Your Skin Is Smarter Than Your Products: Dr. Michelle Jeffries on the Skin’s Clock, Hormones, and Light (005)
Release Date: 06/11/2025
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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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
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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
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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...
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How We Lose Ourselves in Work: The Hidden Cost of Productivity with Mack Fogelson
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Why are so many of us burned out, checked out, or emotionally detached at work? In this episode of The Vitalist Podcast, Dr. Sera talks with organizational designer and certified Dare To Lead facilitator, Mack Fogelson about why we disconnect from our work and how to rebuild connection, purpose, and vitality from the inside out. We unpack the hidden design flaws in how most organizations operate, why “learned helplessness” shows up at every level, and how our personal patterns, like people-pleasing, perfectionism, or busyness, mirror the systems we work within. Mack shares her simple but...
info_outlineWhat if your skin could tell time, and was trying to tell you something deeper?
In this mind-shifting episode of The Vitalist Podcast, Dr. Michelle Jeffries, triple board-certified dermatologist and founder of the Skin Clock Method, blows open everything you thought you knew about skin.
She takes us on a journey through integrative dermatology showing how your skin is more than just a barrier. It’s a messenger. A memory keeper. A sensory organ that reflects your stress, emotions, rhythms, and story.
We talk trauma, time, hormones, fascia, light, and the daily rituals that help your skin reset and regenerate. You’ll learn why breakouts might be messengers, why sunrise is medicine, and how syncing with your body’s internal clocks could change everything.
If you’ve ever felt like your skin was trying to tell you something… it probably is. This episode will help you listen.
Highlights:
How Dr. Jeffries became a triple-board certified dermatologist and why it’s anything but traditional (1:35)
What most dermatologists are missing when it comes to our skin (4:51)
The wild connection you never learned about the skin and our nerve system (7:23)
Why your skin is a sensory organ that remembers your story (7:41)
How your skin expresses what’s beneath the surface (8:36)
Can skin hold memory? And what that means for scars, trauma, and healing (10:53)
Your cells can tell time: How light, rhythm, and clocks affect your skin (12:07)
Want better skin? Start syncing with Chrono Beauty and your body’s natural rhythms (13:58)
Your skin makes serotonin, dopamine, AND oxytocin (16:02)
Stress on your face: What cortisol is doing to your skin texture + tone (18:20)
Skin as an emotional map: How anger, frustration, and identity show up on the surface (20:00)
How natural light heals and artificial light disrupts your biology (21:00)
Ditch the sunglasses: Why sunrise needs your eyes (24:52)
Supplements, sunscreen truths, and how to actually reverse sun damage (26:30)
Why everyday sun might be healthier than intermittent exposure (32:27)
Your skin protects more than your body, it protects your story (34:01)
The Luminous Clock: Dr. Jeffries’ daily rhythm reset for radiant skin and whole-body healing (40:00)
Resources:
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