Ancient Health Podcast

Tight jaw, shoulders up by your ears, waking at 3 a.m.? Somatic movement teacher Liz Tenuto, author of When the Body Speaks, joins Dr. Chris Motley to explore where the body holds stress, why she favors tiny, lazy movements over force, why animals shake it off, and how to recognize when you’re still bracing. Dr. Motley adds the Chinese Medicine perspective on the jaw and waking at 3 a.m.

Sources and corrections are included in the show notes.

Content note: This episode discusses trauma, emotional healing, and the mind-body connection. Take care while listening, and feel free to pause or skip around if you need to.

Educational only, not medical advice.

Chapters:

00:00 Cold open: where your body holds stress

00:44 Welcome: Liz Tenuto, somatic movement teacher

02:45 Ten years without sleep, and everything she tried

03:51 "People rolling around on the floor in their pajamas"

04:47 Inside a somatic class: the laziest movements possible

05:52 From workhorse to gentle, and what surfaced

07:06 A dancer, disconnected from her emotional body

08:45 Does the body remember?

11:55 Dance, EMDR, and life before The Body Keeps the Score

13:23 Is fascia a highway for emotion?

15:00 Shoulders at her ears, and the saran wrap picture

16:58 Tiny lazy movements and new pathways

18:30 Calm, wired, or shut down: the "Goldilocks" state

19:41 Why people keep going back to the chiropractor

20:46 Calm takes reps

22:09 How your body learns tension

25:02 Can a stuck joint slow your lymph?

26:17 Dr. Motley's method: meridians, muscles, and the liver

30:17 An old basketball injury and three months of brain fog

33:10 How Liz starts with a new client

34:41 Why animals shake it off

38:04 Where your body holds stress: hips, shoulders, neck, jaw

39:48 Jaw tension, TMJ, and the Gallbladder channel

41:17 How long does it take?

42:29 Why forcing a release backfires

44:37 Why Dr. Motley tells patients a year

45:31 Signs you're storing stress

46:40 3 a.m., your lungs, and the Chinese medicine clock

47:35 What letting go feels like

49:24 Where to find Liz

50:50 Closing thoughts

52:09 Disclaimer

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Follow Liz Tenuto:

Website: https://theworkoutwitch.com/

YouTube: theworkoutwitch.com/s/youtube

Instagram: theworkoutwitch.com/s/instagram

Book:

https://theworkoutwitch.com/pages/book

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*Do you have a ton more in-depth questions for Doctor Motley? Check out his course on emotions and the body in his membership. You’ll find other courses full of his expertise and clinical wisdom, plus bring all your questions to his weekly lives! To try risk-free for 15 days click here https://www.doctormotley.com/15

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Tired, losing hair, and told your labs are “normal”? Endocrinologist Dr. Cassie Smith explains the new 2026 American Society of Hematology ferritin thresholds, why your thyroid needs iron, the pregnancy thyroid rule every woman on thyroid medication should know, the gut signs you may be ignoring, and her honest take on GLP-1 drugs. With Dr. Chris Motley.

00:00 Dr. Cassie Smith is back

01:08 Graves' disease in med school, at 130 beats a minute

02:38 "Normal" labs, and the fertility questions you sent in

03:33 Why fertility starts in the gut, and PCOS gets a new name

04:30 What birth control does to your gut bacteria

06:21 Thyroid, nutrients, and early miscarriage

07:07 Why your TSH drops when you get pregnant

08:13 On thyroid medicine? The nine-dose rule

09:07 Which probiotic? The Akkermansia gap

10:58 After a miscarriage: the labs to ask for

13:02 Thinning hair and the new ferritin guidelines

14:58 A tongue and pulse read, and a ferritin result

17:24 Gut warning signs: bloating, reflux, gas

18:38 Acne, rashes, and swollen joints

19:57 Depression and anxiety after a baby

20:39 Can you inherit a bad gut?

21:56 Glutamine, butyrate, and the scab rule

24:42 Fiber, and the free fixes nobody can sell you

26:34 Gluten, Roundup, and your thyroid

28:53 GLP-1s: an endocrinologist's honest take

30:42 Insulin as traffic cop

32:27 Why kids stop eating when they're full

33:15 Using GLP-1s right: protein, water, weights, then stop

34:32 Where to find Dr. Smith

35:11 An endocrinologist who wants to learn acupuncture

37:50 Teeth, meridians, and infertility

39:38 Closing thoughts

41:28 Disclaimer

Sources are included in the show notes. Educational only - not medical advice.

Want more of The Ancient Health Podcast? Subscribe to the YouTube channel.

Follow Doctor Motley!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doctormotley

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@doctormotley

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Follow Dr. Cassie Smith:

https://www.instagram.com/modernendocrine_/

Buy her book Fix Your Gut, Fix Your Hormones: https://a.co/d/0gbCrVD6

*Join Doctor Motley’s newsletter for TCM insights and regular podcast updates https://www.doctormotley.com/

*Do you have a ton more in-depth questions for Doctor Motley? Check out his course on emotions and the body in his membership. You’ll find other courses full of his expertise and clinical wisdom, plus bring all your questions to his weekly lives! To try risk-free for 15 days click here https://www.doctormotley.com/15

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The viral fungus numbers are real: about 7,300 deaths and 130,000 hospitalizations a year, per the CDC. But those figures count fungal infections, not the mold behind your shower. Dr. Chris Motley explains what damp buildings probably do to health (asthma, wheeze, cough, respiratory infections), why a urine mycotoxin test can't tell you if your home is making you sick, how Chinese Medicine describes "dampness," and the step that matters most: find the water.

Sources below. Educational only, not medical advice.

Supplements Dr. Motley recommends:

SPLEEN

Spleeno-Lyph by Nutri-West

Spleen PMG by Standard Process: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/doctormotley/signup

Albizia Supreme by Supreme Nutrition: https://shop.supremenutritionproducts.com/?aff=28

KIDNEY

Uva Ursi by Supreme Nutrition: https://shop.supremenutritionproducts.com/?aff=28

Body Guard by Supreme Nutrition: https://shop.supremenutritionproducts.com/?aff=28

Cranberry

UT Vibrance

Mold Testing

ImmunoLytics: https://immunolytics.com/?wpam_id=474

Want more of The Ancient Health Podcast? Subscribe to the YouTube channel.

Follow Doctor Motley!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doctormotley

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@doctormotley

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doctormotley/

Website: https://doctormotley.com

*Join Doctor Motley’s newsletter for TCM insights and regular podcast updates https://www.doctormotley.com/

*Do you have a ton more in-depth questions for Doctor Motley? Check out his course on emotions and the body in his membership. You’ll find other courses full of his expertise and clinical wisdom, plus bring all your questions to his weekly lives! To try risk-free for 15 days click here https://www.doctormotley.com/15
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Dr. Eboni Cornish, MD, of Amen Clinics and ILADS, returns for a third conversation, live in Nashville. She and Dr. Chris Motley talk about Lyme and other tick-borne infections in the brain: anxiety and depression, kids labeled ADHD, puberty flares, mold and memory, and why she calms the brain before treating anything. Plus her best question: when did your symptoms start, and where were you? Sources in the show notes. Educational only, not medical advice.

00:00 Depression, anxiety, and a Lyme test

00:39 Welcome: Dr. Eboni Cornish, live in Nashville

02:20 From bored family doctor to Lyme practice

04:13 How Lyme gets into the brain

06:12 What a Lyme brain looks like on a SPECT scan

08:02 The limbic loop: calm the brain

10:21 Is neurology catching up?

12:30 Floaters, light sensitivity, and trouble reading

14:05 Tinnitus and sound sensitivity

15:08 Can kids have Lyme? Pregnancy and newborns

17:48 Why puberty can trigger a flare

20:12 ADHD, PANS, and a gentler approach for kids

23:32 Food, kids, and the one-food trade

25:56 Sudden anger in children

27:23 Joint pain and injuries that won't heal

28:57 Teeth, gums, and cavitations

31:09 Babesia and your red blood cells

32:34 MTHFR, explained

35:11 Swollen lymph nodes and lymphatic drainage

36:47 Memory loss, mold, and dementia risk

39:42 Where were you when your symptoms started?

41:31 Gratitude and the brain

43:59 How your gut shapes your mood

46:09 Her morning routine

48:19 Saunas, baths, and cold water

50:38 Belly breathing for kids

51:11 Her fall speaking tour

54:14 Where to find Dr. Cornish

55:34 Wrap-up

57:01 Disclaimer

Key Takeaways:

Tick-borne illness can show up in the brain. Lyme can reach the nervous system. If you have neurological symptoms and you are not getting better, Dr. Cornish says to put tick-borne disease on the list (5:16).

Calm the brain before you push treatment. Her patients who react to everything are often stuck in fight or flight, a "limbic loop" (9:37). She starts by calming the nervous system.

Kids get labeled. Many of her pediatric patients arrive diagnosed with ADHD or "being bad" (20:50). A sudden change in a child, over days rather than months, is worth asking your pediatrician about by name: PANS.

Trade one food, not the whole diet. She asks a reluctant kid for one food that "doesn't love your brain," and trades a supplement off the list in return (25:04). Then she asks AI for realistic swaps a family will actually eat.

Babesia lives in red blood cells. If you have tested positive, don't donate blood. Federal blood-safety rules agree.

Want more of The Ancient Health Podcast? Subscribe to the YouTube channel.

Follow Doctor Motley!

Instagram

TikTok

Facebook

Website

Follow Dr. Eboni Cornish

https://www.instagram.com/dr.ebonicornish/

https://www.drebonicornish.com/

For more on her work:

https://www.amenclinics.com/

https://www.ilads.org/

*Join Doctor Motley’s newsletter for TCM insights and regular podcast updates https://www.doctormotley.com/

*Do you have a ton more in-depth questions for Doctor Motley? Check out his course on emotions and the body in his membership. You’ll find other courses full of his expertise and clinical wisdom, plus bring all your questions to his weekly lives! To try risk-free for 15 days click here https://www.doctormotley.com/15
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At 34, Dr. Stephen Hussey had a zero calcium score and a heart attack six months later. Dr. Chris Motley talks with him about what his tests missed, infrared light, structured water, and his case that the heart is more than a pump. Sources in the show notes. Remember: chest pain means call 911. Educational only, not medical advice.

00:00 Zero calcium score, heart attack at 34

00:24 Welcome to the Ancient Health Podcast

00:33 Meet Dr. Stephen Hussey 01:38 Hives, asthma, and type 1 diabetes at nine

03:04 Fit, healthy, perfect labs, then a heart attack

04:42 Alone in the hospital with 11 prescriptions

06:34 A blocked leg artery after the heart cath

08:55 Why he bought an infrared sauna

11:18 Half of sunlight is infrared, and we live indoors

14:09 Structured water, explained and disputed

18:42 What makes blood clot: Virchow's three conditions

22:43 Stop the heart and the blood keeps moving?

25:43 Red light panels, and how much is too much

30:08 Is the heart really a pump?

30:39 A quick word on LDL

31:51 Three roles of the heart, starting with the pump question

35:14 A heart that twists

37:40 Sponsor: Timeline

39:05 Role two: the heart as a brake

41:08 Role three: the heart as a sensor

46:06 Heart rate variability and the ability to adapt

48:54 Chinese medicine: the heart governs the blood

50:15 Grounding: how much is enough

53:36 Three books

55:48 Why he stopped practicing to teach full time

57:34 Wrap-up 58:18 Disclaimer

Key Takeaways

A zero calcium score is good news, not a guarantee. It measures calcified plaque only. Dr. Hussey says so himself (3:40): it does not see soft plaque, and it cannot see a clot that forms on a clean artery wall.

Heart attacks are not all plumbing. Stress cardiomyopathy and coronary artery spasm are real, recognized events that do not start with a blocked artery.

Get outside. About half of sunlight is infrared, and Americans spend about 93 percent of their time indoors or in vehicles (NHAPS, 2001).

Light has a dose. Red and infrared light help up to a point, then stop helping. Dr. Hussey calls it a "bell curve" (26:52), and the research agrees.

The heart twists as it contracts, and heart rate variability matters. Both are well measured. Low heart rate variability tracks with heart failure and depression.

Chinese medicine says the heart governs the blood and houses the spirit. Dr. Motley connects that classical idea to Dr. Hussey's argument that the heart is more than a mechanical pump (48:54 to 50:11).

Remember: Don't stop or change heart medications without your cardiologist.

Chest pain, pressure, or shortness of breath: call 911, whatever your last scan said.

Want more of The Ancient Health Podcast? Subscribe to the YouTube Channel.

Follow Doctor Motley!

Instagram

TikTok

Facebook

Website

Follow Dr. Stephen Hussey

https://resourceyourhealth.com/

https://www.instagram.com/drstephenhussey/

Buy the book Understanding the Heart: https://a.co/d/0ib1tvZH

*Take Timeline’s Longevity Quiz and you’ll get a FREE sample of Mitopure gummies (if you’re not on the Mitopure train yet, this is the perfect opportunity to try them out! https://tinyurl.com/ujbj4r57

*Join Doctor Motley’s newsletter for TCM insights and regular podcast updates https://www.doctormotley.com/

*Do you have a ton more in-depth questions for Doctor Motley? Check out his course on emotions and the body in his membership. You’ll find other courses full of his expertise and clinical wisdom, plus bring all your questions to his weekly lives! To try risk-free for 15 days click here https://www.doctormotley.com/15
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