A Holistic Revolution: Embracing Mind, Body, and Spirit in Modern Healthcare with Dr. Kayla Milano

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 00:00

I don't know.

Brian LeSage (: 00:02

fun. All right, Dr. Kaila, I'm so excited to have you on the show and be able to get to have this conversation with you. We've had offline conversations and really got to know each other a lot more and I got to say what you're doing in this health and wellness space as well as treating your patients to the fullest most holistic approach that I know of.

I gotta say, I condone you for that, and I really respect you for being able to come on and share this story with us, as well as the listeners. And I think this is gonna be a great podcast. But first and foremost, I just wanna say thank you for coming on.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 00:37

Absolutely, thank you for making this space available. I love to connect with people that are interested in holistic healthcare. It makes me happy to talk about it.

Brian LeSage (: 00:47

Yeah, it's a new term that is starting to really gain traction a lot. And before we get into that though, but I like to always kind of we'll tie in the table that for now, because we're going to get into the holistic health and all that. But I always like to kind of get and a lot of my listeners have got a lot of insight out of it. I was just kind of figuring out where people came from. And I think there's no better way to kind of figure out where someone came from without rewinding back.

the Wheel of Time if you will like I say and say who was Kayla like on the playground? Who were you like as a kid? Who were you as a child?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 01:24

Oh, that's a fun question. Okay, so kind of twofold. I would say as a child, I was always like very adventurous, never really afraid to get dirty or like jump in a pond. I loved animals and like, I don't know, like this is what comes to my mind right now. I was at a friend's house and there was a lizard in the house and like, I just picked it up. And when I picked it up, it detached its tail and that family still tells that story. So I just kind of loved like kind of sciencey stuff.

Brian LeSage (: 01:47

Yep.

Brian LeSage (: 01:54

Yeah.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 01:56

But also I said twofold because when I was six, my dad actually passed away. So I was exposed to the idea of like disease and wellness at a young age. And I remember at that age, like I've also heard this story, but asking my mom, I want to see like a body cut in half, just like how it works. And I had this fascination with like how organs worked or like imagining an autopsy. So it kind of did.

Brian LeSage (: 02:18

Wow.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 02:22

like shape my career path and who I am as a person, I think.

Brian LeSage (: 02:27

Yeah, that's huge. And I think it's, did that happen as a young age? Were you asking for like the autopsy of like how bodies worked and all of that? Was that pretty young in that?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 02:32

Um, yeah, it was so young. My dad died when I was like six and three quarters, so almost seven. And it was definitely within that year. And in my mind, there was no connection. But now that I'm older, looking back, I'm sure that's what planted it in my head, because I wasn't like watching, you know, X-Files or anything at that age. But.

Brian LeSage (: 02:42

Wow.

Brian LeSage (: 02:52

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's so it's interesting. Because again, like some people are be able to see themselves and say, look, like, I want a grounded answer here on why this happened, right? What what was the reason, right? And that's the that's the lot of people like process things differently. And a lot, there's no right or wrong way. But that is definitely something that probably shaped you in your life development as well as just trying to find yourself in this healthcare field is where you're at now.

So I'm curious because again, a lot of people have influential people in their lives, maybe not even top tier of what we traditionally or what would say cliche, right? Our parents, our grandparents or whatever. Was there anybody in that space for you that kind of helped mold you and shape you into seeing the world this way or finding out to say like, yes, the trauma happened to you at a young age, but let's take this and move forward

find your path and who you are, Kayla. Who was that for you?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 03:54

Yeah, for me, it's gonna fall a little bit under the cliche, but it would absolutely have to be my mom, because she was super proactive. It like twofold again, super proactive in making sure we processed it. So we had like a writing class one day, like writing, journaling, gymnastics, soccer, like making sure we physically process the trauma, like you said. But then also, as I was interested in

Brian LeSage (: 04:10

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 04:23

therapy. And my mom, not really knowing anything about medicine, kept saying like, you should be the top of your field. So you have more options. You should become a doctor. And she never brought it back to money for her. It was like, I want you to be able to help the maximum amount of people possible. And she was always that voice in my head. So I would say my mom really, she was like my biggest, the biggest driver of choosing something where I could help others. And for her too, I think it's my dad's death.

Brian LeSage (: 04:38

Hmm.

Brian LeSage (: 04:49

Yeah.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 04:52

It made like whatever you choose had to be more than just making money. It had to give back.

Brian LeSage (: 04:57

Yeah, impact, right? Giving back to the world, giving back to the community, giving back to the people to kind of just say, hey, look, this is this is something outside of it. And I think that kind of goes full circle for a lot of people that might be finding that out now. I think right now a lot of people are figuring out that it's not all about money, right? It's not all about having a glamorous life. Now, granted, money does help some things, right? But if you're not happy in what you're doing, you don't feel fulfilled, then

is having a lot of money gonna really help that situation. So for you being able to find that core value early is probably really set your tone for you. So with that, did you find yourself going directly into MD school or where did your path kind of go?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 05:43

Sure, yeah, that's a great question. Well, in college, I started out as pre-med, but I was also rowing, so like crew. I'm not sure if you're familiar with that. I went to a school on the East Coast where that was big, and I picked an easier major. So I picked psychology, found it very interesting, but I didn't get my science classes while I was doing that sport. So then I like figured out what I wanted to do, and I took classes for two years doing the prereqs after. And then I did, I went to a traditional medical school and got the MD degree.

Like I said, I was interested in psychology, but when I got into med school, I realized I just loved deliveries and babies and women's health. So I ended up going into family medicine because you can do some therapy, like a lot of therapy rather, and then you also get to do deliveries and take care of women and children. So yeah, that was my first intro was regular allopathic medical school.

Brian LeSage (: 06:33

Yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 06:38

Yeah, with the allopathic medical school, if you will, for that, was there anything in you that was like, I need more, or there just seems to be a cutting point where this doesn't seem to go to the full holistic approach? Or was there any of those seedling kind of thoughts coming?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 06:56

Yes, definitely. I mean, really early on, I just didn't know what to do with them. A lot of it was like the time it kept coming back to me. Like, for example, like with blood pressure, we would just had such limited time with people. And so we'd end up just talking about medication and I would feel like this loss when they left the room, like, oh my gosh, I like, I wanted to talk a little bit more about diet and walking. And but the time was just, just an issue.

I knew in medical school and definitely in residency, which is the training part of it, that I would probably end up doing something more holistic because it just didn't sit right with me to only have time to talk about the medicine. Yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 07:33

Hmm. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. There's definitely it's, it's interesting. A lot of people could probably attest to it, maybe not from the physician position, but definitely the patient position of saying, Hey, look, my physician walks in, they talk to me in 10 minutes, they give me a prescription, they walk out the door, right. And there's, there's a lot of things happening with that. And I'm curious to know for you, where do you think this kind of derails for a second, but where do you think this kind of goes with

Long-term effects or where do you think people are trying to go now to try to say I'm finding you as a holistic physician That's able to spend more time for me. Where do you think I know we're at this like bifurcation this decision point So what are the two alternatives to you? What do you think?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 08:20

Yeah, I think kind of what you're speaking to is that people, and from my standpoint, I think there's a huge interest in people taking health into their own hands. So it's becoming very like consumer based with fitness apps available where a physician, you know, maybe even is available like

Brian LeSage (: 08:32

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 08:38

in an urgent care setting or not a physician, but like an app that incorporates wearables. So like people coming to me like, oh, I'm tracking my blood pressure and or my blood sugar. They're getting those patches to detect their blood sugar. So I would say it moving into the hands of the consumer and treating the patient more like a consumer is definitely, is definitely.

Brian LeSage (: 08:50

Yeah.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 09:03

expanding for a lot of people. But then my experience in the traditional medical setting before I left would tell me there's a huge, like older population, Medicare patients, and maybe even not Medicare, but people who are relying on the insurance through their job, where they really are more at the mercy of whatever physician is in their system. And there's a huge, I would say, limit in what's available to them because there might be like one physician

multiple mid-levels and they really feel like that's all they have available to them. So there's like this one sector of the population where they have everything at their fingertips, so to speak, they know their options. And then on the other side, they really have like one or two doctors that are available to them and they're waiting months to see them. So I don't know what's going to happen in the next few years, actually.

Brian LeSage (: 09:54

Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting. I remember going back and thinking about to my masters of when I was writing about policy health and things and policy laws, just there is this gap of coverage of accessibility, right? Where population for sure, age, right? Baby boomer generation is aging. And then where do they go, right? And they say, yeah, we have physicians everywhere. Yeah, but if you're...

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 10:02

Yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 10:19

out of network is not gonna be covering it, right? Then you're paying out of pocket for the insurance that you're already paying for. So then you're double dipping and that becomes a financial burden. So then they end up not doing anything. And it's interesting on how that goes. So yeah, I think that's, it's definitely something that can help in, or I mean not help, but it's definitely influencing the times in which we're gonna be going into the future here. And I think with you, what you're doing and what you're offering with this holistic approach of basically wellness care, if you would.

That is something that I would want. I want to get your input on. I want to allow you to kind of explain that to people that maybe don't know that, haven't heard of that, maybe listening now and saying, yeah, I've not heard of that before.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 11:02

Absolutely, yeah. Well, and thanks for sharing your experience with your masters because the population health, I mean, we don't really learn a lot of, when I say population health, how insurance interfaces with it and like that business side of it. We don't learn a lot about that in med school and it really dictates someone's care. So you could be like the best doctor in the world, but if the patients can't get to you, it's just really, it's sad and it's confusing for a lot of people. But.

Brian LeSage (: 11:28

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it is.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 11:29

Anyway, back to your question. So there are a lot of different ways to deliver medicine now, but there's a term, I prefer direct primary care, and there's a movement towards that where patients or clients, if you will, have access to a physician outside of insurance. So they're paying the physician directly, and that's why it's called direct primary care.

Brian LeSage (: 11:40

Hmm.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 11:53

It's also known like on TV shows, there's the term concierge medicine, and it's essentially the same thing. So if you imagine like, if someone has, they're paying, it's a subscription essentially. So you pay a monthly fee to a doctor to have access to them for an unlimited amount of time. So in my practice, I'll tell you they're all set up differently, but in my practice, someone would pay that monthly fee and then they could come to me for their preventive visits or for urgent care drop-in visits.

And it's really neat because then when they're going for an urgent care visit, it's not to an urgent care doctor, it's to like their primary doctor. Um, one really cool thing about it is there really isn't a wait time the way there is in a clinic and my patients can always get through to me, like via text or a call. Um, I use an answering service too, as a backup, but if a patient wants to get a hold of me and it's not like a holiday or in the middle of the night,

Brian LeSage (: 12:27

Yeah.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 12:47

they're going to get ahold of me. So it's just a completely different way of going about care. But yes, clarifying questions, because I'd love to explain more just.

Brian LeSage (: 12:52

Hmm. Yeah.

No, absolutely. Yeah, I can definitely. And the thing is, as funny as I sit there with knowledge on it already, but trying to think of questions as well. But it's yeah, I already know the space a little bit but

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 13:04

Right, yeah, you kind of know the space. Well, even not to interject like after asking you a question, but even for me in this space, it's constantly changing. So another model that I'm trying to break into because mainly because I think it's more helpful for my patients and for like future patients is a subscription-based telemedicine model. So like there's one I'm familiar of many is called Parsley Health, started by Robin Berzin and her model is amazing. Like the whole premise of it,

Brian LeSage (: 13:25

Mm-hmm.

Brian LeSage (: 13:32

Hmm.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 13:33

is to make great preventive medicine available to women who rarely use the doctor because they're working or taking care of their children. So that's another thing I'm offering now, but trying to expand into because I think it's just beneficial on so many different levels.

Brian LeSage (: 13:40

Hmm. Yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 13:54

Yeah, I was gonna tap into that. And it's funny that you brought up the telemedicine component, because I was gonna say, we're going into these times where people are busier, might not be able to come to the physician. And COVID happened, right? And then we were pushed a lot of telemedicine through the roof, right? That whole industry really bumped a ton. And people are now, I know physicians that are in Florida that are seeing patients in Arizona, just with telemedicine, you know? And that's happening globally.

So with that, that's an industry in itself, but do you think, it's almost funny to think, but I'm curious of what you think of it, if could happen, right? Do you think that we're gonna find ourselves almost back to the approach of how healthcare was initially given, right? Think about doctor's visits to the house, right? But with a technology component, do you think that is going to become more of a commonality?

as AI and other technology solutions start to build up and we start to say, hey, look, we can convenience and provide a more accessible route here by doing this. Or do you think it's gonna be, we're not really comfortable with change, still come into our office as much as possible because we want to put eyes on you. Granted, there's a lot of limitations with telemedicine and components of physical assessment needs, but what are your thoughts?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 15:16

Yeah, that's a great question. I think that we will move in that direction because it's more convenient for the patient and you could give, like I was saying, the best care in the world, but if the person doesn't come in due to a variety of factors, but we could see them sooner before symptom XYZ becomes worse and it leads to them being admitted to the hospital or needing more medication, that...

the insurance companies, the doctors, and probably even the patients would agree like, okay, if we can treat the person sooner, because practically they're actually gonna be seen sooner, that's the better way. So I think we probably will move in that direction. It is a little bit scary though, as a physician to think about it, because I know how different it is to put my hands on a person and feel them and feel their belly when they're describing abdominal pain. So I would rather see my patients in person. I'm just...

Brian LeSage (: 15:53

Hmm.

Brian LeSage (: 15:56

Yeah.

this

Brian LeSage (: 16:03

Yep.

Brian LeSage (: 16:10

Absolutely.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 16:12

standpoint, I do feel like we're moving that way. But you mentioned AI and that is so interesting to think about like how that's going to be used. I mean my brain's not there yet, but like how things like chat GPT would be used to like filter. I mean, I know companies are already doing it but like to filter or triage rather just kind of crazy.

Brian LeSage (: 16:15

Yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 16:27

Mm-hmm.

Brian LeSage (: 16:34

Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely. And it could be to a component of onboarding or putting in your information and then you're answering a simple survey or simple question and a Q and A is you have a, hey, you need to come in. Oh, we can do this a telemedicine. Oh no, you need to go to the ER, whatever it be, right? It could be a onset kind of thing. And I think to kind of just let my AI and technology based because again, this is something side of mind podcast here of just the mindset here, but.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 17:02

Yeah, I mean.

Brian LeSage (: 17:03

It's gonna get to the point where yeah, it is going to start to say People are gonna have these personalized individual AI bots if you will that kind of know their information as well as what's best for them and their Dietary needs and all the sorts and you can almost get a personalized on the clock Question based. Hey take a question too and say hey, I need a diet plan for the next 12 weeks that

don't include these types of foods because I have a dietary restriction, because maybe I'm a diabetic or whatever it be. And it writes up a whole scheme of that. And then it says, Okay, now I need a shopping list. So I know what to buy from the grocery store. And it schemes out that so it's going to be definitely interesting to see how that kind of transitions. But the component of what I always like, and people get to go a little worried with AI, and then I'll probably put a slice in it, and we'll go back into the mindset. But with that is the component that

we have to think about how we can utilize it as a tool versus as it replacing us. Because again, human evolution is a component of just saying, hey, look, let's utilize this as a partnership and not something that's gonna overthrow us or take us over. But yeah, it is definitely gonna be interesting to see how that scheme kind of goes and where that route runs. And I'm curious for you and with the patients that you're kind of taking care of and helping now.

Brian LeSage (: 18:29

But before all of that, right? Before the holistic business and all of these things, you had to leave family practice. You had to go off on your own practically, right? So what was that like for you for just a mindset component of just saying, hey, look, I got a paycheck, I go to work, I see this amount of patients, I'm burning myself out, but at least I can get any revenue or income.

but now you're like, let me take this hold and start my own. Was there a battle there for you?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 19:05

Oh yeah, absolutely. Um, I'm so glad you're asking. So it really took getting to the burnout phase and realizing that it was going to compromise my ability to care for people in the way that I wanted to, if there wasn't the burnout, I think I could have worked within the system, but seeing the amount of patients they wanted me to see on top of I had three babies in that time residency through that. So I'm taking care of, you know,

not back to back, but like over seven years taking care of babies overnight. And so being tired, so being a mom on top of this like kind of demanding somewhat toxic system, I hit a point where I was like, I'm either going to change as a doctor or I have to do something differently. And it was that intensity that allowed me to leave. Otherwise, I don't know that I would have because I like, I loved the residency program I trained in. I had so many doctors I looked up to and

Brian LeSage (: 19:37

Yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 19:49

Hmm.

Brian LeSage (: 19:57

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 20:02

leaving the system almost felt like I was leaving that and that I wouldn't be part of this system that like I had worked so hard, you know, to get into. So it was weird. But it was a shift of, okay, I'm going to choose my own health, you know, and beliefs so that I can really like care for people the way that I want to. But that's such a good question. I'm still kind of in it. It's only been a year since I

Brian LeSage (: 20:12

Hmm. Yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 20:21

Hmm?

Brian LeSage (: 20:29

Yeah.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 20:31

made that transition that you were talking about.

Brian LeSage (: 20:34

Yeah, that's still big though. That's still even to do it to just stop one thing and to move to the next, right? That's a massive thing and for listeners that might be and maybe not in the physician position But where they're saying look I want to stop doing this because of burnout and you know A lot of reasons happen with mental health, you know personal care self care

you wear on the body and it's kind of funny, maybe not funny, but looking back at myself and other people's lives now after they've made a transitional change where you can say, look, I felt like this before and now after I made the change, I feel so much better. It's funny that our body will present itself in such a physical manifestation of illness or disease, right? Where we're discomfortly eased, right? We're not comfortable.

but we're creating disease because maybe we're having an autoimmune disorder, we're having all these weird issues that are happening in our body, maybe it's nutritional or diet based, whatever kind of physical manifestation has to take place, but that will happen. But then as soon as you transition or take that change, your body gets better or you start to heal yourself right. You're on that path of healing and it's that holistic approach there where you're just taking care of your lifestyle changes. So with that for you,

What was one of the biggest things that kind of allowed you to anchor in, say, you know what, I can do this. Kelly, you got this. I got the support system behind me. I can, I can take the steps that need be. I have a safety net if needed. I I'm going to do this. I'm just buying in. I'm pushing all in on the table and I'm betting on myself. What was it for you that kind of allowed you to grab that mindset and push forward into it?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 22:18

Not to get too woo-woo, but around the time that I knew I needed to do this, it was meditation. I kept hearing it, feeling it, my inner self just saying, you need to do this. Looking back, I think it was that in conjunction with a lot of the things my patients were coming to me for. I had a lot of patients with fibromyalgia and anxiety, and we would bring it back to of course exercise and whether eating are important, but it was always the stress.

Brian LeSage (: 22:23

Hmm.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 22:47

was somewhat fixable by a change, but an uncomfortable change. So a lot of times it was a job. And I kept thinking, how can I ask someone to leave a job that's providing for their family? And then when I'm literally in the same position where this job is making me wanna drink more wine, this job is taking away my exercise or my drive to do things. So I think it was that. I'm literally in the business where I need to ask people to make lifestyle changes. So...

Brian LeSage (: 22:51

Hmm.

Brian LeSage (: 22:54

Mm-hmm.

Brian LeSage (: 23:00

Yeah.

Hahaha

Brian LeSage (: 23:09

Yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 23:16

Mmm.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 23:16

When I wrapped my mind around it, it gave me the confidence to just do it. But the actual physical thing supporting me, I'd say, is besides my loved ones, verbally giving support was tuning back into my meditation practice or whatever it was at the time. But usually it was that. I would come back to it and be like, yeah, you can do this.

Brian LeSage (: 23:20

Mm.

Brian LeSage (: 23:36

Yeah, no, I think it's a there's a powerful, there's powerful stuff. I've talked to a lot of guests, I've talked to a lot of people with meditation visualization. I've had Olympic athletes that do like high visualization of performance or like gold medal kind of visualizations, and then they perform for the USA and do just as good, right. So there's there's, it's so interesting, what's there is untapped potential, right. So when we tap into that,

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 23:44

Yeah.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 23:56

That's a mean thing.

Yeah. That your mind doesn't really know the difference. If you're imagining it and you're really there in your mind, I think it makes a difference. I do. And your ability to be successful.

Brian LeSage (: 24:09

100% right there's so much power there and I think that's the component of the mindset right the art of mindset where you can say hey look how you're perceiving this reality around you is a perception or perspective is it a personal perception or is there a higher perspective that look as I transition here now I'm going to be able to help people and maybe this is what you're doing right you're able to help people like hey look I was in your shoes

I was a doctor at a family practice and I had to leave because I was physically unwell, because I had that. Now you have that personal journey to walk patients into healing and health. So with that, that's massive. I would say with meditation, I'm curious for you. It's not woo-woo and if you're uncomfortable with it, fine, fine. But for me, it's totally very tangible reality. For you with meditation, what did you do? Did you visualize things? Did you just sit with your breath?

What did you do?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 25:09

Well, okay, my first intro to it, someone told me about Dr. Joe Dispenza, and I just studied like some of his transformations, and he has that medical background, and a lot of his transformations are like physical for people. So that's what initially sparked me, and I listened on my drive to work, I listened to one of his books, and so he has these walking meditations that I would do. That was my first. And then like, and like a year into that, so about, I don't know, maybe a year ago, I got into more of the Kundalini Yoga, and there's just...

Brian LeSage (: 25:36

Mmm, yes.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 25:37

Someone I found online, Erica Polsonelli, she is evolved by Erica, and I signed up for her meditation service and I would just do one like a five minute or an eight minute and they were more like chanting and mantra based and having like, I just am a physical person. So I love Pilates, I love yoga. And for some reason, those were more powerful for me. I mean, I like intellectually love Jodhaspensai and like, I would love to go to one of his retreats someday, but those Kundalini ones just like were

Brian LeSage (: 25:49

Mm-hmm.

Brian LeSage (: 25:57

Hmm.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 26:05

more fiery, like I could feel them more in my body. And I felt like it was a combo of like meditating, prayer, and a workout. What about you though? Do you, have you tried Kundalini?

Brian LeSage (: 26:07

Yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 26:13

Nice. Yeah.

Absolutely, yeah, yeah. So I have a deep practice with Kundalini and yoga and actually considering some yoga teacher training.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 26:23

I didn't even know that before coming on here. That's so cool.

Brian LeSage (: 26:26

Yeah, so I got a lot to that. And then meditation, definitely visualizations. Joe just spends, I think the art, what is this book? Something Transformation. It's a, I think there's one book. Or what is that one? No, Becoming Supernatural, that's it. Yeah, yep, that's the one. Yep, so that was a really good one that really helped kind of expand my mind. And I was same thing, right? Healthcare, left brain.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 26:41

I'm not getting on the name right now. Becoming supernatural, that's the one that I listen to. Yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 26:55

very logical thinker, intellectual, right? Solution based. And then just trying to find my own journey in that and then saying, you know, I need to find a deeper purpose here. And that was what I was getting as well. I was just saying, you know, let me meditate. I started with breath work. That was probably my first intro with just basic breath work, right? If you've ever heard of box breathing, right? Four in, hold for four, out for four, and just keep going around and around.

Um, right. So it's basically in four. Yep, that's another one. Right. So box breathing would be like in four, one, two, three, four, you're taking a breath in, then you're holding for four, one, two, three, four, then you're out for four, one, two, three, four, and then you're in for four, one, two, three, four, and it makes basically a box. So that's the box breathing. And with that, there would be an idea there of just saying, you know,

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 27:28

like 478 breathing too.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 27:47

Okay.

Brian LeSage (: 27:54

There's studies out there that most of us are not in our parasympathetic nervous system enough, which is our rest and relax, right? And with that, you're in a higher cortisol level, which is more stress, more fight and flight. So with that and the abdominal breath work, there's actually the vagus nerve, which you probably know kind of ties down into there a lot. And when you're doing abdominal breathing with the vagus nerve or box breathing, you're actually tricking your brain into thinking that there's a lot of food in there.

which is then trick it into putting it into the parasympathetic nervous system, which is a slower process of thinking, where you're more relaxed into your body and you're pulling your energy more inward versus trying to like fight or survive something. So you're going more inward. So that was my first introduction with breath work and meditation and then kind of just went into visualization and then yoga.

And then I started doing like some aggressive, like shamanic breath work, where you did like a three hour breath work class that kind of like, yeah, it was pretty intense. I just did that a month ago, actually. So that, so that was a, yeah, that was a localized retreat up in North Georgia here and over in the East coast. And yeah, we actually had a retreat, did a whole yoga.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 29:01

Do you travel somewhere from that? Or is that like in person or?

Brian LeSage (: 29:16

retreat, did a meditation retreat, did a breath work class. People left out of there feeling great, feeling amazing. And I was facilitating it, slash event coordinating it. And yeah, it was really, really powerful to kind of just for my own journey, as well as everybody that got to participate in it. And yeah, so it's been an interesting journey and I love tying it back to healthcare, of getting people into the best versions of themselves and a holistic lifestyle approach.

And it just ties into that aspect of perception versus perspective or the art of mindset or understanding that there's a bigger version for you out there of what you can do in life. And for what you've been able to do for your patients and helping that and growing that, I know that you have a lot of things that kind of.

I wouldn't say prescriptions are prescribed, but I would say that you invite them to do that would help boost their healing, their holistic healing, their body's wellness. I know one thing that we were talking offline about before is that you're talking about upcoming cleanse. And what is that? What is that all about?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 30:27

Yeah. So I love cleansing for a variety of reasons. And I will start off, there are so many different types. The one I'm talking about is kind of like a gentler cleanse that I like to walk my patients through at the beginning of the year.

Brian LeSage (: 30:35

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 30:41

And I really love like best practice, not that everyone needs to do this or everyone can, but every couple of months I like to walk people through a cleanse, regardless of if it's like a gentler one or a more advanced one, because there are just so many toxins in our everyday life. Toxins is such a like a generic term, but like our standard American diet and

Brian LeSage (: 31:02

Yeah.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 31:05

Even if you eat like the cleanest possible, there are still things in the environment that we didn't have 100 years ago, or in the food really, like even from clean soil, there are things we don't know about. So using a cleanse is a great way to take some, I call it digestive rest. So taking a little bit of stress off the digestive system so that your body can do the healing that it was meant to do.

Brian LeSage (: 31:08

Hmm.

Brian LeSage (: 31:30

Mm.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 31:30

I believe that we are self-healing organisms, and it's just easier for the body to do that when we take off stress. So it could be as simple as taking off mental stress or taking off the physical stress of digestion. So some people will consider a cleanse to be just eating clean, so no processed foods. It can also include shakes and supplements. And then at the other end, I've personally never done one this extreme, but like.

you'll hear about like water fasts or bone broth fasts and things like that. But for my like clinic specifically though, I kind of interrupted you, sorry. I start out with a week because I think if you say a month, it can be a little scary.

Brian LeSage (: 32:02

and as

Brian LeSage (: 32:08

You're fine.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 32:16

And the last thing I want to do is trigger, as you were talking about the parasympathetic, trigger that sympathetic fight or flight. That's not what I want to do. So we'll just start out with a gentle week one. And then some people will opt in my clinic to continue that forward for a whole month or do a version of it. And we usually do that the second or third week of January to give people some time to settle back in after the holidays and get ready.

Brian LeSage (: 32:30

Mm-hmm.

Brian LeSage (: 32:36

guys.

Brian LeSage (: 32:40

Yeah, I gotta say I wasn't a big cleanser faster before probably before like a year ago, but really drove myself into that space of cleansing myself as well. You know, I did detox cleanse, I did some supplement cleanses. And then actually right before the retreat that I was just talking about with the breath work, I did a seven day fast where I drank like water and I did a little bit of like.

if you've ever heard of the master cleanse, where it's like maple syrup and some lemon juice and water to kind of just hit my system with a little sugar, but I really just drank mostly water. Yeah, and I did that for seven days. That was intense. But the...

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 33:11

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 33:24

What was that, like, what was it like, if I can ask? Or what was surprising? I'm sure just thoughts would pop up, like, why am I doing this to myself? And then you, I'm just curious. It's amazing.

Brian LeSage (: 33:28

Yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 33:57

Yeah, yeah,

So with that, with the fast or the seven day fast that I did, it was initially day one, day two, right? Really, really hard, right? Where the mind is like, I'm just hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry. But come day three, four, five, it was really clear mind, right? A lot of energy, thoughts would come up where, you know.

You would say, let me just go eat something or this is what am I even doing? What is the point of this? Whatever it be. And I would just break out my journal, and I would just write or I'd go into meditation and just start to sit with those thoughts that I was having. And I could just be walking. It could be walking mindfulness, whatever it be. I've just, it got you to distinguish between your mind and

this larger portion of self, if you will, right, the big S, if you will, where you're outside of yourself, where you're seeing and observing yourself from another point of view that you really can't explain. And that's what I got. It really drew the line in the sand of look, there's this body, there's this ego that's running the machine of like the mind that makes me think in which I'm doing and what I have to act and what I have to live out. And then there's this other portion that has

actual greater control over it, but it's a more silent voice. It's a more subtle energy. It's more encompassing, but it's not as overwhelmingly loud as our mind is. So I got to see the difference of that and to then be able to distinguish and say, you know, that's just a thought. That's just an emotion. I'm not that, I'm bigger than that. I can push past that. And then being able to do that,

Brian LeSage (: 35:45

than when you're hungry, right? We can have a lot of things, but you go a couple of days without eating, you're gonna really feel that hunger, right? So once you can start to say, you know what, that hunger is just, it's a part of my body, but I have a bigger purpose here, and you keep deciding to that. Now granted, you gotta take health factors in place. You know, if you're getting dehydrated, all the sorts, or you just definitely have heart issues, or any other underlying comorbidity, keep that in consideration, but I'm a well-healthy young man.

So I was able to kind of balance that risk factor to beneficial outcomes. And I ran that for about seven days and journaled three times a day, checked my blood sugar, did my blood glucose, or blood sugar, blood glucose, same thing, blood pressure, heart rate, and just kind of documented the whole journey. It was kind of wild, but it was awesome.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 36:35

That's really cool. I'm so glad you shared that. That's awesome.

Brian LeSage (: 36:38

Yeah, yeah, it was really good. So I'm curious for you on where things are kind of going with you and what you kind of see happening with your business as well as just in people in general in this, we talked about it initially, people taking hold of their wellness a lot more. And I hope people do. I hope the component kind of shifts between.

I always, you know, we kind of put the words together, health and wellness. I like to say, you know, wellness, like focus on your wellness and your health will follow, right, if you're taking care of yourself, then your health will follow that. So I see a lot of things happening, like if you're not even familiar, I've been doing research, the wellness industry in general, it's like, it's 2.1 trillion global economy, right? So people are really starting to invest into the wellness industry a lot.

So I'm curious for you, what do you think people are gonna start doing and what are you gonna be helping people do as being this unique position of where you have this allopathic kind of approach of physician abilities, but you're more of minded into self-help, healthcare rated around lifestyle changes, diet changes, exercise, mindset.

meditation, whatever it be. What do you think, how are you gonna bridge them all? What do you see that happening?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 38:01

Yeah, that's an excellent question. And I think that's where having a doctor to help you with a personalized approach, at least that's kind of where I see my job. So I get a lot of, I think what's starting to bubble up is like biohacking companies are really big. I have my patients coming saying, oh, there's this biohacking company and I'm gonna put X, Y, Z dollars into this. Or like with the weight loss meds, like the peptides and the Ozemping and the Wegovi, there are a lot of people out there

have the resources or we'll find them if they think it's the right thing to do. And that's where I find myself maybe having the biggest impact for my patients because I can help them figure out like, is this right for you? Or is it not, do you maybe not need X, Y, Z? I'm never gonna say like, it's bad or it's good because it really depends on the patient. And so in this world now where you can get on the internet and you could...

Brian LeSage (: 38:35

Yeah.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 38:59

hire, like I was saying, a biohacking service to figure out like your biological age versus your chronological age or buy a really expensive medicine that's going to help you not be hungry. And then as things come out and come available, I'm here to help people make that personalized choice. And then the other thing that comes to mind are like the body scans. So like in medicine, for example, we're really taught, don't look for something.

Brian LeSage (: 39:19

Hmm.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 39:28

without a reason. And I've had to wrap my mind around this, because in medical school, we're really taught to not just look for problems. But patients don't feel that way. They want to know. If there's a technology, they want to know. And I can kind of make a case for both. And I think that's where I can really help people.

Brian LeSage (: 39:40

Mm-hmm.

Brian LeSage (: 39:45

Mm-hmm.

Brian LeSage (: 39:51

Yeah.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 39:51

because it's so personalized. It depends on the person, it depends on the resources, it depends on their age, their preferences. So that's really where personalized care comes in. And I really like, am starting to rethink even, I consider myself, my specialty after family medicine as a functional medicine doctor, which means like going into the root cause. So that could be from a history where I asked about their like childhood trauma or current stressors. And it could be,

doing advanced lab testing to see like, what are the specific cholesterol markers you have? What do your genetics say? So that's like the functional piece of what I do. But I really now like to call it more like just personalized medicine because there are like any doctor should really be doing that root cause approach. But what I feel like I do that's different than like the AI or the chat bot or

like another provider is providing a personalized perspective because that's really invaluable. I think I don't know if that answered your question, but yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 40:52

Yeah, no it does. Yeah, it does, it definitely does. Yeah, I think that personalized approach as well as the guidance of understanding that relationship. And I think that's what people are looking for, right? There's patient-centric wheel models, all types of things, right? Coming out where people are saying, our physician practices are stating that, we need to put the patient right in the center of the hub.

you know, and the wheel spokes go all the way around and every position is positioned around to help the patient out. And I think that is, you know, what you're trying to do or help in that regard of being, how do we build a relationship? How is there a better physician-patient relationship in a more holistic approach where you do know the insides and outs of somebody's life? And I think...

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 41:35

I'm gonna go.

Brian LeSage (: 41:42

as someone who goes to physicians as well as a patient, right? I would say it's best and it feels better to me naturally, intrinsically to say, would I rather go to somebody that's just checking boxes on a form, if you will, it's not really a form, but you know what I'm saying. Or somebody that has a deeper connection with me and understands the intrinsic rates of who I am, what I'm struggling with, maybe I'm going through something, maybe I just went through something.

versus, you know, oh, you have high blood pressure, right?

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 42:15

Absolutely. And that made me think too. So I try not to talk. I don't necessarily tell my patients this all the time, but just because you and I are talking about mindset and like really being a centered person and a connected person, I feel like as a physician, I mean, there's just no way.

it doesn't impact my patience that I make a point to take care of myself. And of course, like taking care of yourself is eating well and moving. Right. So I mean that, but also like the spiritual aspect. And I don't ever like forcefully talk about like religion or politics or spirituality with my patients. But since you and I are talking like professionally, I think that you would probably agree like connecting makes you do a better job in everything that you do because you're

It's like for a higher purpose in a bigger world and a bigger vision and me doing what's right for me, I know that I do a better job for my patients. And I love that. And I couldn't have done that if I were still in that typical insurance-driven world. Or maybe I could, but I didn't think I could.

Brian LeSage (: 43:23

Hmm. Yeah, it's very true. You limit it. Yeah, you might be able to but it's how long you go for until they say, you know what, Kayla, you're just spending too many too long with your patients, right? Or, or you can't talk about this with your patients or that prescription is not part of our best practices or whatever it be, you know, so it's definitely it's a way and I gotta say condone you again for being able to do what you're doing in that and

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 43:36

Right, right, yeah, exactly.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 43:44

Yeah.

Brian LeSage (: 43:52

push this industry into a way where people are being able to come to you as well and find information on you. I know your social media has got a great amount of information on it about cleanses and taking care of yourself and being health-focused or health-conscious where you're holistically self-centered, powerful, feeling it and mentally believing it and then stepping into that. So I got to say it's definitely great to hear and see all of that.

Before we wrap up the show, I wanna see if you got anything that would be a beneficial insight for someone that might be looking for a little bit more information. Maybe it's a blog, maybe it's a speaker, maybe it's a event or a book or something that says, this is lifestyle medicine or this is holistic medicine. This is where a lot, this is the meats and potatoes of it. This is who cut it and film created it. This is who is a really good place to start or a good place to start.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 44:49

Good place to start. Yes, no, that's great. If you... Okay, I'm going to plug myself and then I'm going to tell you the other thing I would do. So if you message me on my social media, Heal by Dr. Milano, or you can get my email and email me, I love doing a 15-minute call with people that I just do that for people to kind of explain what holistic medicine is because there are so many terms out there and then what functional medicine is. And I would love to talk you through it.

and give you my personal perspective. But kind of like the gurus out there that I like to look to, there are two. So for functional medicine, Mark Hyman's amazing and he has a podcast that you can listen to, Farmacy with an F, and I listen to him all the time. I think he has an amazing perspective and he interviews really cool people. And then more for like the integrative, where we're talking like integrative, like herbs, breath work is Andrew Weil out of Arizona. He is a...

amazing content on his website, amazing free content, that's Andrew Weill, W-E-I-L-L. They're both fantastic and a great resource, but I think that especially for women looking for like...

health transformations, questions about hormones, not sure if it's like physical or mental. I love that and am passionate about it so you could reach out to me and I would give you a free 15 minute consult and just kind of let you know like if I could help you and if not really where you could get care within the system that you are.

Brian LeSage (: 46:18

Yeah, yeah, that's great. I definitely think that you're be a great resource for anybody really, but definitely for women as well. And the in those needs as well. But it's been great getting to chat with you. And this conversation really flew by 4546 minutes just really truck drive them by so it's been it's been good. And I really enjoyed it. And I got to say you have a great amount of impact in this industry and

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 46:23

Thank you.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 46:35

Oh my gosh, wow, yeah that was fast.

Brian LeSage (: 46:45

helping people through the system and as well as finding themselves into this wellness journey. That is a lifelong journey, not just a quick fix like we try to sell in the typical system healthcare. So I appreciate you and thank you for coming on.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 46:57

Yeah.

Dr. Kayla Milano (: 47:01

Thank you, thanks for having me. Have an awesome day.