Open Heart with Priya Rao, MD

Do Science and the Sacred Belong Together? [S1 Trailer]

I'm an interventional cardiologist. I work on the heart when people are closest to death. I've spent years in the cath lab doing procedures that can change someone's life in seconds. And somewhere along the way, something happened in my own life that medicine couldn't measure. I felt something shift that I couldn't explain and couldn't ignore. I followed every rule we're taught to follow. I trained hard, showed up fully, and believed deeply in the science I practice. But I started to wonder — with openness and curiosity — whether there is more to healing than what our current tools can measure. Not instead of medicine. Alongside it. This season, we sit with the questions conventional medicine hasn't learned to ask yet. Why did science and soul become so disconnected in the first place? What happens when a physician follows every protocol and still feels something essential is missing? How are practicing doctors quietly using intuition, ancient healing traditions, and tools that don't show up in a textbook — and why does it work? Open Heart is where those questions live. Honest, grounded conversations about healing — what medicine gets right, what it misses, and what opens up when we stop pretending those two things can't coexist. If you've ever had a moment — in a hospital room, in the middle of the night, or somewhere completely ordinary — where something shifted and you couldn't explain it, this is for you. If you've ever sensed that medicine had the diagnosis right but still missed something essential, this is for you. I'm learning to ask these questions right alongside you. This is Open Heart. If this resonated, subscribe on YouTube or wherever you're listening. And become part of this growing circle. Follow Priya Rao, MD Website: https://www.openheartpodcast.com [https://www.openheartpodcast.com] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.kothapalli/ [https://www.instagram.com/dr.kothapalli/] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pkothapallimd/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/pkothapallimd/] #openheart #openheartpodcast #PriyaRaoMD #sciencemeetsoul #healingpodcast #physicianwellness #spiritualawakening #integrativemedicine #medicine #cardiology #mindbodysoul #doctorpodcast #intuition #medicalstories #holistichealth Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy [https://ausha.co/privacy-policy] for more information.

Behind the Scenes of My Spiritual Healing Session

In this episode of Open Heart, Priya Rao, MD spends time with Fran Bell inside her office, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how integrative healing unfolds in real time. Rather than a conceptual conversation, this episode centers on observation, presence, and what it looks like to work with the body when symptoms, emotions, and life context are addressed together. In this conversation, they explore: ■ What it looks like to enter a healing session ■ How the nervous system, physical tension, and emotional patterns are assessed through direct engagement with the body ■ The role of touch, attention, and pacing in creating a sense of safety and participation ■ How physical symptoms are explored alongside life stressors, decision-making, and fatigue ■ Why healing work often focuses on restoring responsiveness rather than fixing a specific problem ■ How gratitude, rest, and nourishment are discussed as lived practices rather than prescriptions ■ The tension between wanting clear answers and allowing the body to guide the process ■ What it means to participate in healing without certainty about outcomes Chapters: 00:00 Introduction and connecting with the body 01:10 Observing the nervous system and physical responsiveness 01:55 Evaluating tension and fatigue patterns 03:00 Beginning physical adjustments 09:08 The role of gratitude in the session 12:48 Discussing nutritional support and deficiency 15:16 Emotional and energetic patterns 21:15 Thyroid and antibody concerns 22:14 Exploring flow and responsiveness 22:52 Changes in lifestyle and awareness 24:08 Fatigue, rest, and self-care 26:31 What it means to hold the role of a healer 28:58 Grief, loss, and integration 32:50 Integrity in healing work 41:29 Connection with nature and grounding 43:05 Healing with horses Follow Fran Bell Website: https://franbell.com [https://franbell.com] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/franbell_integratedhealing [https://www.instagram.com/franbell_integratedhealing] Hosted by Priya Rao, MD Website: https://www.openheartpodcast.com [https://www.openheartpodcast.com] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/priyaraomd [https://www.instagram.com/priyaraomd] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyaraomd [https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyaraomd] 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 [https://ausha.co/privacy-policy] for more information.

When Your Intuition Whispers, Do You Listen?

In this episode of Open Heart, Priya Rao, MD sits down with Fran Bell, an intuitive healer and former competitive athlete whose work bridges physical injury, lived experience, and forms of knowing that don’t fit neatly inside conventional systems. Together, they explore what it means to trust intuition in a world that asks for proof, and how healing often begins before we have language for it. In this conversation, they explore: ■ How a childhood injury disrupted Fran’s life and quietly reshaped how she understood the body and healing ■ What intuition actually feels like in lived experience, not as a concept or belief ■ How people are trained out of sensing and into over-reliance on cognition and control ■ Why many capable, rational people struggle to trust what they feel if it can’t be measured ■ The tension between evidence-based medicine and forms of healing that require participation rather than certainty ■ How physical symptoms, emotional patterns, and life direction often intersect ■ What integration can look like when medicine and intuition are allowed to work side by side ■ Why healing does not always mean “feeling better,” and how meaning, purpose, and wholeness can show up in unexpected ways Fran Bell works with people whose symptoms, pain, or sense of disconnection have not been fully explained by conventional approaches alone. Her perspective is grounded in lived experience with injury, athletics, and years of working directly with the body. In this conversation, she offers language for experiences many people sense but hesitate to trust, especially when those experiences fall outside familiar systems of validation. Follow Fran Bell Website: https://franbell.com [https://franbell.com] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/franbell_integratedhealing [https://www.instagram.com/franbell_integratedhealing] Top Moments 00:00 Introduction to Fran Bell: Intuitive Healer 01:25 Fran's Childhood and Awakening of Gifts 03:52 Developing and Trusting Intuition 08:41 Integrating Physical and Spiritual Healing 11:14 Synergy Between Intuitive Healing and Medicine 17:17 Commitment to a Spirit-Led Life 33:16 Gratitude Practice and Its Impact 37:40 Embracing the Path of Healing 38:41 The Journey of Channeling 40:27 Understanding Channeling 41:38 The Role of Trust in Healing 45:30 Integrity in Healing Practices 52:44 The Courage to Heal 55:47 The Deeper Purpose of Healing 01:01:33 Concluding Thoughts on Healing Hosted by Priya Rao, MD https://www.openheartpodcast.com [https://www.openheartpodcast.com] https://www.instagram.com/priyaraomd [https://www.instagram.com/priyaraomd] https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyaraomd [https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyaraomd] Our Sponsors Thank you to our sponsors for supporting this episode: Don’t Miss a Beat: https://linktr.ee/dontmissabeat [https://linktr.ee/dontmissabeat] Summit Wealth Financial Advisors: https://www.summitwealthgroup.com/ [https://www.summitwealthgroup.com/] 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 [https://ausha.co/privacy-policy] for more information.

Unlock Your Erotic Essence and feel ALIVE again

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 [https://www.pavlayoga.com] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unleashthefeminine_pavla [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 [https://www.openheartpodcast.com] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/priyaraomd [https://www.instagram.com/priyaraomd] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyaraomd [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 [https://ausha.co/privacy-policy] for more information.

Surviving Cancer as a Doctor: The Story She Was Ready to Share

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/ [https://www.instagram.com/openheartthepod/] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/open-heart-podcast/about/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/open-heart-podcast/about/] Website: https://openheartpodcast.com/ [https://openheartpodcast.com/] Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy [https://ausha.co/privacy-policy] for more information.