Open Heart with Priya Rao, MD

I'm an interventional cardiologist. I work on the heart when people are closest to death. I've spent years in the cath lab doing procedures that can change someone's life in seconds. And somewhere along the way, something happened in my own life that medicine couldn't measure. I felt something shift that I couldn't explain and couldn't ignore. I followed every rule we're taught to follow. I traine...

In this episode of Open Heart, Priya Rao, MD spends time with Fran Bell inside her office, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how integrative healing unfolds in real time. Rather than a conceptual conversation, this episode centers on observation, presence, and what it looks like to work with the body when symptoms, emotions, and life context are addressed together. In this conversation, they ex...

In this episode of Open Heart, Priya Rao, MD sits down with Fran Bell, an intuitive healer and former competitive athlete whose work bridges physical injury, lived experience, and forms of knowing that don’t fit neatly inside conventional systems. Together, they explore what it means to trust intuition in a world that asks for proof, and how healing often begins before we have language for it. In...

In this episode of Open Heart, Priya Rao, MD sits down with Pavla Haluskova, a yoga teacher and intimacy guide whose work focuses on nervous system safety, embodiment, and honest self-expression. Together, they explore why intimacy feels harder than it should, even for people who are competent, accomplished, and deeply self-aware. In this conversation, they explore: ■ Why so many people feel disco...

Hosted by Priya Rao, MD, this episode features Dr. Kerri Glasner, a gastroenterologist diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and often fatal bile duct cancer. They examine what it means to face a life-threatening cancer diagnosis as a physician and how surviving a liver transplant reshaped how she practices medicine, understands pain, and lives her life. What’s Covered in This Episode: ◼️ Bein...

EECP is one of the most evidence-backed therapies in cardiology that many physicians still don’t fully understand, and even fewer feel confident explaining to patients. Guest & Resources: Michael Gratch - Founder & CEO, Flow Therapy Website: https://flowtherapy.com/about-us/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-gratch-8557266/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/flow-therapy-eecp/ In...

What if the most powerful thing a plastic surgeon could say is no? In a world that rewards more, more procedures, more perfection, more transformation, restraint feels almost radical. Especially in medicine. Especially in plastic surgery. And especially when your livelihood is built on being able to change the human face. KEY MOMENTS 00:00 Introduction to Dr. Deepak Duggar 01:51 Journey into Rhino...

There’s a moment every physician and clinician knows. If you’ve spent time in a cath lab, an ICU, an OR, or making high-stakes decisions under pressure, you’ve felt it. A tightening in the chest. A quiet pause at the table. A sense that something isn’t right, even when the vitals look stable and the protocol says proceed. And too often, we override it. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction to Sam Propper 01...

At some point, the life you carefully constructed starts to feel misaligned. The work that once energized you now drains you. The relationships that felt stable suddenly feel tight. The version of yourself you have spent decades becoming no longer fits the shape of your days. And when that unraveling begins, we are quick to label it a midlife crisis, as if something has gone wrong or something nee...

There are moments in medicine that don’t fit inside the chart. Moments where a patient’s suffering can’t be explained by labs or imaging, and the usual tools fall quiet. For some physicians, that silence becomes the beginning of a different kind of listening. Today, psychiatrist Dr. Judy Tsafrir sits with me to explore what happens when astrology, intuition, and clinical practice begin to speak to...

There are places in medicine where the stakes are unmistakable, where a single decision or breath becomes the turning point in a story still unfolding. The cardiac ICU is one of those places. It asks for precision, intuition, and a level of humanity that is rarely taught. This conversation opens that world with honesty and depth through someone who carries both clinical mastery and grounded purpos...

The metaphysical roots of healing often reveal themselves long before we have the language to name them. This conversation began in one of those quiet, unexpected moments, a time when pain became a messenger, alignment felt emotional as much as physical, and my body was speaking a truth I could no longer ignore. My injury forced a kind of listening I had avoided, and Daniel Castro was one of the t...

ABOUT THIS YIN YOGA SERIESThis Yin Yoga series was created to help you soften into the deeper layers of your body, fascia, and energy system. Each practice is organized by energy center (chakra), offering a gentle way to work with the physical, emotional, and subtle spaces that are asking for attention. We move through 15 postures, each with variations so you can meet yourself exactly as you are —...

There are moments in medicine when a single phrase carries the weight of a lifetime. "Open heart" is one of those phrases. For many, it calls up the image of open heart surgery, the intensity of coronary artery bypass grafting, chest opened, a surgical team leaning into precision and trust. Chapters00:00:00 - Introduction and Guest Introduction00:01:20 - Dr. Mel Thacker's Personal Journey00:01:59...

In this solo episode, Priya shares the real story behind Open Heart. Open Heart is a movement where science meets soul, bringing together thought leaders, healers, innovators, and storytellers from around the world. Through raw, unfiltered conversations, we explore the deeper layers of healing, weaving together modern medicine, ancient wisdom, creativity, and human connection. It is an invitation...

When a heart doctor meets a psychic intuitive, the conversation does not stay on the surface. It opens a doorway between science and soul. In this exchange, Dr. Priya Rao, interventional cardiologist and founder of Open Heart, sits down with Stephanie Yonan (@full_circle2024), a former corporate executive turned psychic intuitive who reads energy and channels messages from the higher self. Togethe...

Welcome to the episode 2 of the Open Heart Podcast. What does safety really mean to a cardiologist? Not the checklist kind. Not the kind written into a policy binder or measured in quarterly metrics. The kind that lives between people — in trust, rhythm, and the unspoken knowing that happens when a team moves as one. In this episode of Open Heart, host Dr. Priya Rao, an interventional cardiologist...

Welcome to the 1st episode of the Open Heart Podcast. Inside this episode: 00:00:00 - Introduction and Early Memories 00:01:15 - Family Background and Community 00:02:55 - Childhood and Adversity 00:03:39 - Shift in Societal Values 00:05:23 - Journey to Becoming a Cardiologist 00:06:50 - Commitment to Community and Patients 00:10:01 - The Cath Lab and Saving Lives 00:11:51 - Choosing the Path of M...