Shownotes
Show Notes
In this episode of Roots of Healing, Dr. Siri Chand Khalsa speaks with Dr. Michelle Thompson, an osteopathic family physician, integrative and lifestyle medicine leader, and founder of Wholehearted Medicine. Together, they explore what happens when we stop seeing ourselves as the healer and begin to recognize that every patient is their own best healer.
Dr. Thompson shares her unconventional journey from stepping away from medical school to become the director of a massage therapy school, where she immersed herself in reflexology, aromatherapy, neuromuscular therapy, sound healing, and art therapy then returning to osteopathic training with a completely different lens on what true healing could be.
From being labeled “the integrative one” in a 100,000 employee health system to designing lifestyle medicine residency curricula and launching mind-body group visits, Dr. Thompson has quietly been reshaping what care can look and feel like for both patients and clinicians. She also opens up about grief, losing her grandmother, Ayurvedic support during a silent retreat, and how unprocessed stress can live in the body as chronic illness, burnout, and mysterious symptoms.
Whether you’re a clinician on the edge of burnout, a patient seeking trauma-informed, whole-person care, or a healer who needs permission to put yourself back into the center of your own life, this conversation is an invitation to return to self-love, nervous system healing, and the simple, radical act of listening to your own body.
If you're inspired by our exploration on Routes of Healing, a physician-led podcast that brings forward the unique voices and lived experiences of lifestyle and integrative doctors, subscribe to get new episodes shared with you weekly.
🔑 Key Topics & Takeaways
- “You are your own best healer” – shifting power back to the patient
- Leaving medical school, leading a massage therapy school, and returning with a new integrative lens
- Learning reflexology, aromatherapy, neuromuscular therapy, sound therapy, and art therapy as foundations of future practice
- Turning a “traditional” family medicine practice into an integrative, lifestyle-focused clinic
- Why Dr. Thompson stopped saying “alternative and complementary” and insists on integrative and evidence-based
- Building lifestyle medicine into residency curricula across multiple programs at UPMC
- The six pillars of lifestyle medicine as a starting point for every patient visit
- Asking: “What’s going really well, and what are you struggling with?” as a doorway to root-cause discovery
- Grief, losing her grandmother, and how Ayurveda helped her see stress, digestion, and sympathetic overdrive differently
- “You cannot live being chased by a tiger your entire life” – the cost of chronic sympathetic activation
- Mind-body skills, James Gordon, and the Center for Mind-Body Medicine influence on her clinical work
- Group medical visits as a powerful vehicle for healing, connection, and reclaiming time in conventional systems
- How massage, sound therapy, yoga, and breathwork became essential, not optional, in her own self-care
- Physician well-being, trauma in training, and why self-care must sit at the center of healthcare
- Teaching medical students and residents to honor their bodies, stories, and inner wisdom
- Viewing self-care as an act of service: when we care for ourselves, we care better for others
⏱ Chapters
00:00 — “I tell every patient, you are your own best healer.”
00:21 — Welcome to Roots of Healing
01:32 — Introducing Dr. Michelle Thompson and her role at UPMC and beyond
03:17 — Leaving medical school, leading a massage therapy school, and discovering integrative modalities
05:34 — Returning to osteopathic medicine with reflexology, aromatherapy, and neuromuscular therapy in hand
06:29 — Being “the integrative one” in a massive health system and the evolution of terminology
08:47 — Blooming where you’re planted: navigating sterility in conventional training with a healer’s heart
09:30 — Asking “But why?” – moving beyond pills to root-cause inquiry
11:30 — Lifestyle medicine as a bridge: the six pillars everyone can agree on
13:36 — Grief, losing her grandmother, and realizing she hadn’t truly allowed herself to grieve
15:24 — Ayurveda, sympathetic eating, and learning to slow down enough to digest
16:23 — “You cannot live being chased by a tiger your entire life” – stress, PNS, and healing
17:15 — Physician well-being, trauma in training, and rewriting the culture of medicine
19:40 — The yoga mat as non-negotiable: daily practices, body oiling, and Ayurvedic self-love
20:40 — Learning to love the body you inhabit instead of fighting it
23:12 — Self-care, privilege, and reframing massage as necessary medicine rather than luxury
25:30 — Bessel van der Kolk, body memory, and why somatic practices matter
28:55 — Mind-body skills training, Center for Mind-Body Medicine, and mentoring others in group visits
33:10 — Group medical visits: design, billing, and why the group itself becomes medicine
36:40 — Trauma-informed care and recognizing trauma patients don’t always know they’re traumatized
39:17 — “As long as we have our breath, we have the ability to make a change”
43:00 — Modeling self-care for her son, patients, and trainees
49:00 — Future of medicine: AI, human connection, and why we still need spaces to be deeply seen
1:02:00 — How to work with Dr. Thompson & where to find her online
About Today’s Guest
Learn more & connect with Dr. Thompson:
Website: https://www.wholeheartedmedicine.org
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mtyogidoc/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mtyogidoc/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRcm8ziVeLa5yp6IAypigmQ/videos
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-michelle-thompson-do-aobfp-aboim-dipablm-faclm-058688a/
Publication:
Lifestyle Medicine and Vasomotor Symptoms: An Analytic Review (2024)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/15598276241232359
New York Times Features:
Doctors Facing Burnout Turn to Self-Care
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/well/mind/doctors-facing-burnout-turn-to-self-care.html
AI and Healthcare Documentation
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/technology/ai-health-care-documentation.html
🌐 Connect with Your Host
Dr. Siri Chand Khalsa, MD MS
Lifestyle & Integrative Medicine Physician • Culinary Medicine • Ayurveda
- Website: drsirichand.com
- Instagram: @doctorsirichand
- Culinary Medicine Blog: drsirichand.com/blog
Community: https://vishuddha.com
Vishuddha: A Media Agency for Conscious Clinicians & Wellness Seekers
Vishuddha is a media and creative agency dedicated to amplifying the voices of integrative and lifestyle medicine clinicians who are transforming how we understand health and healing.
We provide media representation, book development, public speaking coaching, podcast strategy, content creation, and course development alongside classes and workshops for wellness seekers committed to intentional, conscious living.
Rooted in whole-person healing, Vishuddha helps clinicians translate their wisdom into impact, design offerings that matter, and bring conscious, transformative work into the world.
Ready to share your wisdom? Explore how we can support your vision at Vishuddha.com.
⚠️ Disclaimer
This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult your healthcare provider for personalized guidance.
Keywords
self-care, self-love, physician well-being, integrative medicine, lifestyle medicine, mind-body medicine, osteopathic medicine, trauma-informed care, Ayurveda, yoga, breathwork, group medical visits, Center for Mind-Body Medicine, massage therapy, nervous system, parasympathetic, burnout, grief, medical training, residency, physician burnout, Wholehearted Medicine, MTYOGIDOC, Routes of Healing, Dr. Michelle Thompson, Dr. Siri Chand Khalsa
