Beyond 20/20 Vision: How Your Eyes Can Rewire Your Brain with Dr. Dana Dean
Release Date: 10/29/2025
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,...
info_outline
What’s Really in Your Wine? Regenerative Farming, Biodynamics & the Intelligence of Nature with Alice Anderson
The Vitalist
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,...
info_outline
Why Symptoms Come Last: How Acupuncture Reveals the Body’s Innate Intelligence with Dr. Alan Chang
The Vitalist
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...
info_outline
Beyond Fight-or-Flight: A Full Nervous System Map for Modern Stress with Gabriel Kram
The Vitalist
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,...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
Prolapse, Pee Leaks & Core Weakness: The Truth About Your Pelvic Floor with Dr. Jocelyn Connolly
The Vitalist
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
Ayurveda Made Simple: Discover Your Dosha and Unlock the Science of Life with Dr. Meghana Thanki
The Vitalist
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...
info_outline
Beyond 20/20 Vision: How Your Eyes Can Rewire Your Brain with Dr. Dana Dean
The Vitalist
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...
info_outline
How to Think Differently: Dr. Jeff Karp on ADHD, Curiosity, and the Science of Learning
The Vitalist
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_outlineWe’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 all sensory information flows through our eyes, and yet no one ever teaches us how to truly see. From ADHD and learning challenges to brain trauma, recovery, dementia, and even emotional healing, Dr. Dana shows how vision training can literally rewire the brain and change how we process and perceive our world.
She explains why “the softer you look, the more you see,” and how expanding our peripheral perception transforms not just how we view the world but how we live in it.
“Vision is our leading sense. When we reconnect it, we reconnect to who we are.”
If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t focus, why the world feels overstimulating, or how to feel more present in your body, this episode will change how you see everything.
BIO:
Dana Dean, OD, is a behavioral optometrist who specializes in holistic optometry and vision intelligence. Dr. Dean has had a private optometric practice in San Diego for the past 24 years. Originally from South Africa, she completed her studies in San Diego as well as attending the New England College of Optometry in Boston. She treats her patients holistically performing Neuro Vision Heart connection with both children and adults. Her patients also include brain injuries, stroke victims and adults who want to achieve maximum success in life and reach their true potential. Not only does she see patients performing eye-brain-body connection and building visual efficiency, she also lectures on the topics of vision and brain integration, vision and the aging eyes, vision and spirituality, vision with balance and coordination, as well as vision intelligence.
Connect with Dr. Dana Dean: https://www.visionintelligence.org/
HIGHLIGHTS:
Growing up in South Africa as a competitive swimmer, Dr. Dana began noticing academic struggles in 8th grade with early signs of visual processing issues. (3:02)
Her introduction to Behavioral Optometry revealed a new way of understanding the connection between vision and the brain. (6:32)
Dana realized her visual disconnection caused her to reread constantly and fatigue easily until she retrained her system. (8:22)
She explains the difference between Ophthalmology and Behavioral/Developmental Optometry. (10:52)
The eyes reveal hidden health insights, from blood pressure and heart issues to cancer and viral patterns. (12:12)
“Think of eyesight as a flip phone and vision as a smartphone”—a powerful metaphor for perception versus clarity. (12:52)
Seventy-five percent of all sensory information comes through vision, yet most people are never taught how to truly see. (15:42)
Babies need visual nurturing and space to sense their environment to build foundational visual pathways. (16:12)
Vision training helps stroke and traumatic brain injury patients recover cognitive and motor function. (17:44)
Thirty percent of children diagnosed with ADHD actually have a convergence issue with their eyes. (22:12)
Dana demonstrates how peripheral vision training improves balance and spatial awareness. (24:02)
Most people were never taught to use central and peripheral vision together for efficient processing. (26:12)
Dana demonstrates how quickly the brain can be retrained to interpret visual information differently. (33:02)
Tools for moving from memorization to visualization make learning more embodied and lasting. (37:47)
Visualization strengthens spelling, comprehension, memory, and awareness. (41:46)
Screen time and fluorescent lighting strain and dull the visual system. (46:38)
RESOURCES:
Connect with Dr. Dana Dean: https://www.visionintelligence.org/
Never miss an episode. Subscribe to get notified about what's coming next.
Follow us https://www.instagram.com/thevitalistpodcast/
https://thevitalistpodcast.com/
Visit us https://www.instagram.com/kinfolkoptimalliving/#
https://www.kinfolkoptimalliving.com/