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Osteopathy: Shawn Tepper-Levine
27 Plays5 years ago
Season 1, Episode 16: Dr. Shawn Tepper-Levine is an osteopathic physician practicing in Princeton, NJ. Listen to Shawn talk about the experiential nature of osteopathy and the health that resides within us all.
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Transcript
Introduction to The Wound Dresser Podcast
00:00:09
Speaker
You're listening to The Wound Dresser, a podcast that uncovers the human side of healthcare. I'm your host, John Neery.
Dr. Tepper-Levine's Background and Osteopathy Expertise
00:00:21
Speaker
My guest today is Dr. Shawn Tepper-Levine. Dr. Tepper-Levine has been practicing osteopathy in private practice since 2003. She received her DO from Nova Southeastern School of Osteopathy and completed her residency in neuromusculoskeletal medicine at St. Barnabas Hospital in Bronx, New York.
Osteopathy vs. Allopathic Medicine
00:00:40
Speaker
Today, she specializes in osteopathic manipulation, nutrition, and functional medicine. Shawn, welcome to the show.
00:00:50
Speaker
What is osteopathy and how does it compare to allopathic medicine? So, let's start with the origin of osteopathy because Andrew Kaler-Skill, who was the founder of osteopathy in the late, mid to late 1800s, was an allopathic physician.
00:01:08
Speaker
And the reason he branched off from traditional medicine at the time was because he got disenchanted by medicine when his three children died of meningitis and there was nothing that modern medicine could do to save them. So he took it upon himself to find another way to be of service to his patients, a better way. And with that he
00:01:33
Speaker
because he was very intrigued by the human body and how it worked. And he studied a lot of anatomy. He studied a lot of cadavers. And with that, he saw that there's a relationship between, interrelationship between the structure and function. If the body, something's wrong with the structure of the body, the body's not going to function optimally.
Patient Diversity and Osteopathy's Reach
00:01:54
Speaker
So he started doing a lot of manipulations and working with the body to
00:02:02
Speaker
leave any areas of restrictions in order to improve function. And he also took a lot of influence from modern philosophers and from religion and he studied physics and biochemistry and physiology. And he really also believed that
00:02:24
Speaker
How living beings are created by a perfect God. And if that were so, then humans were the embodiment of perfection. And with that, humans were made to be healthy. So how theopathy differs from allopathic medicine is the foundational philosophy that the body
00:02:45
Speaker
is treated as a whole, as a complete being, not as separate parts. And the body has its own ability to heal and to adapt, and its structure and function are interrelated.
00:03:04
Speaker
So patients who walk into your office, have they typically already sought out allopathic care or have they just been kind of committed to a more holistic approach to begin with? I get a broad range. Most people are coming to me. I have many patients who
00:03:25
Speaker
come to me, they know osteopathy. They've been seeing osteopaths since childhood and that's what they're seeking. They know that it works for them and that's what they want.
00:03:34
Speaker
I have a lot of patients, they've never heard of an osteopath, never been to an osteopath, this is their first experience. And then there's the group of patients that have tried everything else and nothing else has worked and they're coming to me and want to experience something new. So it's a broad range. I have several physicians that refer to me and patients are referring their friends and family.
00:04:03
Speaker
It's a broad range of how people end up coming to me. What do you feel in the grand scope of illness, the conditions that osteopathy targets the best? Do you think that there are certain things that lend themselves a while to the approach you've mentioned? As an osteopath, I treat everything.
00:04:28
Speaker
Um, you know, clearly if there's, you know, a trauma that's not stable or somebody's in the midst of a heart attack, you know, we want to stabilize the patient. Um, but, um, there's always a time and place for osteopathy from my perspective.
00:04:45
Speaker
And I had, you know, great training in the sense that I did a residency program in traditional osteopathy and the residency program was hospital-based. So we treated level 1 trauma as soon as they were stabilized.
Understanding Osteopathic Manipulation
00:04:59
Speaker
We treated surgical patients, again, as soon as they were stabilized. We treated the kids on the pediatric floor. We treated the newborn
00:05:08
Speaker
that were born in the hospital. My youngest was 20 minutes old. We treated the moms after they delivered. And then we had clinical practice where we had more continuity of care. And so it was a huge range. And there's so many aspects of osteopathy that anybody can benefit from at any point in time. Now, as we've really said, you specialize in osteopathic manipulation.
00:05:38
Speaker
Can you explain what that is in some of the more specific techniques like cranial osteopathy, visceral manipulation, and biodynamic treatment? Yes. So to me, it's not so much technique. We learn technique in the beginning of our training in medical school and in courses.
00:06:08
Speaker
And all of that is foundational to where we are in our practice at any moment in time. But osteopathy is really learned through mentorship. It's learned through
00:06:24
Speaker
It's an art, it's an experiential art. So the best way to learn that is through mentorship. And so the elders pass on their skills from years of experience to their students. And there is many aspects to treatment that I think develop as you become more skilled. There are different things that you start to tap into.
00:06:53
Speaker
And with that, it's no longer techniques. It's all osteopathy. They are not a separate entity. It's just different ways of treating.
00:07:11
Speaker
all aspects of the patient. So the cranial sacral mechanism isn't a separate unit from the rest of the body, it's a part of the body. The bias treating patients biodynamically isn't a separate part of the body, it's a part of the whole.
00:07:32
Speaker
what you're paying attention to at the time during treatment. To me, it's all one. It's something that I'm doing on my patients all the time, all at once, if that makes sense. How do you explain osteopathic manipulation to your patients? How to explain osteopathy to my patients is it's a method
00:08:02
Speaker
using hands-on diagnosis and treatment to help bring the health back to the surface. There are patients after the health that is already there. Sometimes I'll use a direct technique and I'll engage with a lesion and you apply a little bit of force and match the force that is in there to
00:08:30
Speaker
disengaged something that's stuck. And sometimes I'll use more of an indirect technique where I'm bringing some relation to a point of balance. And with that, there's a potency and a wisdom and a health within that comes to the surface and does the magic and disengages the lesion itself.
00:08:51
Speaker
And how have I come to this point of knowing what to do and how to get there and what technique or method to use? I listen to the patient. I listen to the body and what it's telling me in that moment in time. As much as I can, I try to get out of the way. I try to get my mind's vision for what I can see and what I want to happen out of the way and I let the patient on the table guide me.
00:09:19
Speaker
And that's just come with years of experience and years of practice, learning to get out of the way and learning to listen and to pay attention to what's going on in that present moment.
Experiential Healing and Patient Faith in Osteopathy
00:09:30
Speaker
And yes, that's just taken a lot of practice. But there are many techniques that we've learned in osteopathy. There's many styles of treating. And I've learned and had teachers
00:09:49
Speaker
that have practiced in many different ways. And I've taken a little bit from all of my mentors and I made it my own, which is what we all do. And Dr. Spill, the founder of Osteopathy, that's what he told us to do. He could take my work and then dig on, learn more, find your way. And that's what I'm doing, is finding my way. And my relationship when my hands are on a person's body,
00:10:18
Speaker
For the most part, I'm trying to get out of the way and listen to what the body needs in that moment in time. Yeah, I can certainly hear the wisdom and ease associated with getting out of the way. I mean, at least conventional medicine, as you know, is all about these interventions that are very much getting in the way, which, you know, can be appropriate and needed, but I think there's also a lot of
00:10:47
Speaker
refreshment and just getting out of the way. Can you speak more about- Can I speak on that for just a moment? Sure. I think a part of what we need to practice getting out of the way of is the help. And we all get in the way. We want to do something. We want to make something happen. Right? And we do that in our own personal lives.
00:11:15
Speaker
Instead of just sitting back and watching and allowing the health of surface, allowing that in terms of within to come to the surface, it's not just a beautiful conceptual idea. It's actually palpable. You can feel it. And if we take the time to just listen and allow it to surface, it is the most beautiful thing to witness. And it's a practice. It's a practice to sit back and to trust.
00:11:42
Speaker
And one of my teachers said to me once, you know, because there are days when I can't see it and it's not as a parent. And he told me to trust in the unseen as much as the seen. Yeah, there's certainly an element of faith there. Can you speak more to that in that kind of your senses and your faculties as a human being can only take you so far and you need to leap into the unknown if you truly want to get out of the way of your health?
00:12:13
Speaker
Yeah, there is definitely an element of peace, but apneapathy is a sign. And it's knowing in-depth study
Personal Health Journeys and Doctor-Patient Relationships
00:12:27
Speaker
of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and physics, and having all of that background and knowledge
00:12:36
Speaker
and developing your palpitory skills so that you can feel when there's something that's stuck in the way. And then learning how to engage with that and engage with that with the inherent health within which is also palpable. And trusting that that is much smarter than anything that is in my mind. The help that I can palpate, the help that is there.
00:13:05
Speaker
trusting that it knows what to do way more than my mind can even think of. How much of it is also the patient kind of having faith in you to guide them in that way? Obviously, you have to have faith and kind of that, I don't know, not sixth sense, but sort of
00:13:30
Speaker
that wisdom to get out of the way. How much of it is also the patient has to get on board with that as well? Well, I think a part of what happens on the table is this patient starts to experience health again. So if I'm working on somebody and the first place we start is
00:13:56
Speaker
allowing patients to get to a place of neutral, a place where the body gets more quiet, where they're starting to feel everything relaxed. They're starting to see how if they get quiet and the body relaxes and they start to get out of the way, something inside them starts to switch out. All of a sudden, their muscles start to relax. All of a sudden, their nervous system quiets down. All of a sudden, the chatter in their brain starts to go away.
00:14:24
Speaker
It's not a fake. It's an experience. It's real. It's really happening. Something else is surfacing because they are getting out of the way. And it's in that quiet. That's where the treatment starts to happen. That's where the health starts to come to the surface.
00:14:45
Speaker
That's when they are in the present moment, this moment in time. They've let go of everything in the past and not worried about what's going on in the future. They are right here, right now, in this moment in time, tapping into the house. That is always there. We are always, so many people are just too busy and filling their time and filling their minds and their days and distracting themselves from what is there.
00:15:13
Speaker
getting out of the way. It's always there. It's not a faith. You've got to experience it. When you experience it, you realize it's not a faith. The only time faith comes in is sometimes it's hard to get there. But it's always there. So you believe that it's always there because you've experienced it before. You know what it is. And if you've never experienced it before, then osteopathy can be one modality that can help you come back to the health that's always been there.
00:15:44
Speaker
I can definitely hear in your voice the, you know, commitment and belief and trust in this process. And you've alluded to sort of how it's been a long time coming, right? You've had to sort of deal with being in the way for a long time. Can you talk more about in your own like, you know, personal health and your interactions with patients, how like that's unfolded to the point where you are today?
00:16:15
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. That's a good question, John. And that you're right, it has been a journey. And it's been a journey of, I think, resisting and fighting the notion that the health is inside me and me reaching out for other people to heal me or other modalities to heal me. I've been on my own journey. Yeah.
00:16:39
Speaker
and my own practice. And I've had many head traumas and I went through chronic Lyme and biotoxin illness that has challenged me a lot and has challenged me in the sense of what is healing and where is the health. And I turned and looked outside myself in many different ways.
00:17:06
Speaker
And it wasn't until I've come back to myself and osteopathy has only been a reminder of that that I started healing on a deep cellular level. And I think a part of what my role in as a physician is to be the reminder for people of where the health is.
00:17:33
Speaker
and help them remember who they are. And that's a practice. It's become my daily practice. I practice off-theopathy. For me, it's not just my profession. It is my life. It's what I did. It's how I perceive the world. It's how I perceive life. It's how I perceive people and how I practice my life.
00:17:58
Speaker
coming back to the health, coming back to the health, coming back to this moment right here, right now, being reflection back to other people of who they are and where the health is within them. And when I see a patient, when they come to me and they tell me the whole story, all I see is the beauty and the health within them. The story is just what the health has manifested within them that is now getting in the way maybe of them experiencing
00:18:29
Speaker
who they really are and I am just a reminder whether that's me getting them on the table and allowing their body to come to a place of stillness or removing you know restriction that might be causing pain in their body that that has become the focus for them or that has helped them from being able to exercise or or there's something going on in their digestive tract and I am doing this real manipulation to relieve any strains and improve
00:18:56
Speaker
And now I can teach them, you know, better nutrition and inspire them to eat better and be mindful in their eating and the choices that they're making daily for compensating their health. And that being their focus intention, the health being the focus intention rather than the disease or the disease.
00:19:17
Speaker
for all the fear and the polarization that is happening around us right now. We have a choice. What do we want to focus on? Where do we want to put our attention? Do we want to put it on the disease or do we want to put it on this present moment right here, right now, in the health? I want to ask you more about sort of the doctor-patient relationship you have. A, it certainly sounds like you have a lot of transformative experiences related to health of your patients.
00:19:47
Speaker
Can you elaborate just on the intimacy of that relationship? And it just seems like it runs so much deeper than a lot of medical interventions we typically see. Yeah. So I have a unique medical practice. And I've always done it this way.
00:20:11
Speaker
I started working out of my apartment in Brooklyn as a resident. We had some time our senior year to do some moonlighting, and I hung up a shingle and started seeing patients out of the front room of my Brooklyn apartment. And so from there, I always stop patients out of my house, and I still do to this moment. And when I was pregnant, I treated my patients, and when I had kids,
00:20:41
Speaker
My patients would come and on Saturday mornings my husband would be upstairs making coffee and families would come and kids would go upstairs and play with my kids when I treated the parents and it was a very intimate family oriented practice. Now that my kids are grown, people aren't going upstairs to play with them, but I still work out of my house.
00:21:08
Speaker
You know, the beautiful thing about my practice is I spend time with people. My initial business an hour and a half, my follow-up for an hour. I really get to know a person and to know everything about them, what every component of their humanity, their spiritual, emotional, socioeconomic, physical,
00:21:32
Speaker
Um, what their family life is like, you know, um, their, their kids that just got married or they just became grandparents. And, um, yes, all of this is a part of, um, the relationship that I have with my patients. Um, so it is an intimate practice. Um, and you know, for me, it's,
00:21:57
Speaker
It's got a lot of heart and a lot of soul and that's the only place from which I can care for people. Also with your patients, obviously a lot of what you talked about is very deep and even abstract. How do you gauge your approach to sort of meet them where they're at and give them what they're ready for as opposed to, you know, so as to not to overwhelm them if they're not ready to
00:22:25
Speaker
to, you know, meet the osteopathic approach like head on. Yeah. Um, that topic in a practice, um, and that's paying attention, you know, paying attention, knowing your audience, you know, who is coming into the room at this moment and you got to meet them where they are. Yeah. If somebody is coming in and they're eating fast food and you know, they don't exercise and, um,
00:22:54
Speaker
just getting them to start incorporating fresh vegetables into their diet, that's my starting point with them. I'm not going to all of a sudden be like, look, you've got to eat organic food and you should only eat, you know, grass-fed meat and free range and do intermittent fasting and eat paleo. You're like, no, you've got to meet somebody exactly where they are.
00:23:20
Speaker
Otherwise, you're absolutely right. You do overwhelm your patients. So it's paying attention. It's listening. And that's why I spend time with people. So I can get to know them. So I'm not imposing myself on somebody else. I'm seeing where they are and what are their needs in this moment in time. And I try to meet them and not have them meet me. So that's been a practice and something that I'm
00:23:50
Speaker
I teach my students all the time. I want to zone in on the spirit part here of mind body spirit. We've alluded to faith and having sort of like a faith and trust in health. Do you seek to incorporate your patient's spiritual beliefs into your osteopathic approach? And how do you kind of
00:24:19
Speaker
navigate that, especially considering everybody has diverse beliefs. Yeah. So I take a thorough history when somebody comes in from conception to birth. And one of my questions is, do they have a spiritual practice?
00:24:40
Speaker
Do they meditate? Do they pray? Are they doing yoga? Do they practice mindfulness? And from there, I can gauge where somebody's at. And some people are like, no, I don't. So every person leaves my office with the same prescription. And that is to incorporate joy, laughter, and love every day into their life. And that in itself can be a spiritual practice.
00:25:12
Speaker
It's coming to the present moment, to this moment. So when you're enjoying, when you're in laughter, when you're in love, you're here. You're experiencing the moment fully. That's the spiritual practice. So whether somebody is sitting in meditation or they're praying to their God or practicing their religion or practicing mindfulness, to me, each of those are building spirit, cultivating spirit.
00:25:41
Speaker
laughing with your children, you know, doing your artwork that brings you joy that's feeding your spirit.
Food as Medicine and Mindful Eating
00:25:53
Speaker
Can you discuss, I know you have an Instagram food blog, correct?
00:26:00
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not really good with social media, but when code came in and we were in lockdown, I played with my food slide on Instagram. And as you can see, I haven't posted anything in many months.
00:26:16
Speaker
But it was really fun. I really enjoyed it. I use food as medicine all the time. I have a degree in nutrition. And I love using food as medicine. And I've been practicing botanical medicine for years. I love foraging. I have my own medicinal garden. And I cultivate my own herbs and make my own medicine. So I love sharing that. And I'll share that with my patients. I've done a couple years of
00:26:45
Speaker
21 day cleanses with my patients where we really in depth go into food as medicine and as part of that, as part of our meetings, I do food demonstrations and cooking demonstrations to teach people how easy it can be to work in your own kitchen and make healthy food.
00:27:06
Speaker
My intention with the food blog was to take what I do in my 21 day cleanse group and put it up on the blog. Like these are easy meals. It's seasonal, so I guess the time I was doing it, it was spring, so there were so many great spring greens coming up. We had ramps and a lot of my herbs and salad greens were coming up, so it was easy to
00:27:32
Speaker
to post some easy things that I make in my kitchen and hopefully inspire others to do the same. What is the healing power of food beyond the zero-sum game that we often get wrapped into of calories and exercise and so forth? How can food heal you beyond that narrow scope?
00:28:00
Speaker
Well, the nutritional value of food, of course, is number one.
00:28:06
Speaker
the more colorful and natural, so yeah, you can eat colored foods, but clearly vegetables, and the most colorful ones, the ones rich in polyphenols, your fruits and vegetables, those are the ones that I encourage people to really focus on. That's where you're going to get the most nutrient-dense foods from that group of foods.
00:28:37
Speaker
So just the quality of food, making sure it's the least tainted from my perspective. So I really believe organic or wild greens, wild food is clearly the most nutrient dense and then organic or locally grown, freshly picked. Those are going to be the foods that people should focus on the most.
00:29:05
Speaker
in terms of proteins or organically raised meats, grass-fed beef, free-range chickens, free-range eggs, again, the most nutrient-dense foods to choose from that group of foods. And same thing with grains. And I don't think there's one size fits all. There might be a group of people or some people that I might recommend that they keep grains low in their diet or the carbs low in their diet. It depends on a person's specific needs and what they're coming in with.
00:29:35
Speaker
I might prescribe a certain dietary plan for them that might look different than somebody else's. But for the most part, the most nutrient-dense foods, most alive foods, you want that life force in the foods to come into you.
The Balance of Science and Art in Osteopathy
00:29:52
Speaker
What you eat is how you eat. So sitting down, eating mindfully, taking the time to sit and enjoy your meal and just eat and not pop in the phone, not do your work and your computer work. And I'm guilty as charged. I do this all the time as well. And I have to remind myself, no, take a break, sit and eat and allow your body to digest and assimilate.
00:30:17
Speaker
And so that's another part of fooding, that's a good word, of eating and nutrition that I try to impart on my patients and remind myself as well. So a couple more general questions here. Can you just talk about how in your life and your practice of osteopathy that you balance the science and art of medicine?
00:30:46
Speaker
Yeah, um, it is a balance. Um, yeah, it goes back to... Or maybe... What is that? I was just going to say, maybe like what, what aspects or what parts of your practice do you feel like are more, um, embodied kind of the art of medicine and what parts are more, um, scientifically rigorous? Yeah.
00:31:13
Speaker
So it's both. They're both important. I'm constantly studying anatomy. I'm constantly studying physiology, taking tons of courses in osteopathy, going back to learning embryology and the details of anatomy.
00:31:31
Speaker
And, you know, taking tons of functional medicine courses and webinars and learning more on the latest information on, you know, how to treat digestive problems or cardiometabolic issues. So, the science is always there. It's always the foundation. It's always important and crucial aspect of anything that I'm doing.
00:32:00
Speaker
as a physician. And then the art is making sure that I don't forget about the health, making sure that I don't forget that that what happens in the stillness. But yeah, I could give my patient botanical medicine, vitamins and nutrients and
00:32:26
Speaker
If they get disconnected from the health and they're doing all of my recommendations out of fear, out of a goal to overcome something, I don't know if they're going to really work necessarily. They might work to some extent, but it's going to work a lot better if they connect back to the health. If they come back to the present moment.
00:32:50
Speaker
learn to let go of the past and not project into the future and come back to now and take those supplements and nutrients from a place of mindfulness, then they'll work a lot better. They might not need them at all. So I take all the knowledge that I gave and the information that I learned and then I put my hands on my patients and then the treatment
00:33:20
Speaker
All of that knowledge is there. But in the moment, all that matters is the health, allowing the health to come to the surface. Yes, it's important for me to know the anatomy of the hip and how it articulates with
00:33:37
Speaker
the ilium and all the ligaments and the SI joint and how the psoas muscle comes down and attaches to the lesser trochanter of the hip and the psoas muscle blends in with the fascia of the medial archival ligament of the diaphragm. So you have a direct connection between the diaphragm and the hip. And all that's really important for me to know when I have my hands on because I can see that connection between the breath and the motion of the hip because I understand the anatomy and I understand the physiology.
00:34:07
Speaker
But within that, there's the health. There's the stillness. Letting that health come to the surface. You hear what it knows to do. It's wiser than my mind, wiser than the knowledge that I have attained. All of it's important.
Choosing a Healthcare Provider: Heart and Research
00:34:22
Speaker
All of it is crucial to that moment in time and that treatment. How do you reconcile mortality and death with the health? Yeah, so it depends. How do you look at that?
00:34:37
Speaker
It's just another manifestation of health. It's not a separation. It's not the end of health. The health is always there. The generative embryologic forces are retained throughout life. Those are the healing forces that are palpable and they are in the body. The cells are always dividing. Health is always there.
00:35:04
Speaker
Dr. Still, she describes the health as the motion that is present. So motion is always there. Motion is always there. It's health. And when somebody's at the end stage of life, we're all going to get there at some point in time. Is that not just another manifestation of the health? It's a part of life. So let me just pop to my head that
00:35:32
Speaker
I'm sure you're familiar with acupuncture and kui, just the energy. Or is it chi? It's chi. I'm just pronouncing it right. Do you consider chi and health and your life energy, are those all synonymous in your eyes?
00:35:52
Speaker
I can't speak to those modalities because I haven't studied them. But I know osteopathy. I know the language that I've been taught. It might be just, you're right, like just a language that in other modalities or other philosophies
00:36:13
Speaker
I have talked about the health and different terminology. It just might be a matter of language. But again, I can't speak directly to that. I study osteopathy. And so it's that language and the experience that I've had through treating people and what I feel with my hands and through my own practice.
00:36:40
Speaker
I've been meditating for over 20 years and what I experience in my own personal daily practice of what I call the health. Some people call it love. Some people call it the divine. And there's many means, chi, life force. I don't know, maybe it's all the same thing. It's hard to know what other people experience.
00:37:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. Sometimes I call it love. And that's what it feels like. It's just a big expansive place where you just feel one with everybody and everything. Well, it's just a word, right? It's just a word. It's hard to sometimes when you put a word and you try to label something, then it loses its real meaning. Yeah. It confines it into being something. Can only be experienced.
00:37:39
Speaker
Right. Mm-hmm. Last thing for you here. How should... So if I feel, you know, ill or in need of health, how should I approach the decision of choosing a type of medical practitioner, be it allopathic, osteopathic, homeopathic, a chiropractor, et cetera? It can be, I guess, a bit daunting. And I imagine you would have some advice for someone who's trying to seek out care. Yeah.
00:38:12
Speaker
I'm laughing because my answer is going to be the same. Follow your heart. Yeah, there's a lot of choices. And I think you can reason and give yourself an explanation for why you should do this or why you should do that or for any aspect of life. But I think if people take the time to feel into
00:38:38
Speaker
the choices that they have to make, whether it's what kind of physician to see or what they want to eat for dinner tonight. Like if they take the time to just sit and feel what feels right to them, they'll get the answer. And it's information of power, information and knowledge. Yes, it's very powerful and it's good to know and do the research, you know, like what are the options that are out there and what might be the best choice.
00:39:07
Speaker
And there's so many options now for healing and different modalities and learn about them and ask questions and get other people's opinions of what has worked for them. Hey, I'm biased. I'm going to tell you this enough you have. But when you're making that choice, always follow your heart. Feel what you learned to learn.
00:39:34
Speaker
move into your body, out of your mind, out of your head, and move into your body, into your heart.
Personal Views and Healthcare Changes
00:39:39
Speaker
And where are you getting expansion? Where's the feel right? Right on. I'm going to jump into a lightning round here, a series of fast-paced questions that tell us more about you. So recording this on Halloween, so I got to ask you what your favorite Halloween candy is. Back in the day, my favorite Halloween candy was definitely Kit Kat. Kit Kat?
00:40:05
Speaker
And I still love chocolate, except these days, it's definitely organic dark chocolate. Does it taste a lot better? And if I want the crunch, it'll be with almonds. What's the best Halloween costume you've ever had? Well, my husband is a redhead, and one year we did Raggedy Ann and Andy.
00:40:33
Speaker
And his name was actually Andy. So that was a great costume and a load of fun. We had a good time that night. As we said, you're big in nutrition. So what's your favorite dish to cook? My favorite dish to cook. Ooh. There's so many.
00:40:55
Speaker
But I'd have to say a staple, easy, and something that I always crave is sauteed greens. I know it's so simple and easy and silly and really, that's your favorite. But yes, I crave greens and I'm more bitter, that's better for me, and tons of garlic. And my favorite all-time food is butter. I love grass-fed butter.
00:41:25
Speaker
Didn't know we'd be hearing that from a doc, but I guess go out and get some butter, guys. What's your go-to self-care technique? What am I caring for? I don't have a dancer because this encompasses everything. Dancing. Definitely dancing. I love to dance. I've done
00:41:54
Speaker
all kinds of dance and side rhythms and conscious movement practices. And sometimes when I feel stuck, my body hurts, I'm stuck in my head, I can't get into pry down to get into meditation, I put music on and I move. And that always does it for me. That's awesome. Joy, laughter, love, right? Yeah.
00:42:21
Speaker
An area of medicine or healing you would like to explore more?
00:42:53
Speaker
researching and reading and exploring and practicing myself. Alright, lastly, biggest change we need in healthcare? The biggest change we need in healthcare is, I think, more global focus on the health. They're so, it's all focused on disease and treating disease. And I would love to see more
Closing Remarks from John Neery
00:43:21
Speaker
research, more funding, more programs promoting health, better quality food, better quality air, better quality water, just the basics. Teaching people to disconnect, drive and connect more onto technology and return back to nature and cultivate relationship with nature. More funding for that.
00:43:50
Speaker
more awareness of the importance of that, more just research on the health and what makes somebody healthy, rather than treating disease all the time. I think the focus is on the wrong part. Dr. Sean Tepper Levine, thanks for joining the show. Thank you so much, Don. I had a really good time talking to you today.
00:44:26
Speaker
Thanks for listening to The Wound Dresser. Until next time, I'm your host John Neery. Be well.