PATH Positive Approaches To Health Jenny Pitcher

 Toni travelled solo during this leg of the PATH Pod journey, taking a short jaunt down the west coast to SanDiego, CA. She had a lovely conversation with Dr. Sabrina Falquier, a board certified internal medicine, culinary medicine and lifestyle medicine physician who was a previous guest on the show in October of 2022. The two of them discussed Doctors+ Premium, a podcast Sabrina hosts on Apple Podcasts. They also take a dive into culinary medicine, one of Dr. Falquier’s great passions where she spends a lot of time bridging the silos that exist between allopathic and alternative medicine. She peels back some of the culinary medicine layers, touching on the training that enables her to suggest food and spice substitutions to help meet patients where they are and to bring a sensitivity to their cultural roots. She shares how to participate in a culinary medicine appointment and how it fits into the Lifestyle Medicine paradigm. She also looks forward by sharing where she thinks this area of medicine is going in the future – becoming more mainstream with medicine shifting to a prevention model where food is front and center, and most importantly, paid for! You can see her work firsthand through the powerful documentary The Kitchenistas, visit her website, or follow along @SensationsSalud on social media.

Toni heads to Columbus, Ohio where she meets up with Jenny and their guest, Jenn Gebhart for part two of this August series on nervous system regulation. Jenn is a master facilitator for Everyday Mindfulness and Movements in the Columbus City Schools, offering well-being and self-care in education for staff and administrators. Jenn has also shared Urban Zen at The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and James Cancer Hospital working with patients, staff and caregivers and Ohio Health Corporate Wellness programs. The three of them take a deep dive into the concept of regulating the nervous system and the role of the vagus nerve in the healing process. Jenn shares her very simple yet incredibly effective tools for toning the vagus nerve and self-healing using somatic practices. They discuss the idea of befriending your body and the self-awareness it takes to do this work. This episode is so incredibly empowering and offers an armful of tools to dump into your self-care toolbox that you will find yourself pulling out again and again as your travel your path. Follow Jenn and the inspiring healing work she engages in on Instagram @yogaandinspiration. Disclaimer: We had some issues with our music and Toni offers up an on-the-fly solution!

The ladies of the PATH Pod are on the road again this month for the first in a two-part series on nervous system regulation. On this leg of their journey, they head east to New Jersey and a conversation about pain, perfection and problem solving. They sit down with Dr. Kelly Kessler, Physical Therapist and Host of the Rewiring Health Podcast. Kelly tells the story of her Path, recovering from an eating disorder and years of physical pain to becoming a physical therapist who helps others deal with their pain and trauma through nervous system regulation. She explains how she turned her life around by focusing and harnessing the energy she put into her eating disorder and put it into getting better. She explains that her work in nervous system regulation is broken into four different areas – breath work, vagus nerve techniques, gentle movement and visual techniques. Kelly believes that no problem can be solved with the same level of consciousness that created it and it starts with gratitude. Kelly is an inspiration and her work is absolutely transformative! You can learn more about Dr. Kelly Kessler and her work here, follow her on Instagram @drkellykessler or check out her Podcast, Rewiring Health on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The ladies of the PATHPod stay south, heading from Greenville, SC to Atlanta, GA. In this latest episode they meet up with Candace Doby. Candace is an amazing author, podcast host, speaker and coach who works with organizations to create a culture of courage where employees perform at their highest potential. The three of them talk about the risk of taking action and the very real risk of NOT taking action, which is the place of ultimate possibility. They also talk about the “rules” we tell ourselves and how we fall into the trap of following rules that don’t even exist. Most importantly, Candace speaks to the importance of understanding your motivation and your why. And, that it CANNOT be external – she explains that courage absolutely requires us to be internally motivated and align with our values. This conversation sparked Toni and Jenny to stop and think clearly about their own values and they share those with each other. This is a fun conversation full of positivity and hope that you will want to share far and wide! It will also inspire you to learn more about Candace and follow her on Instagram @candacedoby.

The ladies of the PATH Pod head down to Greenville, South Carolina and have a conversation with ADHD coach and owner of Current ADHD Coaching, Bri Plyler. These three ladies dig into ADHD – they talked through what ADHD is and is not, clearing up some misconceptions around the disorder. Bri shared the story of her Path - why she became an ADHD Coach and how her Instagram presence has become an inclusive community of support and compassion for those who are affected by ADHD.  Bri’s content and connection with her audience is infectious and serves to fill the void for children, teens and adults who struggle to find help and understanding when dealing with the incredible challenges that go along with ADHD. She also shares some important strategies everyone can use to create acceptance & awareness of our fellow humans who may be struggling with ADHD at school, in the workplace and in our communities. You can follow Bri on Instagram @currentadhdcoaching or connect with her through her website. 

The ladies of the PATH Pod stay put for this episode on mental health in honor of mental health awareness month. Toni and Jenny talk about mental health and share some statistics on the state of things in the US. Although this is not an official road trip, they do wind through the many journeys they have taken, focusing on the multiple conversations they have had which are steeped in mental health and self-care. They mix things up by sharing some music before they get into the heart of the episode and of course have some more musical reflections on the back end. Get something out to take notes on – there are a ton of episodes to go back and take an extra listen to!