A Healthy Curiosity

Traditional Chinese Medicine often shines the brightest in areas where conventional medicine struggles: conditions where there is no single known cause, and no standard go-to treatment. One such condition is Ménière's disease: a complex condition involving dizziness, vertigo, tinnitis that allopathic medicine isn't so sure about.

Will Sheppy, L.Ac, D.Ac., shares his personal experience with Ménière's disease, and what he did about it. Through treating himself and his patients with the condition, Will illustrates his TCM approach of treating the underlying pattern of disharmony to help people with Ménière's have more good days than bad.

On Today's Episode of A Healthy Curiosity:

• Host Brodie Welch reflects on a both/and mindset
• What we know about Ménière's disease and Will's own experience with it
• Why the framework of Traditional Chinese Medicine is so well suited to addressing Ménière's disease
• Breaking out of all-or-nothing thinking in order to help shift the pattern
• What to start getting curious about.

Will Sheppy is a licensed acupuncturist with over 20 years of clinical experience and the founder of Valley Health Clinic in Albany, Oregon. He specializes in treating complex, chronic conditions using Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Ménière's disease is one he knows from the inside out. Will was diagnosed with Ménière's disease himself and was able to put his symptoms into remission using Chinese herbal medicine. That firsthand experience living with the vertigo, the ear pressure, the tinnitus, and the uncertainty — drives the way he approaches treatment with his patients. He doesn't just understand the theory; he's lived the condition. Through his clinical work and writing, Will helps people understand how Ménière's disease rarely acts alone. He explores how comorbidities like vestibular migraines, gut dysfunction, neck tension, allergies, and nervous system dysregulation can overlap with and amplify Ménière's symptoms making it harder to identify true triggers. His approach uses TCM pattern differentiation to address underlying imbalances such as Dampness, Heat, and Stagnation, combined with herbs, acupuncture, dietary changes, movement, and hydrotherapy. Will is passionate about helping people build practical, personalized systems to understand and manage their Ménière's disease —so they can stop feeling lost in conflicting advice and start making real progress.

This podcast is for infomational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice.

Links:

Gut Brain Synchrony Community (affiliate link)

Episode 224: Dampness & Digestion Master Class

You can read more about his approach at:

What You Need to Know about Treating Ménière's disease

Treating Ménière's disease

Bai Zhu Balance

Connect with Will Sheppy:

Valley Health Clinic Website

TikTok

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

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Medicinal mushrooms have been revered in Chinese medicine for millennia and are gaining popularity for their ability to support immunity, energy, stress resilience, brain function, longevity, and more.

They seem to be everywhere, from coffee to protein shakes. Is it hype? Or could you be missing out? Here to take us on a deep dive into medicinal mushrooms and how they can be powerful allies for our nervous systems, brains, and bodies as we age is herbalist Lee Carroll.

Lee Carroll is a leading medical herbalist, educator, speaker, innovator, and mentor with over 30 years of experience in the herbal industry. His depth of knowledge in plant medicine, combined with a passion for medicinal mushrooms, positions him at the forefront of herbal innovation.

On Today's Episode of A Healthy Curiosity:

• Brodie's mini-rant on trendy herbs
• Which mushrooms do what? A few of Brodie's favorites
• Why mushrooms could be considered their own food group
• Ergothionine: a "longevity vitamin?"
• The science on how reishi helps the cardiovascular system; cordyceps and DNA

Links:

Wanting to add medicinal mushrooms to your wellness routine? High quality, potent, rigorously tested, organic and sustainable, with no added fillers, Real Mushrooms has the good stuff.

Get some Real Mushrooms here and you'll be supporting this show. Of course, you should check with your health care provider first, as this episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice.

Read more about Lion's Mane for your brain.

Visit Brodie's website

Connect with Lee Carroll:

Website

Facebook

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LinkedIn

You're probably aware of how powerful acupuncture is for treating pain. Chinese herbal Medicine has a role to play as well.

Fellow acupunctuist and herbalist Dr. Mark Brinson joins us to share his experience a clinician, entrepreneur, and creator of Evil Bone Water, a topically-applied Chinese herbal linament based on a 500-year-old recipe that Brodie considers a medicine cabinet staple.

On Today's Episode of A Healthy Curiosity:

• Mark's meandering path to Chinese Medicine
• What shaped and informed his approach with herbs and his overall practice
• Why he created Evil Bone Water
• The traditional and the common uses for Evil Bone Water
• Tips for herbal medicine makers and entrepreneurs
• What makes imperial grade herbs so powerful

Mark Brinson is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine with 30 years' experience. He has had several clinics, taught internationally and is a master herbalist. Now, as CEO and Brewmaster of Evil Bone Water, he is in over 1900 clinics internationally and growing every day. He still, and always will, make every bottle by hand with the highest quality ingredients on the planet.

Links:

Read more on Evil Bone Water

Get yourself some Evil Bone Water here and you'll be supporting this show.

Connect with Dr. Mark Brinson:

Evil Bone Water

Natural Seminars

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Youtube

Facebook

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Free Balancing Yin and Yang Meditation

You know we need a healthy gut microbiome in order to digest and absorb nutrients from our food – without pain, gas, bloating, diarrhea or constipation. It also plays a role in autoimmune disease, hormone balance, our level of energy overall, heart disease, kidney disease, brain fog, bone health -- the list goes on. With Chinese herbal medicine, we can encourage the body to release its own digestive enzymes and bile while supporting the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and intestines.

On today's episode you'll learn:

• What besides food affects the gut microbiome
• How the gut interconnects with other body systems
• Chinese herbs that help with gas, bloating, and fat loss
• A simple practice you can employ to help you digest and absorb better right away

Dr. Andrew Miles, DOM grew up with a Taiwanese stepfather immersed in Chinese culture, martial arts, and medicine. He studied Traditional Chinese Medicine in Canada at the Canadian College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and later studied advanced diagnostics and integrated medicine at the Chengdu University of TCM in Sichuan, China. He lived in China for years learning more about Chinese medicine in laboratories and learning from China's top specialists. He is the host of the Botanical Biohacking podcast and works with an expert panel to source sustainably wildcrafted herbs for dampness. He has consulted for pharmaceutical companies, practiced medicine and taught martial arts in China, and has been recognized by the Taiwanese and Chinese governments for promotion and preservation of traditional Chinese culture.Through his Chinese herb company, Botanical Biohacking, he supplies some of the best herbal medicine on the planet to Chinese herbal medicine practitioners, including my clinic.

Links:

To get your hands on Chinese herbal medicine for your gut micobiome, visit https://chorusforlife.myshopify.com/Brodie You'll be supporting this show!

Chinese Medicine Resources for Better Digestion

Episode 177: Microbiome Biohacking with Dr. Andrew Miles

Episode 227: TCM Nutrition tips for a Healthy Digestive Microbiome with Dr. Darlene Easton, DACM

Episode 236: Care and Feeding of Your Microbiome with Dr. Chris Damman

The Weirdest People In The World by Joseph Henrich

Connect with Dr. Andrew Miles:

Website

Podcast

Books

In September 2023, my Chinese Medical practice turned 20 years old. This episode started off as a retrospective on lessons learned in these two decades as a self-employed Licensed Acupuncturist, herbalist, and coach. While it starts with the role of a clinician and the nature of healing, it explores issues that parents, givers, and people who care about what they do may well relate to, like:

• If you'll never know it all, when is enough enough?
• How healing happens -- and who is responsible
• The work that happens before showing up for work
• Detaching the ego from outcomes, even when you care
• How you can be a healer even without a medical practice

Thank you for downloading and listening to the show, and being part of my journey of helping people live healthier, happier, more authentic lives.

Want to celebrate with me? Leave me a tip, share something you've learned here with someone else, and of course, be good to yourself so you can inpsire others to do the same.

Moving from overwhelm to a more healthy life is often about small steps. One such step can be embracing the philosophy of seeing how so many things can be connected. Approaching symptoms we're experiencing through the lens of the mind-body connection can help us do things like calm down our nervous system and reduce stress while still doing everything we need to do in our lives.

Ali Damron, a colleague in the Chinese Medicine field, joins this conversation to dig into this philosophy of connectedness, particularly with regard to hormone balancing. When we attune to the part our hormones play in our health, it's another great tool in treating both the roots and branches of issues we may be dealing with.

On Today's Episode of A Healthy Curiosity:

• What kinds of problems Ali helps people with through hormone balancing
• How she begins unraveling symptoms and stress with clients
• Ali's own journey with burnout and how that informs her work today
• The structure of the hormone balance pyramid -- and what to focus on first

Ali is a wife, mom to 2 little boys, an acupuncturist and hormone expert. Over the last twelve years, she's helped hundreds of women overcome hormonal balancing, weight loss, pregnancy, and postpartum, and menopausal symptoms.

Links:

Healing Back Pain by Dr. John Sarno

The Myth of Normal by Dr. Gabor Maté

Nicole Sachs, LCSW

Dr. Kristin Neff

Free assessment quiz

Connect With Ali Damron:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

Podcast

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Learn more about the Helping the Health Pros Coaching & Consulting program

Explore the Basics of Chinese Medicine course

Taking steps in the direction of better health is a multi-faceted process. Not only do we have to take care of ourselves, but we also have to take care of the trillions of microbes that call our bodies home. Rooted in the Earth element of Chinese Medicine, the ecosystem of our bodies is integral to our health in a variety of different ways from our ability to produce energy to feeling grounded and centered.

Dr. Chris Damman joins us in this conversation to geek out on where the science of the microbiome verifies aspects of Chinese Medicine.

On Today's Episode of A Healthy Curiosity:

• What the microbiome is and why it's so important
• How things like temperature and timing of food can affect our health
• The four Fs of food and which areas are often missed
• Why resistant starch is an important facet of our nutritional intake

Dr. Damman earned his BA/MA from Wesleyan University, MD from Columbia University, and is a board-certified, actively practicing gastroenterologist. With a background at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he led the gut health, microbiome and functional food initiative, Dr. Damman focused on the role of diet and microbiome-targeted therapies. Dr.Damman specialized in treating gastrointestinal, metabolic, and neurologic disease throughout his five-year tenure at the foundation.

Links:

When We Eat, or Don't Eat, May Be Critical For Health by Anahad O'Connor

Gut-microbiota-targeted diets modulate human immune status

Acupuncture for the Treatment of Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Connect with Dr. Damman

Supergut

Instagram

Twitter

TikTok

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Learn more about Brodie's Classes and Meditations

Enjoying the show? Help support us and keep the show going with the tip jar!

This season of the podcast has focused a lot on demystifying different aspects of Chinese Medicine. From acupressure to qi gong, we've spoken with experts to dig into the details of how these practices can help us move toward better health.

In this conversation, we're exploring some of the most common questions from patients in the clinic in an asynchronous q+a session. These questions cover a broad range from the concrete, tactical side to the more theoretical side to help gain a deeper understanding for how the practice of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine works.

On Today's Solo Episode of A Healthy Curiosity:

• The difference between acupuncture needles and hypodermic needles
• How long it takes to get results from acupuncture
• What Chinese herbs have to do with acupuncture
• The process and benefits of using patterns in diagnosis

Links:

The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence

"No convincing evidence" that depression is caused by low serotonin levels, say study authors

Acupuncture for Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Blots on a Field? A neuroscience image sleuth finds signs of fabrication in scores of Alzheimer's articles, threatening a reigning theory of the disease

Efficacy of omega-3 PUFAs in depression: A meta-analysis

Curcumin in Depression: Potential Mechanisms of Action and Current Evidence—A Narrative Review

Episode 14: Healthy Skin & Chinese Medicine with Alexa Gilmore, L.Ac.

Reach out to Brodie

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Learn more about working with Brodie

Explore details about the Level Up program

A consistent theme in this show is empowering you to embody self-respect through daily actions; to take small steps in the direction of better. The body is always seeking balance and homeostasis through its own intelligence and there are usually actions we can take to help support that process. One such way is using points on the body to take care of yourself through acupressure.

Katie Pedrick, L.Ac. joins us for this conversation to unpack some of the self-care possibilities that come from putting your own hands on your body. As another proponent of empowering you to support your body's natural intelligence, Katie co-founded the Moxa Acupressure app as a way to further put the process into your hands.

On Today's Episode of A Healthy Curiosity:

• Katie's journey to Chinese Medicine after starting out studying western medicine
• What led her to creating the Moxa app to expand access for patients
• How acupressure can be applied for a noticeable effect on our health
• The method for providing personalization in the app and why that's important
• An example of how to access a point with acupressure

Katie Pedrick is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist with a thriving practice in Boston (VIBE Wellness), as well as the cofounder of the Moxa Acupressure app. She began her career in cancer and pharmaceutical research with a masters in biotechnology from Harvard University, then turned her attention to Eastern medicine, earning her doctorate in Acupuncture and Oriental medicine from the Pacific College of Health Sciences. She is passionate about combining modern western science with ancient eastern wisdom, and is on a mission to empower others to reach their most vibrant health through accessible wellness.

Links:

Use our affiliate code "BRODIE20" to get 20% off the premium annual subscription and help support this podcast!

Connect With Katie Pedrick:

Moxa app

Moxa Instagram

VIBE Instagram

VIBE Wellness

Tik Tok

Youtube

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Learn more about working with Brodie

Explore details about the Level Up program

Whether dealing with a COVID infection or just moving through life, a lot of us may be hitting energetic walls these days. In times like this, employing methods rooted in Chinese Medicine, like qi gong, can be very powerful in taking care of ourselves.

Dr. Juli Kramer has practiced and studied qi gong intensely for years and she joins us in this conversation to discuss building strength through the gentle movements of qi gong. In addition to the value of using both yin and yang practices in our wellness efforts, she shares how clearing stagnation in different parts of the body helps to avoid injury and disease.

On Today's Episode of A Healthy Curiosity:

• How qi gong fits into the Chinese Medicine framework in the era of COVID-19
• Dr. Juli's journey from being an endurance athlete to practicing and promoting qi gong
• Why the gentleness of qi gong can be transformative compared to the yang addiction of western sensibilities
• How qi gong can help to strengthen our internal organs as well as other parts of our bodies
• Walking through practices to help with winding down for sleep

Dr. Juli Kramer is a certified qi gong, meditation, and TCM beauty secrets instructor. She holds a diploma in Chinese Medicine Nutritional Therapy and multiple certificates in Chinese medicine. Juli also has a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Counseling Psychology.

Links:

Episode 129: Cultivating Energy with Qigong

Episode 37: Playing With the Life Force

Qigong for Beginners YouTube playlist

Use code HEALTHYCURIOSITY for a free one month membership on Radiant Shenti!

Connect with Dr. Juli Kramer:

Website

Radiant Shenti on Insight Timer

YouTube

Pinterest

LinkedIn

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Use code "friendofthepod" for 20% off of the 12 Treasures Qi Gong course!

Learn more about Brodie's Classes and Meditations