Empathy & Connection: A Holistic Approach to Healthcare with Dr. Malasa Jois Kahn
Episode 6 • 1st August 2024 • The Conscious Home Podcast with Blanche Garcia • Blanche Garcia
00:00:00 01:07:44

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Join us for an enlightening episode of the Conscious Home Podcast as we delve into the transformative world of holistic healthcare with our special guest, Dr. Malasa Jois Kahn. Her innovative approach merges integrative and evidence-based practices with a deep focus on connection and empathy, offering a fresh perspective on healthcare.

  • (00:00:09) Introduction: Host Blanche Garcia sets the stage by sharing the personal significance of Dr. Malasa in her journey, highlighting the impactful role she plays in shaping the Conscious Home vision.
  • (00:01:00) Unpacking Holistic Healthcare: Dr. Malasa sheds light on the core principles of holistic healthcare, emphasizing its ability to guide individuals toward healing and purpose. The discussion explores how holistic practices can be accessible and beneficial to all.
  • (00:24:00) The Future of Direct Care: We delve into Dr. Malasa's pioneering direct care practice, Kahn Health, and its revolutionary model that prioritizes transparency and direct patient-practitioner relationships. Discover the potential shift towards a more personalized and transparent healthcare system.
  • (00:29:00) Changing the Healthcare Narrative: Blanche and Dr. Malasa engage in a thought-provoking conversation about the key messages healthcare needs to embrace in our current era. Dr. Malasa shares her insights on empowering individuals to take charge of their health and create intentional paths toward well-being.

Tune in to gain valuable insights into the future of healthcare, the importance of empathy in healing, and the power of forging meaningful connections in our healthcare journeys. This episode promises to be a source of inspiration and knowledge as we navigate the evolving landscape of holistic wellness.


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𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗗𝗥. 𝗠𝗔𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗔 𝗝𝗢𝗜𝗦 𝗞𝗔𝗛𝗡


Dr. Malasa Jois Kahn is an innovative family medicine physician and co-founder of Kahn Health, a direct care practice in Montclair, NJ. Her holistic approach combines integrative and evidence-based practices while centering connection and empathy. 


In addition to treating primary care patients, Dr. Kahn provides in-home postpartum and pediatric care for birthing families in the 4th trimester. Outside of her work, she enjoys being a mom to two energetic and creative girls while tackling the journey of life with her husband.


𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪 𝗛𝗘𝗥


Website | https://www.kahnhealth.com/

Fourth Trimester Care | https://www.kahnhealth.com/fourthtri

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/kahnhealth/

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/kahnhealth/


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𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗡 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 🎧 


https://conscioushomebgd.com/podcast/


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𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗡 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 ✨  


Website | https://conscioushomebgd.com/

Take The Quiz | https://conscioushomebgd.com/your-archetype/


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𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗜𝗡𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦 ✉️ | hello@conscioushomebgd.com

Transcripts

BLANCHE:

Hi everybody,

BLANCHE:

My name is

BLANCHE:

Blanche Garcia and welcome home.

BLANCHE:

That is to the

BLANCHE:

conscious Home podcast.

BLANCHE:

I'm really excited today because today we have Dr.

BLANCHE:

Melissa Joyce Kahn.

BLANCHE:

She

BLANCHE:

is an innovative family medicine physician and co founder of Khan Health, a direct

BLANCHE:

care practice in Montclair, New Jersey.

BLANCHE:

Her holistic approach combines integrative

BLANCHE:

and evidence based practices while centering connection and

BLANCHE:

empathy.

BLANCHE:

In

BLANCHE:

addition to treating primary care patients, Dr.

BLANCHE:

Khan provides in home postpartum

BLANCHE:

and and pediatric care for birthing families in the fourth

BLANCHE:

trimester.

BLANCHE:

Outside of her work, she enjoys being a mom to two energetic and

BLANCHE:

creative girls while tackling the journey of life with her

BLANCHE:

husband.

BLANCHE:

Welcome.

MALASA:

Thank

MALASA:

you.

MALASA:

Thanks for the introduction.

BLANCHE:

And side note, I know you because our children go to the same school.

MALASA:

Yes,

MALASA:

and so we know each

MALASA:

other

MALASA:

through, through that.

MALASA:

It's so

MALASA:

funny how you know someone for so long.

MALASA:

So we've been in class

MALASA:

for a year or was it like a year last year?

MALASA:

No, no, no.

MALASA:

Just this year.

MALASA:

This year.

MALASA:

And only a month ago, did we start speaking and realize

MALASA:

we have so

MALASA:

many shared interests?

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

I find it

BLANCHE:

interesting because I think that that's

BLANCHE:

what happens a lot of times.

BLANCHE:

And I've

BLANCHE:

always said, thought to myself that when you're in experiences or in

BLANCHE:

communities or speaking to people,

BLANCHE:

you kind of have to step outside

BLANCHE:

yourself to really

BLANCHE:

see energetically what's going on.

BLANCHE:

Like for instance, that

BLANCHE:

day, I remember setting an intention.

BLANCHE:

A lot of

BLANCHE:

times I set intentions.

BLANCHE:

And I remember just kind of

BLANCHE:

being

BLANCHE:

like,

BLANCHE:

funky, just bleh.

BLANCHE:

And I was like, I'm going to a

BLANCHE:

kid's party.

BLANCHE:

I, which can

BLANCHE:

work, which,

BLANCHE:

yeah.

BLANCHE:

And I was just like, uh, I was like, I'm going to a kid's party.

BLANCHE:

And I'm like, well, Blanche, what do we want out of today?

BLANCHE:

And I was like, I would really love

BLANCHE:

to have just a connection And conversation with

BLANCHE:

somebody that really surprises me.

BLANCHE:

and that's really what I said to myself as I was walking up to the party and

BLANCHE:

I was like Well, I've seen everybody at school and different parties and

BLANCHE:

it was interesting because I think somebody started talking about retreats

BLANCHE:

That was the conversation I walked into and you started talking about

BLANCHE:

retreats but holistic retreats and I was

BLANCHE:

just like I was like, Ooh, this is interesting.

BLANCHE:

I'd like to talk about this.

BLANCHE:

So I think we just started going down the rabbit hole.

BLANCHE:

And I realized that

BLANCHE:

your emphasis

BLANCHE:

on what you, your work, your life is about

BLANCHE:

and what your passions are, are really very much dovetailed into

BLANCHE:

kind of what conscious home is

BLANCHE:

and some

BLANCHE:

of the experiences that I've had.

BLANCHE:

So I just thought that this

BLANCHE:

was going to be

BLANCHE:

just such a great conversation.

MALASA:

of all, it's so nice to know that you had

MALASA:

that intention and how it unfolded the conversation.

MALASA:

It was really

MALASA:

beautiful.

MALASA:

I would say my intention

MALASA:

is, 99

MALASA:

percent

MALASA:

of the time

MALASA:

to connect

MALASA:

with someone.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

And I'll talk about

MALASA:

that you know, in my work and

MALASA:

how

MALASA:

that plays into

MALASA:

my work I'm

MALASA:

always looking for a connection.

MALASA:

Not everyone's

MALASA:

there.

MALASA:

In

MALASA:

that energy and I

MALASA:

went, I can't say a

MALASA:

hundred

MALASA:

percent of the time I'm there,

MALASA:

but

MALASA:

I'm always

MALASA:

looking

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

connect

MALASA:

with humans.

MALASA:

I'm

MALASA:

so passionate

MALASA:

about

MALASA:

that It's how I

MALASA:

get my energy

MALASA:

Before

MALASA:

I came here,

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

was thinking about just reflecting on

MALASA:

what our

MALASA:

how our conversation might go

MALASA:

and how

MALASA:

different.

MALASA:

an

MALASA:

interior designer and a

MALASA:

doctor are,

MALASA:

just how, how

MALASA:

just disparate it

MALASA:

can feel.

MALASA:

Like one is.

MALASA:

based

MALASA:

in art and

MALASA:

visual

MALASA:

aesthetic.

MALASA:

one is

MALASA:

based in science,

MALASA:

but we found

MALASA:

such common ground in the way we actually do our work.

MALASA:

there

MALASA:

was so much overlap and our energies flow together so easily when we

MALASA:

started

MALASA:

talking about it.

MALASA:

so

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

thought

MALASA:

that was so interesting.

MALASA:

Like if you look at it, kind of, if you wrote it down on a piece

MALASA:

of paper, we seemed so

MALASA:

different.

MALASA:

but

MALASA:

when

MALASA:

we started talking, we found that deep

MALASA:

connection, which

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

always feel that it's

MALASA:

just a matter of

MALASA:

time and

MALASA:

conversation

MALASA:

to find how

MALASA:

you can connect with someone.

BLANCHE:

Yeah, and I honestly feel I mean listen, that's why I

BLANCHE:

created Conscious Home because of my

BLANCHE:

experiences Honestly that stemmed from postpartum

:

And

BLANCHE:

you know the health system and how my intuitive

BLANCHE:

connection actually was so

BLANCHE:

Integral to how I see life and how I manage life and how I thrive in

BLANCHE:

life And so that's where conscious Home came

BLANCHE:

from And that's you know, oddly enough which is why I wanted to

BLANCHE:

have you on today because There's

BLANCHE:

such a reasoning and such a

BLANCHE:

passion behind Why the

BLANCHE:

platform

BLANCHE:

was created

BLANCHE:

and a lot of it, honestly has to do and stems from my experience

BLANCHE:

not only in postpartum, but also the medical connection, to the intuitive.

BLANCHE:

And I really loved your viewpoint on it.

BLANCHE:

So we're going to get into it together and I just think it's

BLANCHE:

going to be really great for

BLANCHE:

a lot of our listeners and our audience to kind of learn more.

BLANCHE:

so how would you explain your role as a practitioner who combines

BLANCHE:

traditional Western medicine with wellness and holistic

BLANCHE:

care?

MALASA:

Yes, I think it's a good place to

MALASA:

start.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

was reflecting

MALASA:

on that

MALASA:

question,

MALASA:

should an evidence based sort of

MALASA:

scientific approach

MALASA:

and.

MALASA:

a

MALASA:

holistic

MALASA:

or wellness approach even be combined?

MALASA:

for

MALASA:

me, the answer is, yes.

MALASA:

Why can't we

MALASA:

have the best

MALASA:

of both worlds?

MALASA:

So how

MALASA:

I function,

MALASA:

my

MALASA:

role

MALASA:

as a

MALASA:

person in the

MALASA:

world is not

MALASA:

just to

MALASA:

be a doctor and

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

fix a problem, which is how

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

medical model

MALASA:

or

MALASA:

Modern Western

MALASA:

medicine is

MALASA:

based on

MALASA:

a

MALASA:

problem,

MALASA:

an illness, and then you

MALASA:

give it a remedy to solve it.

MALASA:

I don't see myself as that

MALASA:

limited in scope.

MALASA:

Even though the model

MALASA:

is essentially

MALASA:

based on that.

MALASA:

Most

MALASA:

people

MALASA:

who have been

MALASA:

in healthcare

MALASA:

can sense

MALASA:

that, right?

MALASA:

I only go in when I have

MALASA:

a problem, or They

MALASA:

only

MALASA:

address

MALASA:

this

MALASA:

problem.

MALASA:

They

MALASA:

don't really talk

MALASA:

about my life,

MALASA:

or they don't ask about that.

BLANCHE:

But

MALASA:

what, what I know

MALASA:

as a

MALASA:

human,

MALASA:

is that our lived experience

MALASA:

drives

MALASA:

our

MALASA:

whole life,

MALASA:

how

MALASA:

we grew up,

MALASA:

the behaviors we do, the

MALASA:

people we

MALASA:

connect with, the spirituality

MALASA:

we have,

MALASA:

the kinds of foods we like what do we like to do

MALASA:

in our

MALASA:

downtime?

MALASA:

this is our lived

MALASA:

experience.

MALASA:

I mean, you could

MALASA:

go on

MALASA:

and on

MALASA:

with

MALASA:

that list.

MALASA:

And when

MALASA:

we go for us to seek

MALASA:

healing.

MALASA:

So

MALASA:

I don't

MALASA:

see myself

MALASA:

only as a doctor

MALASA:

but I

MALASA:

see myself

MALASA:

as a healer or someone who facilitates

MALASA:

healing whereas medical model is

MALASA:

really focused more on the doctor being

MALASA:

the penultimate point in solving

MALASA:

your

MALASA:

medical issue.

MALASA:

I see myself as

MALASA:

more

MALASA:

of a

MALASA:

facilitator,

MALASA:

a

MALASA:

facilitator,

MALASA:

in your healing or in your journey.

MALASA:

I think how can I help heal

MALASA:

someone?

MALASA:

When I

MALASA:

don't understand

MALASA:

their

MALASA:

lift experience, it just

MALASA:

seems

:

counterintuitive

MALASA:

counterintuitive to

MALASA:

go in

MALASA:

and not know

MALASA:

what relationship you had with your

MALASA:

parents, how you grew up.

MALASA:

not know any of those

MALASA:

things,

MALASA:

and say, take this medication.

MALASA:

Right.

MALASA:

There are urgent

MALASA:

matters.

MALASA:

a

MALASA:

critical surgery.

MALASA:

in

MALASA:

an accident.

MALASA:

Your arm

BLANCHE:

is falling off.

BLANCHE:

I

MALASA:

don't,

MALASA:

we

MALASA:

don't have time to have

MALASA:

that conversation.

MALASA:

We have

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

intervene with.

MALASA:

what we know Right.

MALASA:

now,

MALASA:

as

MALASA:

a life saving

MALASA:

measure.

MALASA:

Right.

MALASA:

And that's all true, but then there's going

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

be the conversation after.

MALASA:

there's going to be the part of

MALASA:

that healing that

MALASA:

happens

MALASA:

after that

MALASA:

surgery.

MALASA:

so I really think

MALASA:

it's pervasive,

MALASA:

even though sometimes

MALASA:

we'll

MALASA:

choose one

MALASA:

thing

MALASA:

over another.

MALASA:

in that

MALASA:

moment,

MALASA:

because we think that's

MALASA:

the best choice

MALASA:

in that

MALASA:

moment.

MALASA:

so my role

MALASA:

as a practitioner

MALASA:

integrating both of these things,

MALASA:

is that, I'm a doctor, but I'm

MALASA:

more than a

MALASA:

doctor.

MALASA:

Right.

MALASA:

you know, I don't limit myself

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

way we

MALASA:

practice medicine.

MALASA:

You're

MALASA:

looking at

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

whole picture.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

we're looking at

MALASA:

the whole

MALASA:

picture because I, realistically

MALASA:

just

MALASA:

can't meet someone, like say we start

MALASA:

talking and not

MALASA:

be

MALASA:

curious.

BLANCHE:

Mm hmm.

MALASA:

Why do you do

MALASA:

conscious

MALASA:

home?

MALASA:

how did you?

MALASA:

bring your intuitive

MALASA:

practice?

MALASA:

where does your

MALASA:

intuitive practice

MALASA:

come from?

MALASA:

Who taught you that?

MALASA:

What

MALASA:

stories did you grow up with?

MALASA:

Why is this important

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

you?

MALASA:

it's just a curiosity part of me where I just can't help but wonder

MALASA:

those

MALASA:

things.

MALASA:

and why can't I also

MALASA:

do that and

MALASA:

have that in a patient encounter?

MALASA:

It feels really

MALASA:

good to

MALASA:

me.

MALASA:

It feels

MALASA:

intuitive, intuitively right,

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

it feels really good to, to,

MALASA:

the people that I'm

MALASA:

working with as well.

BLANCHE:

I also think that

BLANCHE:

it, it's only

BLANCHE:

to your

BLANCHE:

benefit and it's

BLANCHE:

only to

BLANCHE:

the people who come to you their benefit because

BLANCHE:

you're

BLANCHE:

looking at

BLANCHE:

the whole picture.

BLANCHE:

And it's funny because my journey with medicine

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

just

BLANCHE:

you know, My

BLANCHE:

own

BLANCHE:

self

BLANCHE:

care and healing throughout my life.

BLANCHE:

I feel like a lot of Western medicine is reactive you have a

BLANCHE:

boo

BLANCHE:

boo

BLANCHE:

or something's hurting you So they give you a band aid or they give

BLANCHE:

you a pill or things like that And I think somewhere along my journey, I

BLANCHE:

believe it was like in

BLANCHE:

my early 20s

BLANCHE:

I was

BLANCHE:

having like an autoimmune

BLANCHE:

issue.

BLANCHE:

And I realized that,

BLANCHE:

I started doing

BLANCHE:

more deep work into like holistic

BLANCHE:

work

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

like Bach flower remedies and just different things, energetic work,

BLANCHE:

and I realized I was like, Oh, I have been treating the symptom

BLANCHE:

instead of treating the root.

BLANCHE:

And I really started thinking

BLANCHE:

about how do I treat the root?

BLANCHE:

It just made sense to me, right?

BLANCHE:

Nobody had to talk me into that.

BLANCHE:

I was just like, okay, this makes sense.

BLANCHE:

There's a root and then

BLANCHE:

there's a symptom,

BLANCHE:

right?

BLANCHE:

And so if you're only treating the

BLANCHE:

symptom, you're only treating a portion of the issue.

BLANCHE:

And with Conscious Home, that's exactly how I treated Conscious Home.

BLANCHE:

I was like, as an interior designer, we're looking at the space, but the

BLANCHE:

person inhabiting the space, there's so many layers and there's so many

BLANCHE:

parts to make a space a certain vibration that when somebody walks

BLANCHE:

into it or

BLANCHE:

somebody's experiencing it, that they're getting the end result that they want.

BLANCHE:

And the visual is only one portion of it.

MALASA:

That they feel themselves.

MALASA:

that they feel in tune with

MALASA:

themselves.

MALASA:

that space.

BLANCHE:

Right.

BLANCHE:

And it connects with their life.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

Just like your health connects with the rest

BLANCHE:

of your life.

BLANCHE:

Right?

BLANCHE:

It's all one big

BLANCHE:

picture.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

Absolutely.

BLANCHE:

Fascinating.

BLANCHE:

Okay, so this, I'm actually really,

BLANCHE:

interested

BLANCHE:

in

BLANCHE:

this, this

BLANCHE:

next question.

BLANCHE:

What was the turning

BLANCHE:

point in your career that led you

BLANCHE:

to incorporate

BLANCHE:

holistic practices into your medical practice?

BLANCHE:

Like, what was that

BLANCHE:

one thing that

BLANCHE:

you can

BLANCHE:

actually look at in the road of your

BLANCHE:

career that

BLANCHE:

you were like, Oh, Wow, that actually

BLANCHE:

shifted

BLANCHE:

me.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

found this question

MALASA:

really hard,

MALASA:

because.

MALASA:

There was

MALASA:

no

MALASA:

one moment.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

mean, there's a

MALASA:

few things

MALASA:

in my

MALASA:

life where I

MALASA:

can,

MALASA:

find,

MALASA:

uh, this

MALASA:

or that

MALASA:

moment,

MALASA:

clarifying moment, an

MALASA:

epiphany

MALASA:

of sorts, but a lot

MALASA:

of things in my life

MALASA:

I see

MALASA:

as a mosaic or a

MALASA:

painting.

MALASA:

There's

MALASA:

things I'm collecting

MALASA:

throughout

MALASA:

life, whether it's

MALASA:

ideas,

MALASA:

experiences.

MALASA:

knowledge, because I'm also just

MALASA:

a curious

MALASA:

person, I want

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

know,

MALASA:

that shape

MALASA:

who I've become

MALASA:

today.

MALASA:

And my medical practice

MALASA:

is

MALASA:

the same way.

MALASA:

And I really

MALASA:

think my

MALASA:

medical practice, who I am

MALASA:

there, and as a human, are really similar.

MALASA:

and that's intentional.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

try to

MALASA:

do my,

MALASA:

work the way I

MALASA:

live.

MALASA:

I want it to be

MALASA:

authentic.

:

So

MALASA:

As a, kid, I always

MALASA:

wanted

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

connect with people.

MALASA:

I'm just

MALASA:

chatty.

MALASA:

I like people.

MALASA:

I'm not, I'm

MALASA:

not the most, like

MALASA:

forthcoming person in a,

MALASA:

large

MALASA:

group,

MALASA:

but I

MALASA:

just, really

MALASA:

like knowing

MALASA:

people.

MALASA:

So I've always felt

MALASA:

that as a kid, I've always wanted to

MALASA:

work

MALASA:

with people.

MALASA:

I couldn't

MALASA:

imagine myself um,

MALASA:

and I

MALASA:

have a daughter

MALASA:

that's very

MALASA:

into art.

MALASA:

she would

MALASA:

love to

MALASA:

be in a

MALASA:

room by herself

MALASA:

doing art.

MALASA:

Like I could never imagine myself

MALASA:

that

MALASA:

way.

MALASA:

So, I always saw myself interacting

MALASA:

with

MALASA:

people, and wanting to connect

MALASA:

with

MALASA:

people, which is

MALASA:

not necessarily medicine.

MALASA:

You

MALASA:

can do that

MALASA:

in a lot of

MALASA:

places.

MALASA:

So,

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

main way I integrate my

MALASA:

medical care is by

MALASA:

using

MALASA:

connection

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

empathy.

MALASA:

So, even though it's not

MALASA:

a

MALASA:

Alternative practice,

MALASA:

so to speak.

MALASA:

it's

MALASA:

not

MALASA:

acupuncture.

MALASA:

It's not Ayurveda.

MALASA:

It's not traditional Chinese medicine.

MALASA:

It's just the fundamental

MALASA:

concept of

MALASA:

empathy

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

connection.

MALASA:

Some

MALASA:

people

MALASA:

call

MALASA:

it

MALASA:

narrative

MALASA:

medicine,

MALASA:

but

MALASA:

I think that's just a,

MALASA:

fancy way of saying, talking to people like they're

MALASA:

human.

BLANCHE:

Mm hmm.

MALASA:

so, I see that as one of the

MALASA:

most fundamental ways

MALASA:

that I'm

MALASA:

integrative.

MALASA:

And I think that has

MALASA:

been

MALASA:

with me

MALASA:

my whole life.

MALASA:

I've always

MALASA:

felt

MALASA:

that way.

MALASA:

I've always been that

MALASA:

person.

BLANCHE:

did you always know

BLANCHE:

that

BLANCHE:

you wanted

BLANCHE:

to

BLANCHE:

be a doctor?

BLANCHE:

Or was that something that was

BLANCHE:

just like,

BLANCHE:

in your family?

BLANCHE:

cause that's

BLANCHE:

something that

BLANCHE:

not every

BLANCHE:

kid says, I want to be a doctor.

MALASA:

Not at

MALASA:

all.

MALASA:

as a Southeast Asian, and this

MALASA:

is

MALASA:

not,

MALASA:

Really surprising to most

MALASA:

people,

MALASA:

being a

MALASA:

doctor

MALASA:

is one of the main

MALASA:

things that's

MALASA:

talked about or

MALASA:

seen in your community.

MALASA:

so my mom

MALASA:

went

MALASA:

to medical school, she's an amazing person and she has

MALASA:

wonderful story, but

MALASA:

she loved medicine.

MALASA:

She

MALASA:

thought she would be

MALASA:

an OB GYN.

MALASA:

She loved babies.

MALASA:

so

MALASA:

I think it's funny

MALASA:

that

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

kind of do this work

MALASA:

because

MALASA:

I see

MALASA:

a lot of

MALASA:

magic in that.

MALASA:

one of the most fundamental

MALASA:

birth and death things of our lives.

MALASA:

And she,

MALASA:

came here to the U.

MALASA:

S.

MALASA:

and she was

MALASA:

taking her

MALASA:

exams

MALASA:

and trying to get into residency.

MALASA:

And she

MALASA:

was pregnant with

MALASA:

my brother, my older brother, and there's three of us.

MALASA:

and they said, This

MALASA:

is

MALASA:

great,

MALASA:

but

MALASA:

you are pregnant, so you will not get a job.

MALASA:

You

MALASA:

might

MALASA:

get a job

MALASA:

in two or

MALASA:

three

MALASA:

years, but

MALASA:

certainly

MALASA:

not now

MALASA:

while you're

MALASA:

pregnant.

MALASA:

Which

MALASA:

is so So my mom was a doctor, so that

MALASA:

certainly

MALASA:

was a template

MALASA:

for

MALASA:

me to go

MALASA:

off of.

MALASA:

But she never practiced, and

MALASA:

she was never really

MALASA:

pushing

MALASA:

me.

MALASA:

She

MALASA:

knew what a hard life it was.

MALASA:

She had a very good friend,

MALASA:

We call her my aunt, like

MALASA:

friend of hers

MALASA:

that I

MALASA:

grew

MALASA:

up with, seeing her do

MALASA:

it and all the

MALASA:

sacrifices she

MALASA:

made,

MALASA:

the things she

MALASA:

had to

MALASA:

miss being

MALASA:

a

MALASA:

doctor.

MALASA:

So my mom

MALASA:

was never pushing me

MALASA:

to be

MALASA:

a doctor,

MALASA:

knowing

MALASA:

that

MALASA:

it's a really

MALASA:

hard life,

MALASA:

especially

MALASA:

for

MALASA:

women.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

so it was always there for me.

MALASA:

I always loved

MALASA:

art.

MALASA:

as a kid,

MALASA:

I loved drawing

MALASA:

and I was like, I'm

MALASA:

going to be an artist.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

my mom

MALASA:

said, what if you did

MALASA:

like

MALASA:

art?

MALASA:

and Medicine.

MALASA:

She's

BLANCHE:

like,

MALASA:

what

BLANCHE:

have

MALASA:

you made?

BLANCHE:

When it was funny,

BLANCHE:

when I was younger, I told my mom I wanted to be an artist my mother has a Latin.

BLANCHE:

like her, whatever.

BLANCHE:

And She was like, Oh,

BLANCHE:

Nina, She's like, you're

BLANCHE:

going to be

BLANCHE:

a

BLANCHE:

starving artist.

BLANCHE:

You better figure something out.

BLANCHE:

to do with that.

BLANCHE:

you

BLANCHE:

cannot.

BLANCHE:

just.

BLANCHE:

And

BLANCHE:

I was just, I

BLANCHE:

remember being like, Oh, you mean

BLANCHE:

I have

BLANCHE:

to make a business out of it?

BLANCHE:

I can't just like

BLANCHE:

make

BLANCHE:

all these

BLANCHE:

beautiful pieces.

MALASA:

Yes.

MALASA:

there's a practicality,

MALASA:

especially I

MALASA:

think

MALASA:

immigrant communities are

MALASA:

really driven by

MALASA:

certainty

MALASA:

And uh, reliability and having

MALASA:

that, you know, security.

BLANCHE:

yeah,

MALASA:

security

BLANCHE:

is a lot of root

BLANCHE:

chakra, like security

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

material and, and

BLANCHE:

being able to

BLANCHE:

support and family legacy and tradition.

MALASA:

And I can totally

MALASA:

understand

MALASA:

like all the things, you know, I could

MALASA:

think about her story

MALASA:

and how that impacted

MALASA:

me.

MALASA:

That's like a whole other

MALASA:

conversation.

MALASA:

but yeah, Medicine

MALASA:

was

MALASA:

not,

MALASA:

you know,

MALASA:

something totally

MALASA:

out of the box.

MALASA:

There were

MALASA:

templates, there

MALASA:

were

MALASA:

role models around me.

MALASA:

but I

MALASA:

was, you know, as a very

MALASA:

young child, I

MALASA:

don't think I was that

MALASA:

interested in it.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

was just a very, I was sort of like

MALASA:

a free

MALASA:

spirit.

MALASA:

very distracted,

MALASA:

creative,

MALASA:

rambunctious, I

MALASA:

was

MALASA:

singing all the time.

MALASA:

I'm

MALASA:

a big

MALASA:

singer.

MALASA:

I still am.

MALASA:

yeah, you know, so like

MALASA:

kind

MALASA:

of like on my own

MALASA:

wavelength,

MALASA:

but

MALASA:

along

MALASA:

the way I,

MALASA:

realized you know, if I had

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

pick something as I

MALASA:

grew and

MALASA:

matured,

MALASA:

something

MALASA:

with

MALASA:

people.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

did like helping people.

MALASA:

I sort of

MALASA:

had

MALASA:

that.

MALASA:

spark or gene in me.

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

of,

MALASA:

the things that I

MALASA:

thought were

MALASA:

available

MALASA:

to me at the time, it

MALASA:

seemed

MALASA:

like a really good fit.

MALASA:

But I always

MALASA:

thought,

MALASA:

as a child, remember

MALASA:

having,

MALASA:

like these long thought processes

MALASA:

before I fell

MALASA:

asleep for a

MALASA:

half an hour, or an hour about like

MALASA:

how the world

MALASA:

works

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

why are we

MALASA:

like this a really young

MALASA:

age, probably like late elementary school,

MALASA:

middle school,

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

just having these deep conversations with

MALASA:

myself,

MALASA:

Mm hmm.

MALASA:

and that's

MALASA:

what really

MALASA:

inspired

MALASA:

me.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

thought

MALASA:

if

MALASA:

we could know more about

MALASA:

ourselves,

MALASA:

if we

MALASA:

could

MALASA:

be better, if we could grow.

MALASA:

I was

MALASA:

really

MALASA:

inspired

MALASA:

by that and

MALASA:

sharing that or

MALASA:

facilitating that

MALASA:

for

MALASA:

other people.

MALASA:

When

MALASA:

I ultimately went

MALASA:

to medical school, I was like, oh, they don't teach you any of that.

MALASA:

That's not what it's, that's not what it's about at all.

BLANCHE:

So that's great and all, but let's just shelf that for a minute.

BLANCHE:

I

MALASA:

mean, it wasn't even a shelf that It was like, yeah.

MALASA:

you know, I was

MALASA:

thinking this over here, and they're like, we're on another

MALASA:

planet.

MALASA:

This is the planet.

MALASA:

of medicine.

MALASA:

It's

MALASA:

very

MALASA:

even just

MALASA:

going to undergrad

MALASA:

and having to choose

MALASA:

biology, thinking that I

MALASA:

might go to med

MALASA:

school, even

MALASA:

though I wasn't

MALASA:

100 percent sure.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

wanting

MALASA:

to write

MALASA:

the introduction of my

MALASA:

biology

MALASA:

papers very creatively, like,

MALASA:

maybe I'll make

MALASA:

it a

MALASA:

poem.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

they're like, no, we just want the

MALASA:

data.

MALASA:

We want all the data and

MALASA:

we want it to be accurate.

MALASA:

this

MALASA:

is so boring.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

So you're like, I'm going to stick with this.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

And then I was like, oh, I guess you know, it wasn't necessarily my

MALASA:

forte not that I'm not a rigorous

MALASA:

doctor,

MALASA:

but it wasn't, it just wasn't very

MALASA:

inspiring

MALASA:

to me.

MALASA:

so I've always been inspired

MALASA:

by

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

beauty of connection.

MALASA:

It's

MALASA:

very creative.

MALASA:

It's

MALASA:

very, flow state to talk

MALASA:

to someone

MALASA:

and connect

MALASA:

with them.

MALASA:

And you can get to really

MALASA:

interesting ideas or you can get

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

spaces in your

MALASA:

mind

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

your spirit that you didn't know that you

MALASA:

could

MALASA:

get to.

MALASA:

So I would say that grew

MALASA:

with me.

MALASA:

It's

MALASA:

always

MALASA:

been

MALASA:

with me.

MALASA:

and there's

MALASA:

other practical

MALASA:

piece of

MALASA:

like,

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

do incorporate

MALASA:

things like, I can teach you about turmeric, or I

MALASA:

could teach you

MALASA:

about,

MALASA:

ways

MALASA:

to, utilize food as

MALASA:

medicine.

MALASA:

I could Teach you about mindfulness.

MALASA:

I could

MALASA:

teach you about,

MALASA:

evidence around acupuncture.

MALASA:

So these are like specific elements that I felt like

MALASA:

I was exposed

MALASA:

to at a very

MALASA:

young

MALASA:

age because it's so

MALASA:

integrated into Indian culture, you know, South Asian culture is.

MALASA:

we have signs, but everyone is very spiritual and Ayurveda is prevalent

MALASA:

in

MALASA:

the way

MALASA:

we eat.

MALASA:

Even though we don't

MALASA:

talk

MALASA:

about it as

MALASA:

Ayurveda,

MALASA:

the way we eat and

MALASA:

why she marked the way

MALASA:

of life.

MALASA:

it's just the way

MALASA:

of life.

MALASA:

No.

MALASA:

And It's

MALASA:

really interesting.

MALASA:

It's always

MALASA:

been

MALASA:

a

BLANCHE:

part of me.

BLANCHE:

It's

BLANCHE:

really interesting because my

BLANCHE:

journey going through to

BLANCHE:

conscious home, so one of my

BLANCHE:

very good friends is Indian

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

we started talking

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

I'm like, Oh, I'm going

BLANCHE:

to create this and blah, blah.

BLANCHE:

And

BLANCHE:

she works

BLANCHE:

with me in my business in different capacities.

BLANCHE:

And she said

BLANCHE:

to me,

BLANCHE:

she's like, Blanche, I swear to God, there must

BLANCHE:

be Indian

BLANCHE:

in your past life because she's like, you're, this is how we live.

BLANCHE:

This is how we live.

BLANCHE:

There's like a

BLANCHE:

spirituality And whatnot.

BLANCHE:

And I always find it interesting our life paths because

BLANCHE:

If you took a step

BLANCHE:

back, I always look at people's

BLANCHE:

life paths

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

I go, it's so interesting with how their energy

BLANCHE:

was aligned

BLANCHE:

with what life

BLANCHE:

they

BLANCHE:

were born

BLANCHE:

into.

BLANCHE:

And

BLANCHE:

with your interest in this

BLANCHE:

kind of, self awareness and

BLANCHE:

spiritual connection

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

those types of things, I find it so interesting that

BLANCHE:

you were

BLANCHE:

kind of married

BLANCHE:

to, a family in a way or put into that life that is kind of more of the doctor,

BLANCHE:

valley, like you were on that

BLANCHE:

stream.

BLANCHE:

So it's like combining in a way,

BLANCHE:

you know,

BLANCHE:

I always call it

BLANCHE:

like Trojan horsing.

BLANCHE:

Like

BLANCHE:

I ended up in design

BLANCHE:

and then my

BLANCHE:

parallel

BLANCHE:

was intuitive.

BLANCHE:

Right?

BLANCHE:

And it was

BLANCHE:

always spiritual connection.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

and now I'm melting the

BLANCHE:

two.

BLANCHE:

So in

BLANCHE:

your life.

BLANCHE:

you

BLANCHE:

get

BLANCHE:

to melt the two in a way that people in your arena that

BLANCHE:

would normally

BLANCHE:

not

BLANCHE:

be

BLANCHE:

open to that, maybe now would be more open because you're like a little of both.

BLANCHE:

You're like sprinkling it in

BLANCHE:

together.

MALASA:

Yeah, I call it like a segue, a foot in the door, a pathway

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

knowing more because

MALASA:

people are

MALASA:

familiar with

MALASA:

doctors and more familiar with

MALASA:

the, you know,

MALASA:

institutions of health care that it feels

MALASA:

familiar.

MALASA:

it gives people access talking about spirituality.

MALASA:

My family's highly spiritual and, my dad's an

MALASA:

engineer and

MALASA:

he,

MALASA:

he's

MALASA:

also an entrepreneur like

MALASA:

me, which I probably got

MALASA:

from him.

MALASA:

but he is also a

MALASA:

priest.

MALASA:

So he just felt compelled, even though he didn't

MALASA:

grow up in

MALASA:

that

MALASA:

culture.

MALASA:

my

MALASA:

grandma was

MALASA:

a little spiritual

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

performed rituals

MALASA:

and things like

MALASA:

that, but

MALASA:

he just we're

MALASA:

similar in the way that we're

MALASA:

always

MALASA:

seeking.

MALASA:

we're seeking truth or knowledge or growth,

MALASA:

and he was Like well, I want to learn all these

MALASA:

ancient rituals.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

he taught

MALASA:

them to us growing up.

MALASA:

So we had, I

MALASA:

had

MALASA:

memorized, Vedic chants.

MALASA:

Two, three hours worth

MALASA:

of and

MALASA:

things like

MALASA:

that

MALASA:

and we would chant them.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

mean he would make

MALASA:

us do it, like it was so normal.

MALASA:

It was a very ritual, the way people go to church.

MALASA:

Right.

MALASA:

So

MALASA:

it

MALASA:

was not forced upon us, but it was just like, this is what we do.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

And we would go to people's

MALASA:

homes

MALASA:

and he's an engineer and

MALASA:

a

MALASA:

business person,

MALASA:

what always drove him was the connection community

MALASA:

and the spirituality helping others, in this way

MALASA:

that he

MALASA:

could do

MALASA:

it.

MALASA:

I definitely grew up

MALASA:

with seeing worlds

MALASA:

collide and inter, interconnect,

MALASA:

I find that that's

MALASA:

the way Indians

MALASA:

are.

MALASA:

Even a scientist that's working

MALASA:

in molecular physics, or

MALASA:

I don't know, you know, quantum physics, still goes to

MALASA:

the temple.

MALASA:

And praise and whereas in the Western society, we're very different.

BLANCHE:

And I think that, in my career and I

BLANCHE:

noticed

BLANCHE:

this

BLANCHE:

very

BLANCHE:

early on because I've always been an entrepreneur and I've always

BLANCHE:

been.

BLANCHE:

Similar,

BLANCHE:

a seeker and always

BLANCHE:

wanting to be authentic.

BLANCHE:

But I was doing a show for Travel Channel and I was traveling the

BLANCHE:

world,

BLANCHE:

Hotel Impossible and things like that.

BLANCHE:

And it was like a very DIY

BLANCHE:

show and I

BLANCHE:

was Jack of all trades

BLANCHE:

and I would learn how to do sheetrock and paint and do all these things.

BLANCHE:

And when I went to go publish my first book, I remember all the publishing

BLANCHE:

houses going,

BLANCHE:

Oh, well, you're gonna write a book about design It's

BLANCHE:

a tabletop design book and about your diy and all the stuff and I was like

BLANCHE:

That's not what I want to write about I want it to be more like empowered

BLANCHE:

design and designing like inside out and

BLANCHE:

that there's a connection And they were very firmly like no that's not the

BLANCHE:

book You're gonna write if you want to write with us.

BLANCHE:

This is the book you write you're a designer and your experience

BLANCHE:

Like nobody's gonna take you seriously in this

BLANCHE:

Arena, right only that and I was like, oh You they're

BLANCHE:

trying to box me in and I, I get very annoyed by that and

BLANCHE:

I just

BLANCHE:

do what I want to do and I, and I like melding and it's just

BLANCHE:

interesting and today what you're

BLANCHE:

saying is that.

BLANCHE:

the way you were raised in

BLANCHE:

your culture there is a big blend of a lot of

BLANCHE:

these things and in the

BLANCHE:

Western culture there isn't and I see that, but now I see there is more of a

BLANCHE:

blending where it's not so much boxed in.

BLANCHE:

And I see a lot of people and women able to

BLANCHE:

kind

BLANCHE:

of Branch out and bridge both of these

BLANCHE:

things in a

BLANCHE:

lot of ways and even that's what was interesting to me because I

BLANCHE:

saw that you were doing that when

BLANCHE:

we had our conversation

BLANCHE:

with

BLANCHE:

the medical field.

BLANCHE:

And I do that with design.

BLANCHE:

Whereas in design, this is a very uncommon, unless you're a feng shui, like,

BLANCHE:

everybody thinks I'm feng shui at first.

BLANCHE:

I'm like, Oh, you're

BLANCHE:

feng shui.

BLANCHE:

I'm like

BLANCHE:

no,

BLANCHE:

or

BLANCHE:

like Deepak Chopra.

BLANCHE:

What I love about him is that,

BLANCHE:

He is very

BLANCHE:

much

BLANCHE:

into, the energetic space

BLANCHE:

and the intuitive space

BLANCHE:

but he's very evidence based, and he brought that to

BLANCHE:

that

BLANCHE:

arena.

MALASA:

Yeah,

MALASA:

absolutely.

MALASA:

I, I,

MALASA:

just one, I don't like when people

MALASA:

box me in,

MALASA:

two, I think I have seen people growing in their awareness of possibilities

MALASA:

and I, I agree that

MALASA:

women are doing

MALASA:

it, I

MALASA:

see women doing

MALASA:

it

MALASA:

more,

MALASA:

meaning seeking solutions,

MALASA:

options,

MALASA:

healing

MALASA:

growth,

BLANCHE:

and

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

think

MALASA:

it's

MALASA:

just

MALASA:

cause women

MALASA:

want more and they are.

MALASA:

willing to

MALASA:

seek

MALASA:

and understand

MALASA:

because

MALASA:

they're

MALASA:

always limited in their

MALASA:

access.

MALASA:

get shut out, we get blocked off of things, right?

MALASA:

and we're always striving to find those

MALASA:

things that help us grow.

MALASA:

So I find that women are, Excellent.

MALASA:

as

MALASA:

they

MALASA:

always have been, like,

MALASA:

historically in history.

MALASA:

And we're multitaskers.

MALASA EPISODE:

Like,

BLANCHE:

I feel Like, men can only handle, like

BLANCHE:

one thing at a time.

BLANCHE:

And I just like to create on so many different levels.

BLANCHE:

I don't want to be told no on

BLANCHE:

any of them.

MALASA:

Yes, exactly.

MALASA:

I mean,

MALASA:

women drive society.

MALASA:

They hold societies together.

MALASA:

they, often

MALASA:

birth children, right?

MALASA:

so this is the

MALASA:

fundamental,

MALASA:

way that society

MALASA:

grows and is driven.

MALASA:

So I love that.

MALASA:

I love

MALASA:

that

MALASA:

women, uh, are often the ones that are driving

MALASA:

change or setting

MALASA:

tones, even though it's

MALASA:

sort of

MALASA:

under the

MALASA:

radar,

MALASA:

right?

BLANCHE:

I

BLANCHE:

think not anymore.

BLANCHE:

I feel like That's true.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

I feel like

BLANCHE:

this is the age, what do they say, um, I'd like it to be

BLANCHE:

even

BLANCHE:

more.

BLANCHE:

I know, I mean, we want to

BLANCHE:

take over the world.

BLANCHE:

Yeah, I'd like it to be 50 times more.

BLANCHE:

But they say, I think it's in um, astrology right now,

BLANCHE:

we're the year of the dragon.

BLANCHE:

Am I wrong?

BLANCHE:

We're the dragon.

BLANCHE:

We're The year of the dragon, yes.

BLANCHE:

And so, apparently, also,

BLANCHE:

because I'm really big into numerology and astrology, that's my jam.

BLANCHE:

Apparently The next eight years is like for

BLANCHE:

women it's now like the best rebalancing.

BLANCHE:

Yes, which yes And I was like, yes, let's take over the world.

BLANCHE:

Oh my god okay, So you've brought attention to the importance

BLANCHE:

of postpartum care, which is extremely vital.

BLANCHE:

I find it vital Could

BLANCHE:

you share your perspective on how women are currently supported

BLANCHE:

after giving birth and areas where

BLANCHE:

you feel that more support

BLANCHE:

can be given?

BLANCHE:

I mean, I feel like that's like a rabbit hole.

BLANCHE:

So I guess your top, I know.

BLANCHE:

I'm like, Oh,

BLANCHE:

just

BLANCHE:

postpartum

BLANCHE:

care.

BLANCHE:

Yes.

MALASA:

Yes.

MALASA:

Oh.

MALASA:

And before we move on,

MALASA:

I just noticed

MALASA:

this

MALASA:

when I

MALASA:

looked down at my sheet that I am

MALASA:

an

MALASA:

osteopath.

BLANCHE:

So

MALASA:

I'm an

MALASA:

osteopathic

MALASA:

physician.

MALASA:

D dot

MALASA:

O dot.

MALASA:

So,

MALASA:

I'm a DO.

MALASA:

Okay.

MALASA:

And what does that mean

MALASA:

for those

MALASA:

out there?

MALASA:

Doctor of Osteopathy,

MALASA:

meaning doctors are known as

MALASA:

MDs generally,

MALASA:

but

MALASA:

they're

MALASA:

actually both

MALASA:

MDs

MALASA:

and DOs

MALASA:

use an understanding

MALASA:

of of

MALASA:

musculoskeletal medicine

MALASA:

as well as body work

MALASA:

Okay.

MALASA:

And I use the word body work

MALASA:

loosely, it's osteopathy

MALASA:

technically, but body

MALASA:

work because people know what that means, like using your hands to heal or

MALASA:

align the body to optimize

MALASA:

its healing.

BLANCHE:

Okay.

MALASA:

So when I

MALASA:

inadvertently

MALASA:

became a DO,

MALASA:

I did

MALASA:

not know a lot about

MALASA:

osteopathy, but

MALASA:

this,

MALASA:

I would say, was a crux moment even though I was in medicine and that's very evidence

MALASA:

based and I want to call it

MALASA:

one, one dimensional.

MALASA:

When I became an osteopath, I said, Oh,

MALASA:

wow, actually these people that

MALASA:

are doing

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

exact same medicine

MALASA:

as their MD counterparts

MALASA:

have

MALASA:

this

MALASA:

biopsychosocial

MALASA:

model, holistic

MALASA:

model in the

MALASA:

background

MALASA:

of their

MALASA:

education.

MALASA:

it's an important aspect of their education.

MALASA:

thing about osteopathy is the body's

MALASA:

ability

MALASA:

to heal itself.

MALASA:

When we adjust or align the body

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

find space, release and alignment, the body

MALASA:

can intrinsically start to

MALASA:

heal itself.

MALASA:

That's right.

MALASA:

So,

MALASA:

providing release,

MALASA:

relief where

MALASA:

there's

MALASA:

things that are stuck, and we're talking about

MALASA:

musculoskeletal things, but there's also treating the

MALASA:

internal organs

MALASA:

as

MALASA:

well.

MALASA:

Would inflammation fall into that?

MALASA:

inflammation

MALASA:

plays,

MALASA:

inflammation's a big topic because it's used very kind of

MALASA:

loosely.

MALASA:

In

MALASA:

sort

MALASA:

of pop culture now or, pop medicine.

MALASA:

but it's a

MALASA:

pretty complex topic.

MALASA:

When anything

MALASA:

is disrupted

MALASA:

in our body, there can

MALASA:

be

MALASA:

inflammation.

MALASA:

or,

MALASA:

if there's disease, there can be inflammation.

MALASA:

very, very basically,

MALASA:

you have a

MALASA:

muscle strain, right?

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

what your muscle is telling your brain is I need to

MALASA:

be

MALASA:

tight

MALASA:

and tense,

MALASA:

because I'm in

MALASA:

pain.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

then it

MALASA:

doesn't even

MALASA:

go, traverse all the way to your brain, goes just

MALASA:

to your

MALASA:

spine

MALASA:

and your spines like, right.

MALASA:

Stay tight and tense

MALASA:

because you're in

MALASA:

pain.

MALASA:

So

MALASA:

it's a reflex that actually doesn't

MALASA:

reach all the

MALASA:

way to your brain for your brain, to actually relax that muscle.

MALASA:

So when there's

MALASA:

pain or trauma our

MALASA:

body guards that area

MALASA:

And for efficiency, doesn't even

MALASA:

send the signal to the

MALASA:

brain.

MALASA:

Like, let's just work at it at this spinal

MALASA:

level.

MALASA:

So sending the signal

MALASA:

to the spine, and

MALASA:

the spine sending the

MALASA:

signal back to your arm, say,

BLANCHE:

and

MALASA:

we do.

MALASA:

that

MALASA:

creates pain.

MALASA:

It can be chronic, it could

MALASA:

be acute.

MALASA:

So maybe you've

MALASA:

had pain

MALASA:

for a long time,

MALASA:

and that signal is

MALASA:

just going on

MALASA:

all

MALASA:

day.

MALASA:

Osteopathy

MALASA:

can with

MALASA:

different bodywork

MALASA:

techniques,

MALASA:

breaks that

MALASA:

pain signal, So you find a relief, a

MALASA:

respite, and your brain and body start saying, wait a

MALASA:

minute,

MALASA:

Actually don't

MALASA:

need to

MALASA:

be in

MALASA:

this chronic state of

MALASA:

tightness and guarding and pain I can start

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

heal so

MALASA:

there are healing

MALASA:

process that

MALASA:

naturally

MALASA:

take place, even all the time, you,

MALASA:

hurt your arm and it gets

MALASA:

better

MALASA:

But sometimes it doesn't, right?

MALASA:

you

MALASA:

have chronic

MALASA:

pain or it's so bad that you need a break

MALASA:

or

MALASA:

a relief from that

MALASA:

to You expedite the healing So it's

MALASA:

a healing modality.

MALASA:

So osteopaths learn

MALASA:

not only

MALASA:

that, but how

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

treat internal organs, the

MALASA:

interplay

MALASA:

between internal

MALASA:

organs and muscles.

MALASA:

The very simple example

MALASA:

is heart

MALASA:

and arm,

MALASA:

pain

MALASA:

in your heart creating pain in your arm.

MALASA:

so there's other visceral

MALASA:

organs

MALASA:

that create pain.

MALASA:

sensations on our body.

MALASA:

So we're

MALASA:

trained in

MALASA:

treating all of that in addition to all the things that our MD

BLANCHE:

counterparts.

BLANCHE:

do.

BLANCHE:

It

BLANCHE:

sounds like you have, you found a pathway that

BLANCHE:

was a little bit more

BLANCHE:

authentic to

BLANCHE:

where you wanted to go.

BLANCHE:

Yeah, inadvertently.

BLANCHE:

Yeah, and I always say, so I have

BLANCHE:

these

BLANCHE:

conversations, I've always been fascinated with the

BLANCHE:

fact that

BLANCHE:

By the time your

BLANCHE:

body is

BLANCHE:

exhibiting some sort of

BLANCHE:

illness or what not, usually,

BLANCHE:

there were other signals within your

BLANCHE:

body or your

BLANCHE:

emotional body that was the start

BLANCHE:

point.

BLANCHE:

And so for me, I've always believed is that when certain

BLANCHE:

things happen like illnesses

BLANCHE:

Autoimmunes or things like that.

BLANCHE:

it's multifaceted It's not just like all of a sudden you were a healthy young

BLANCHE:

girl and you woke up one day and you

BLANCHE:

have this autoimmune For me, it's always been like,

BLANCHE:

what is the cycle that's

BLANCHE:

going on in your body, in your system, whether it's emotional that

BLANCHE:

turned into the physical because our body believes

BLANCHE:

what we tell it, right?

BLANCHE:

So, like you just said with the arm, if I keep thinking

BLANCHE:

like, oh my god, like my arm,

BLANCHE:

or If I feel,

BLANCHE:

grief,

BLANCHE:

or if I

BLANCHE:

feel like

BLANCHE:

I should have, would have done or I feel rejection and I keep perpetuating that

BLANCHE:

in my emotional body, eventually your body's going

BLANCHE:

to try to protect you to some degree.

BLANCHE:

And so it doesn't realize that your fight or flight is just emotional

BLANCHE:

and it starts protecting you in ways that you don't realize.

BLANCHE:

At least

BLANCHE:

that's what I've always felt.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

and so keeping your

BLANCHE:

emotional

BLANCHE:

body, being open and aware

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

kind of

BLANCHE:

like, releasing in a way so that it didn't

BLANCHE:

hold on tight and then manifest in the

BLANCHE:

physical.

BLANCHE:

And I don't think that's for every physical, but that's

BLANCHE:

my thought process and a lot of emotion.

BLANCHE:

Our body and

MALASA:

body are

MALASA:

intricately connected, so, in another

MALASA:

simple example is the

MALASA:

same chemicals

MALASA:

that supply

MALASA:

how our brain

MALASA:

nerves work, our brain

MALASA:

cells work,

MALASA:

also affect other nerves

MALASA:

in our body, like our

MALASA:

gut.

MALASA:

Sometimes

MALASA:

they call it

MALASA:

the gut

MALASA:

brain, right?

MALASA:

so they're working on similar pathways or chemical.

MALASA:

patterns.

MALASA:

so

MALASA:

absolutely the mind

MALASA:

And body

MALASA:

are

MALASA:

intricately

MALASA:

connected.

MALASA:

Do we know exactly how that

MALASA:

is?

MALASA:

No.

MALASA:

Does it mean that it's

MALASA:

not?

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

don't

MALASA:

think so.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

think intuitively

MALASA:

we all know

MALASA:

that

MALASA:

that's true.

MALASA:

and going even further like

MALASA:

you did.

MALASA:

you could say like well, how, how do I hold on

MALASA:

to these things

MALASA:

and how do they manifest

MALASA:

in

MALASA:

myself?

MALASA:

Whether it's again, simple,

MALASA:

clenching your jaw when you're tense,

MALASA:

right?

MALASA:

Or

MALASA:

something more complex that we

MALASA:

can't see.

MALASA:

So

MALASA:

obviously easier to sort of

MALASA:

explain things we

MALASA:

could see and feel more.

MALASA:

in

MALASA:

a straightforward

MALASA:

manner, but harder to do with things that we can't

MALASA:

see our internal body, things like that.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

So

MALASA:

I, absolutely agree that

MALASA:

those connections do exist, And when we talk about integrative practices,

MALASA:

in the Western medicine paradigm,

MALASA:

when we say alternative,

MALASA:

integrative, complementary, because it's alternative to the Western paradigm,

MALASA:

but using that nomenclature,

MALASA:

talk about those

MALASA:

things,

MALASA:

we think

MALASA:

about risk and benefit as we always

MALASA:

do, and this is, again, using that evidence based or critical

MALASA:

thinking lens or clinical,

MALASA:

decision making lens, risk and benefit.

MALASA:

But if

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

risk is very low,

MALASA:

like

MALASA:

I usually say,

MALASA:

The biggest risk

MALASA:

of

MALASA:

you being more mindful is that you feel a little better

MALASA:

or you feel nothing, right?

MALASA:

The biggest risk is you feel

MALASA:

nothing.

MALASA:

Right.

MALASA:

It's not like you're taking

MALASA:

like a bunch of pills and you're like, Whoa, I just

MALASA:

ended up in the hospital.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

then

MALASA:

the benefit might

MALASA:

be small or great.

MALASA:

But what we know

MALASA:

again,

MALASA:

intuitively is

MALASA:

that when we grow our spirit, when we grow

MALASA:

ourselves from the inside out.

MALASA:

We generally are better.

MALASA:

we feel better.

MALASA:

We feel fulfilled.

MALASA:

We know what that means to feel whole

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

fulfilled.

MALASA:

So why can't we talk about

MALASA:

that in the medical visit and why can't that support your

MALASA:

overall health?

MALASA:

It's very

BLANCHE:

hard.

BLANCHE:

Even when I go to doctors and they're like, Oh, so what are

BLANCHE:

you taking What are you doing?

BLANCHE:

And I'm like,

BLANCHE:

well,

BLANCHE:

I'm

BLANCHE:

taking like

BLANCHE:

this holistic supplement or like energy work.

BLANCHE:

And I really had this knot in my

BLANCHE:

solar plexus.

BLANCHE:

And then I work on that every day And they're just

BLANCHE:

like looking at me.

BLANCHE:

they're like

BLANCHE:

what?

BLANCHE:

And I was like, okay,

BLANCHE:

nevermind.

BLANCHE:

Advil?

MALASA:

We know, we

MALASA:

know Advil

MALASA:

can

MALASA:

sometimes help.

MALASA:

And Advil sometimes

MALASA:

does help.

MALASA:

Sometimes Advil

MALASA:

does help.

MALASA:

Sometimes Advil

MALASA:

helps.

MALASA:

and I usually say the same thing about

MALASA:

integrative practices, If you're looking for holistic

MALASA:

practices or something to kind of hang your hat on that you want

MALASA:

to try.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

usually say

MALASA:

low risk, right?

MALASA:

If someone's selling

MALASA:

you this

MALASA:

is going

MALASA:

to be the best

MALASA:

thing and

MALASA:

it's going to change your life and it's only a thousand dollars a month,

MALASA:

Maybe rethink that one.

MALASA:

Right.

MALASA:

But if it's something that

MALASA:

intuitively makes sense to you, you connect with it,

MALASA:

that's the major thing, the

MALASA:

mind

MALASA:

body connection.

MALASA:

If you

MALASA:

believe this will work and

MALASA:

it helps you center and connect

MALASA:

yourself to

MALASA:

yourself

MALASA:

that's where you can find the

MALASA:

most healing.

MALASA:

If that's

MALASA:

acupuncture.

MALASA:

great.

MALASA:

So I

MALASA:

usually say, like, if acupuncturist,

MALASA:

I'm

MALASA:

not going to tell you

MALASA:

to stop.

MALASA:

If you're working

MALASA:

on yoga nidra, And that's

MALASA:

really

MALASA:

working

MALASA:

for you.

MALASA:

I'm not going to

MALASA:

tell you to stop, right?

MALASA:

we don't want to interrupt people's healing

MALASA:

journeys, right?

MALASA:

And I always

MALASA:

say,

MALASA:

I'm a visitor

MALASA:

on your journey

MALASA:

as a practitioner.

MALASA:

You are living your life.

MALASA:

you

MALASA:

are going to be in your body 100 percent

MALASA:

of the time, birth to death.

MALASA:

I'm just visiting.

MALASA:

So I will try to

MALASA:

find

MALASA:

how can I

MALASA:

fit into this

MALASA:

paradigm

MALASA:

to either provide you evidence,

MALASA:

education, empowerment.

MALASA:

Something that you can

MALASA:

connect with that

MALASA:

I can share with you and offer

MALASA:

to you

MALASA:

that

MALASA:

might help in that

MALASA:

journey.

MALASA:

So I

MALASA:

might

MALASA:

know that something

MALASA:

you're doing is harmful

MALASA:

and I'll share

MALASA:

that.

MALASA:

But I'll

MALASA:

try to do it in a way that

MALASA:

still fits into your paradigm and thinking.

MALASA:

Because if you don't trust me or don't believe me, it doesn't matter what I say.

BLANCHE:

Well, it's really interesting, I remember

BLANCHE:

going

BLANCHE:

to a

BLANCHE:

retreat at Omega there in Rhinebeck, and I used to go a lot

BLANCHE:

more

BLANCHE:

before I had a kid.

BLANCHE:

and so I would go every year, and I remember going

BLANCHE:

to go listen to John Holland, who happens

BLANCHE:

to

BLANCHE:

be a medium,

BLANCHE:

and I was like, oh, I'm going

BLANCHE:

to know John Holland.

BLANCHE:

And he was doing a co workshop with Anita

BLANCHE:

Marjana.

BLANCHE:

So Anita

BLANCHE:

Marjana, I don't know if

BLANCHE:

you know anything about her, she basically had

BLANCHE:

cancer.

BLANCHE:

Mm hmm.

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

she didn't have cancer originally.

BLANCHE:

Her best friend or her friend had cancer and she

BLANCHE:

every day felt such guilt that her, friend was going

BLANCHE:

through this and she wasn't.

BLANCHE:

And she would always be like, so

BLANCHE:

guilt ridden about this, till finally one day she

BLANCHE:

got cancer and her first thought was, oh my god, thank god,

BLANCHE:

because, like, I felt so guilty, which is crazy, right?

BLANCHE:

And she admits that this was

BLANCHE:

crazy.

BLANCHE:

So anyway, she was a normal, working person, and she ends up in the hospital

BLANCHE:

disintegrating, and she ends up going into a

BLANCHE:

coma.

BLANCHE:

And then, they were like she was unresponsive

BLANCHE:

for a couple of days and while she was unresponsive,

BLANCHE:

I

BLANCHE:

think she flatlined And she ended up going to

BLANCHE:

the other side and her

BLANCHE:

father was

BLANCHE:

there and whatnot and basically said

BLANCHE:

this is not your time, her guides, and they said you're gonna go back

BLANCHE:

and you're making a decision.

BLANCHE:

Completely

BLANCHE:

healed,

BLANCHE:

healed.

BLANCHE:

And you

BLANCHE:

have more

BLANCHE:

to

BLANCHE:

do.

BLANCHE:

And

BLANCHE:

she

BLANCHE:

was just like,

BLANCHE:

wait, what?

BLANCHE:

So

BLANCHE:

she said that when she came back, she actually remembered like

BLANCHE:

her husband going to the airport to pick up her parents

BLANCHE:

and what

BLANCHE:

flight they were on And she told the doctors conversations they

BLANCHE:

had in other rooms and different

BLANCHE:

things.

BLANCHE:

And

BLANCHE:

she wakes up

BLANCHE:

like

BLANCHE:

a day goes by two days

BLANCHE:

And the doctors

BLANCHE:

come in And they, go,

BLANCHE:

we have something to tell you.

BLANCHE:

And they look like really upset.

BLANCHE:

and she's like, what's the matter?

BLANCHE:

and they

BLANCHE:

go.

BLANCHE:

Well,

BLANCHE:

we can't

BLANCHE:

find the cancer, but don't worry.

BLANCHE:

We're going to

BLANCHE:

look until we

BLANCHE:

find it.

BLANCHE:

And she was like, no, no, no.

BLANCHE:

I think we're good.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

I think we're good.

BLANCHE:

So she ends up, um, never getting cancer again.

BLANCHE:

And she

BLANCHE:

ends up

BLANCHE:

by a series of events writing and she wasn't

BLANCHE:

even planning on writing but she ended up, writing her story And actually.

BLANCHE:

Masking who wrote the story and she put it online and

BLANCHE:

she didn't want to be found She gets found.

BLANCHE:

by Dr.

BLANCHE:

Wayne

BLANCHE:

Dwyer.

BLANCHE:

She ends up getting a book deal, all these different things.

BLANCHE:

But what

BLANCHE:

was

BLANCHE:

interesting about the seminar that I was in, the most

BLANCHE:

interesting thing, the biggest

BLANCHE:

takeaway

BLANCHE:

was

BLANCHE:

she said,

BLANCHE:

Whatever you focus on and

BLANCHE:

you believe whether

BLANCHE:

it's getting if let's say you have cancer and this was a lot of cancer patients

BLANCHE:

I didn't realize it was in a room

BLANCHE:

full of cancer

BLANCHE:

patients, some that are

BLANCHE:

were

BLANCHE:

in remission and

BLANCHE:

whatnot

BLANCHE:

and she said Whatever you

BLANCHE:

do to heal yourself.

BLANCHE:

You have to

BLANCHE:

believe in so

BLANCHE:

if chemotherapy Is

BLANCHE:

you're feeling drawn to that and that's your

BLANCHE:

modality, your healing modality

BLANCHE:

You have to 100 percent believe

BLANCHE:

that that's going to heal

BLANCHE:

you.

BLANCHE:

if you're just doing something,

BLANCHE:

but you're begrudgingly doing something and your energy is

BLANCHE:

not there, it will not heal you.

BLANCHE:

And that

BLANCHE:

is the

BLANCHE:

truth.

MALASA:

It's like swimming upstream.

MALASA:

I always say that you have to be open to receive the

MALASA:

treatment.

MALASA:

Whatever

MALASA:

treatment that is.

MALASA:

So if you have to be open to receive, just like energy, you have to be open

MALASA:

to receive,

MALASA:

100%.

MALASA:

like when I'm doing

MALASA:

osteopathy or body work,

MALASA:

if people are

MALASA:

really, really, really guarded, I do very little.

MALASA:

I'm

MALASA:

just working to create safety so they feel open to

MALASA:

receive the

MALASA:

treatment.

MALASA:

so, and even

MALASA:

I do that with words.

MALASA:

If people are really resistant

MALASA:

to care, I really

MALASA:

try to

MALASA:

just

MALASA:

create

MALASA:

safety first.

MALASA:

And it's not medical.

MALASA:

It's just,

MALASA:

Like A trust.

MALASA:

A trust.

MALASA:

just

MALASA:

building trust.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

And in the postpartum world,

BLANCHE:

kind of going

BLANCHE:

back to

BLANCHE:

that.

BLANCHE:

Yes.

BLANCHE:

Where do you see that,

BLANCHE:

where it's found a place, or

BLANCHE:

it still needs to happen,

BLANCHE:

or

BLANCHE:

And I, as a man, I my own journey,

BLANCHE:

my postpartum journey, which if you haven't read it or seen

BLANCHE:

seen it, go to episode one, was not an easy postpartum journey.

BLANCHE:

that's what I was so interested in getting your viewpoint

BLANCHE:

on.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

And you were saying

MALASA:

before, what are we doing for postpartum folks now?

MALASA:

what is the lack?

MALASA:

is there room for what we're talking

MALASA:

about?

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

connection, the openness, the

MALASA:

receiving.

MALASA:

and what are we doing?

MALASA:

much.

MALASA:

We're not doing much.

MALASA:

What should

MALASA:

we be

MALASA:

doing?

MALASA:

A lot more.

BLANCHE:

A lot

MALASA:

more.

MALASA:

It's almost like we're

MALASA:

not doing

MALASA:

anything and we need to do everything.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

MALASA:

so,

MALASA:

In the United

MALASA:

States now, and I

MALASA:

wrote down some of the stats, you can go to a two week

MALASA:

postpartum visit

MALASA:

if you

MALASA:

had a C

MALASA:

section or surgical intervention, or you will go to a six

MALASA:

week postpartum visit.

MALASA:

any

MALASA:

and I say this a lot, but

MALASA:

any person,

MALASA:

that's had a

MALASA:

child

MALASA:

know that and I don't know if we

MALASA:

can curse on

MALASA:

here.

MALASA:

Oh yeah.

MALASA:

You can say whatever you want.

MALASA:

We have an

MALASA:

R rating.

MALASA:

Yes, okay, so all

MALASA:

the shit

MALASA:

has

MALASA:

already gone

MALASA:

down.

MALASA:

Oh yeah.

MALASA:

You're at a six weeks.

MALASA:

Yep.

MALASA:

Call

MALASA:

me

MALASA:

five and a half weeks ago.

MALASA:

that's

MALASA:

when

MALASA:

shit was hitting.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

So it's like made a,

BLANCHE:

everything's on fire.

BLANCHE:

And I'm

BLANCHE:

like, so

BLANCHE:

are

BLANCHE:

you going to kill yourself?

BLANCHE:

No.

BLANCHE:

Okay, cool.

BLANCHE:

Okay.

BLANCHE:

Come back in like

BLANCHE:

a month or two.

BLANCHE:

As long as

BLANCHE:

you're

MALASA:

not going to kill someone or kill yourself, your baby.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

You're good.

MALASA:

Then

MALASA:

you're good.

MALASA:

those are something

MALASA:

we ask.

MALASA:

that's

MALASA:

the only thing we ask.

MALASA:

Yeah, that's sometimes something we ask.

MALASA:

And, if you're not feeling safe in

MALASA:

your home.

MALASA:

If you're having

MALASA:

chest pain.

MALASA:

If your blood pressure is high but

MALASA:

no one's checking it.

MALASA:

This

MALASA:

is all happening

MALASA:

before

MALASA:

six weeks.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

happening in the

MALASA:

first two weeks.

MALASA:

let alone just the quote unquote

MALASA:

normal the common

MALASA:

newborn

MALASA:

Difficulty.

MALASA:

they just

BLANCHE:

hand you the baby and they're like bye and you're like,

BLANCHE:

whoa,

BLANCHE:

And you're

BLANCHE:

like,

MALASA:

wait what?

MALASA:

Yeah, you're like, what am I doing?

MALASA:

I think and for those who birth

MALASA:

in the hospital, it's like, well, I really liked having someone bring

MALASA:

me three

MALASA:

meals

MALASA:

a day.

MALASA:

At least that

MALASA:

was taken care of.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

when you

MALASA:

get home,

MALASA:

none of those things exist

MALASA:

And it depends.

MALASA:

Some people

MALASA:

birth at

MALASA:

home and some

MALASA:

people have very strong

MALASA:

processes

MALASA:

and,

MALASA:

customs and

MALASA:

that really works well

MALASA:

for them.

MALASA:

So this is not a universal experience,

MALASA:

but more often than

MALASA:

not,

MALASA:

people are having traumatic either physically or emotionally or both.

MALASA:

And that's

MALASA:

up

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

45 percent by

MALASA:

NIH.

MALASA:

So

MALASA:

45 percent

MALASA:

of

MALASA:

new birthers will.

MALASA:

say

MALASA:

they experience trauma.

MALASA:

That is,

MALASA:

that's almost

BLANCHE:

half.

BLANCHE:

Right.

BLANCHE:

So, and nobody's addressing it.

BLANCHE:

Like your regular OBGYN is

BLANCHE:

just like, are you bleeding out right now?

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

Cool.

BLANCHE:

You're, you're good.

BLANCHE:

Right.

BLANCHE:

And you're like, no, there's a lot more going

BLANCHE:

on.

BLANCHE:

and

MALASA:

they're not

MALASA:

trained.

MALASA:

You

MALASA:

know, physicians

MALASA:

do, I'm a physician.

MALASA:

They do amazing

MALASA:

work,

MALASA:

They save lives.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

Most

MALASA:

of

MALASA:

them they desire the best for the

MALASA:

patient.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

within their scope of knowledge

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

understanding.

MALASA:

so that being said, people are still going home in

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

most industrialized

MALASA:

nation in the world

MALASA:

with not only physical and emotional

MALASA:

trauma,

MALASA:

But dying

MALASA:

at an absurd rate, more than

MALASA:

our colleagues in similar

MALASA:

nations.

MALASA:

maternal mortality in the U.

MALASA:

S.

MALASA:

23.

MALASA:

out of a hundred thousand live births.

MALASA:

Okay, you're like, okay,

MALASA:

that's still

MALASA:

a fairly

MALASA:

small number, I

MALASA:

guess.

MALASA:

I don't

MALASA:

know,

MALASA:

it's statistics.

MALASA:

What does that mean?

MALASA:

Well,

MALASA:

France is

MALASA:

8.

MALASA:

7, Canada 8.

MALASA:

Australia 4.

MALASA:

8, New Zealand 1.

MALASA:

7,

MALASA:

So, yeah, This

MALASA:

is a

MALASA:

very high number.

MALASA:

No,

BLANCHE:

there's like a big gap of support that's

BLANCHE:

missing.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

it's, so I

MALASA:

say like,

MALASA:

why?

MALASA:

this is not an

MALASA:

ethereal,

MALASA:

conceptual, woo

MALASA:

woo.

MALASA:

Oh, we want everyone to feel

MALASA:

good and

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

their chakras to be aligned, Right.

MALASA:

da da da.

MALASA:

no, they die.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

Women die.

MALASA:

Babies have complications.

MALASA:

Because we don't support women

MALASA:

we don't support women

MALASA:

of color.

MALASA:

Because they die at a

MALASA:

disproportionately high rate Yes.

MALASA:

And the rate is only increasing.

MALASA:

over the

MALASA:

last

MALASA:

five to six

MALASA:

years.

MALASA:

Yeah,

MALASA:

which is to me absurd.

MALASA:

What

MALASA:

is happening

MALASA:

in

MALASA:

our

MALASA:

country?

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

we we know what's happening.

MALASA:

We

MALASA:

know that

MALASA:

it's fragmented

MALASA:

care,

MALASA:

Let's start

MALASA:

even with the

MALASA:

biggest picture.

MALASA:

So there's lack of

MALASA:

postpartum,

MALASA:

you know, connectivity

MALASA:

touch points.

MALASA:

Understanding education, but There is a culture

MALASA:

of not

MALASA:

valuing

MALASA:

the person who gives birth.

MALASA:

there is a

MALASA:

culture of not wanting to support families

MALASA:

with children.

MALASA:

And I always say, you know, in the advocacy world, like, these people

MALASA:

become our society.

MALASA:

They are

MALASA:

our

MALASA:

society,

MALASA:

right?

MALASA:

They're not

MALASA:

just children.

MALASA:

The children grow up and those

MALASA:

children have families

MALASA:

and those families were

MALASA:

the people

MALASA:

who gave birth to them and then lived around them,

MALASA:

while they grew up and then they go into our society.

MALASA:

So if

MALASA:

we don't support this

MALASA:

moment, this

MALASA:

critical moment,

MALASA:

how do we

MALASA:

support our society?

MALASA:

and that's when things like paid family leave become

MALASA:

A non issue.

MALASA:

Oh, we

MALASA:

should, we should support that.

MALASA:

Well, in other

BLANCHE:

countries, they have

BLANCHE:

like months.

BLANCHE:

If not a year plus.

BLANCHE:

Right.

BLANCHE:

And it's

BLANCHE:

really insane.

BLANCHE:

And it's funny to me, even

BLANCHE:

like women

BLANCHE:

in general are support.

BLANCHE:

it's

BLANCHE:

just now more prevalent where you're seeing commercials

BLANCHE:

that are supporting women who

BLANCHE:

are perimenopausal or menopausal.

BLANCHE:

That's my next.

BLANCHE:

You, you never support women.

BLANCHE:

And now you're starting to see it.

BLANCHE:

I'm like, literally

BLANCHE:

it's 2024.

BLANCHE:

And you're just realizing that your mom is losing

BLANCHE:

her ship because of hormones and not because she hates

BLANCHE:

you and guess just realizing that

MALASA:

And guess how long women

MALASA:

have

MALASA:

had that

MALASA:

experience

MALASA:

since the beginning of, of time, women.

MALASA:

And I

BLANCHE:

thought when I had a kid, in my mind, I was like, I am

BLANCHE:

this.

BLANCHE:

Amazon woman and I

BLANCHE:

am a leader and I

BLANCHE:

am

BLANCHE:

in this

BLANCHE:

and when I have a

BLANCHE:

kid I'm

BLANCHE:

just

BLANCHE:

gonna have the

BLANCHE:

kid and then we're just gonna go back to our life

BLANCHE:

and it's just gonna be we'll just have like More child care and that'll be easy.

BLANCHE:

Yeah,

MALASA:

we're gonna fly

MALASA:

around the world We're gonna like

MALASA:

people say oh, it doesn't

MALASA:

matter what they want

MALASA:

cuz I'm just gonna take them ever Yeah, they're gonna be part of my life

BLANCHE:

and like I'm gonna just keep going and building that mountain and I'm

BLANCHE:

just gonna be Like whoo, and I'm gonna look great in a couple of

BLANCHE:

weeks I'm gonna bounce back go to the gym and blah blah You The

BLANCHE:

hardest

BLANCHE:

thing I've ever

BLANCHE:

done in my entire life, and the only

BLANCHE:

reason we

BLANCHE:

keep doing it is because They're so fucking cute.

BLANCHE:

They're so fucking cute.

BLANCHE:

You're just like,

BLANCHE:

like my daughter,

BLANCHE:

like at the same time that she like smacks me in the face because

BLANCHE:

she just thought that was funny,

MALASA:

she'll be like, I love

MALASA:

you, you are my family.

MALASA:

You're

MALASA:

like, you're the best

MALASA:

mommy in the world.

MALASA:

Yeah, Right after a fight.

MALASA:

After they just like punched you

BLANCHE:

in

BLANCHE:

the throat because they just thought

BLANCHE:

it was really cute.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

MALASA:

You're like, yes.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

I mean, that's the

MALASA:

beauty of

MALASA:

humans, right?

MALASA:

we love we

MALASA:

love each other.

MALASA:

We love our

MALASA:

children.

MALASA:

So it's not just a primal desire to

MALASA:

procreate,

MALASA:

but we have

MALASA:

consciousness.

MALASA:

that honestly,

BLANCHE:

it like,

BLANCHE:

It has

BLANCHE:

pushed me

BLANCHE:

so much as a human.

BLANCHE:

You don't realize your

BLANCHE:

growth until you have a kid because you don't realize how much you

BLANCHE:

have not grown, how

BLANCHE:

much work you still have

BLANCHE:

to do.

BLANCHE:

have a kid and then you're the triggers are bigger than

BLANCHE:

you've ever felt in your life

MALASA:

nothing

MALASA:

shines

MALASA:

a

MALASA:

garish light on your

MALASA:

own upbringing and your own traumas like having

MALASA:

a child.

MALASA:

and certainly other big things caring for a

MALASA:

parent, maybe

MALASA:

that that's dying, like very big things

MALASA:

can also do this.

:

you

MALASA:

caregiving kind of thing

MALASA:

But there's something about parenting

MALASA:

and having been parented that

MALASA:

is a unique situation, whether

MALASA:

it's from birthing or from adoption or another type of

MALASA:

parenting, family situation.

MALASA:

So anytime that you're in this type

MALASA:

of

MALASA:

situation, it just shines the biggest light

BLANCHE:

on

BLANCHE:

yourself.

BLANCHE:

I feel like there's two things in the world

BLANCHE:

or experiences, that will either shine

BLANCHE:

a light on whether you're a complete asshole

BLANCHE:

or you have healed.

BLANCHE:

And one is having

BLANCHE:

a kid because it'll let you know where you're at

BLANCHE:

in that

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

And sometimes you're

MALASA:

like here and then you go back and then you're up there.

MALASA:

And you're like, oh, oh, oh, today I'm here.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

There are days

BLANCHE:

where I'm just like, I can't believe I just

BLANCHE:

did that.

BLANCHE:

I can't believe I just did that.

BLANCHE:

And

BLANCHE:

you're just like, oh my God.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

And money.

BLANCHE:

it doesn't make

BLANCHE:

you a worse or better person.

BLANCHE:

It shows up, like,

BLANCHE:

it makes

BLANCHE:

you show up

BLANCHE:

more of

BLANCHE:

who you actually already

BLANCHE:

were.

BLANCHE:

Yes.

BLANCHE:

That's why, it's like, it's not the root of all evil.

BLANCHE:

You were actually already evil.

BLANCHE:

You're already evil.

BLANCHE:

We'll

MALASA:

all be evil.

MALASA:

We're all a little evil already.

MALASA:

We just gave you more

BLANCHE:

access to being more evil.

MALASA:

Absolutely.

MALASA:

it's it's it's a truth

MALASA:

teller.

MALASA:

kids are truth tellers.

MALASA:

You know, there's so many

MALASA:

things I say

MALASA:

and then immediately say, that's the wrong thing to say.

MALASA:

You know?

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

like I'll

MALASA:

even say it out loud.

MALASA:

That was the wrong.

MALASA:

Nope.

MALASA:

I'll stop myself and

MALASA:

I'll say, Nope, that's

MALASA:

not what I'm not

MALASA:

supposed to say.

MALASA:

I know.

MALASA:

I'll like

BLANCHE:

say to her, I'll be

BLANCHE:

like, so mommy, should not have said that.

BLANCHE:

What I should have said, you understand that mommy apologizes to you.

BLANCHE:

And

BLANCHE:

she's like, I don't know what apologizes means.

BLANCHE:

Sorry.

BLANCHE:

I'm extremely sorry.

BLANCHE:

And Just the

MALASA:

modeling, right?

MALASA:

No one used to do it.

MALASA:

before.

MALASA:

No one used to do it when we were growing up, at

MALASA:

least when I was growing up.

MALASA:

it happened, but it's certainly not the

MALASA:

culture of parents apologizing

MALASA:

to their children.

MALASA:

But again, if you see children not

MALASA:

as

MALASA:

just,

MALASA:

Small humans

MALASA:

that can't do anything and have no

MALASA:

power, and

MALASA:

you see them as humans, autonomous beings,

MALASA:

it kind of makes a

MALASA:

lot

MALASA:

more sense.

MALASA:

I have to respect

MALASA:

them, and that's what

MALASA:

teaches them to respect others.

MALASA:

Well, I, yeah.

MALASA:

it's really fucking hard.

MALASA:

It's

BLANCHE:

really hard, and I remember when I was younger, pregnant.

BLANCHE:

Everybody

BLANCHE:

kept saying, Oh, are you excited

BLANCHE:

to have a little mini me?

BLANCHE:

And it used to grate on

BLANCHE:

my

BLANCHE:

nerves because I'd say she's not a mini me.

BLANCHE:

Like I always

BLANCHE:

used to speak to her Like she's a being that, and this is where my woo woo comes

BLANCHE:

in.

BLANCHE:

So it's my woo woo.

BLANCHE:

I was like, she's choosing to be with me on this planet and as her family.

BLANCHE:

And We are life

BLANCHE:

partners in this life and it just happens at this turnaround that I'm the parent.

BLANCHE:

Maybe in the last life

BLANCHE:

she was parent.

BLANCHE:

Who knows?

BLANCHE:

Maybe I was her dog.

BLANCHE:

I have no idea.

BLANCHE:

I

BLANCHE:

hope she treated me well.

BLANCHE:

But in this life

BLANCHE:

I was

BLANCHE:

like, you know what?

BLANCHE:

I'm

BLANCHE:

just here to

BLANCHE:

make sure I keep her safe.

BLANCHE:

I give her some tools and I just let her

BLANCHE:

be her amazing badass self.

BLANCHE:

And if that ends up being

BLANCHE:

that she decides to

BLANCHE:

be A garbage lady

BLANCHE:

or like, you know, whatever she decides to be

BLANCHE:

and be in her room whatever makes her happy My job is to make sure

BLANCHE:

that I let her know that that's okay and to be as bright as

BLANCHE:

she wants to be Right and it's not for me to control

BLANCHE:

her I just want to keep her safe.

BLANCHE:

But other than that,

BLANCHE:

you know.

BLANCHE:

If you

BLANCHE:

want to wear your underwear on the outside of your pants, which she

BLANCHE:

has decided to do on many days.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

I don't know if

BLANCHE:

you've seen her at school, but that is what she's

BLANCHE:

chosen.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

MALASA:

I mean, that's it's like a

MALASA:

really hard, it's a wonderful way

MALASA:

to see

MALASA:

it, right?

MALASA:

In, in, in a spiritual paradigm, things are placed

MALASA:

In, our proximity or with

MALASA:

us,

MALASA:

you know,

MALASA:

in,

MALASA:

sort of a grand

MALASA:

spiritual

MALASA:

journey, right?

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

So it's not like

MALASA:

she's just your kid

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

you

MALASA:

can control her.

MALASA:

Right.

MALASA:

I like that idea is that you've sort of

MALASA:

been blessed with

MALASA:

this

MALASA:

connection.

MALASA:

We didn't know that this

MALASA:

connection could

MALASA:

happen in this way, that

MALASA:

she would be ever

MALASA:

and you would be her mom and that

MALASA:

you would be together.

MALASA:

and our kids

MALASA:

always ask that

MALASA:

like,

MALASA:

what if you both marry different people?

MALASA:

Would I still

MALASA:

be me?

MALASA:

And like, we're like, no, it like it literally had to be that moment.

MALASA:

And that everything had to be

MALASA:

just.

MALASA:

It was meant to be that you were

MALASA:

born,

MALASA:

right?

MALASA:

Like, only you could

MALASA:

have been born at that moment.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

Because all of history happened

MALASA:

just as it did.

MALASA:

Well, she can speculate, but, but that's exactly how

MALASA:

it happened.

MALASA:

She said to

BLANCHE:

me the other day, she goes, I've

BLANCHE:

decided that I

BLANCHE:

like my family.

BLANCHE:

And I said, Oh, I, I

BLANCHE:

appreciate that ever.

BLANCHE:

She's like, I, Yeah.

BLANCHE:

I love my

BLANCHE:

family.

BLANCHE:

even Abuela.

BLANCHE:

And I love, you know, and I'm,

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

I'm just like laughing.

BLANCHE:

I'm like, okay, I'll like,

BLANCHE:

that's great.

BLANCHE:

I'm, I'm glad.

BLANCHE:

Cause you could actually choose not to like your family.

BLANCHE:

you know, and it may shift at certain points of your life, but,

BLANCHE:

it's always very interesting.

MALASA:

Yes.

MALASA:

And that's,

MALASA:

that's what.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

try,

MALASA:

my goal is

MALASA:

to share

MALASA:

that

MALASA:

energy

MALASA:

when I'm doing postpartum

MALASA:

work.

MALASA:

So I,

MALASA:

in my work,

MALASA:

am

MALASA:

trying

MALASA:

to fill that

MALASA:

gap with the knowledge and

MALASA:

awareness of our shortcomings

MALASA:

as a country,

MALASA:

you

MALASA:

know, our healthcare system, which is a non system, is to say.

MALASA:

All of these things don't work very

MALASA:

well.

MALASA:

Let me do what

MALASA:

I can Right.

MALASA:

To create

MALASA:

this kind of

MALASA:

energy.

MALASA:

A safe space

MALASA:

for

MALASA:

people, for folks to come.

MALASA:

Based on

MALASA:

connection

MALASA:

and empathy and understanding.

MALASA:

come and,

MALASA:

I will

MALASA:

be their doctor.

MALASA:

But it's

MALASA:

not,

MALASA:

again,

MALASA:

it's not just being their doctor,

MALASA:

but facilitating

MALASA:

their healing, guiding them through this

MALASA:

transition

MALASA:

With a lot of

MALASA:

the holistic practices

MALASA:

of multiple countries and traditions

MALASA:

do acknowledge

MALASA:

birthing people.

MALASA:

Whether it's first 40

MALASA:

days or whatever country you're from, guarantee there is a

MALASA:

practice.

MALASA:

around

MALASA:

birthing

MALASA:

that is ancient or has a long history.

MALASA:

Oh, a hundred

MALASA:

percent.

MALASA:

And,

MALASA:

you know, I try to draw from

MALASA:

all of

MALASA:

those things.

MALASA:

And, I

MALASA:

have a friend

MALASA:

who,

MALASA:

created the,

MALASA:

organization, it's a startup organization called

MALASA:

Center for Fourth

MALASA:

Trimester Care,

MALASA:

she has such deep knowledge

MALASA:

in

MALASA:

Multiple practices across the world,

MALASA:

Ayurveda,

MALASA:

acupuncture, yoga, and

MALASA:

just bringing all of the practices and the knowledge, the wisdom,

MALASA:

and bringing it together in the moment of care, still using

MALASA:

evidence based

MALASA:

work.

:

based work.

:

and

MALASA:

that, of

MALASA:

course,

MALASA:

the the one thing we

MALASA:

can do

MALASA:

is prevent women

MALASA:

from dying.

BLANCHE:

Right.

MALASA:

Okay?

MALASA:

So

MALASA:

we don't,

MALASA:

we

MALASA:

don't have to do a lot.

MALASA:

We just want to make sure that we're

MALASA:

doing that.

MALASA:

So even if you

MALASA:

can't do all of

MALASA:

these things.

MALASA:

and that

MALASA:

means

MALASA:

having someone they can go to.

MALASA:

I remember

MALASA:

feeling, Uh,

MALASA:

in my

MALASA:

second postpartum experience that I called the

MALASA:

lactation

MALASA:

person a very harried

MALASA:

state.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

was so,

MALASA:

my baby wasn't latching

MALASA:

and like, I had oversupply, and severe engorgement.

MALASA:

Ugh.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

some

MALASA:

people say like, oh, the

MALASA:

baby's growing though, oversupply, great.

MALASA:

But actually, it comes

MALASA:

with

MALASA:

pain, and, baby's gassy, and fussy, and then they won't

MALASA:

sleep, and if they don't sleep,

BLANCHE:

you don't sleep,

BLANCHE:

and if they don't eat, you don't

BLANCHE:

eat.

BLANCHE:

You don't eat.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

They're

MALASA:

all

MALASA:

doing, all of those things were happening.

MALASA:

I remember

MALASA:

calling the lactation person,

MALASA:

and just saying, uh, do XYZ, I

MALASA:

think it took about 30 seconds for her to

MALASA:

answer my

MALASA:

question.

MALASA:

and then said, I'll call you back,

MALASA:

And then

MALASA:

never

MALASA:

called me back

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

then

MALASA:

just

MALASA:

feeling

MALASA:

so

MALASA:

alone.

MALASA:

I, I desire

MALASA:

for people

MALASA:

to have someone they can

MALASA:

call

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

follow

MALASA:

up, right?

MALASA:

Well, then what am I

MALASA:

supposed

MALASA:

to do?

MALASA:

And just that feeling of loneliness not

MALASA:

having connection.

MALASA:

Especially when you're already,

MALASA:

postpartum

MALASA:

states, in ancient, or tribal Mexican, I've heard my friend who's a doula

MALASA:

is,

MALASA:

It, you

MALASA:

know, opens portals.

MALASA:

And this

MALASA:

is also kind of universal throughout, throughout the world.

MALASA:

Different

MALASA:

cultures believe that portals are opened

MALASA:

and can leave you dysregulated if you are not closing them back

MALASA:

up.

MALASA:

Oh yeah.

MALASA:

If you are not regulating them back

MALASA:

in sort of a spiritual

MALASA:

way.

MALASA:

And you can think again,

MALASA:

This is, falls into kind

MALASA:

of more of a holistic or alternative

MALASA:

category.

MALASA:

But very

MALASA:

simply that we know that anxiety and depression

MALASA:

increase right after you have

MALASA:

birth.

MALASA:

Your mind is

MALASA:

reeling from changes in your hormone levels.

MALASA:

Yeah,

MALASA:

and your

MALASA:

body.

MALASA:

So The same thing

MALASA:

that happens right

MALASA:

before

MALASA:

a person has a

MALASA:

period,

MALASA:

Which is

MALASA:

a shift in your hormones, and you feel a little down, or

MALASA:

cranky or

MALASA:

bloated, all those are happening times a thousand.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

you're taking care of a baby and

MALASA:

you're not sleeping

MALASA:

and you're not

MALASA:

maybe eating that well Yeah, no, it's a,

BLANCHE:

it's a,

BLANCHE:

it's a

BLANCHE:

perfect

BLANCHE:

storm And I and I said this on my

BLANCHE:

podcast or whatnot And

BLANCHE:

when I gave birth to my

BLANCHE:

daughter, it

BLANCHE:

was 2020

BLANCHE:

going into lockdown.

BLANCHE:

And, my complete portal my energetic field was completely open my

BLANCHE:

third eye

BLANCHE:

was

BLANCHE:

completely blown

BLANCHE:

open and that's

BLANCHE:

how come I was able to

BLANCHE:

connect so acutely and so

BLANCHE:

So I would

BLANCHE:

say dramatically, but I didn't realize what was

BLANCHE:

going on and separate from that.

BLANCHE:

Let's just keep that separate Let's just say as

BLANCHE:

a postpartum mother.

BLANCHE:

I'm going

BLANCHE:

through whatever I'm going through

BLANCHE:

physically, right?

BLANCHE:

And I just remember going

BLANCHE:

to the

BLANCHE:

hospital and my ob gyn telling my husband

BLANCHE:

like nobody's gonna come see Blanche So you're going to have to take her to the

BLANCHE:

hospital and

BLANCHE:

literally dropped me off

BLANCHE:

at the hospital So I'm

BLANCHE:

there And it's like Alone.

BLANCHE:

Alone.

BLANCHE:

And without my

BLANCHE:

baby and

BLANCHE:

it's six weeks and I'm still lactating

BLANCHE:

and,

BLANCHE:

and I'm like,

BLANCHE:

who's feeding my baby?

BLANCHE:

And there's no backup

BLANCHE:

to that.

BLANCHE:

And I remember thinking to

BLANCHE:

myself at

BLANCHE:

the very

BLANCHE:

least,

BLANCHE:

my OBGYN is going

BLANCHE:

to

BLANCHE:

come or she's going to call, or I'm going to have a conversation

BLANCHE:

with her because I just

BLANCHE:

gave

BLANCHE:

birth.

BLANCHE:

And, um, I have no idea what's going on

BLANCHE:

And, she never

BLANCHE:

called and she never called my husband after that

BLANCHE:

call and

BLANCHE:

never checked up

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

was like,

BLANCHE:

Hey, how'd your wife do?

BLANCHE:

Did you ever drop her off at the hospital?

BLANCHE:

Did she ever come home And I remember coming

BLANCHE:

home.

BLANCHE:

and I think my first call

BLANCHE:

with her was about a month

BLANCHE:

later

BLANCHE:

and I called her and I'm

BLANCHE:

thinking

BLANCHE:

I'm gonna get on the

BLANCHE:

phone with her and I'm gonna be like, she's

BLANCHE:

gonna be

BLANCHE:

like, oh my god, and we're gonna have like this whole conversation

BLANCHE:

and she's gonna ask me what happened and all these

BLANCHE:

things and literally

BLANCHE:

it was a 10 minute conversation and she's like, oh, hi, and I was like,

BLANCHE:

hey,

BLANCHE:

And

BLANCHE:

she's like, how are things going?

BLANCHE:

And I'm like, well, I was in the hospital and, um, I'm home now.

BLANCHE:

And she's like, okay, and how are you feeling?

BLANCHE:

Better?

BLANCHE:

Okay,

BLANCHE:

that's great.

BLANCHE:

So, like, in a few weeks maybe come in and check up to make

BLANCHE:

sure.

BLANCHE:

And I

BLANCHE:

was just like,

BLANCHE:

Lady, I have been through the gauntlet.

BLANCHE:

I feel like I have been through hell and back.

BLANCHE:

It

BLANCHE:

feels

MALASA:

like a

MALASA:

near death

MALASA:

again.

MALASA:

No, I, I

BLANCHE:

literally energetically died and I am not the same person

BLANCHE:

that you're talking to right now.

BLANCHE:

And at

BLANCHE:

no point have you

BLANCHE:

acknowledged anything and I am out here Without a life raft and

BLANCHE:

yes, I don't know what you

MALASA:

wait

MALASA:

for that singular moment where you're like, they

MALASA:

didn't

MALASA:

call okay,

MALASA:

I'll put that aside.

MALASA:

right?

MALASA:

They

MALASA:

didn't call my husband.

MALASA:

Okay, I'll

MALASA:

put that aside,

MALASA:

right?

MALASA:

I'm gonna use

MALASA:

this.

MALASA:

I'm gonna cautiously enter

MALASA:

this moment

MALASA:

for a life raft

MALASA:

hoping for a little bit of

MALASA:

connection being a little bit of safety

MALASA:

Yeah, and imagine such a

MALASA:

vulnerable

MALASA:

person, especially a postpartum

MALASA:

person.

MALASA:

Yeah being in

MALASA:

that moment

MALASA:

and let

MALASA:

alone, okay,

MALASA:

so you have that plus You you're in a category of person who dies at a higher

MALASA:

rate after birth.

MALASA:

Plus you're in

MALASA:

a category of person who is

MALASA:

traditionally marginalized, like

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

LGBTQIA

MALASA:

community.

MALASA:

imagine those things together.

MALASA:

Right.

MALASA:

That's hard.

MALASA:

That's hard.

MALASA:

That's hard.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

Like, those categories are hard.

MALASA:

it's

MALASA:

such a vulnerable moment,

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

it's so scary,

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

it's so tender, and

MALASA:

when you take that away

MALASA:

from,

MALASA:

when you, when you kill the

MALASA:

trust

MALASA:

You kill the trust

MALASA:

for the

MALASA:

whole

MALASA:

health

MALASA:

care.

MALASA:

community.

MALASA:

Oh,

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

And then,

BLANCHE:

so,

BLANCHE:

if you don't feel safe,

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

Going to a practitioner after that, guess what else falls through the cracks?

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

the rest of your health.

BLANCHE:

And guess

BLANCHE:

what?

BLANCHE:

When your child is

BLANCHE:

sick,

BLANCHE:

you don't

BLANCHE:

want to go to the doctor.

BLANCHE:

Guess who you're not calling.

BLANCHE:

The last person you're calling is probably

BLANCHE:

someone you should be letting them know like something's wrong or I'm feeling this

BLANCHE:

or this seems off, but you don't do that

BLANCHE:

anymore.

BLANCHE:

Right?

MALASA:

Absolutely.

MALASA:

Okay.

MALASA:

Okay.

MALASA:

that was,

MALASA:

was, sorry.

MALASA:

That was a heavy

MALASA:

one That's about birthing Yeah, oh

BLANCHE:

my god Oh my god, okay Um, so what is

BLANCHE:

the intersection of your passion for medicine, wellness, and holistic care?

BLANCHE:

How do you

BLANCHE:

picture this

BLANCHE:

journey

BLANCHE:

unfolding in the field?

BLANCHE:

what does that look like

BLANCHE:

to you

MALASA:

I think in a perfect world, I would love

MALASA:

everyone who

MALASA:

interacts

MALASA:

with me.

:

people

MALASA:

healing space, doctors, practitioners,

MALASA:

nurses,

MALASA:

anybody who interacts with

MALASA:

people.

MALASA:

To be trained in

MALASA:

holding space.

MALASA:

To be trained In mental health.

MALASA:

To be trained in

MALASA:

understanding.

MALASA:

to exercise their

MALASA:

compassion.

MALASA:

perfect world,

MALASA:

the systems would support

MALASA:

that So,

MALASA:

it's so hard

MALASA:

that your OB GYN

MALASA:

didn't respond

MALASA:

to you

MALASA:

in the way that you had hoped.

MALASA:

And that would have been helpful

MALASA:

to you.

MALASA:

and at the same time, I know

MALASA:

Thousands

MALASA:

of doctors are severely

MALASA:

overworked and

MALASA:

burned out.

MALASA:

that they

MALASA:

want to check

MALASA:

their

MALASA:

box so they could do the next thing.

MALASA:

They're workhorses, they, they don't have

MALASA:

autonomy.

MALASA:

They don't

MALASA:

have a

MALASA:

lot of

MALASA:

support.

MALASA:

Sometimes They do, but a large portion of

MALASA:

people don't.

MALASA:

so in a

MALASA:

perfect world,

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

context in which we work

MALASA:

supports people to spend time, to linger, to be

MALASA:

curious.

MALASA:

That's in a perfect

MALASA:

world

MALASA:

that all people have

MALASA:

that

MALASA:

knowledge

MALASA:

and desire.

MALASA:

I desire that for our world,

MALASA:

you know, that we take time and we, we linger with people and we find

MALASA:

connection and we find healing.

BLANCHE:

I had that conversation with

BLANCHE:

another medical practitioner who said the same thing.

BLANCHE:

It's just like, there's

BLANCHE:

like

BLANCHE:

this big gap

BLANCHE:

and just having the time

BLANCHE:

to

BLANCHE:

be

BLANCHE:

able

BLANCHE:

to, give a little bit more and support more to the

BLANCHE:

emotional, body.

BLANCHE:

to Yes,

MALASA:

yes,

MALASA:

yes.

MALASA:

And I think, in a perfect world, our incentives shift

MALASA:

from commercialism and capitalism, which have their merit, like

MALASA:

it produces drugs that

MALASA:

save lives of children and changes people's journey with

MALASA:

cancer

MALASA:

and things

MALASA:

like that.

MALASA:

Like, critical things

MALASA:

are helped by the way our industries are driven to work, based on their

MALASA:

incentives.

MALASA:

At the same rate, in my perfect world,

MALASA:

we center

MALASA:

value and give importance

MALASA:

to wellness, keeping people well,

MALASA:

keeping people healthy and fulfilled.

MALASA:

and in a very practical

MALASA:

way, that's policies

MALASA:

around Family leave.

MALASA:

That's policies around

MALASA:

childcare.

MALASA:

That's even policies on

MALASA:

things like incarceration,

MALASA:

it's

MALASA:

policies on things that relate,

MALASA:

to, marginalized communities and

MALASA:

people of

MALASA:

color.

MALASA:

because those are the places where the

MALASA:

discrepancies

MALASA:

happen.

MALASA:

So in a practical

MALASA:

way,

MALASA:

those policies

MALASA:

have to be

MALASA:

in place to show that

MALASA:

we

MALASA:

care

MALASA:

we've we care.

MALASA:

and we've put these

MALASA:

policies

MALASA:

in place to show how

MALASA:

we care.

MALASA:

And when

MALASA:

we

MALASA:

place that groundwork and

MALASA:

we

MALASA:

build the foundation, society can grow more fulfilled

MALASA:

within that

MALASA:

paradigm.

MALASA:

within that context.

MALASA:

So that's my

MALASA:

hope

MALASA:

for

MALASA:

all of health care sort of in a lofty way, you

MALASA:

know, in

MALASA:

general.

MALASA:

for my own practice,

MALASA:

I think my

MALASA:

vision is to

MALASA:

continue to be able to do

MALASA:

this

MALASA:

work

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

share

MALASA:

it

MALASA:

and grow the knowledge education.

MALASA:

So be an advocate

MALASA:

You know, personally do that work, the one to

MALASA:

one level, but also at the community level or, you know, regional or

MALASA:

bigger,

BLANCHE:

I

BLANCHE:

think it's, um, spaces.

BLANCHE:

And I

BLANCHE:

think it's interesting because I think a lot of

BLANCHE:

people think that things have to be either or.

BLANCHE:

Yes.

BLANCHE:

Meaning that you either have to

BLANCHE:

be profitable or you're

BLANCHE:

completely like a shwarmy living

BLANCHE:

on a reserve.

BLANCHE:

And the truth is

BLANCHE:

is that there can be a balance.

BLANCHE:

There can be a little bit of

BLANCHE:

each.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

To

BLANCHE:

make things

BLANCHE:

the whole of

BLANCHE:

the sum.

BLANCHE:

And I think people forget

BLANCHE:

that, That you can have.

BLANCHE:

It's kind of

BLANCHE:

like, I always liken it

BLANCHE:

back to like women It's like a lot of women that

BLANCHE:

I

BLANCHE:

talk to or

BLANCHE:

throughout

BLANCHE:

my career, they think that being

BLANCHE:

completely profitable

BLANCHE:

means that they have to

BLANCHE:

give up on themselves.

BLANCHE:

They have to not be feminine in their, their this.

BLANCHE:

they can't have a

BLANCHE:

family.

BLANCHE:

They can't, You know, take

BLANCHE:

care of themselves and blah, blah, blah.

BLANCHE:

I

BLANCHE:

have to like be go, go, go and

BLANCHE:

I'm like, well, you can actually

BLANCHE:

be profitable and happy.

BLANCHE:

You can actually

BLANCHE:

live out

BLANCHE:

your dream and

BLANCHE:

make money.

BLANCHE:

You can

BLANCHE:

actually

BLANCHE:

be healthy and, you know what I mean, and

BLANCHE:

still make money.

BLANCHE:

Like, it's just like a,

BLANCHE:

it's a mix.

BLANCHE:

And

BLANCHE:

so

BLANCHE:

I feel like what you're saying

BLANCHE:

is, is very similar in the sense that there can

BLANCHE:

be a very cohesive

BLANCHE:

blending of the two.

MALASA:

Yeah,

MALASA:

that's my,

MALASA:

that's what I believe.

MALASA:

I get stressed out, you know, about

MALASA:

political, you know, news and

MALASA:

policy changes.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

we can go

MALASA:

into that,

MALASA:

but I won't.

MALASA:

But,

MALASA:

um,

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

get twinges in my heart knowing

MALASA:

that

MALASA:

there are

MALASA:

people living in, living

MALASA:

in poor conditions, meaning

MALASA:

the health care is not there for them And the policies are

MALASA:

falling away at their feet,

MALASA:

leaving

MALASA:

even less

MALASA:

resources for

MALASA:

those

MALASA:

people.

MALASA:

that's definitely stressful, but that's

MALASA:

my

MALASA:

hope.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

And I mean,

BLANCHE:

speaking of

BLANCHE:

that,

BLANCHE:

are there any

BLANCHE:

specific advancements or

BLANCHE:

changes

BLANCHE:

that you're particularly passionate about?

BLANCHE:

Like, is there something that's happening or that you're like, oh, this needs to

BLANCHE:

happen?

BLANCHE:

I'm

MALASA:

not so inspired.

MALASA:

yet.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

mean, I think there's small changes.

MALASA:

I'm

MALASA:

I'm always,

MALASA:

uh,

MALASA:

rather than

MALASA:

snip the edges

MALASA:

of a bush,

MALASA:

I want to take it out

MALASA:

and

MALASA:

build,

MALASA:

you know,

MALASA:

plant a

MALASA:

new

MALASA:

one.

MALASA:

That's sort of

MALASA:

my,

MALASA:

and I joke with

MALASA:

my friend, we're all,

MALASA:

we're kind of in the burn it all down category.

MALASA:

burn it, it's not working,

MALASA:

Burn it, down,

MALASA:

build a new

MALASA:

thing, right?

MALASA:

that.

MALASA:

And by the way, I think that's

MALASA:

happening

MALASA:

right now.

MALASA:

So if you haven't seen

BLANCHE:

what's

BLANCHE:

happening.

MALASA:

It's, it's happening

MALASA:

in small fires.

MALASA:

And I

MALASA:

think that's,

MALASA:

I think that's really

MALASA:

good.

MALASA:

You know, I think,

MALASA:

there's no particular.

MALASA:

thing that I'm hopeful for based, on the

MALASA:

practical, the

MALASA:

reality of our sociopolitical context, I'll say, I'll kind of leave it there,

MALASA:

right?

MALASA:

I'm not sure that I see

MALASA:

anything

MALASA:

in particular because

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

think in a

MALASA:

practical way, that's what I

MALASA:

need to

MALASA:

see to know that people can

MALASA:

function.

MALASA:

things that I love that's

MALASA:

happening, outside of the system

MALASA:

that's happening

MALASA:

in smaller spurts

MALASA:

are

MALASA:

things that I things like direct

MALASA:

care.

MALASA:

cutting out insurance companies

MALASA:

and saying the patient directly pays the provider,

MALASA:

you know exactly what you're getting.

MALASA:

It's very

MALASA:

transparent.

MALASA:

so I do that with direct primary

MALASA:

care.

MALASA:

It doesn't matter what your insurance status

MALASA:

is

MALASA:

And generally direct primary

MALASA:

care

MALASA:

is very transparent.

:

better.

MALASA:

philosophically made to be affordable

MALASA:

for people, a monthly membership kind of thing.

MALASA:

So I'm

MALASA:

inspired by

MALASA:

the doctors utilize

MALASA:

saying,

MALASA:

fuck the system.

MALASA:

We will just do

MALASA:

what we know in our

MALASA:

hearts

MALASA:

is

MALASA:

possible.

MALASA:

Let's

MALASA:

just do

MALASA:

it.

MALASA:

And that's kind of

MALASA:

how I ended

MALASA:

up in my

MALASA:

particular.

MALASA:

Situation.

MALASA:

My

MALASA:

husband was like, he's also a

MALASA:

physician.

MALASA:

He is the, co founder

MALASA:

of my, of our

MALASA:

business.

MALASA:

And I credit

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

impetus.

MALASA:

We were

MALASA:

both

MALASA:

interested in

MALASA:

this idea.

MALASA:

We

MALASA:

had a colleague who did it right out of graduating

MALASA:

from residency.

MALASA:

So she's already physician, finished her

MALASA:

training as a physician, and then,

MALASA:

started like right

MALASA:

out the gate

MALASA:

and built it

MALASA:

from the ground up and now

MALASA:

she's like multiple

MALASA:

sites.

MALASA:

That's direct

MALASA:

primary care, it's not necessarily postpartum.

MALASA:

direct primary care,

MALASA:

is that what there's a membership?

MALASA:

Membership, directly pay your doctor.

MALASA:

It's usually that the

MALASA:

national average will be somewhere

MALASA:

between like 60 and a hundred dollars based on the

MALASA:

cost of living.

MALASA:

so

MALASA:

we were both

MALASA:

inspired by

MALASA:

her

MALASA:

but my husband said

MALASA:

like we had one

MALASA:

kid and

MALASA:

another one on the way

MALASA:

and You are working

MALASA:

in a community health center.

MALASA:

I know you love

MALASA:

this

MALASA:

work.

MALASA:

so I was

MALASA:

working for, almost exclusively Medicare patients It's federally

MALASA:

funded, or uninsured folks.

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

he was like, but you're already,

MALASA:

burnt out.

MALASA:

And it's only been like nine months and

MALASA:

it's

MALASA:

like very early on

MALASA:

to be nearly

MALASA:

feeling burnt

MALASA:

out

MALASA:

already in your

MALASA:

career after working in residency,

MALASA:

which is a

MALASA:

pretty rigorous

MALASA:

job already, but you just don't get paid anything.

MALASA:

So, He

MALASA:

was like, let's do this.

MALASA:

We have

MALASA:

to do

MALASA:

this.

MALASA:

So I credit

MALASA:

him for, he always has a

MALASA:

vision so it's like when he gets

MALASA:

his vision,

MALASA:

he's like, no, we got to do

MALASA:

this.

MALASA:

We're going to,

MALASA:

move to a new town.

MALASA:

We're

MALASA:

going to,

MALASA:

start the same way.

MALASA:

Like

BLANCHE:

once I

BLANCHE:

have something in my head, I'm like, that's what I'm doing.

BLANCHE:

And I

BLANCHE:

was

MALASA:

like no, but I love my patients.

MALASA:

And I, you know, I actually, I like my coworkers, even though

MALASA:

it's like a hard job.

MALASA:

He was like but how long could you do this?

MALASA:

like, how long is the sustainable?

MALASA:

and you know, given the timing, it was the

MALASA:

right

MALASA:

time.

MALASA:

We wanted to move anyway.

MALASA:

So we did it.

MALASA:

We

MALASA:

just

MALASA:

like left our jobs

MALASA:

and we were like, we're moving to Montclair and we're going to

MALASA:

like start this whole new thing.

MALASA:

And here we are.

MALASA:

And so patients come to

MALASA:

both of you

MALASA:

and is

MALASA:

it just the two of you?

MALASA:

It is just

MALASA:

the two of

MALASA:

us.

MALASA:

So we are a micro practice

MALASA:

model I call it boutique medicine.

MALASA:

Just

MALASA:

because it's like a word that people can

MALASA:

connect to.

MALASA:

They

MALASA:

know what that

MALASA:

means.

MALASA:

bespoke medicine, whatever, artisanal

MALASA:

medicine.

MALASA:

It's very much a

MALASA:

homegrown, our

MALASA:

style

MALASA:

of medicine.

MALASA:

He has a very

MALASA:

similar philosophy.

MALASA:

I would say spiritually

MALASA:

and, um, approach to patients, empathy, connection.

MALASA:

He just, he does it differently because

MALASA:

it's, he's a different person,

MALASA:

but we are very

MALASA:

aligned, We wanted to keep it small because every time you add a third

MALASA:

person to the triangle of a doctor patient relationship,

MALASA:

you

MALASA:

change the communication.

MALASA:

So as long as we can

MALASA:

sustain it

MALASA:

this way.

MALASA:

we will do

MALASA:

it this way.

MALASA:

because that's where we see the most value.

MALASA:

So things that I can do,

MALASA:

you know,

MALASA:

in this type of

MALASA:

care is, Spend an hour and a

MALASA:

half like we're spending on this podcast.

MALASA:

we can have this type of

MALASA:

conversation,

MALASA:

but we have it in my office and we get to the bottom of some of

MALASA:

the things that.

MALASA:

you're struggling with or working on for your health or things that you need to get

MALASA:

done.

MALASA:

we can do all that.

MALASA:

And that's the way

MALASA:

I do medicine.

MALASA:

I can just do it the

MALASA:

way I want.

BLANCHE:

Right.

BLANCHE:

And you

BLANCHE:

have like autonomy with that.

BLANCHE:

so would you be like, if somebody

BLANCHE:

needed like

BLANCHE:

a primary care?

BLANCHE:

would

BLANCHE:

you be a primary

BLANCHE:

care?

BLANCHE:

So I

MALASA:

am a primary

MALASA:

care family

MALASA:

medicine physician.

MALASA:

I say birth to death because I do that postpartum

MALASA:

zero to three months.

MALASA:

generally like the very young kids, we can't house vaccines.

MALASA:

which is a practical thing because of the boutiqueness of our practice.

MALASA:

We'd end up throwing them all away.

MALASA:

Yeah.

MALASA:

so we still take young kids, but essentially we're,

MALASA:

doing full scope, age

MALASA:

wise primary care,

MALASA:

for folks in the

MALASA:

community and surrounding Montclair.

BLANCHE:

I mean, listen, I feel like that is kind of where

BLANCHE:

everybody's headed in a way.

BLANCHE:

And I say that everybody, meaning

BLANCHE:

that and

BLANCHE:

I and I talk about this

BLANCHE:

pretty

BLANCHE:

openly, that.

BLANCHE:

Mm hmm.

BLANCHE:

the

BLANCHE:

trend and what I'm seeing.

BLANCHE:

So even though there's

BLANCHE:

like literally the world is

BLANCHE:

on fire, we all know that the world

BLANCHE:

is on fire, right?

BLANCHE:

But separate from that,

BLANCHE:

I don't focus on that

BLANCHE:

even though that's realistic and that's the reality.

BLANCHE:

I don't

BLANCHE:

focus on that.

BLANCHE:

But what I

BLANCHE:

am

BLANCHE:

seeing

BLANCHE:

is what I

BLANCHE:

call the glimmers or

BLANCHE:

the

BLANCHE:

silver linings.

BLANCHE:

Absolutely.

BLANCHE:

And was interesting because when I went through my whole postpartum and

BLANCHE:

I was literally connecting what I call

BLANCHE:

to source or guides or

BLANCHE:

universal.

BLANCHE:

whatever.

BLANCHE:

I kept seeing this

BLANCHE:

lightworkers around the world connecting and a renaissance

BLANCHE:

and people coming together And

BLANCHE:

shifting.

BLANCHE:

And I'm seeing that

BLANCHE:

now.

BLANCHE:

And it's not

BLANCHE:

like everybody, but people are realizing that they want more.

BLANCHE:

They want to

BLANCHE:

be authentic

BLANCHE:

in the

BLANCHE:

work that they do.

BLANCHE:

They want

BLANCHE:

to

BLANCHE:

leave the world

BLANCHE:

a

BLANCHE:

better

BLANCHE:

place to some degree

BLANCHE:

in

BLANCHE:

their own quadrant, right?

BLANCHE:

and so like, by just smiling, that's how I make the

BLANCHE:

world a better

BLANCHE:

place.

BLANCHE:

I

BLANCHE:

say

BLANCHE:

hello to everybody

BLANCHE:

and

BLANCHE:

that's my vibration, that's my gift.

BLANCHE:

And other people are like, I

BLANCHE:

am Gandhi and I

BLANCHE:

am saying, you

BLANCHE:

know, and everybody's got their thing and I'm just seeing that more and more.

BLANCHE:

And that's what

BLANCHE:

uplifts me and inspires me

BLANCHE:

because it's like, as a woman and as an

BLANCHE:

entrepreneur, I

BLANCHE:

think that.

BLANCHE:

we're all

BLANCHE:

sharing a vibration and

BLANCHE:

mine

BLANCHE:

just

BLANCHE:

happens to be,

BLANCHE:

I create Conscious Home, I

BLANCHE:

do interior design, I

BLANCHE:

do podcasts, blah, blah, blah,

BLANCHE:

But

BLANCHE:

my

BLANCHE:

biggest,

BLANCHE:

like flex, I would say,

BLANCHE:

is that

BLANCHE:

I,

BLANCHE:

no matter what is happening in

BLANCHE:

my life.

BLANCHE:

always

BLANCHE:

believe in the

BLANCHE:

human spirit.

BLANCHE:

And I always believe that tomorrow's a better day.

BLANCHE:

And I always believe that we've got

BLANCHE:

this So it's always

BLANCHE:

glass

BLANCHE:

half

BLANCHE:

full even

BLANCHE:

when my humanist takes over And

BLANCHE:

is like, today was shitty.

BLANCHE:

Or like, I can't believe that Or I just want to crawl under a rock.

BLANCHE:

There's something

BLANCHE:

inside of me.

BLANCHE:

That's like, bitch,

BLANCHE:

get up,

BLANCHE:

put

BLANCHE:

your

BLANCHE:

big girl panties on

BLANCHE:

and get out there

BLANCHE:

and rock

BLANCHE:

the shit out of this, right?

BLANCHE:

And that is my

BLANCHE:

flex, right?

BLANCHE:

And then all

BLANCHE:

the other things that

BLANCHE:

I create.

BLANCHE:

So, it's like, what, what,

BLANCHE:

inspires your, what is your

BLANCHE:

superpower?

MALASA:

Oh, that's a good question.

MALASA:

How would

MALASA:

I phrase that?

MALASA:

mine's

MALASA:

sort of similar to Your big girl panties.

MALASA:

I'm not, I'm not

MALASA:

surprised, but

MALASA:

it's just

MALASA:

the feeling that like,

MALASA:

Who the fuck cares what

MALASA:

anyone else is doing?

MALASA:

That's right.

MALASA:

And I've always been

MALASA:

this way.

MALASA:

I

MALASA:

remember my guidance counselor saying like,

MALASA:

Oh, she marches to the beat of her own drum.

MALASA:

I'm like, do

MALASA:

you

MALASA:

want everyone

MALASA:

marching

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

the same

MALASA:

drum beat

MALASA:

and like

MALASA:

jumping

MALASA:

off

MALASA:

a

MALASA:

cliff

MALASA:

when that drummer jumps off the cliff?

MALASA:

Right?

MALASA:

Which is what society is doing

MALASA:

sometimes.

MALASA:

Like we're all following who knows who

MALASA:

sometimes on

MALASA:

social media and

MALASA:

it feels really good, but we're not thinking for ourselves.

MALASA:

So one thing that

MALASA:

I,

MALASA:

I think that's

MALASA:

part of me that I can't

MALASA:

give up.

MALASA:

and it shines

MALASA:

bright is just thinking for

MALASA:

myself

MALASA:

And

MALASA:

saying, you

MALASA:

know, F all of this

MALASA:

other stuff.

MALASA:

like I'm just going to do it my way.

MALASA:

I'm

MALASA:

going to do it my way and it's not

MALASA:

perfect and

MALASA:

it's not

MALASA:

the best, right?

MALASA:

Like

MALASA:

I'm

MALASA:

not going to be

MALASA:

perfect all the time.

MALASA:

I will make mistakes and that's okay.

MALASA:

it doesn't have to be only one

MALASA:

way.

MALASA:

So I think

MALASA:

my ability to

MALASA:

see that

MALASA:

things don't have to be

MALASA:

one

MALASA:

and it's something I love telling other people

MALASA:

too.

MALASA:

Don't let anybody tell you

MALASA:

things have to be one way

MALASA:

or

MALASA:

you can't do it, they're lying yeah, they're lying and they're saying

MALASA:

people say it a lot to

MALASA:

women, and people who are historically disenfranchised because

MALASA:

it just keeps them in their lesser

MALASA:

power

BLANCHE:

Well,

BLANCHE:

I

BLANCHE:

always

BLANCHE:

say that too

BLANCHE:

to people like

BLANCHE:

don't let

BLANCHE:

people put their

BLANCHE:

limitations on you meaning

BLANCHE:

like

BLANCHE:

they'll be like Oh,

BLANCHE:

that's

BLANCHE:

really hard,

BLANCHE:

you you know,

BLANCHE:

like,

BLANCHE:

I

BLANCHE:

don't think that's

BLANCHE:

gonna work.

BLANCHE:

So many

MALASA:

people were

MALASA:

like Doctors won't like

MALASA:

you if you

MALASA:

become DPC.

MALASA:

You're cherry

MALASA:

picking.

MALASA:

I was like, you don't think insurance companies cherry pick who they give

MALASA:

insurance to?

MALASA:

You don't think

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

way you are practiced is It's fundamentally inequitable.

MALASA:

Actually, I feel,

MALASA:

if I can say,

MALASA:

if

MALASA:

you are

MALASA:

able to provide this

MALASA:

monthly fee, no matter who you are,

MALASA:

You are a part of our practice and I will give you the

MALASA:

utmost care whether you are a millionaire whether you're uninsured, right?

MALASA:

It doesn't

MALASA:

matter because you're all

MALASA:

human.

MALASA:

So when you

MALASA:

walk

MALASA:

in the door, you're the

MALASA:

same person to me.

MALASA:

And I have the freedom to say,

MALASA:

hey, you're in a really difficult

MALASA:

situation.

MALASA:

Don't pay

MALASA:

me for

MALASA:

it.

MALASA:

You know, maybe I shouldn't say that,

MALASA:

but like, You're like caveat.

:

like caveat,

:

I

MALASA:

need to feed

MALASA:

myself.

MALASA:

Yeah, a caveat.

MALASA:

But like in that I can

MALASA:

provide

MALASA:

compassion

MALASA:

the way that I

MALASA:

see

MALASA:

fit.

MALASA:

And I

MALASA:

feel like.

MALASA:

What freedom and

MALASA:

what ability to provide equity

MALASA:

again,

MALASA:

it's my

MALASA:

small

MALASA:

corner

MALASA:

of The world,

MALASA:

right?

MALASA:

And I don't need to

MALASA:

solve every problem on

MALASA:

TikTok, right?

MALASA:

Because there's so many problems in the world

MALASA:

and we're all trying to advocate

MALASA:

for them.

MALASA:

But in reality, it's

MALASA:

super hard

MALASA:

to

MALASA:

affect any

MALASA:

change that way.

MALASA:

Realistic

MALASA:

change.

MALASA:

No, you.

BLANCHE:

can't.

BLANCHE:

And, And,

BLANCHE:

like when people's putting their

BLANCHE:

limitations, you're like, that's just

BLANCHE:

what the max that you

BLANCHE:

can

BLANCHE:

give.

BLANCHE:

Exactly.

BLANCHE:

And so don't judge on

BLANCHE:

me

BLANCHE:

for the max that you can

BLANCHE:

give.

BLANCHE:

And that's cool.

BLANCHE:

Exactly.

BLANCHE:

Do you.

BLANCHE:

So I

MALASA:

can

MALASA:

do, this is what I

MALASA:

can provide the world.

MALASA:

And that's the way I do

MALASA:

it.

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

this has been fascinating.

BLANCHE:

I knew it

BLANCHE:

was going

BLANCHE:

to be.

BLANCHE:

How can people find you?

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

MALASA:

we're, KhanHealth.

MALASA:

com is our

MALASA:

practice

MALASA:

website.

MALASA:

it's

MALASA:

K A H

MALASA:

N, which is really tricky because people often want to

MALASA:

put the H before the A.

MALASA:

health, H E A L

MALASA:

T H

MALASA:

dot

MALASA:

com,

MALASA:

which is

MALASA:

the

MALASA:

same as our Instagram handle,

MALASA:

which is the same as

MALASA:

our Facebook.

MALASA:

We're not

MALASA:

doing great on our

MALASA:

Instagram

MALASA:

social media, but if

MALASA:

you need to reach out to us,

MALASA:

we do check it.

MALASA:

Which

MALASA:

means follow

MALASA:

them.

MALASA:

Yeah,

MALASA:

follow us and I do post

MALASA:

some interesting things.

MALASA:

Also, conhealth.

MALASA:

com slash fourth try

MALASA:

is where you'll see some information on my fourth try practice, so

MALASA:

those are

MALASA:

places connect with us.

MALASA:

And, um, you know.

MALASA:

you can call us.

MALASA:

, Like old school.

MALASA:

Like 1970s.

MALASA:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

I like

BLANCHE:

picking up the phone.

BLANCHE:

I'm a Gen X er.

BLANCHE:

We

BLANCHE:

actually

BLANCHE:

pick up

BLANCHE:

the phone.

BLANCHE:

we actually

BLANCHE:

pick up the phone.

BLANCHE:

I like picking up the phone.

BLANCHE:

We're a real person.

MALASA:

Well, it was so

MALASA:

great having you on.

MALASA:

so

MALASA:

much for having me, it's such a

MALASA:

lovely conversation.

MALASA:

I'm not, I

MALASA:

was saying

MALASA:

that I'm not

MALASA:

surprised at all that

MALASA:

we had Just

MALASA:

as much

MALASA:

of a connection as

MALASA:

we did the

MALASA:

other day,

MALASA:

in such a

MALASA:

lovely and fluid conversation.

BLANCHE:

Yeah, that's

BLANCHE:

the only

BLANCHE:

conversations I like to

BLANCHE:

have.

BLANCHE:

Same.

BLANCHE:

I don't have

BLANCHE:

time for any other conversation.

MALASA:

Exactly.

MALASA:

I go

MALASA:

deep quick.

MALASA:

Yes, Why waste our time?

BLANCHE:

Yeah.

BLANCHE:

Well,

BLANCHE:

thank

BLANCHE:

you for

BLANCHE:

coming on.

BLANCHE:

I appreciate it.

BLANCHE:

I'm sure everybody's gonna love

BLANCHE:

the conversation and get great value out of it.

BLANCHE:

Well,

BLANCHE:

thanks

BLANCHE:

so

BLANCHE:

much for having me.

BLANCHE:

This

BLANCHE:

was a pleasure.

BLANCHE:

Thank you for joining Conscious Home.

BLANCHE:

Check

BLANCHE:

us out,

BLANCHE:

ConsciousHomeBGD.

BLANCHE:

com and our podcast.

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