What No One Tells You About Your Cycle, Your Gut, and Getting Pregnant with Dr. Samantha Ess (008)
Release Date: 07/02/2025
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
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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...
info_outlineIf you’ve ever wondered why your cycle feels off, what your gut has to do with your fertility, or how to actually prepare your body to conceive, this episode is for you.
In this powerful conversation, Dr. Sammie pulls back the curtain on what most women were never taught about their bodies. From cycle literacy and hormone balance to gut health, environmental toxins, and the truth behind “unexplained infertility,” we dive into the real, root causes that impact your ability to get pregnant and how to heal them.
Whether you're just starting to think about having a baby or you've been trying for months (or years), this episode will leave you feeling informed, empowered, and more connected to your body than ever before.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Natural medicine transformed Dr. Sammie’s childhood health from daily oxygen treatments for asthma to thriving as an athlete with no inhalers. (1:50)
From food to environment to emotional load, what you put in your body changes everything. (2:32)
Dr. Sammie’s calling was written in her family's generational story of conception challenges. (3:20)
Most women are never taught the three phases of their cycle, follicular, ovulation, and luteal, yet these phases govern everything from energy to conception. (4:30)
The surprising truth? Many women don't know if they’re ovulating. Learning the rhythm of their body creates deep empowerment. (6:20)
How to tell if your cycle is truly “regular” and why the luteal phase holds keys to your hormonal harmony. (7:00)
PMS may be common, but it isn’t normal. Cramps, mood swings, and cravings are data, here’s Dr. Sammie’s advice. (8:00)
Dr. Sammie’s foundational prescription: quality sleep, Mediterranean-style eating, hydration, and daily movement. (8:30)
The biggest threat to hormone balance? The questions no one’s asking, especially around stress, emotions, and suppression. (9:40)
How plastics, pesticides, even K-cups are hijacking hormonal balance. (10:40)
Your labs are not just numbers, they’re a map showing how your body responds to stress, inflammation, and resilience. (11:30)
Debunking ‘Unexplained’ Fertility. There’s always a reason. It may not be obvious, but it’s not ‘unexplained.’ (12:45)
70% of your immune system lives in your gut and it directly impacts your ability to conceive. (14:30)
Your fertility window begins 3–6 months before conception. That’s when your body is setting the stage. (15:30)
Coming off birth control isn’t one-size-fits-all. Endometriosis? Wait. PCOS? Start now. Strategy matters. (16:30)
Menstrual cycle irregularity is normal in adolescence, but pain, nausea, or vomiting may signal something deeper like endometriosis. (17:55)
Epigenetics proves it: what your grandmother ate, felt, or endured shapes your body today. (19:30)
Dr. Sammie’s favorite tracking method: The Fertility Awareness Method. (21:40)
The story of how one woman paused IVF to heal her gut and conceived twins naturally. (23:00)
The liver can regenerate from the brink of cirrhosis. What else might be possible when we trust the body’s wisdom? (24:30)
When a woman says, “I don’t trust my body,” Dr. Sammie helps her ask: Is my body failing me—or is it trying to communicate something deeper? (25:00)
RESOURCES:
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