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 disconnected from their own desires, even in close relationships

■ How professional training and high-pressure environments can quietly shape how we relate to our bodies

■ The ways people learn to make themselves smaller to stay safe, wanted, or accepted

■ How intimacy breaks down when the nervous system is overwhelmed or on guard

■ What it can feel like to lose access to aliveness without realizing it

■ Why talking about intimacy often brings up shame, fear, or avoidance rather than clarity

■ How slowing down and paying attention to the body can surface needs we did not know we had

Pavla Haluskova works at the intersection of body awareness, nervous system regulation, and relational honesty. Her perspective is grounded in lived experience with people who feel outwardly capable but inwardly disconnected. In this conversation, she offers language for experiences many people recognize but rarely articulate, especially around intimacy, safety, and self-expression.

Follow Pavla Haluskova

Website: https://www.pavlayoga.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unleashthefeminine_pavla

Top Moments

00:00 Introduction to Sacred Sexuality

01:37 The Power of Voice and Embodiment

05:52 Challenges of Women in Hyper-Masculine Fields

08:01 Understanding Masculine and Feminine Energies

14:58 Nervous System and Trauma Work

20:01 The Role of Safety in Intimacy

27:16 Transcending Relationship with Emotions

28:33 Differentiating Wants and Desires

30:43 Reclaiming Sexuality and Soul Calling

34:18 Intimacy and Childhood Conditioning

38:48 Opening to Sensuality and Presence

40:51 Living with an Open Heart

44:48 Connecting with Ancestral Wisdom

47:31 Embracing Purpose and Sharing

Hosted by Priya Rao, MD

Website: https://www.openheartpodcast.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/priyaraomd

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyaraomd

Open Heart is a space for grounded conversations about where systems, training, and conventional frameworks fall short of lived human experience. The show explores what happens when logic, competence, and achievement no longer explain everything we feel.

Many people sense that something is missing in how they relate to themselves and others, but they do not have clear language for it. This conversation does not offer fixes or formulas. It offers recognition. It sits with the tension between capability and disconnection, and invites curiosity about what intimacy might require when safety, presence, and honesty are brought back into the room.

Subscribe to Open Heart with Priya Rao, MD for grounded conversations with people who are curious about intuition, meaning, and different ways of understanding healing and human experience.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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:

◼️ Being diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma as a young physician

◼️ Understanding your own cancer prognosis through medical training

◼️ Chemotherapy, radiation, and qualifying for a liver transplant

◼️ ICU complications, extreme pain, and not being believed

◼️ Loss of control and vulnerability after becoming the patient

◼️ Returning to clinical work before being ready

◼️ Medical PTSD and avoidance after critical illness

◼️ Leaving an academic role after surviving cancer

◼️ Reprioritizing family, time, and work after facing mortality

◼️ How surviving cancer changed how she practices medicine

Jump to Key Moments

00:00 — Diagnosing bile duct cancer as a physician

03:00 — Prognosis and treatment decisions

11:40 — Chemotherapy, radiation, and transplant eligibility

16:50 — ICU trauma and loss of control

22:15 — Severe pain and not being believed

27:45 — How illness changed her medical practice

31:00 — Leaving an academic role after trauma

36:15 — Returning to work too soon

41:30 — Belief, survival, and meaning

45:45 — What living with an open heart means now

In this conversation, Kerri shares what it was like to receive that diagnosis as a physician and new mother, fully understanding the prognosis from her medical training. She walks through undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, qualifying for a liver transplant that most patients with cholangiocarcinoma never reach, and surviving a complex surgery that included a liver transplant and a Whipple procedure.

Kerri describes the complications that followed, including liver necrosis, pancreatic leaks, prolonged ICU care, and severe postoperative pain. She speaks candidly about being told her pain was “out of proportion,” the loss of control that comes with critical illness, and how different the patient experience feels when you are on the other side of the bed.

The conversation also explores what happens after survival. Returning to clinical work before fully recovering. The quiet pressure physicians feel to function as if nothing happened. Medical trauma and avoidance after time in the ICU. Why going back to the same institution where the trauma occurred can be destabilizing. How becoming a patient changed the way she listens to pain, intuition, and fear in her own patients.

Kerri also shares the life changes she made after surviving cancer, including leaving an academic role, moving closer to family, working fewer days, and redefining what matters most. She reflects on faith, uncertainty, intuition, and what it means to live with an open heart after facing mortality.

This is the first time Kerri has shared her story publicly.

Hosted by Priya Rao, MD.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/openheartthepod/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/open-heart-podcast/about/

Website: https://openheartpodcast.com/

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/flowtherapyeecp/

https://www.instagram.com/mbgratch/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/FlowTherapyEECP

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FlowTherapyEECP/

YouTube: @TrinityHeartCare

KEY MOMENTS

00:00 Introduction to Flow Therapy

01:18 Michael Atch's Personal Journey

03:06 Founding Flow Therapy

07:12 Challenges and Triumphs

21:51 The Technology Behind Flow Therapy

26:29 Flow in Life and Medicine

26:59 Exploring Healing Modalities and Rural Medicine

27:31 Incorporating Flow State into Therapy

28:50 Biofeedback and Patient Experience

30:39 The Interrelationship of Focus and Behavior

32:36 Challenges in the Healthcare System

34:51 The Role of Food and Parenting in Health

37:15 The Impact of Stress and Emotional Health

39:41 The Influence of Technology on Society

49:13 Advice for Navigating Life's Challenges

51:56 Living with an Open Heart

In this conversation, I sit down with Michael Gratch, Founder and President of Flow Therapy, to talk about what it actually takes to build a healthcare company centered on EECP, or enhanced external counterpulsation, inside a complex medical system. Michael’s journey began with one patient, his grandfather, who had undergone multiple bypass surgeries, stents, and had no remaining revascularization options. Quality of life mattered, and there were few answers being offered.

EECP is not alternative medicine. It is a noninvasive cardiovascular therapy supported by decades of research, offered at major academic centers, and covered by Medicare. And yet, access remains limited, adoption uneven, and understanding incomplete. Michael shares how that gap between evidence and availability became the catalyst for building what is now Flow Therapy.

If you are a doctor who has ever struggled to explain EECP to a patient, questioned why effective therapies remain underutilized, or felt the strain of practicing inside a system resistant to change, this conversation will resonate.

✨ Subscribe to Open Heart with Priya Rao, MD to hear more conversations where modern medicine and spirituality meet, where we remember that healing is as much about consciousness as it is about care.

Follow Priya & Open Heart:

Instagram: Instagram.com/openheartthepod

Website: https://openheartpodcast.com/

© 2025 Priya Rao Media LLC. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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 Rhinoplasty

05:56 Emotional Intelligence in Plastic Surgery

11:40 Balancing Professional and Personal Life

19:11 Acts of Kindness and Service

29:22 Gender Disparities in Plastic Surgery

29:54 The Demands and Expectations of Medical Professionals

30:52 Underserved Communities and the Importance of Medical Presence

32:05 The Emotional Impact of Plastic Surgery

34:39 The Power of Positive Change and Patient Testimonials

37:45 Energy, Intuition, and Patient Relationships

40:47 The Importance of Therapy and Self-Reflection

43:23 Balancing Professional and Personal Life

49:45 Final Thoughts and Reflections

In this episode of Open Heart, Priya Rao, MD, interventional cardiologist and host of the Open Heart Podcast, sits down with Deepak Dugar, MD, a world-renowned Beverly Hills facial plastic surgeon whose reputation has been built not only on extraordinary technical skill, but on something far rarer: ethical clarity, humility, and the courage to refuse surgery when it is not truly needed.

Dr. Dugar specializes exclusively in rhinoplasty, one of the most complex and psychologically charged procedures in all of medicine. He spent nearly a decade training under elite mentors, studying anatomy obsessively, shadowing cases while others vacationed, and committing himself fully to mastery. Yet what ultimately distinguishes him is not just what he can do with a scalpel. It is when he chooses not to use one.

Guest Links: Deepak Dugar, MD

Website: https://www.scarlessnose.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrDeepakDugar

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deepakdugarmd

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deepak-dugar-05a16059

📘 Deepak’s Book: Be You To Full, So Beautiful

Purchase here: https://a.co/d/9LO2KIP

Follow Priya & Open Heart on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@openheartthepod

Instagram: Instagram.com/openheartthepod

Website: https://openheartpodcast.com/

Priya Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.kothapalli

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pkothapallimd/

Thank you to our sponsor, Don’t Miss a Beat, for supporting this episode:

https://linktr.ee/dontmissabeat

© 2025 Priya Rao Media LLC. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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

01:13 Sam's Journey and Career Pivots

03:57 Navigating Challenges and Doubts

05:06 The Cath Lab Experience

12:08 Becoming an Educator

18:18 Creativity and Intuition in Medicine

24:47 Magical Synergy in the Cath Lab

26:00 The Importance of Intuition and Gut Checks

26:52 Creating Educational Resources for Medical Training

27:25 Overcoming Fear and Embracing Creativity

28:22 Challenges and Rewards of Teaching

29:01 The Impact of Visual Learning

30:55 Balancing Compassion and Professionalism

32:46 Navigating the Medical Field with Intuition

38:29 Encouraging Change and Self-Trust

41:03 Personal Stories and Emotional Connections

44:23 Living with an Open Heart

45:49 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

In modern medicine, clinical intuition is rarely named, rarely taught, and often dismissed. Training rewards certainty, speed, and control. But intuition quietly informs some of the most consequential decisions we make as physicians and clinicians. Ignoring it doesn’t just cost alignment. It can cost safety, creativity, and connection to the patient in front of us.

In this conversation, I sit down with Samantha Propper, a cath lab technologist turned award-winning educator and entrepreneur, and one of the earliest supporters of Open Heart. Sam’s path didn’t follow a straight line, and that’s the point. From years at the cath lab table to the classroom to founding Don’t Miss a Beat, her work has shaped how cardiac teams are trained, how they communicate, and how they advocate for patients.

At its core, this is a reminder for those of us practicing medicine today. Healing is not purely mechanical. It is relational. It is embodied.

If you are a physician, cardiologist, nurse, technologist, or clinician who has ever felt that quiet inner pull during patient care and wondered whether it belonged in medicine at all, this conversation is for you.

Connect with Samantha Propper and Don’t Miss a Beat

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dontmissabeat.youtube

Website and Textbooks: https://dontmissabeat.store

Instagram: https://instagram.com/dontmissabeat

Facebook: https://facebook.com/dontmissabeat

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/dontmissabeat/posts/?feedView=all

✨ Subscribe to Open Heart with Priya Rao, MD on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@openheartthepod

Instagram: Instagram.com/openheartthepod

Website: https://openheartpodcast.com/

© 2025 Priya Rao Media LLC. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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 needs to be fixed.But what if nothing is wrong at all?In this conversation, astrologer and spiritual teacher Liv Toepfer reframes what so many people experience in midlife not as a breakdown, but as a predictable point of awakening. A moment written into the architecture of the soul. One that arrives whether you are ready for it or not, often quietly at first, and then all at once.Liv explains how astrology reveals specific life thresholds, times when the psyche, nervous system, and soul begin asking deeper questions. Chief among them is what many astrologers refer to as Neptune meets Neptune, also known as the Neptune square Neptune. This midlife astrology transit often occurs in the early 40s and is associated with spiritual awakening, identity dissolution, and a reorientation toward meaning and truth. Illusions fall away. Careers shift. Relationships strain or end. Old coping strategies stop working. The external markers of success no longer satisfy the internal call.This is not chaos. It is initiation.Astrology, as Liv shares, is not about prediction or bypassing responsibility. It is a language. A way of understanding why now and how to work with change instead of fighting it. From Saturn return in early adulthood to North Node purpose and nodal cycles in midlife, astrology transits offer a broader context for growth that many people feel but cannot yet name.#astrology #podcast #doctor #healer #spiritual We also explore how the body participates in these awakenings. The nervous system responds before the mind has language. Energy shifts show up as fatigue, restlessness, emotional sensitivity, or the sense that something wants to move but you do not yet know what. Breath, presence, and self trust become anchors when certainty dissolves.From the perspective of Priya Rao, MD, a cardiologist and physician working at the intersection of medicine and consciousness, this conversation bridges astrology, nervous system regulation, and healing beyond symptoms. It reflects the Open Heart lens where modern medicine and spirituality are not opposing forces, but complementary ways of understanding the human experience.If you have ever wondered why everything seems to be shifting at once, why success suddenly feels empty, or why your inner voice is getting louder, this may not be a crisis. It may be your soul asking you to listen more closely.About our guest:Liv Toepfer is an astrologer, spiritual teacher, and guide for conscious transition. After more than two decades as a high level event producer, burnout became the doorway that led her into yoga, meditation, astrology, and energy work. Today, she supports others through life’s pivotal thresholds with grounded wisdom, clarity, and deep respect for the intelligence of the body and soul.Connect with Liv:Email: liv@itsavibe.earthWebsite: www.itsavibe.earthInstagram: @thevibetribetxInstagram: @livbydesign✨ Subscribe to Open Heart with Priya Rao, MD to hear more conversations where modern medicine and spirituality meet where we remember that healing is as much about consciousness as it is about care.Follow Priya & Open Heart:Instagram: Instagram.com/openheartthepodWebsite: https://openheartpodcast.com/Priya Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.kothapalliLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pkothapallimd/© 2025 Priya Rao Media LLC. All rights reserved.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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 one another — not in contradiction, but in a deeper coherence. This conversation moves slowly and honestly through the questions physicians aren’t trained to ask, yet inevitably face: What is a soul wound? What makes a crisis arrive on time? And what does healing require when the mind isn’t the only thing in pain?00:00 Introduction to Sacred Psychiatry01:04 A Life-Changing Consultation with an Astrologer02:39 Embracing Astrology and Esoteric Practices05:48 The Journey of Self-Discovery and Healing07:54 Integrating Spirituality into Medical Practice14:37 The Importance of Energy and Diet in Healing30:39 Astrological Shifts and Spiritual Awakening38:49 Introduction to Chiron in Astrology39:11 The Myth of Chiron41:17 Chiron's Wound and Prometheus43:40 Chiron Return and Life Transitions44:52 Astrological Cycles and Midlife Crisis45:38 The Power of Authenticity48:37 Spiritual Practices in Medicine52:09 The Shift to Air Signs and Quantum Reality55:05 Physician Suicide and Mental Health59:15 Life After Death and Spiritual Experiences01:01:56 Living with an Open Heart01:07:02 Final Thoughts and ReflectionsJudy speaks from a place few clinicians are willing to name: the recognition that a patient’s suffering is often entangled with spiritual injury, archetypal patterns, and timing that feels strangely precise. She describes the moment astrology found her — during a season of profound personal crisis — and how the natal chart, the Chiron wound, and midlife transits became a map she couldn’t dismiss. Not because they were mystical, but because they were useful. Because they helped her make sense of what medicine alone couldn’t reach.But this conversation is not abstract. It’s grounded in the real costs of being a physician today — the moral injury, the exhaustion, the quiet grief of watching the system fracture while trying to remain human inside of it. Judy speaks with clarity about physician suicide, about the inner split that comes from abandoning one’s own truth for the illusion of safety, and why authenticity becomes a survival skill rather than a spiritual luxury.We explore diet, energy, intuition, trauma, spiritual awakening, consciousness, and the long arc of healing that moves through the body as much as the psyche. Judy shares how she weaves astrology into her clinical work without losing scientific integrity, and why the future of medicine may require a shift toward an “air sign consciousness” — one that values subtlety, resonance, and quantum patterns as essential dimensions of health.If the ideas in this episode move something in you, stay with it. Let it breathe. These are the kinds of truths that don’t demand belief — only curiosity. And if you find resonance here, subscribe, share, or join us for the next conversation inside Open Heart, where science meets soul and the interior life is taken seriously.🔗 CONNECT WITH JUDY TSAFRIR, MDWebsite: https://www.judytsafrirmd.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sacred_psychiatry/reels/?hl=am-et@sacred_psychiatryTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sacred_psychiatry@sacred_psychiatryLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judytsafrirmd/Book — Sacred Psychiatry:https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Psychiatry-Transpersonal-Transform-Consciousness/dp/B0CB9G8699Subscribe to Open Heart with Priya Rao, MD to hear more conversations where modern medicine and spirituality meet — where we remember that healing is as much about consciousness as it is about care.Follow Priya & Open Heart:Instagram.co...

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 purpose.

Chapters

00:00 The Hidden World of Critical Care Cardiology
01:52 Inside the CICU: Teamwork and Humanity
03:40 Systems Change and the Deferred Dream
05:35 Courage, Identity, and Trusting Yourself
07:21 Vulnerability as Power in Medicine
10:48 The Immigrant Story and Human Truths
12:04 Lessons from Cardiac Arrest and Resilience
14:17 Team Harmony and Leadership in Crisis
17:59 Breaking Groupthink in Medicine
19:31 Women in Cardiology and Belonging
21:24 Psychological Safety in the Cath Lab
24:17 Creating Energetic Safety in Clinical Spaces
26:36 The Power of Intention and Positive Words
29:40 Patients and the Second Lease on Life
32:59 Compassion, Guilt, and Caring for the Healer
41:45 Purpose, Self Promotion, and Finding Your Path
43:46 Trust, Energy, and the Unseen Layers of Connection
55:26 Final Reflections and Finding Your People

Dr. Rosy Thachil, MD, MBA, FACC is a critical care cardiologist and healthcare leader whose work reflects the complexity of modern cardiac care. She understands that healing is clinical, emotional, and deeply human. Her lens invites us to look at medicine not only as a system but as a place where presence and authenticity truly matter.

Rosy shares what it means to care for the sickest cardiac patients and how trust forms among interdisciplinary teams during the most intense moments. She describes how the CICU reveals both the strength and fragility of being human. Her experiences highlight the connection between technical skill and compassionate care, a balance that defines true holistic cardiology.

She also speaks about her deferred dream of earning an MBA and how stepping outside the expected path gave her a new language for leadership and systems change. Her journey shows how courage grows when we let go of groupthink and develop confidence in our own direction. Rosy reflects on vulnerability as an essential part of connection and how it can soften even the most difficult clinical conversations.

Her immigrant story adds another layer to this reflection. Rosy speaks about belonging, identity, and the early messages that shape how many of us learn to protect our deeper truths. Together, we discuss mentorship, representation, and the experience of women in cardiology where visibility still matters. Priya shares her own path as a structural interventional cardiologist and the resilience required to walk into rooms where few women stand.

This conversation lives where medicine and humanity meet, where the heart is understood through both physiology and connection. It is a reminder that healing is a blend of knowledge, intuition, emotional intelligence, and presence. For anyone in healthcare or anyone seeking clarity in their own life, this dialogue offers grounding and a return to what is real.

Guest
Rosy Thachil, MD, MBA, FACC
Website: https://ThachilMD.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosythachilmd

Subscribe to Open Heart with Priya Rao, MD to explore conversations where science meets soul and healing is understood as both consciousness and care.

Follow Priya and Open Heart
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/...

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.