I recently put a call out to my Instagram community for requests on topics for future episodes. One topic that came up was how to make wellness more inclusive.

It’s a vast topic given the variety of things that fall into the wellness space. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I do believe that we can find empowerment when we become leaders in our own health care.

In this solo episode, I share why I take an integrative approach to wellness, marrying science with holistic practices, and how I found empowerment through education, taking a leadership role in my health.

Have you followed fashion “rules” that you learned from reading teen and fashion magazines? Or struggled over the years knowing how to dress when your body changed to varying sizes?

I’ve experienced this too, spending years searching for help but never really finding anything that “fit” until I found Jenny Wirt of Sartorevi.

Jenny is a potent energy healer whose background includes experience as a fashion stylist and creative director, alongside her Master of Physical Therapy degree and Craniosacral Therapy training.

Independently, Jenny has also studied chakra balancing, inner child healing, and manifestation work.

Additionally, Jenny trained as an assistant fashion stylist in New York, Amsterdam, and Los Angeles, where she honed her visual prowess, working on advertising and editorial shoots for brands and publications like ELLE, Glamour, Bloomingdale’s and Bergdorf Goodman.

Jenny has creatively merged her diverse skills and talents into her wellness-based personal styling offerings under the brand “Sartorevi”, which stands for “sartorial revival.”

Driven by the conviction that every woman deserves to feel radiant, magnetic, and powerful within her body, she believes in empowering women through fashion selections to facilitate healing from the inside out and the outside in her wardrobe as wellness sessions.

Episode Highlights:

• Exploring Jenny’s work in physical therapy, cranial-sacral therapy, energy work, and fashion

• How Sartorevi came to be

• The role our wardrobe can play in our wellness

• The impact colors and their relationship to the chakra centers

Have you ever experienced a healing journey where a lot of the practices would be deemed metaphysical (eg, deep meditation, energy work, yoga, etc) but you didn’t know exactly why they worked?

Returning guest Carly Lockman has and in this episode, she’s back sharing her own “real people stories” on her experience with Brain Rewiring.

After birthing her third child in the middle of a pandemic, Carly found herself struggling with anxiety, overwhelm, and exhaustion that was taking her to dark places, triggering past trauma.

Out of sheer desperation, she turned to Brain Rewiring for help.

You’ll hear Carly share:

• What is brain rewiring?

• The psychological science behind brain rewiring

• Her before, during, and after experience with brain rewiring

We’re back for the second installment of a two-part mini-series with Dr. Shea Osuna (Tune into Part 1 in Episode 174)!

In this episode, Dr. Shea shares:

• What the nervous system is and why a healthy nervous system is important

• What it means to live your life through your nervous system

• Four things that interfere with a healthy nervous system

• How chiropractic care + transformational coaching can support your nervous system through interferences

If you’ve ever struggled with chronic aches and pain, this episode is for you. Joining me for a two-part mini-series is Dr. Shea Osuna. Dr. Shea is a chiropractor, based in Lafayette, Colorado, who specializes in a technique called Network Spinal.

This gentle approach is based on the foundation that we’re vibrating cells, looking at what’s the tone, tension, shape, and position of your spine and nervous system, and how it self-regulates itself from tension.

Dr. Shea up levels this technique with transformational coaching to provide her clients a soul-finding experience.

Episode Highlights:

• Busting myths on chiropractic medicine

• What is the Network Spinach technique

• How your posture directly impacts your perception of reality and the world

• How your body keeps the score and stores your life experiences in your tissues

Wrapping this month’s Asian Pacific Heritage Month series of sharing real people's stories by sharing my story. In this episode I share:

• My ethnic heritage

• What it was like growing in Hawai’i, then transitioning to life in the mainland as an Asian American

• What I’ve learned about the importance of community, and been seen & heard

Continuing with Asian Pacific Heritage Month, joining me in this episode is Emily Chui. Emily is a returning guest, having previously joined me in Episode 024 with an introduction to acupuncture.

Emily has been my acupuncturist for the past five years (and counting!) and has taught me so much about Traditional Chinese Medicine.

In this episode, Emily shares:

• Her immigration story migrating from Hong Kong to Southern California as a high school student

• What her transition to American schools was like

• Why she pursued a career in acupuncture (after getting her undergraduate degree in a different field)

• Similarities and differences between Western medicine and TCM

• What are ear seeds and how they can be beneficial for healing

AAPI is a commonly used acronym for Asian American Pacific Islanders. But thus far, my observation, not much attention is given to Pacific Islanders, which are entirely different ethnic groups of people.

So continuing with this month’s focus on sharing real people's stories for Asian Pacific Heritage Month, joining me in this episode is my friend, Luisa Mataele Tupea. Luisa is both an Asian American and Pacific Islander, being of Tongan and Japanese ancestry.

Luisa and I first met as freshmen in college. We lost touch after graduation but reconnected over a decade later when our paths crossed while we were both on work trips, and we’ve remained friends ever since!

In this episode, Luisa shares:

• Her family history, her experiences as a member of both the Japanese and Tongan American communities

• How her communities have evolved over the past 30 years

• Her experience as a professional Asian American Pacific Islander woman in the sports broadcasting industry

• Stories from her career at ESPN covering NFL and NBA games, and events like the Superbowl, World Series, NBA Finals, US Open for Tennis, & even the World Cup!

As I’ve previously said, it's so important to share our stories. So as you listen to Luisa’s story, think about your friends, and ask yourself how well do you know their stories? If you don’t, ask them to share it with you, and let them be heard.

This show has always been a place to share real people’s stories around health and wellness, and our communities and social support systems are foundational to our vitality.

This month, being Asian Pacific Heritage Month, and I, being an Asian American, am dedicating this month’s episodes to the stories we don’t talk about, and sharing Asian Pacific Islander stories.

Because if we don’t know each other’s stories, how can we support our communities in ways that they need to be supported?

Joining me today is my friend Julianne Chai.

Julianne and I became friends over a decade ago through the Bay Area running and blogging community but we really bonded when we both became dog moms to our rescue pups.

Despite being friends for so many years, I never knew her immigrant story as a first-generation Korean American. So in this episode, Julianne joins me to share her story of immigrating to the United States at 10 years old, what the cultural acclimation was like, and how she assimilated to American culture while still retaining her native Korean culture.

As you listen to her story, think about your friends, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, and ask yourself how well do you know their stories? If you don’t, ask them to share it with you, and let them be heard.