Germ theory has shaped every major public health achievement of the last century—from clean water systems to infection control—but it’s also become one of the most misunderstood and debated topics in today’s health landscape. In this episode of Rooted & Wild, we clarify what germ theory actually means, why it remains foundational to modern medicine and public health, and how to engage constructively with people who doubt or distort it. We explore how microbes interact with human behavior, environment, and community systems—offering listeners a grounded, scientific, and accessible framework for understanding disease in the modern world.

About Jay K. Varma, MD

Jay K. Varma, MD is a physician, epidemiologist, and public health expert who has spent more than two decades working to prevent and control infectious diseases around the world. From combating Ebola in Africa to controlling HIV in Asia and the U.S., his career has focused on understanding how invisible forces—microbes, systems, and human behavior—shape our health and communities. Through his writing and health practice, he works to help people see how science and everyday life intersect: how our bodies, environments, and choices are constantly in conversation with one another and how the communities we create, the way we interact with animals and the environment, and the systems we build together determine our collective well-being.

Learn more about Dr. Jay K. Varma:

https://drjayvarma.com

https://www.youtube.com/@thermometerHQ

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fevered-mind

https://www.healthbeat.org/authors/dr-jay-k-varma/

Rooted & Wild provides general information for educational and informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guest speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of David Allen Tracy. The content shared on this podcast is not intended to replace individualized medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat any health condition. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding any medical or mental health concerns.

What if the moments that feel like collapse are actually doorways into your deepest clarity? In this episode, I’m joined by Laurie Clemens, a Certified Life & Leadership Coach (ICF), Certified Meditation Instructor, Professional Clinical Herbalist (RH), Healer, Mother, Channeler, Super Creative, and unapologetic Corporate Renegade.

Laurie’s work is rooted in helping people spin “straw into gold” when life falls apart. She guides others to use everyday realities — even the messy, overwhelming, or painful ones — as catalysts for transformation, growth, renewal, and joy.

After a decades-long career leading marketing and branding for Fortune 500+ companies, Laurie shifted her entire life. She traded corporate life for a deeper calling: helping humans reconnect to the innate wisdom of their own hearts. Through her coaching and spiritual guidance, she provides empowering tools, grounded practices, and intuitive insight to help people thrive more easily in a complicated world.

Laurie works with individuals who want to move beyond stress, negativity, anxiety, and confusion, and instead step into inspired ways forward — creating positive habits, aligned success strategies, meaningful goals, action, and agency. She sees every situation as workable, and her presence invites insight, steadiness, and possibility.

This episode explores how to turn chaos into clarity, how to trust the alchemy within your own experiences, and how transformation becomes inevitable when you choose to meet life with openness and courage.

Connect with Laurie:

www.soulessent.com

https://linktr.ee/laurieclemans

Rooted & Wild provides general information for educational and informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guest speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of David Allen Tracy. The content shared on this podcast is not intended to replace individualized medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat any health condition. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding any medical or mental health concerns.

In this session, you’re invited to journey beyond the surface of male identity into the realms of initiation, purpose and belonging. We’ll investigate how men who haven’t been initiated—who haven’t been guided through ritual, rite of passage or meaningful community—can leave significant voids not only within their own lives, but within families, workplaces and societies at large. We’ll ask questions like: What happens when a man never meets his deeper calling? How does that then shape the culture around him? And how might we — individually and collectively — facilitate a shift toward conscious masculine leadership and healthy contribution?

This talk is both diagnosis and invitation: we’ll identify the signs and consequences of uninitiated masculinity, and then step through the possibilities of what emerges when men embrace initiation, ritual, purpose and alignment with something larger than themselves. Our aim: to help ignite a new architecture of mature, embodied masculine presence that supports society, rather than erodes it.

About Mikaal Bates

Mikaal has dedicated his life to the conscious evolution of men, supporting them in stepping into the fullness of their potential and reclaiming healthy masculine presence.

His mission is two-fold:

• To ignite, celebrate and accelerate the conscious evolution of men and healthy masculinity across our planet.
  
  
• To help heal the divide between men and women by re-animating the lost arts of “Sacred Union” and the technology of tribe.
  
  

Mikaal draws from diverse embodied leadership traditions: ritual theatre, rites of passage, dialogic coaching methodologies and initiation frameworks.

Beyond his professional work, he lives out his message: lifting heavy objects, swimming with sharks, dancing, playing piano, talking to animals and curating ecstatic experiences in service to “Something Greater.”

In his coaching and facilitation practice, Mikaal serves men (and groups of men) through 1-on-1 services, group programs (such as THE KING’S CODE and KINGDOM), men’s circles and retreats.

Why You’ll Want to Listen:
Because if we’re honest, the absence of initiation in many men today shows up in systemic ways — in leadership vacuums, ungrounded drive, emotional detachment, relational breakdown, and a culture of disconnection. Mikaal helps us see the deeper architecture behind these patterns, and more importantly, offers a path forward: one marked by initiation, service, alignment and maturity.

What You’ll Gain:

• A clear understanding of what it means to be uninitiated and how that condition impacts individuals, families and systems.
• Insight into the key milestones of initiation — how a man is called, how he moves into purpose, how he operates within tribe and service.
• Practical frameworks to support men (and their loved ones) in shifting from uninitiated to initiated—so that the whole of society benefits.

Learn More: https://www.mikaalbates.com/

Rooted & Wild provides general information for educational and informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guest speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of David Allen Tracy. The content shared on this podcast is not intended to replace individualized medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat any health condition. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding any medical or mental health concerns.

Many women in midlife find their energy, drive and sense of connection shifting in ways they weren’t expecting. On this episode of Rooted & Wild, I sit down with Eva Angeloff — the founder of Women’s Lib — to unpack what’s really happening, both physically and emotionally, when our vitality and desire begin to fade.

Eva conceived of Women’s Lib in the summer of 2022 when she recognized that her low energy was clashing with her daily life demands. What she initially thought might just be “how it is” turned out to reflect a much broader reality: countless women were quietly wrestling with decreased energy, diminished desire, and feeling disconnected from their bodies, minds and partners.

Women’s Lib exists to support women in reconnecting with their bodies, minds and partners.

Women's Lib makes science-first, plant-based supplements designed to enhance vitality, energy and desire. Each ingredient serves a clear purpose and is delivered with advanced nano-technology for superior bioavailability.

In our conversation we explore:

• What’s behind the drop in energy and desire — when it’s more than “just aging” and how societal stigma and lack of education contribute.
• How limitations in emotional health and physical vitality can ripple into intimacy, confidence, relationships and overall wellbeing.
• The holistic approach that Women’s Lib has taken: embracing strength, authenticity and the connection between body, mind and partner.
• What it looks like to reclaim your vitality in midlife: feeling more like yourself again, connecting more deeply (with yourself and with others), and living unapologetically.

Whether you’re noticing a shift in your libido, wondering where your spark went, or simply craving more connection — this episode meets you exactly where you are.

Learn More: https://womens-lib.com/

Rooted & Wild provides general information for educational and informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guest speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of David Allen Tracy. The content shared on this podcast is not intended to replace individualized medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat any health condition. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding any medical or mental health concerns.

In this episode of Rooted & Wild, I sit down with Melissa Crawford, MD to explore why high-functioning people still feel stuck. We look beneath symptoms to the real drivers—habit loops, nervous-system overload, hidden inflammation, and old narratives that keep replaying. Dr. Crawford shares simple, evidence-informed ways to interrupt the cycle, regulate your body, and choose a different path forward today.

Melissa Crawford, MD is a former Family Doctor turned Wellness Mentor and Inner Work Guide. Melissa left the medical system and her license behind to pursue her Soul's calling to live more in alignment with her energy, beliefs and values. Melissa and her son were both vaccine-injured in 2013, and this is what redirected her path to study the very modalities that turned their health and lives around, so that she could help others in the same way!

Melissa offers energy work (Thetahealing), medical intuition, trauma healing (to integrate parts/inner child, clear limiting beliefs and stuck emotions), and frequency-infused waters from Purely Resonance. Her goal is to mentor and support her clients in healing the root causes of their concerns in life (health, love, money, career, etc). She is passionate about helping her clients get unstuck and become the conscious creators of their lives - a life they truly love to live!

Website: www.anotherwaytoheal.ca

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissa.crawford.331942

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

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-crawford-~-another-way-to-heal-a69a16217

Rooted & Wild provides general information for educational and informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guest speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of David Allen Tracy. The content shared on this podcast is not intended to replace individualized medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat any health condition. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding any medical or mental health concerns.

In this episode of Rooted & Wild, host David Allen Tracy sits down with Garet Free — Executive Transformation Coach, bestselling author, and psilocybin guide — to explore the growing field of psychedelic-assisted therapy and its role in emotional healing, trauma integration, and leadership transformation.

A former paramedic and healthcare technology executive, Garet bridges science and soul through his company, The Resilience Edit, where he supports high-performing leaders, entrepreneurs, and creatives in releasing burnout, dissolving imposter syndrome, and reconnecting to purpose. Through neuroscience, somatic awareness, and guided psilocybin experiences, his work helps people access deeper resilience, self-compassion, and conscious leadership.

Together, David and Garet unpack:

• The science of psilocybin and how it interacts with brain networks to promote neuroplasticity and emotional regulation
• The therapeutic potential of psychedelics for anxiety, depression, and trauma
• How somatic integration helps anchor expanded states into daily life
• The importance of safe set, setting, and facilitation in psychedelic journeys
• What it means to bridge ancient wisdom, modern neuroscience, and conscious leadership

Garet’s bestselling book, The Imposter Within, explores how true leadership begins with inner alignment, while his Rising to Clarity coaching experience teaches people how to integrate insight into sustainable change — merging psychedelic insight with embodied practice.

If you’ve ever wondered how psilocybin-assisted therapy can help you move through self-doubt, reclaim your voice, or transform burnout into clarity, this episode offers a grounded, compassionate roadmap.

Learn more about Garet’s work at www.garetfree.com

Rooted & Wild provides general information for educational and informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guest speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of David Allen Tracy. The content shared on this podcast is not intended to replace individualized medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat any health condition. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding any medical or mental health concerns.

Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing — that is the power of Unlimited Breath. Guided by a trained Unlimited Breath Practitioner, this practice has the ability to heal unresolved traumas, release incomplete experiences, and dissolve limiting beliefs that have been stored in the body over a lifetime. Through the breath, we reconnect to our most authentic, whole, and vibrant self.

In this episode of Rooted & Wild, Jodi Isolini, MT, shares how oxygen itself becomes medicine — a living force that can transform the body, calm the mind, and restore the spirit. We explore how conscious breathing activates the body’s natural intelligence to heal and opens a deeper awareness of self.

About the Guest:
Jodi Isolini is a certified Unlimited Breath Practitioner, Integrated Energy Therapy Master, and IIN Health and Nutrition Coach who has practiced in central Iowa for more than ten years. She also holds a degree in Microbiology and has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare field. Blending science with soul, Jodi helps clients integrate body, mind, and spirit through breathwork, energy healing, and holistic wellness.

Rooted & Wild provides general information for educational and informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guest speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of David Allen Tracy. The content shared on this podcast is not intended to replace individualized medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat any health condition. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding any medical or mental health concerns.

Dissociation is one of the mind’s most remarkable and misunderstood survival mechanisms. It’s the way our consciousness steps aside when reality becomes too overwhelming to bear—a quiet form of protection that can help us endure trauma, yet often leaves us feeling fragmented or far from ourselves. In “Surviving by Forgetting,”we explore this delicate territory: how forgetting can be both a wound and a lifeline.

Alicja Matusiak is a psychiatric nurse practitioner and licensed independent social worker whose path toward mental health began as a teenager in Poland, when her father’s battle with severe depression opened her eyes to the complexities of the human mind. Witnessing his suffering—and his struggle to find self-worth through it—sparked her lifelong commitment to understanding how people survive, heal, and sometimes forget in order to keep going.

Today, Alicja runs Holistic Wellness Solutions and hosts Naked Truth: A Therapy Podcast, where she shares unfiltered conversations about mental health, spirituality, and the lived experience of being a healer. Her work bridges traditional psychiatry with alternative modalities such as reiki, psilocybin, chiropractic care, and energy medicine, exploring how diverse approaches can restore wholeness.

In “Surviving by Forgetting,” Alicja brings both her professional insight and personal vulnerability to the discussion—examining how the mind protects itself through forgetting, and what it means to gently remember when the time is right.

Watch David's Interview on Alicja's Podcast: https://youtu.be/j3GnLLvXTZg?si=Xe0WvDNtbXD1LYWC

Check out Alicja's website: https://www.nakedtruthatherapypodcast.com/link-in-bio

Rooted & Wild provides general information for educational and informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guest speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of David Allen Tracy. The content shared on this podcast is not intended to replace individualized medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat any health condition. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding any medical or mental health concerns.