In this thoughtful conversation, we speak with Dr. Anjali Viswanathan, a Board-Certified Internal Medicine physician who bridges traditional medicine and holistic wellness. She shares her journey from corporate medicine to founding Aveska Wellness, where she integrates evidence-based care with a whole-person approach that considers mental, physical, emotional, and cultural factors impacting health.

We explore what holistic health truly means, the ethical responsibilities of wellness providers, and how to identify credible, evidence-based experts in a crowded and often confusing industry. Dr. Anjali also discusses hormone balance, metabolic optimization, and sustainable weight loss, highlighting the dangers of quick-fix culture and the importance of partnership, trust, and informed decision-making in achieving lasting health.

Dr. Anjali Viswanathan – Bio & Contact Dr. Anjali Viswanathan is a Board-Certified Internal Medicine physician who is passionate about merging traditional medicine and holistic wellness. Her work focuses on metabolic health, hormone optimization, and sustainable weight loss through an integrated, evidence-based approach. After two decades in corporate medicine, she felt called to realign with the deeper purpose of healing and has rediscovered joy in helping patients achieve meaningful, lasting wellness and longevity.

Website: https://www.aveskawellness.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aveska_wellness/

In this deeply connected conversation, we speak with Dr. Stephanie Arel about trauma recovery through an integrated body-mind-spirit lens and the ethical responsibilities that accompany this work. Dr. Arel shares her journey at the intersection of theology, psychology, spirituality, and meaning-making, and how both her academic research and lived experience inform her approach to trauma care and recovery. She describes her work in her trauma-focused therapeutic and consultative practice, highlighting how movement and practices like Pilates and somatics help reveal trauma held in the body and support trauma recovery. The conversation explores how trauma is defined and experienced, including distinctions between “big T” trauma and cumulative “little t” trauma, particularly among immigrants and those in vulnerable environments.   Finally, Dr. Arel emphasizes embodiment, nervous system regulation, and spirituality as essential to trauma recovery, while highlighting how practitioners can offer safe, ethical support through self-reflection, awareness of bias, and trust-building. She underscores the importance of cultivating a supportive community after trauma, moving slowly, and continually tuning into the body as a guide for safety within oneself and in relationship with others.  

Authors and books referenced:Ann Ulanov
Peter Levine
What Happened to You by Oprah Winfrey

Dr. Arel's Bio & Contact:

Dr. Stephanie Arel currently teaches at Fordham University. Her research focuses on pastoral practices around trauma, shame, and empathy. Her most recent projects address acts of commemoration in memorial museums and how those who mediate human memory and suffering offer a model for what it means to care for the other. Her book Bearing Witness: The Wounds of Mass Trauma at Memorial Museums (Fortress 2023) is an ethnographic exploration of workers at memorial museums around the globe considering their possible interpretation as public, pastoral theologians. She has conducted workshops in Bosnia Herzegovina, Israel, Germany and the US on the psychological costs of confronting traumatic content in the form of material and people. Arel is also author of Affect Theory, Shame and Christian Formation (Palgrave Macmillan 2016) and co-editor of Post-Traumatic Public Theology (Palgrave Macmillan 2016), Ideology and Utopia in the Twenty-First Century: The Surplus of Meaning in Ricoeur's Dialectical Concept (Lexington 2018) and Probing Human Dignity: Exploring Thresholds from an Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Springer 2023). She is a somatic experiencing practitioner and holds a certificate in treatment for trauma in the clinical setting from the New York Institute in Psychoanalysis and has been teaching in trauma and theology for 12 years. You can find her at instagram, substack and one her website below:

[email protected]
https://www.vanagrowth.com/
https://www.instagram.com/vanagrowth/
https://www.instagram.com/stephanie_arel/
https://stephaniearel.substack.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@StephanieArel

In this episode, I dive into my journey as a Culture Coach, Wellness Coach, and Corporate Wellness Consultant—supporting leaders and organizations in building cultures of wellness. I share what this movement is all about, where the podcast is headed, and what you can expect from future episodes. Tune in to learn connect and get inspired!

On this episode of the Culture & Cafecito Podcast, I talk with Dr. Jason Yuan about his experience in medicine and how his culture has impacted his work and what he does to support his patients. We discuss what pranic healing is and how pranic healing otherwise known as energy healing can support people's mental health. We also delve deeper into how we can apply pranic healing to healing business culture and supporting employees in the workplace and we also talk about the difference between western and eastern medicine and how both can contribute to our healing.

Dr. Yuan is a licensed Naturopathic Physician and Acupuncturist practicing in Connecticut/New York/New Jersey area. His passion for holistic health emerged from his own personal experience of chronic illness for over 20 years. He saw the gaps in the traditional healthcare model and pursued alternative approaches such as Traditional Chinese Medicine and Naturopathic Medicine. Dr. Yuan strives to personalize his treatments for each patient’s specific needs through an integrated approach. Combined with his honesty, motivation, and compassion, Dr. Yuan emphasizes that he strives to be the model doctor that everyone would like to have. He graduated from the University of Bridgeport in 2021 with a Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine and a Masters in Acupuncture. He graduated with honors from NJIT-Rutgers with a bachelor’s in Biology in 2017. Dr. Yuan is also a certified Pranic Healing instructor, Craniosacral therapist, and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy practitioner.

You can connect with Dr. Jason Yuan on instagram at @drjasonyuan, email him at [email protected], learn more about his services and work on his website https://www.drjasonyuan.com/ and tune into his podcast The Pranic Healing Podcast pranichealingpodcast.buzzsprout.com

On this Episode of Culture & Cafecito Podcast, I chat with Qawi Austin, Coach and Consultant in the DEI space. We breakdown the different definitions of culture and what it takes to build inclusive, equitable and sustainable organizational cultures in today's society. In addition to this, we discuss what leaders need to consider in order to begin addressing systemic issues and what individuals commit to and can start doing in order to make contributions to creating healthy work environments.

One this Episode of the Culture & Cafecito Podcast, I chat with Beatriz Boaz, founder of Theta Breathwork.  We talk about how Theta Breathwork supported her in letting go of limiting beliefs as an entrepreneur, how she built her community, how this tool can help people from all cultures. During this chat we discuss the power of breath and how this healing modality can help people prioritize their well-being and tap into the best version of themselves.

One today's Episode, I chat again with my colleague and friend Bryan Nesbitt, Finance Manager, Well-being Wizard and Mental Health Advocate at Deloitte. On this episode we talk about culture as it relates to mental health in the workplace. As vulnerable conversation we share our own mental health journeys, what led to our own mental health breakdown, the stigma and shame around mental health issues at work and what wellness and tools have supported our well-being. We talk in detail as to how our journeys have contributed to what we do now, how leaders can set the tone to help to de-stigmatize mental health and how organizations can create the conditions that enable their employees to bring their whole selves to work in order to foster corporate cultures of integrated well-being.  This conversation was so vulnerable for me but hope our stories keeps inspiring you to share your own story, to keep going wherever you are on your mental health journey, and remember that your mental health challenges can often become your biggest contributions.

This is episode 15, the episode 1 of season 2 of the Culture & Cafecito Podcast. Nathalia as your host, and Corporate Wellness Coach & Consultant, shares more about who she is, how the podcast began, how it evolved, what she is up to now and how she can help you your team. Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and connect!

On today's episode, I chat with James Silvas, Performance Coach and Mindset Specialist. James helps leaders, entrepreneurs and athletes to optimize their performance in their lives and their work. During this connected conversation, James and I discuss leadership, what is a leader, what it takes to be an effective leader, and how leaders can shape culture and overcome impostor syndrome. Originally Recorded on June 26, 2021.

On today's episode, I chat with Tiffany Castagno, Chief Executive Officer of Cultivating the Evolution of Professional HR (CEPHR, LLC). Tiffany is a Transformative HR Curator of Culture. She supports SMBs & founders in building infrastructures-to-scale, strengthening employer brands, engaging teams, & cultures where people want to stay. Tiffany has a wealth of knowledge in the HR space and brings a ton of perspective on how to make work cultures more inclusive, collaborative and deliberate based on her personal and professional experience. In this episode, we talk about what contributes to toxic cultures and how leaders can create simple yet powerful structures to have more authentic and courageous conversations that foster more caring and conscientious work cultures. Orginally recorded: June 13, 2021.