Living with an Open Heart

Open Heart: A Cardiologist’s Leap Toward Healing Beyond the Physical

Host Shaila Lalani welcomes Dr. Priya Rao Kothapalli, a four-times board-certified interventional/structural cardiologist and creator of the Open Heart podcast, to discuss the leap from identifying solely as a doctor to embracing a heart-led, creative, and spiritual approach to healing. Priya shares her early exposure to the cath lab through her father, the rarity of women in her specialty, and how working directly with the heart feels spiritual, intuitive, and deeply present. She describes growing up as a first-generation Indian American in a small Texas town, feeling pressured to fit in, and carrying perfectionism and a need to prove herself through medical training and into her first job. A series of high-stakes cases including multiple cardiac arrests and patients recounting similar experiences while clinically dead combined with personal premonition-like experiences and a catalytic relationship pushed her to question purely material views of medicine. She quit a full-time role without a plan and took a major leap into yoga teacher training in Costa Rica, which shifted her toward energy medicine concepts, rest, internal clarity, and alignment. Returning to the cath lab through short-term opportunities, she felt clearer, more connected, and more effective, emphasizing how sleep deprivation and burnout can cloud intuition—an element she sees as central to the ‘art of medicine’ and team harmony. Priya defines healing as coherence of mind, body, soul, and connection with others, and empowerment as living in alignment with one’s authentic gifts and purpose. She also discusses financial empowerment as grounding, acknowledges intimidation around finances due to lack of modeling in her South Asian upbringing, and reframes money as energetic exchange and flow. The conversation closes with Priya’s legacy of living with love and an open heart, advice to take aligned leaps despite fear, and a rapid ‘soul sparks’ segment covering what uplifts her, what grounds her, and her message that it’s important to question what is considered normal.

01:25 From ‘Just a Cardiologist’ to Creative Storyteller

02:50 Why Cardiology: Early Cath Lab Roots & Community

04:28 The Heart as a Spiritual Experience in the Cath Lab

06:58 Growing Up Different: Perfectionism, Proving, and the Box

09:18 Cardiac Arrest Cases & the Moment ‘We’re Not Alone’

11:24 The Big Leap: Quitting, Costa Rica, and Yoga Teacher Training

15:12 Returning to Medicine Differently: Clarity, Rest, and Burnout Lessons

17:49 Intuition in Medicine: Energy, Intention, and Resonance

23:30 What Healing Means Now + Launching the Open Heart Podcast

25:56 Empowerment & Money as Energy: Financial Grounding

28:12 Legacy, Love, and Advice for Women on the Edge of a Leap

30:44 Soul Sparks Rapid-Fire Q&A

32:20 Closing Reflections: Healing Beyond the Physical

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If this episode moved you, share it with someone who needs it. And remember your leap doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be yours.

Transcript

Shaila 0:00

Hello Leapers and welcome to the new episode of Leap 2 Empower I'm Shaila Lalani, and this podcast is to honor the real life stories of people who dare to leap into the unknown. Today I'm joined by someone whose journey bridges medicine and meaning. Dr. Priya Rao Kothapalli is a four times board certified interventional cardiologist, creator of Open Heart, a podcast exploring the intersection of medicine, healing, and human connection. Through her work, she's redefined what it means to heal blending science with soul. A journey that invites us all to listen to our hearts a little more closely. Thank you Priya, for joining me on the podcast today. I am so excited to hear your story. Thank you for having me. All right, let's get started. So tell me who is Priya and what kind of leaps has she been through in life to get to where she is today? I'm so excited to hear all about that.

Priya 0:57

I love your podcast because you are able to capture these leap moments in the lives of many people where, sometimes you see people who are objectively successful on paper, right? We fit the box of what it means to have a successful life, and yet there are a number of steps or phases in life that we all go through. And so I love that question that you ask.

Shaila 1:18

Yeah. So who is Priya? Let's get to know Priya, and what leaps has she been through in her life to get to where she has today?

Priya 1:25

So, it's funny, like I used to strongly identify as just one thing. I would put myself in the category of I am an interventional structural cardiologist. I am a doctor who goes to the hospital 24 7, and that was my entire identity. And over the last two years, I've gone through a lot of major shifts in my life, a very transformative couple of years. Basically started as a spiritual awakening and I realized that there are a lot of dimensions to who I am, and there are also equally important to bring into the world. I started thinking about things like purpose and alignment and living more from the heart, and I discovered that I'm actually a creative in addition to a doctor. And with that, I've turned into a creative storyteller similar to yourself because I realized the value in sharing our experiences in a way that can shift culture and shift the way that people engage with each other in the world.

Shaila 2:18

Very interesting. You went from becoming a cardio interventional doctor to a creative, but I would think that even as a doctor, in surgery you are being creative with a human body to figure things out and put things together for people.

Priya 2:34

It is an incredibly creative field. We do have a lot of textbook knowledge and guidelines and very rigid information that we work with as a framework. But a lot of what happens in those moments of life and death are extremely guided. Very intuitive, very guided, but also very creative. How did you get into cardiology? Oh, I love that question. So women in cardiology actually make up less than 30% in interventional cardiology. We make up less than 5%. In structural interventional cardiology, we make up less than 1%. Wow. And so that is actually a question that's very close to my heart. I had early exposure with my dad, so he's an interventional cardiologist. He's been practicing in a small community in Texas for about 30 years. And I would wake up early in the mornings, during the summers to go with him to the cath lab because I loved being there. So I had the opportunity to have very early exposure, which is how I got started on this path.

Shaila 3:26

Mm. So you were already a creative woman back then because that's what drove you to becoming a interventional cardiologist.

Priya 3:33

Yeah, I would say so. And the early experiences did shape a lot of my views. Part of my journey has been one, following that passion for being connected to people. I think Cath Lab in particular is a very community driven space. For people who don't know what a cath lab is, it's basically like an operating room where we have specialized equipment to be able to look at people's hearts using X-ray and real time to guide our interventions. So people that have things like heart attacks will come to the cath lab. We also were able to do some heart valve replacements and other procedures there. But I really loved the community aspect of being there. And I was wondering like, man, why am I a 5-year-old kid wanting to go to the cath lab with my dad at like six in the morning during the summer? And it was really because I felt there was such a strong sense of community in that space. No matter what happened with the patient, no matter what happened during that day, the team would come together and really be there for each other. And I really loved that, that example.

Shaila 4:28

So how does it feel when you look at a human heart? What goes through your body, mind, and soul when you look at a heart, the rawness of the human body and how do you feel?

Priya 4:41

It's so fun. Like in all of my years of experience, nobody's ever really asked me that question. And the first thing that comes to mind for me is that it is a spiritual experience. I think anytime we work with the human heart, this is something that I learned from some of my spiritual teachers in the last couple of years. The heart really has so much meaning and power in the body. It's one of the energy centers that is right in the middle of the body, right? The heart chakra. It's where we have energy flow that comes through the body. It also physically is the pump that keeps the body alive. It gets blood and oxygen to the places where it needs to go. And even more than that is, I've learned about, how the heart actually contains the soul's blueprint. It contains all of the information of our soul's purpose in this lifetime and how we are interwoven with all other living beings. And so when you start to look at it philosophically, the heart has so much meaning. And when you're actually in that procedure room with your hands doing the procedure inside that person's heart, it really feels like a very divinely guided moment. It's like we were supposed to be there together in that experience, and it feels extremely supported and guided. Wow. It's probably the most connected and present I ever have ever felt in my life. It's deeply meditative.

Shaila 5:56

Wow. I hope that all the doctors out there feel the same.

Priya 6:00

I kind of think we do, but we just don't talk about it. And they don't know why we don't talk about it.

Shaila 6:05

Right. Right. I mean, isn't it such a miracle to take a heart and operate on it, and then feel that heartbeat, and then knowing that this person is now going to feel the same heartbeat, I don't even know how to articulate that. That is just so divine.

Priya 6:18

I think every part of her life is deeply guided, and that's something that I didn't believe in when I was going through medical school for much of my life. I was very disconnected from the spirit. Part of what we do. Everything was very material physical world, and I had a lot of big experiences that have forced me to wake up and open my eyes to the fact that we are energetic beings in physical form. And yes, we've gotten so good at treating the physical body, but I think there's a lot more there that we've turned a blind eye to that we probably need to look at closer.

Shaila 6:49

So can we talk a little bit. What leaps did you go through to understand that we're not just a physical human body, we are energetic beings?

Priya 6:58

Well, I think there were a number of different stages. So I grew up in a family in a small town in Texas for first generation Indian American immigrant. And I grew up in a community that was very insulated, and so I always felt like, oh, we're different, right? And with that, I always felt okay, I can't deviate too far from the box or else I won't be considered acceptable. Everything from the clothes that we wear or the food that we eat or our hair was actually all the way down to the ground. It was like very indian Village, like in a braid with the flowers and the hair. But it was so different for that community that we often got a lot of bullying and criticism. So I grew up thinking, okay, being different is not okay. So I spent a lot of my life trying to fit a box to make sure that I would be acceptable and safe. And, I also feel like a lot of my achievements came from a place of really loving what I do, but also came from meaning to prove something. So it was like how do I prove my worth in this space? How do I show myself I'm good enough to do something? And that mentality persisted as I went through medical training. And I realized that a lot of us struggle with that whenever we're in these professions where there is a lot of high achievers that are put together, a lot of perfectionism, a lot of people pleasing, very driven, individuals. We tend to internalize these ideas that we have to meet this impossible standard. And as I went through my training, I was really fortunate to meet very good mentors and so they helped me direct my medical interests but in the background of all of that was always this desire to prove or to be more. And I got into my first job. So I started my first clinical job after 15 years of medical training, and I showed up in a cath lab where I didn't know anyone and I had to do my first case. The leading up to that I actually made myself sick. I was sitting on my couch thinking like, okay, I did all this stuff. I have four board certifications, but can I actually do this? And again, it's that same kind of nagging sense of can I do this? Have I proven to myself that I can do this? Am I good enough to do this? And I took care of the patient who came in and it was actually a pretty complex procedure that we did. But the patient survived. He did fine. But every single time I had a patient do well, it was almost like, oh, it's by chance that they did well. It's not because we showed up in the way that we needed to. And I really became very anxious at times that, what if something bad happens? And I had a series of cases where I had a two week period of time where I had three patients come in with cardiac arrest back to back to back. And cardiac arrest is whenever the heart completely stops. I don't know if you've seen people like, they're found down so they kind of grasp their chest and then next thing you know, they're on the ground. Yes. So those were the kind of scenarios that those were. And whenever they come to us, we have to act extremely quickly and we have seconds to minutes to get everything done. Mm. And everything has to go in perfect harmony. And we were able to resuscitate the patients. They all did well. But as I was doing those cases, I had this really profound realization and it was really just a bot that just came in that was like, we're not doing this alone. There's no way that this team of people who haven't really worked together that much were able to create such harmony to create this beautiful outcome for this patient. Like these split second decisions. Yes, we've trained to do these things. It's like you're in this like deep meditative zone where you're just guided. And so I think that's what kind of opened my eyes to realizing like, Hey, we're not alone in doing this. And after that I had experience after experience where I was just like, man, we are not alone. Yeah.

Shaila 10:26

Okay. So was that trigger point for you to explore the spirituality and energy part of your practice?

Priya 10:34

I would say that's one of many. So with those three patients, actually the other interesting thing is whenever those patients woke up, they all told me the same story of what happened to them whenever they were basically dead. Physically dead. And hearing that from the patients, it was just like, man, this is really unusual because we don't ask those questions because we don't wanna trigger trauma, PTSD, all of those things. But when they volunteer that information, and it's all three of them, I started to wonder like, is this a coincidence or am I supposed to pay attention to this? And of course, I went about my day, right? Like I'm just continuing to do my normal thing. Yes, I'm in the very physical science world and I kept having experiences like that where people would share information or I would have experiences personally where. I had dreams that were premonitions and I couldn't explain it, but it was just like, coincidence. Coincidence until it got so loud that I was like, I know that this is not coincidence. And my final big awakening moment was actually meeting someone who became a catalyst for my growth. And this person asked me a lot of interesting questions and somehow I had this big paradigm shift in my mind of what are the things that I believe in? Why are we doing things in the way that we're doing them? And. There has to be more than what we are able to explain with our physical medicine. And so I actually quit that job, realized it wasn't a good fit, and went to yoga teacher training in Costa Rica, and that pretty much changed my life. Yeah, it was a big leap.

Shaila 11:57

Okay. And then, so you went from doctor to becoming a yoga teacher or went to training for yoga teacher because you realized that you needed to work a little bit more and understand the energy and the flow and the being present rather in the moment. And then what happened?

Priya 12:14

So the yoga teacher training was not an easy decision for me. Here I am, like this person who's on this trajectory, right? It's like I fit every single box that I'm supposed to, right? Like you got the personal life figured out. You've got like the job, you've got this, you got that, and it all looks great on paper. But I noticed that when I was walking into my office, I felt so energetically drained every day. It was like the life was getting sucked out of me and things were going well. Things were going really well. In the cath lab I did hundreds of cases with patients that did very well. But I did start to notice that when I'm patting myself on the back saying, Hey, we did a great job. We took care of this patient. They're alive, their heart muscle has recovered. Some of these patients would come to the office and I would just before I even walked into the office room to see them, I could feel the panic and dread. And I started to realize yes, we've addressed the physical problem, but there's something that's deeper underlying that I don't have the words or tools to understand. But I can feel it. And I've always been deeply sensitive to people, like empathetic the things that are qualities that typically draw people to medicine. But this was like on another level where I just couldn't ignore it. That coupled with my own feeling burnt out and having the struggle of Hey, I'm practicing medicine in a way that doesn't feel good. I'm doing cases in a very sleep deprived state to the point where I had physical changes in my own body that I was just like, I don't think this is the right thing. The most dangerous part of that experience that I noticed in others was whenever people started to say this is how we have always done it. So that's how we're gonna continue doing it instead of questioning is normal, really normal.

Shaila 13:44

And so you went to yoga teacher training, and then how did that change your life?

Priya 13:49

It was more for me, honestly. I think we talked a little bit about this desire to prove or achieve and where it was coming from. More of the place of fear controlled, wanting to be accepted and finding safety, but I realized that all of those things are actually within ourselves, right? And that was a big mental internal shift for me. It was mental, energetic, spiritual. And I was in a moment in life where I was completely open. I knew I didn't have it all figured out. I showed up there and I really received what I needed from that. And I started learning about things that a few years ago, if you told me about energy centers in the body, I would've been like, you're insane. Even though I come from an Indian family where a lot of these ancient practices have originated, I was just like if I can't see it, like I can't prove it. It's not real. And I had this newfound openness to these principles of energy medicine, and I didn't even know what a shaman was back then. And now I'm like deep in it. I wanna know everything. I wanna explore all the different things because I realize that healing is not one size fits all. And given resources that are credible people will gravitate toward what they need. And they've learned that through my own journey. But I think that was an important turning point for me.

Shaila 15:01

So how has that changed now? Did you go back to doing surgeries after yoga teacher training? Did you say, okay, now I'm gonna treat my patients completely different. What was that leap for you?

Priya 15:12

I went back to the cath lab and it was in a very different way. So I did not end up taking another full-time job. I ended up actually very synchronistically having opportunities that came to me. It was a state of I quit the job. I didn't have a plan moving forward. I just knew I needed to do something differently. And next thing I know, I have people reaching out to me like, Hey, we need help in our cath lab, and we're out in this community in central Texas or in Kansas or wherever it was. And I just said, yes, it felt right. I said, yes, and I show up there and I realized that, man, I am so much more clearer than I have ever been in my life. I felt like the work that I did internally opened up my vessel to receive information and the way that I connected with patients, with people at the table, the techs, the nurses, the people that we work with, it felt so much more harmonious and patients were doing well. And I think I realized that the most important lesson I learned from going to yoga teacher training is that rest or internal clarity that we develop when we keep our own vessel clear is what makes us able to show up better for the other person.

Shaila 16:18

Okay, so how is that different from pre yoga teacher training to do something about it post yoga teacher training. What was that thing that

16:27

made that difference for

Shaila 16:28

that patient?

Priya 16:29

I realized that when I sleep enough, say for instance, and a lot of people dunno this about doctors, but we don't have regulations on how much sleep we need between cases. There were times in my last job where I was up all day doing clinic and cases, so from 7:00 AM onward to 5:00 PM then I go on call for emergencies. So I'm up at nighttime doing two or three cases between 5:00 PM and 7:00 AM. And then the next day, guess what I'm doing again? I'm doing cases or going to clinic or reading echoes, doing something. And it got to the point where I was so sleep deprived that I actually felt anxiety going into cases and I couldn't understand why I was anxious. But I really feel that when we're not rested, in terms of sleep, in terms of how we nourish our bodies, in terms of how we regulate ourselves and our nervous system, we can't receive the intelligence or the intuition in a way that's clear. And the intuition I realized is such a powerful part of my work that I think that's what actually makes all the difference between the outcomes that we would want and the outcomes that we would not want for a patient. And so I really felt like it was important to start working on that clarity within myself.

Shaila 17:32

That's very interesting that you said that. I guess I didn't even think about it until you mentioned it right now. Even pilots have rest time, right? So you guys don't get that rest time. And when you don't get that rest time, if you can't take care of yourself, how are you expected to take care of a patient? That's definitely of a huge turning point. And so you talked about intuition. How does intuition play a role in what you do today?

Priya 17:56

Intuition is everything. And I think this is part of the art of medicine that we've lost as we've gotten hyper-focused on the physical part of medicine. I think the physical part of medicine is incredibly important, and I think we're really, really good at dealing with those, manifestations of illness that present with a physical problem. But when it comes down to the art of medicine, like really the intuitive side. I feel that it's connected to the energy body. I think it's this unspoken harmony of our energy fields, which is like way out there. If you talk to somebody who's just starting to study physical medicine, it's like a way out there concept. But I really came back to that principle after my experiences in the cath lab. I started realizing that people in the team would just know what to do without ever speaking words. It's like your energy fields harmonized and you're in a dance. And I notice that when I come in with an intention, so if I set the intention that I want this person to receive the best possible care in the best possible scenario with the least amount of pain and greatest amount of joy possible for everyone involved, including the patient and myself, when I set that intention, I notice a difference in how the room feels, and I think people notice a difference and we work better together. And that's when the impossible really becomes possible. And I was already kind of doing that even before I believed in all this stuff. Like I would do a little jingle in my head before I walked into cases as a trainee. And I talked to my mentor who's the chief of cardiology at the medical school where I trained, and he and I would have this conversation about how that intuition, that gut feeling, being able to listen to that is what differentiates an exceptional person in the cath lab from someone who didn't reach their potential. It's like, how do we put the ego aside so we can actually hear what comes through, but nobody really talks about where does that intuition come from.

Shaila 19:42

Speaking from my own medical experience with maybe with family or whatsoever I feel like even finding a doctor, you have to be so intuitive to find the right doctor for you. If you don't align with what the doctor is telling you, I feel like it's not the right doctor for me. I have been through some personal family experiences where we've just been guided to the right doctor, and we call him doctor with good bedside manners, but it's actually a doctor who aligns spiritually, intuitively to treat you as a patient more than science background. It's not about a textbook doctor for me because I feel like I can find that anywhere. Doctors are like the tool that, like it's up to the source of how things are gonna work out. The channels. The channels were conduits. Exactly.

Priya 20:29

Okay. I love that you've summarized all of my experiences. Yeah, this is exactly it and you've nailed it. That's exactly what it is. I think that people are drawn to their vibrational match, right? Yes. And same thing happens in friendships, relationships. We are drawn to those who have resonance. Yes. And I think it's the same thing when it comes to healers doctors, whatever you seek out in the healing space, we know what is aligned with who we are. And I think that's also why it's not even just important for me as a doctor to keep my vessel clear. I think it's important for everyone to keep their vessels clear. Yes. So they have that discernment. Of what aligns and what does not. And I had no idea that the body holds so much intelligence. I didn't know that I could sense a yes or a no in my physical body. Yes. And those are concepts I learned in the last couple of years as I've been on this journey myself, and I really rely on that very heavily. And then to your point about. You know how there was something more guiding us. My dad and I talk about this all the time, and this is probably actually where a lot of this started for me. He never felt like he was the one who was a hero, saving a life. I don't feel like I'm a hero saving a life. I feel like we have a privilege to be the conduit through which whatever you believe in is working to help the person in front of us. Yes. And in doing so, we developed this deeper connection with humanity. Yes. And each other. And it's just, it's a really beautiful experience and that's what keeps me showing up. It's a hard job. Yes. It's a very tough job. It's, it requires a lot of sacrifice. Waking up at 2:00 AM to help a stranger in the cath lab. It's not just me, right. It's my team. It's the people who keep the hospital running. It's the janitors who are gonna come in and help us whenever we need something. There's so many people who are willing to do that, but we also have the privilege of being there, and I learned that healing is reciprocal. Hmm. So as we help the person in front of us, we too gain something. We gain insight or knowledge, or we're guided in such a way that we grow as a soul and we evolve into who we're supposed to be.

Shaila 22:21

Yeah. It's fulfillment if you are aware of it. Right. The awareness. The awareness is huge. And the openness.

Priya 22:28

And I struggle with that a little bit. 'cause I think we're all on different paths or different, we're all on different places on our journey. Right? And it's true for the global body of humanity. We're all evolving at our own pace in our own right time. And I think doctors are no different. I think had you had this conversation with me five years ago, we'd be talking about something totally different. If you said any of the words to me about alignment, timing, whatever, I would've been rolling my eyes at you. And the thing is, I wasn't ready to be on this path until it was the right time for me. And the information I now know that I have incorporated into my world. Maybe it was already subconsciously there to some extent, but the awareness I have now is so much greater. But it all happens in the right time for that individual. And so I do see colleagues who are you know, we're all in different areas and I also think it's not a linear path. I think we end up going in these like somewhat cyclical patterns and it's really cool to see how we're all interconnected, but we're all having our own experiences.

Shaila 23:27

I love how you said vibrational match. That's absolutely true. Talking about healing, what does healing mean to you now?

Priya 23:34

Healing to me now is living with an open heart, with coherence of mind, body, soul, heart, all of the different layers of who we are. And it's not just the physical body, I think it's the energetic body, it's the emotional body, it's the soul level. And it's also the deep connection that we have with all living beings. Healing is so much more than I see artery I stent artery. I think it's an important part of it given you know how people will manifest their illness over a period of time. I think that what we do is still very important, but it's not all of it.

Shaila 24:09

Speaking of healing, I know you're taking a big leap with something called open heart. So tell us all about this big leap from going from a white coat or still doing that into this transition of telling stories.

Priya 24:23

I was always a really quiet, shy person in medical school and I was always afraid to speak up and I was always afraid to follow my heart. And now I live very, very differently. And it happened through these series of leaps and they were guided, they were catalytic events, they were transformative periods of time in my life where at the time, I was like, why is this happening to me? Why can't I just be normal? And then you wake up to this reality of man, there's so much more that we don't know. And I'm left with so many questions and I can't be the only one. And so I had a series of synchronistic guided events in my life that have led me to create Open Heart, which is a podcast and a global community where science meets soul. It's about bringing the things together that we're all always together, but we may have created an artificial separation over time. It's asking the questions that we can't find in medical textbooks that we all think about and we all have this like feeling of, oh, I don't know what that was, but don't have a framework for it. And really inviting people to show up with an open mind and curiosity. I don't believe in forcing people to believe in the same thing. I want to hear other people's experiences, even if they're completely different, and it really is about keeping ourselves open to possibility because we don't know it all.

Shaila 25:39

I loved how you said science meets soul, because that's awakening in itself. And like we were talking about earlier, things are so divinely orchestrated that sometimes you don't have the right words for them. And so I'm excited to listen to your podcast. it's so empowering also because you mentioned the community aspect. So what does empowerment mean to you?

Priya 25:59

Empowerment to me means living from a place of alignment. It's living true to who we are, true to our authentic gifts in this lifetime, in alignment with our soul's purpose, and doing so without fear control, without anything that is other than the inner knowing.

Shaila 26:22

That's beautiful. And so speaking of all the leaps that we've taken. How does financial empowerment play a role in your life?

Priya 26:29

It's a huge part of it because, yes, we're spiritually connected beings, but we're here in the physical world and money is a form of energy. And so I think staying connected to our footing in that way is really important. Objectively, I'm a very successful person, right? I've done all the schooling, I've done all this work. I am still intimidated by finances. I will openly admit that and it's because I never had the formal education or background to learn it. And I think as a woman who comes from a South Asian community, finances were not handled by my mom or my grandmother. And so I never really developed the modeling to understand it, but now I am, and I realize that as I learn more, it's actually not as scary as it as I thought it was. And I urge people to, take that leap and learn more about their finances because it is an important part of our experience in the world. And once I started feeling more grounded in that way, I was able to make big changes in my life that were more compatible with who I am and opportunity just started flowing in. Yeah, it's all about the alignment there too. It is.

Shaila 27:29

Speaking of financial, a empower, I always ask this question, if money were to walk into the door right now, what kind of relationship would you have?

Priya 27:36

I would tell money that I see us as a form of energetic exchange. It's reciprocal, and it's all about flow. I know it's a very abstract way to answer your question, but really I see it just like I see the energetic exchange between friends. I see it as the energetic exchange between myself and a patient. Another form of energy flowing through the world. And I learned that principle in yoga teacher training. There's this south American principle called, it's about sacred reciprocity and it's what you give, what is what you receive. And so there are ebbs and flows of energy in every area of life. And the same is true for money.

Shaila 28:12

What kind of legacy do you envision to leave behind?

Priya 28:15

This is a good question. I come to this question often in the last few years, and for me, the principal that keeps coming back in my mind is just a principle of love. Live with love, live with an open heart. Let love guide you. And that is the legacy that I wanna, I want to leave in the world. It's about living with an open heart, letting love show us the way, and realizing that we are all beautifully interconnected and interwoven, and we can lift each other, love for others, and love for yourself and for self. That's a really big part of it, and I love that you bring that up because that's something that I work on. We are all made of the same stuff at the end of the day. And so I think it is important to extend that same compassion to ourselves that we extend to others. And if we don't fill our cup, and I know we say this all the time, but if we don't care for ourselves. We cannot care for others to the fullest of our potential. And so I think it's super, super important to, to pour into ourselves as well, which you mentioned earlier, take care of yourself so that you can take care of your patients. Yeah. Or others. Yeah. And also so you as a soul can live a full life. We're here to experience the full spectrum of human emotion and all the experiences that come with being in a physical body, and so instead of being so hard on ourselves and I love this principle that there is no good, bad, right, wrong, it's just choices that we make through life that create our experience in this body. And we all can maintain the clarity to make decisions that are aligned, which will give us our highest experience in this life. And so I think that's where I really hope to leave my legacy. It's about living from that heart-centered place of clarity and knowing. Hence open heart. Hence open heart.

Shaila 29:55

So what would you tell a woman who's at the edge of her leap?

Priya 29:59

I would tell her that it is scary and there are no guarantees, but if it feels truly aligned, and even if you can't explain it to anybody else, if it feels aligned and it's coming from a place of love and knowing that this is the right thing for you. It's not coming from a place of fear, control, grasping, proving then take the leap. Take the leap. Take the leap. It's as simple as that. And once you show whatever you believe in the universe, God, the world, energy, your guides, whatever you believe in, once you show them you are ready by taking that finite step toward what feels aligned for you. All the doors will open. Yep. I feel aligned with you right now. Very well. Yeah. There's a reason we're here together. Nothing is a coincidence. I agree. Yes. Living from the heart.

Shaila 30:44

So now we'll get into our last section, which I like to call soul sparks. So let's get started. What song instantly lifts your spirit?

Priya 30:53

Ooh, that's a good one. I like real love 'cause it was the song I was listening to as I finished my first marathon and I didn't think I would make it. But that song, when it comes on, I'm like, we did it.

Shaila 31:01

Coffee, chai or meditation?

Priya 31:03

Chai as a ritual.

Shaila 31:04

Okay, very good. If your heart could speak right now, what would it say?

Priya 31:09

Being open feels so good, even though it's scary.

Shaila 31:13

What keeps you grounded?

Priya 31:14

My community. I have a lot of good people in my life that actually met thanks to you, apparently, because you've brought them into my field. Thank you for that. Sheila.

Shaila 31:21

Well, I didn't bring them to you. Let's just say it was divinely guided. You did a little bit of work there. I was just the channel, like you said. What's one word that describes your current season of life?

Priya 31:32

Transformation.

Shaila 31:33

Beautiful. If you could prescribe one thing for every human being, what would it be?

Priya 31:37

Love.

Shaila 31:38

What's your guilty pleasure Snack after a long day.

Priya 31:41

Dark chocolate with like pistachios or hazelnuts. Love it. And rice crispy treats. Oh, I forgot about that. I do like rice crispy treats. After I finish a long case, I kept them into eight cubes and I eat them through as I write my note, as I go home in my car right before I brush my teeth. Yep. Each, each piece has its little purpose. We all need our dopamine hits at some point. Yeah.

Shaila 32:00

One bold thought that you want to leave our listeners with.

Priya 32:03

It is okay to question what is normal. In fact, it's very much needed in the world, and living with an open heart and asking the question is this really normal can shift mountains and in the world in any place that you choose. And that's my message.

Shaila 32:19

Beautiful. Thank you so much for joining us today, Priya. It was definitely a spiritual awakening for me. It, I learned so much. I could have probably had this going for hours but at some point we will come back and redo this again and discuss our transformational journey up until that point.

Priya 32:37

I can't wait to see where we are in a year from now. Imagine if we didn't take those leaps, if you didn't take the leap to create your podcast, I would've never heard the stories that I've heard that have shifted something really meaningful for me. So imagine what can happen in a year.

Shaila 32:51

That's beautiful. I look forward to our time again. Thank you so much for coming down and sharing your story.

Priya 32:56

Thank you for having me.

Shaila 32:57

Today we're reminded that healing is just not physical. It is energetic, it is intuitive, it is deeply human. Dr. Priya showed us that you can be rooted in science and still live from the soul. That you can question what is normal. That you can choose alignment. And that love can guide even the most high pressure rooms. Her leap was not away from medicine. It was towards wholeness. Towards coherence. Towards an open heart. If this conversation sparked something in you, share it with someone who needs it. And remember, your leap doesn't have to be perfect. It has to be yours. Your story is the light someone else is waiting for. Until next time, keep leaping. Keep believing in your magic.