional education in Ayurvedic Medicine, Five Element Acupuncture, Trauma and Modalities of Spiritual Healing. She has an integrative women’s wellness platform with on-line courses and groups to support women embody their wellness potential and regain their vitality. Her blog: Unveiling Being on www.ruchipuri.com helps readers redefine their understanding of many of the modern challenges to health we are facing today. In this conversation, Ruchi describes the evolution of women's health care over the past century and how she practices holistically, taking into account the significance of the physical, chemical, emotional and spiritual dimensions of health. Ruchi is practicing on the cutting edge of modern medicine.

Rik Center is the author of the new book, “If You Can’t Change Your Mood, Change Your Mind ~ mindful reflections toward self-discovery.” Rik is co-founder of the Mindfulness Care Center, through which he teaches and develops a variety of mindful classes and how to work with unresolved traumatic anxiety. Rik is a Mindful-Somatic Counselor, Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, and has served as a Buddhist/Interfaith Chaplain at San Francisco General and CPMC Hospitals. In this conversation we discuss Rik’s new book and the nature of mindfulness practice. You can reach Rik at rik@mindfulnesscare.org 415-786-5456 Websites: mindfulnesscare.org rikcenter.com

Nancy Myrick is a Certified Nurse-Midwife and has been the director of San Francisco Birth Center since 2015. She has practiced home birth midwifery since 2003 with Rites of Passage Midwifery. Nancy began attending births as a doula in 1993, received her RN in 2000, and completed her training in midwifery in 2003 through the UCSF Nurse Midwifery Education Program. She has attended hundreds of births in homes, birth centers, and hospitals and believes that choice in childbirth helps parents begin the long path toward building great humans! In our conversation we will discuss the history and the current state of midwifery in the United States, and particularly in the Bay Area. Links www.sfbirthcenter.com

Dr. Mark Schillinger is a writer, community leader, public speaker, family mentor, and an expert on stress management in family dynamics. He’s the creator of the parenting method, The RIGHT Way for Family Unity®, which provides a clear roadmap to help families achieve their true potential. Dr. Schillinger’s wisdom draws upon the sciences of personal growth, neuro-plasticity, positive discipline, stress management and Western psychology, as well as from the insights of Eastern philosophy and ancestral tribal wisdom. Dr. Schillinger is the founder of the non-profit, the Young Men's Ultimate Weekend, a wilderness, non-religious rite of passage event that shows adolescent young men how to successfully handle the challenges of the adult world. He’s also the founder of Challenging Teenage Sons, which shows parents and their sons how to enjoy more caring and cooperative relationships. Dr. Schillinger teaches a continuing education course for health care practitioners called, Adjusting the Mind Seminar. This course explains the neuro-science of stress management and shows practitioners how to teach their patients effective mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques that lowers stress hormones levels in 15 seconds.

After working in the nonprofit human rights sector and overseeing advocacy travel programs for two decades, founder Malia Everette recognized the power of travel to increase intercultural understanding, forge peaceful dialogue, transform consciousness, and inspire the agency of the traveler. She simultaneously recognized the economic power of travel, when the experiences and the tourism dollars were directly benefiting local communities and the host economy. Thus AltruVistas was founded upon core ethical values as well as the pragmatic financial strategy of deeply examining our travel “supply web.” In this conversation Malia describes the relationship between travel, health and healing, on a personal, social, and global level. Travel, she believes is much more than checking off boxes on a wish list. Rather, it is a way to heal and transform the world and ourselves. Altruvistas Travel: altruvistas.com/ Ethical Traveller: altruvistas.com/

Talal Khan is a physician delivering personal primary care by fusing modern medicine and lifestyle management. In this conversation, Dr. Khan describes his journey from idealistic resident to corporate MD, where his work was overseen by administrators in back offices far from where he was seeing his patients. He finally made the bold transition to private practice where he has been able to practice medicine in the way he envisioned, and taken control of his professional life. Too many practitioners today are suffering burnout, or what is becoming known as “moral injury,” because of the corporatization of medicine. Dr. Khan provides insight into why.

Jodi Halpern, MD, PhD, Professor of Bioethics at UC Berkeley, is the co-founder of the Berkeley Group for the Ethics and Regulation of Innovative Technologies. Her work brings together psychiatry, philosophy and behavioral economics. Her first book, From Detached Concern to Empathy: Humanizing Medical Practice was called a “seminal work” by JAMA. Halpern’s most recent research projects address innovative health technologies, including genetic engineering, AI and VR. She speaks internationally, including at Davos in 2018 and 2019 (and she has been invited back now for 2020). Jodi’s research focuses on the role of emotional beliefs in bioethics and how biased and unrealistic expectations create barriers to empathy and respect for autonomy. Her work lies ate the intersection of philosophy, psychiatry and psychology. In this conversation we discuss her ground breaking work on empathy and her new emphasis on the ethics of artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Links: jodihalpern.com https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/people/jodi-halpern/

Rick Snyder is the author of Decisive Intuition, and the Founder and CEO of Invisible Edge, an international consulting firm that develops intuitive intelligence for leaders and teams for more effective decision-making, sales, leadership and innovation. He speaks to businesses and organizations regularly and has been featured in Forbes, The Economist, Inc., CNBC, and Fast Company, as well as live TV. Beyond consulting, he has launched four businesses and combines that experience with 20 years of studying human behavior to coach leaders to develop and implement intuitive skills into their business plans and company culture. In our conversation we discuss why his book and work, that seem to apply mainly to business, informs not just ones “bottom line” but the quality of ones life. In a free wheeling conversation, Rick shows why he is one of the best and most in-demand coaches in the space. Links: Book: Decisive Intuition. Website: Invisible Edge. e-Learning Platform: Intuition University.