Shownotes
There is a particular exhaustion in doing everything right and still being told everything looks normal. This episode is for anyone whose body says otherwise.
Dr. Amelia R Cohn joins Shreya to explore what opens up when ancient and modern medicine stop being opposites, and why symptoms are better read as signals than problems to silence.
About the Guest:
Dr. Amelia R Cohn is a naturopathic doctor who blends functional lab testing, nervous system regulation, somatic work, and two decades in energy medicine. She arrived here through her own long search for answers.
Key Takeaways:
- Normal was never the same as well. One lab snapshot cannot hold a body that naturally ebbs and flows.
- Symptoms are signals. One symptom can have many causes, and the source is often somewhere else entirely.
- You live inside ecosystems: family, work, community. Those questions matter as much as lab results.
- Two of the most empowering tools are free: the breath, and asking "what is underneath that?" again and again.
- Progress rarely shows up where you want it first. Look at what else has shifted while you waited.
Connect With the Guest:
Instagram: @dr_amelia_nd | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mynaturopath
Episode Chapters: (approx.)
[00:00] The Exhaustion Nobody Names: doing everything right and still hearing "everything looks normal"
[03:45] Not Opposites: what the thyroid looks like through both a lab panel and the throat chakra
[09:00] The Snapshot Problem: why one blood draw cannot hold a body that fluctuates
[14:00] The Ecosystems You Live In: family, work, community, and the questions nobody asks
[19:00] The Breath and the Question: two free tools that go deeper than another supplement
[24:00] Symptoms as Language: reading the body as communication rather than malfunction
[28:00] When It Feels Like Nothing Is Working: setbacks as data, and looking for the shift you didn't expect
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Transcripts
00:00:08 Shreya: You see the specialists run the tests, try the protocols and hear the same words again and again. Everything looks normal and yet you know in your own body that something is off. What is normal was never the same as well. And what is the answer? So
00:00:24 Shreya: welcome to Wellness Reimagined. I'm your host, Shreya, and this is the space where we question the old assumptions about health and explore the approaches that actually help people feel whole. Today, we're exploring the intersection of ancient and modern medicine and what becomes possible when we stop treating them as opposites. And by the end, I hope you will have a richer, more hopeful way of understanding your own faith. My guest embodies this meeting point. Doctor Amelia Cohen is a Naturopathic doctor who blends precision functional lab testing. Nervous system regulation, somatic work, and two decades in energy medicine. After leaving her own long search for answers and finally finding them. So welcome, doctor. I'm honored to have you here on my show.
00:01:12 Dr. Amelia R Cohn: Thank you so much, Ria. I'm grateful to be here.
00:01:15 Shreya: Thank you so much for joining. And just before we begin, a quick disclaimer for my listeners,
00:01:58 Shreya: And with that doctor. First of all, I'm really glad to have you. And I want to start with a misconception because it sits right at the heart of your work. So people tend to think ancient and modern medicines are opposites, that you have to pick one side, the lab tests or the energy work, the science or the intuition, but you weave them together. So what do people most get wrong about how these two worlds actually relate.
00:02:25 Dr. Amelia R Cohn: Yeah. Good question. I, I think there, I don't know whether it's the chicken or the egg with it, but, um, we can take the thyroid, for example, and we can do the lab test for the thyroid markers and get a diagnosis. We can find out if there are micronutrient deficiencies and we can do all those things. But when you're missing the energetic and the spiritual components of what the thyroid actually does, because it's, it's connected through to the throat chakra. And that's about it's about speaking, it's about listening, it's about expression, personal expression. And oftentimes the throat chakra has been suppressed because we're swallowing what we actually want to say. And we're not expressing ourselves and were over accommodating. So we want to look at both of those pieces and and address both the physiologic. You probably need more selenium. And the energetic where are you over accommodating? Where are you not speaking your truth? Where are you. Uh, self abandoning because you need like to have a quality, beautiful life. We want both. We want the physical health and we want the mental and emotional and spiritual well-being. And it's all of those pieces that weave together that create an optimal human experience. So I feel like health and wellness is about addressing all of those, all of those components and all of those layers of, of the human.
00:04:12 Shreya: And, uh, when someone stops seeing them or, or like as either or what opens up for them.
00:04:21 Dr. Amelia R Cohn: I think. I think so much can open up. Um, it's, it's a remembering of, of our wholeness. It is realizing that things are not separate within us, that the, uh, that the trauma someone may have experienced is expressing itself now, maybe a decade later through the body in a disease process. And so it's realizing that really there's this massive interconnectedness in the way our lives are woven together. And just because one thing seems small, you know, five, ten years ago doesn't mean that it didn't have a large impact. Or maybe it was the straw that broke the camel's back and created a disease process, a dis ease in the body, which then is expressing itself through autoimmunity, for example, or chronic pain in the low back. So it's really putting those pieces together.
00:05:32 Shreya: I think there is something you just said I want to hold for a second. Like you are not asking anyone to abandon the science or romanticize the ancient. You are saying the fullest picture of health comes when both inform each other. Like I think a lot of people listening have felt forced to choose one side. And, uh, let's go underneath the surface. So you have lived the exact exhaustion you describe doing everything right and still being told everything looks normal. What did you do your own healing journey, teach you about why so many people stay stuck in that loop and what's really going on beneath the surface?
00:06:15 Dr. Amelia R Cohn: Yeah. Good question. Thank you. The the it's it's really expanding our view. So a lot of times in conventional illness and we're looking at just this tiny, tiny little snapshot. So blood work is looking at a snapshot in time. And a lot of the functions and processes and hormones in the body naturally fluctuate. They naturally ebb and flow. So we, we try to take this tiny little snapshot and then make all these conclusions about that. And that's really doing a disservice to the complexity and interconnectedness of the human body and the human experience. So really, it's about expanding our perspective on what's available, what we can look at, what is what the body is trying to tell us. Um, because sometimes things are are physiologic and sometimes things are metaphorical and the body is speaking to us through metaphor, through pain. Pain and sensation are the ways that the body can communicate with us. And so taking into all of these perspectives and really asking diverse questions, I think is, is the key that that unlocks, unlocks that wellness for us.
00:07:48 Shreya: I think, I think the way you describe the turning point, finding someone who looked at the root cause instead of just managing the symbol, I think that will stay with me. I think that's the part the conventional path so often misses. And you describe the body as deeply interconnected that chronic symptoms rarely come from a single system. So for someone listening who senses something is off but keeps being told they are fine. Where does this show up in their ordinary daily experience?
00:08:22 Dr. Amelia R Cohn: Oh. Let's see. Thank you for that question. So if if someone's told that that everything's fine, it's but but they don't feel fine. So that can show up in, in multiple ways. And so again, because humans are so multidimensional and so complex, not just this physical body that goes into an office for a fifteen minute office visit or gets a snapshot of, of labs in one point in time, but they're in a family ecosystem. They're in a workplace ecosystem, they're in a larger community based ecosystem. And so we want to look at like the job is the job nourishing you? Is it, is it allowing you to express freely? Is it something you enjoy doing? Are you good at it? And and if some of those pieces are not there, you could get anxiety or depression. For example, if a woman, for example, is in a marriage, but the marriage isn't fulfilling or satisfying or maybe even slightly abusive, then, you know, that can show up as depression, that can show up as anxiety. And the woman goes into the doctor's office and takes a questionnaire called the PHQ nine. And then all of a sudden they're diagnosed with depression, but there's no exploration of of where that came from. There's the conclusion and assumption that it's just physiologic. And there's no taking into consideration the wider view of what's going on. Did she experience a trauma ten years ago? You know, is she still living out the stories in her head that she's not good enough or not worthy or, um, you know, it could be a lot of those things. And so it's really just taking, it doesn't take that much to just go a little bit deeper and, and ask a few more questions like, how's your job? How's your home life? Do you get enough? Do you get enough rest? Do you get enough sleep? And you know, Western medicine will ask about the sleep, but it'll also give you a prescription. So really, we just want to ask that deeper, those deeper layer of questions.
00:10:47 Shreya: And, uh, for that person, like what is a more empowering first step than chasing another test or another supplement?
00:10:57 Dr. Amelia R Cohn: Oh, yeah. It's a good question. So I think, I think it's asking, asking yourself questions. Um, what's really going on here? So if there's, if there's And anger or an overwhelm there. There's a deeper layer to that. It's and journaling can be really helpful for that or talking into. I use AI a lot and I'll talk into the AI, and then it helps organize my thoughts and what I'm saying, and it'll reflect things back to me, which is one of the, the first tools the therapist learns is reflecting back to someone what they're saying. And so the AI can be really useful for that. Just writing down things on in a journal and, and call it head dumping, just let everything out of there. That's a really good one. When someone's experiencing anxiety, just let everything out, put everything on the page. What's giving you, what's making you nervous? What's making you anxious? Like write it all down. Get that energy out of your body. Uh, those are some really empowering first steps. Get really clear on what's actually going on. There's always a deeper layer. So keep going deeper. Keep asking questions. Well, what's underneath that. Well, what's underneath that. Well what's underneath that. And get a little bit deeper. Listen, take some time to listen and breathe. And then breathing, I think would be probably one of the number one somatic tools for helping to regulate the body. Because we think that a lot of the, a lot of the things that we do in life is because we're broken or we're messed up or we're a hot mess. And that's not necessarily true. There's, there's a biological component to a lot of these things. And it's when we, when we pause and breathe and really assess what's going on in our body, like how does our body feel? Where am I feeling that anxiousness? Where do I feel that sadness or that heaviness? and really looking and listening to the body and tapping in and asking some questions like, well, what is that? Who does that belong to? Is that mine? Is it someone else's? And and, and the question, the question and the breath, I would say are the top two most empowering tools someone can use.
00:13:30 Shreya: I think that really lands because you are describing something. So many people quietly leave it like the gap between what the tests say and what their body knows and what you are offering isn't another quick fix. It's a different way of listening to the body altogether. And, uh, you say a conversation, uh, with you doesn't leave people with another list of supplements. It gives them a new framework. So for someone who wants to understand what their body is actually communicating, what is the way of thinking you would find them to work.
00:14:12 Dr. Amelia R Cohn: Oh good question. I think the biggest reframe in that is, is understanding that the symptoms are signals. They're signals for something that's happening in the body. And oftentimes, uh, a symptom can have ten different causes or etiologies, as we say. And, and we want to look at all of the symptoms in combination and, and not just, uh, I have knee pain. Uh, we want to go a little bit deeper than that. Okay. Was there an accident? Was there a fall? Do you have low back pain? We want to dig deeper. Are you sitting all day and and really looking at the body as a whole? Because the symptom that you have may be tied to something that seems totally unrelated. And we want to really open up the possibility that the symptom is expressing, and it's a signal for a process that could be a lot deeper than just in the knee, or it could be in a completely different place. And we're just holding the door and holding the space and opening the possibility that there's so much more going on. And, you know, it could be coming from the gut. So we want to really ask a lot of questions. Um, I like to do deeper testing more than just blood work. And that gives a really comprehensive understanding of what's going in the body. What are specific Achilles heels are, so to speak. Um, and then we know how to support the body. And then the body can do what it does best, which is function optimally.
00:16:02 Shreya: I think that reframes that for me. Like you're describing health less as a problem to silence and more as a language to learn, like the body communicating something it needs us to understand. And, uh, here is the honest part that doesn't make the wellness headlines. Feeling this way isn't a straight line like symptoms can return. Old patterns resurface. The. After real progress, someone can feel like they are right back where they started. And you have worked this yourself and with many others. So how do you help someone stay steady and stay hopeful when they hit on those setbacks?
00:16:42 Dr. Amelia R Cohn: Yeah. Good question. In my work, I try to prevent as well as I can the setbacks. But again, it's it's information. The body is signaling, oh, it wasn't quite ready for the next next process. And then we can pause and go back to or go slower into the next phase. So it really take it as as data and information about what needs to happen next. And sometimes we pause, sometimes we go slower. Sometimes we have to take it all the way back and, and um, and, and really, um. Be super gentle with, with the body. The body is just going to let us know it's going to let us know through the symptoms, what it needs. And, and it's up to us to listen and then pivot.
00:17:41 Shreya: And what would you say to someone in a discouraging stretch right now who feels like nothing is working?
00:17:52 Dr. Amelia R Cohn: Yeah. Good question. Um. You know, sometimes things take time. So for example, someone with an autoimmune condition. It didn't just show up overnight. It may have felt like it did. Um, but it's something that has developed over time and unwinding that process and filling in the gaps, the nutrient deficiencies. It's going to take time. People often come to me with, with low back pain that they've had for a decade. And, and they want, you know, one treatment, one adjustment, one massage to fix the problem. And that's just completely unrealistic. Like this is first of all, it took time to develop. The symptoms don't often show up until the process is seventy to eighty percent progressed. So you had a seventy to eighty percent progression of a process before the symptoms even showed up. And then you lived with those symptoms for a decade. So that progression continued to evolve and and the body had to continue to compensate. And then now you're coming in and you want a quick fix. And that's it's just, it's just unrealistic. Like the body takes time to unwind and to unravel. And there's nutrient deficiencies that need to get fixed. And then we've got the cell turnover and the cells need to heal themselves. There's, there's like trillions of cells in the body. And then there's even more microbes. There's more microbes in our intestines than there are cells in our body. And so when we're talking about unwinding a chronic condition, we have to give the microbiome the cells in our gut, the microbes, a chance to turn over and repopulate and, and shift population demographics, because some of those are helpful and some of those are not helpful. And so it takes just time. It takes daily repetition. It takes consistency to, to, for the body to shift. But when, when things are going, when you've got all the pieces in place and all the nutrients that your body needs, then you're going to start to feel that improvement. But you might also need someone to reflect back to you, because it might not be in the improvement area that you want. For example, I have a client and we're trying to move her into the clearing phase of the digestive protocol, and she hasn't hit the threshold yet that we need to move into the clearing protocol. But she's noticing all these other benefits. Her acid reflux is gone. It doesn't hurt her hip when she walks anymore. Um, she's sleeping better. Her husband lost six pant sizes because of the nutritional changes that they're doing. So the changes are reflected in other areas. So I would invite that person also to look at what else is shifted for you. What else is improving? It may not be what you want to improve now that will come, but the body's going to do it and it's going to show up in the order, the physiological order that the body needs it to show up and not where you want it to show up.
00:21:24 Shreya: I think I think that's one thing I think people will carry home, like the reminder that a setback isn't proof that the path is wrong, and that the healing, the whole interconnected system takes patience, not perfection. I think there is something stating in hearing that from someone who refused to accept that you will live with this forever as the final word. And thank you so much, uh, for joining and sharing all this information with us. Amelia, this is such a wonderful conversation with you. And if after this, my listeners want to connect with you and want to learn more about you or about your work, then what's the best place to find you?
00:22:05 Dr. Amelia R Cohn: I'm on Instagram, doctor underscore Amelia underscore MD. And then they could also go to my website, which is w w w dot Amelia r n d dot com.
00:22:23 Shreya: Yes, and I will definitely make sure to attach all these details and links below in the show notes so that the listeners can find them easily and get in touch with you. And thank you again, doctor. I think there is something genuinely reimagining about an approach that honors both the science and the deeper wisdom, and refuses to leave people stuck at everything looks normal. I think that's exactly what the show is about. And to all my listeners, if you have been carrying that exhaustion of doing everything right and still not feeling well, here is what I will leave you with. Your body is communicating something and you are allowed to keep listening. Keep asking and expect more than normal. Be curious about your own health and find the people who take your experience seriously. I'm Shreya and this was well imagined. Until next time, keep questioning, keep exploring and do not forget to hit the follow button. Subscribe and feel free to share your thoughts because your ears deserve premium content. Thank you.
