What do you do when modern medicine does not have all the answers to your patient's problems? Does modern healthcare's siloing of us help us and the patients or does it lead to our burnout and patients' dissatisfaction with their care? What if you fell in love with healthcare again, what would that feel like? Today we talk with Dr. Sheila Patel, a family medicine physician with 30 years of experience and former Chief Medical Officer at Chopra Global. Dr Patel explains how medicine has become more siloed and symptom-focused, leading her to seek a broader toolkit for healing through Ayurveda, emphasizing lifestyle, food as medicine, nervous system balance, and personalized mind-body “types.” She shares how Ayurveda helped her better understand root causes, patterns behind symptoms, and why people respond differently to the same treatment. We will learn how to introduce Ayurvedic principles in conventional visits and when medications and acute care are essential (ICU, advanced disease, end-organ involvement), and how integrative approaches can complement cancer care by supporting sleep, inflammation reduction, and quality of life. Dr. Patel also addresses skepticism about Ayurveda by discussing available scientific support for diet, herbs, spices, microbiome effects, inflammation, and stress physiology while emphasizing the importance of listening, presence, and empathy in patient care. She also discusses physician burnout, loss of autonomy, systemic contributors to distress, and how expanded paradigms and connection can restore meaning in practice. Dr. Patel offers us practical pearls including breathing practices, regular circadian routines, morning sunlight, larger lunches with lighter dinners, sleep focus, and taking three deep breaths before entering a patient room. www.drsheilapatel.com
