The Most Counterintuitive Healing Advice You’ll Ever Hear with Wes Kress (014)
Release Date: 08/13/2025
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Beyond Fight-or-Flight: A Full Nervous System Map for Modern Stress with Gabriel Kram
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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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Inside the Intelligence of the Body: What Fascia and Embryology Reveal with Rev. Dr. Joanne Avison
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Beyond 20/20 Vision: How Your Eyes Can Rewire Your Brain with Dr. Dana Dean
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How to Think Differently: Dr. Jeff Karp on ADHD, Curiosity, and the Science of Learning
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info_outlineFrom growing up in a cult religion to facing years of childhood trauma, autoimmune disease, and a body in constant distress, Wes Kress’s story is not one of defeat, but of radical transformation.
In this episode, Wes opens up about the hidden feedback loops that keep us stuck, the biology of emotional pain, and why true healing has nothing to do with fixing yourself and everything to do with listening to the truth your body has been telling you all along.
We explore the patterns that wire shame into survival, why most people unknowingly run from the very thing that could set them free, and how to build a relationship with your body based on connection, not control. This conversation is raw, human, and packed with insights.
Whether you’re navigating physical symptoms, emotional wounds, or the relentless drive to “do more,” Wes will challenge what you believe about healing and show you what’s actually possible when you stop trying to think your way out of pain.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Wes shares how growing up in a cult with years of sexual trauma shaped his nervous system for survival. (1:31)
Wes reveals how 70+ symptoms and four autoimmune diagnoses weren’t signs his body was betraying him. (3:30)
Why most attempts at change fail — and the shift that turns survival loops into virtuous healing cycles. (5:05)
How shame, blame, guilt, and fear are wired into the nervous system to keep us alive, but also keep us stuck. (6:06)
Why trying harder often backfires and how presence, not productivity, creates deep transformation. (6:47)
Learn why the urge to “do something” comes from not wanting to feel powerless. (8:11)
The difference between processing trauma mentally vs. metabolizing it in the body. (9:44)
Non-resistance is the direct experience of trust, and it starts with recognizing the body isn’t the problem. (11:28)
Walking into pain instead of running from it. The counterintuitive path to dissolving resistance and integrating all parts of yourself. (16:34)
Depression is often anger turned inward. (17:27)
Why psychology’s mental frameworks can only take you so far, and why connecting with the body is essential. (22:05)
The ‘body buff’ reset. The simple at-home tool Wes uses with every patient to bring them back into their body. (23:40)
How genome mapping reveals emotional and physical predispositions — and why methylation matters for emotional processing. (24:35)
Ask yourself: am I controlling my body — or connecting to it? The hidden difference that determines whether exercise heals you or harms you. (25:54)
When exercise becomes self-abuse. Why the same workout can create vitality or depletion depending on your relationship to it. (28:50)
Why five minutes a day won’t rewire your nervous system, and how to use meditation as a return to wholeness rather than another escape.(32:15)
The NeuBie technology. How this DC waveform device finds and dissolves resistance patterns your body has been holding for decades. (41:38)
RESOURCES:
Connect with Wes Kress
@breakthroughperformance_rehab
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