Body of Wonder

Dr. Bernard Beitman is a psychiatrist, author, and founder of the Coincidence Project. Throughout his life, he has observed and documented the patterns of meaningful coincidences. Coincidences, says Beitman, are an expression of the mind's relationship with the environment, and he offers ways to make use of them when they occur. According to Beitman, all individuals experience meaningful coinc...

Cannabis has been used as a medicinal substance for more than 5,000 years. And, for good reason. Cannabinoids, the active compounds found inside cannabis, offer potential solutions and symptom relief for a wide range of ailments including chronic pain, neuropathy, muscle spasms, and anxiety. Until the 19thcentury, cannabis was part of the United States Pharmacopoeia and widely used by doctors. But...

Known as qi in ancient China and prana in ancient India, energy has long been recognized by traditional cultures for its influence on the body's vitality and healing. Energy healing seeks to balance and promote the innate flow for optimal health, and it attributes illness to disturbances in the flow. In recent decades, researchers have measured the body's subtle electromagnetic signals, kn...

Would you consider communication a key factor in the healing process? According to our guest, words matter, and language can reach beyond the conscious mind to activate the body’s healing response. Emergency medicine physician, Dr. Steve Bierman joins Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Victoria Maizes to discuss how language, and the power of suggestion can serve as positive or negative influences on o...

A healthy lifestyle begins with the foods we put on our plate. According to our guest, integrative nutritionist Diana Weil, a daily practice of eating well can be both delicious and rewarding. Diana is a nutritionist, certified integrative and holistic health coach, and yoga instructor who works with clients to optimize their well-being through their relationships with food. Diana joins us on this...

On today’s episode Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Victoria Maizes sit down with Wade Davis PhD, an explorer, ethnographer, writer, and filmmaker on this episode to discuss humans and the natural world. Wade spent years living among 15 indigenous groups while collecting 6,000 botanical specimens in Amazonia and the Andes. He’s traveled around the world studying traditional herbal medicine prep...

Vegetable oils are the most consumed food in the world second only to rice and wheat. Cooking oil now accounts for 20% of our daily calories, representing the greatest increase in the sources of calories since the globalization era. Today, cooking oils are a staple in our diets, with canola, sunflower, soy, peanut, and palm oil being the most consumed. A growing number of studies demonstrate that...

Your body naturally produces nitric oxide, a small gaseous molecule; while it exists for mere seconds, it is vitally important for your health. The main function of nitric oxide is vasodilation. Nitric oxide also improves brain cognition, stabilizes blood pressure, and supports exercise performance. Today we welcome, Dr. Louis Ignarro, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery that nit...

Every parent wants to raise a healthy child. Yet, this goal is becoming more difficult as chronic pediatric diseases are becoming increasingly common. An integrative pediatrics approach emphasizes preventive care and uses a personalized approach which includes diet, environmental exposures, and healthy relationships. On this episode, we talk with integrative pediatrician Dr. Sanford "Sandy&qu...

Autoimmune diseases result when the body's immune system attacks healthy cells of the body. The tissue damage leads in the development of chronic conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes. Our guest today is rheumatologist and integrative medicine specialist, Dr. Aly Cohen. Dr. Cohen specializes in treating arthritis, immune system disorders, and women&rsquo...

On this special episode, integrative medicine experts, Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Victoria Maizes, answer questions sent by listeners. Join us as our hosts share integrative approaches to popular questions, such as: Is a vegan diet healthy for everyone? What about popular keto and paleo diets? How can you discern gluten-intolerance facts from fiction? Is consuming insects a necessary strategy for glo...

Lao Tzu, the 6th-century Chinese philosopher, wrote, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” 500 years later a growing number of studies demonstrate the powerful compounding effects of a singular action repeated over time. We welcome Arianna Huffington and Dr. Aaliya Yaqub, leaders of Thrive on this episode. Arianna Huffington is the founder and CEO of Thrive, the fo...

Primary care providers are often the first to recognize and treat mental health disorders including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. Despite the growing number of pharmaceutical agents that can be prescribed, there has been a dramatic increase in mental health disorders. What is happening in our society that is leading to this increase? Our guest on this episode is a pioneer in ment...

What are the keys to living a long, healthful life? Insights from regions where people thrive well into their 100’s demonstrates that diet, physical, social, and even spiritual factors contribute to longevity.   In this episode, Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Victoria Maizes sit down with award-winning journalist, best-selling author, and National Geographic explorer, Dan Buettner to discuss t...

Addiction is a public health crisis, made worse in the last year by the emotional stress and grief experienced by so many during the pandemic. It is characterized by compulsive actions despite harmful consequences. Our guest on this episode is addiction expert and author, Dr. Gabor Maté. He is internationally known for his work on mind-body unity in health and illness, attention deficit dis...

Our daily food choices can have a lasting impact not only on our personal health but also on the health of our planet. The worldwide population is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050 and research shows that human dietary patterns may have a staggering effect on climate change. Today we’re joined by Brent Kim, MHS a global disease epidemiologist and researcher at the Center for a Livable Fut...

Living with chronic pain can be both physically and emotionally challenging. Nearly 50 million individuals in the US report experiencing chronic pain. The symptoms may become worse over time, spread to new areas of the body, and result in restricted mobility and limitations in daily activities. Evolving research has demonstrated that for some sufferers emotions can be the source of chronic pain an...

Plants have provided human beings with nourishment, medicine, fibers, and other resources for millennia. And, the passing of botanical knowledge through generations not only ensured survival, it shaped how cultures understood their world. Occasionally, this knowledge would be exchanged with neighboring people in the forms of stories, rituals, and daily practices. In the 1800’s Western anthro...

Psychedelics, such as ketamine, MDMA, psilocybin, and LSD have been tightly controlled and highly debated substances for decades, but after several years of clinical trials, the FDA has recently awarded both MDMA and psilocybin, when used in conjunction with psychotherapy, with breakthrough status for the research of challenging mental health disorders, like PTSD. The breakthrough status designati...

At some point in your life, you’ve likely been told to “trust your gut” when making a decision or experienced a “gut reaction” to external stimuli. Medical research indicates that these gut idioms might just be right about the role of the gut! It turns out that the gut microbiome communicates with the brain and can potentially influence our behavior. Researchers have...

Fungi have shaped our world for billions of years and are present in us, on us, and in nearly every environment. They are one of the oldest lifeforms found on earth and throughout time formed landscapes and helped to give rise to the plant and animal kingdoms. These organisms forge mutually beneficial life-sustaining partnerships with us and can teach us a great deal about whole systems thinking....

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders, affecting more than 10% of the population. Symptoms include chronic constipation, diarrhea, or acute abdominal pain a short time after eating. The unpredictable and disruptive nature of these symptoms along with their emotional toll can lead to heightened levels of stress, which in turn, may worsen symptoms. Our g...

For many months, grief has been at the forefront of our collective global consciousness. We have been pushed to confront a world of uncertainty from the tragic loss of millions of lives, to the loss of social relationships and identity, to the sudden disruption of daily structure. The events of the last year have certainly been a lesson in impermanence. Our guest on this episode is Roshi Joan Hali...

Breathing is an essential function of the body influencing nearly every organ and metabolic process. We average 20,000 breaths per day, often without much thought.   Breathwork, or the action of controlled breathing, is a powerful and simple technique that can be used to alter physical and mental states. Studies show that it can regulate the heart rate, lower blood pressure, and even reduce s...

Cannabis research has caught the attention of medical providers and patients for its many potential health benefits. For decades cannabis has been categorized as a Schedule 1 drug, which is defined as a drug with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. And while 33 states have approved its medical use, it continues to be federally prohibited. Cannabis contains more than 1...