Your Ring Isn’t Smarter Than You: Dr. Jen Huberty on Intuition, Hormones & Health (004)
Release Date: 06/04/2025
Why Plants Change How You Think and Feel with Spiritual Herbalist Tracy James
The Vitalist
What if your body already knows how to communicate with plants? In this episode of The Vitalist, Dr. Sera sits down with spiritual herbalist Tracy James to explore the living intelligence of plants, the five elements, and our innate ability to reconnect with nature as a source of healing, regulation, and wisdom. We dive into how the earth, water, fire, air, and ether elements shape the way plants communicate through the body, emotions, mind, and spirit. Tracy shares her journey into plant communication, her time learning from Shipibo shamans in Peru, and how practices like plant bathing,...
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What’s Really in Your Wine? Regenerative Farming, Biodynamics & the Intelligence of Nature with Alice Anderson
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What if wine could be more than a beverage? What if it was a living expression of soil health, intuition, and care? In this episode of The Vitalist, Dr. Keiko sits down with Alice Anderson, founder and winemaker of Amevive, to explore the intersection of regenerative agriculture, biodynamic farming, and embodied winemaking. Alice shares her journey from growing up around wine labels to falling in love with animals, farming, and the intelligence of land, eventually founding Amevive in 2019 with a commitment to growing and producing wine that feels as good in the body as it tastes. Together,...
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Why Symptoms Come Last: How Acupuncture Reveals the Body’s Innate Intelligence with Dr. Alan Chang
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In this episode of The Vitalist, Dr. Sera sits down with Dr. Alan Chang to discuss how acupuncture really works. Drawing from Chinese medicine, embryology, and decades of clinical experience, Dr. Alan shares how the body organizes itself long before symptoms appear. Together, they explore the meridian system as an energetic landscape, the five elements as living relationships within the body, and how modern metaphors like cellphones can help us understand invisible pathways of information and energy. This conversation also moves into the emotional terrain of healing, unpacking how stress and...
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Beyond Fight-or-Flight: A Full Nervous System Map for Modern Stress with Gabriel Kram
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Your nervous system is always working in the background, shaping your perceptions, your mood, your reactions, and even your chronic symptoms. Yet most of us were never taught how it actually works. In this episode of The Vitalist, Dr. Sera talks with author and autonomic expert Gabriel Kram about the real biology behind stress and human behavior. Together they break down why the nervous system, not just the brain, drives your moment-to-moment experience, and how its early wiring determines what feels safe, overwhelming, or threatening. They explore the map to your nervous system: Connection,...
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Cracked Open: How Yoga Reveals Who You Really Are with Jenn Chiarelli
The Vitalist
In this episode of The Vitalist, Dr. Keiko sits down with yoga and spiritual teacher Jenn Chiarelli to explore the quiet intelligence that lives in the body. Jenn shares her early years as a professional ballerina and the moment yoga cracked something open in her, shifting her from perfection to presence. She reflects on the practices that helped her reconnect to her essence: breathwork, subtle movement, mantra, meditation, and the lifelong inquiry that continues to guide her: Who am I? Together, Dr. Keiko and Jenn explore what it means to soften, to listen, and to trust the messages that...
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Prolapse, Pee Leaks & Core Weakness: The Truth About Your Pelvic Floor with Dr. Jocelyn Connolly
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This week on The Vitalist, I sat down with Dr. Jocelyn Connolly, Co-founder of The Vagina Doc to talk about the part of our body we’ve been taught to whisper about, ignore, and tighten. The pelvis is a place where we hold our stories, our stress, our pleasure, our fear… and our power. Dr. Jocelyn is bold, brilliant, and refreshingly honest about pelvic health and she’s on a mission to help women understand that their pelvic floor is not meant to be “tight.” It’s meant to be responsive, alive, and in relationship with your breath. In this conversation, she shares the moment...
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Inside the Intelligence of the Body: What Fascia and Embryology Reveal with Rev. Dr. Joanne Avison
The Vitalist
In this episode, Dr. Sera sits down with Rev. Doctor Joanne Avison, author, body worker and fascia whisperer, to explore the living architecture of the human body. They discuss what happens when we move from seeing the body as parts to understanding the body as as a continuous network that communicates through light, sound, and movement. Joanne shares how embryology reveals the intelligence guiding our development, and why fascia is the substrate of our becoming. Together, they dive into the hidden continuity between the heart and tongue, what it really means to “speak from the...
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Ayurveda Made Simple: Discover Your Dosha and Unlock the Science of Life with Dr. Meghana Thanki
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In this episode of The Vitalist Podcast, Dr. Keiko sits down with Dr. Meghana Thanki, an Ayurvedic and naturopathic doctor, to explore the deep intelligence of Ayurveda, the original science of life. Together they unpack what it truly means to live in alignment with nature’s rhythms and the body’s innate wisdom. Dr. Thanki shares how she was called to Ayurveda while studying naturopathic medicine, and how the sister sciences of yoga and Ayurveda form a complete lifestyle system for healing. You’ll learn about ojas (vital life force), the three doshas (Vata, Pitta, Kapha), and how...
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Beyond 20/20 Vision: How Your Eyes Can Rewire Your Brain with Dr. Dana Dean
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We’ve been using our eyes all wrong. In this eye-opening conversation, Functional Optometrist Dr. Dana Dean reveals why seeing clearly has nothing to do with 20/20 vision and everything to do with how our brain and eyes communicate to create vision. After struggling through school and repeatedly failing her board exams, Dr. Dana discovered that what she was seeing wasn’t translating to her brain. Once she retrained her vision, everything changed. Now, after 25 years in behavioral and developmental optometry, she’s helping others do the same. We explore how vision is learned, and 75% of...
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How to Think Differently: Dr. Jeff Karp on ADHD, Curiosity, and the Science of Learning
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In this inspiring conversation, Dr. Jeff Karp, Harvard Medical School professor, MIT scientist, and bioinspired innovator shares the story behind his revolutionary approach to learning, creativity, and curiosity. From being told in second grade that he’d “never make it,” to leading a world-renowned biomedical lab, Jeff reveals how metacognition, thinking about how we think, became the foundation for his success. We explore how ADHD and neurodiversity can be superpowers, why true learning engages all the senses, and how curiosity can literally rewire the brain to foster connection and...
info_outlineJust because your tracker says it, doesn’t mean your body agrees.
Dr. Jen Huberty reminds us: intuition is data too.
What if the key to better health isn't another wearable, protocol, or “science-backed” trend, but learning to trust your inner wisdom?
In this eye-opening episode, we sit down with Dr. Jen Huberty, behavioral research scientist, former Head of Science at Calm, and founder of Fit Minded, to explore the intersection of science, self-worth, and spirituality. With over 190 peer-reviewed publications and $10M+ in research funding under her belt, Dr. Jen’s insights are as rigorous as they are refreshingly human.
Highlights
Is tracking helping or hurting your mental health? (1:53)
Your ring says you slept badly, but you feel rested. Who do you trust? (2:44)
The only meditation app Dr. Jen still uses and how she uses it differently. (3:19)
Does waking up to a “bad” sleep score have a psychological impact? (3:36)
Spirituality vs. Science? Why Dr. Jen believes we need both. (4:33)
Why personalized health decisions must go beyond the research to consider your genetics, preferences, and intuition. (5:36)
A powerful lesson from her 12-year-old on how to build habits that actually last. (6:46)
How to spot real science vs. BS in wellness products. (8:13)
Her unfiltered take on GLP-1 weight loss drugs and why it feels like déjà vu from the 80s. (9:08)
What’s actually stopping people from lasting changing? (10:42)
Dr. Jen’s early research revealed a missing link in most wellness approaches: emotional, social, and intellectual self-worth. (11:05)
A book club that changed women’s health, without ever talking about weight. (13:21)
How personal tragedy led Jen to yoga and meditation. (14:28)
Dr. Jen’s personal experience navigating hormones, supplements, sleep, and learning to trust her body through perimenopause. (16:45)
What Dr. Jen has learned from 250+ digital health companies. (18:23)
Why daily meditation might be overrated, according to science. (19:06)
What’s the minimum effective dose for meditation? (20:06)
Dr. Jen shares how folding laundry or doing dishes can be a powerful practice—if you're aware. (21:32)
From yoga to private meditation teachers, how Dr. Jen’s practice has evolved over time. (22:04)
The 2 most powerful tools for lasting change: goals + asking for help. (23:25)
The communication tool that helps you actually get the support you need. (25:11)
The question that keeps Dr. Jen up at night and why you should ask it too. (26:34)
Resources:
I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
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