Latest / The Lauren Castle Show / What Does Scope of Practice Look Like for Functional Medicine Pharmacists?

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What Does Scope of Practice Look Like for Functional Medicine Pharmacists? · The Lauren Castle Show

• speaker-0: I do think like we are in the middle of this like great awakening and more and more people are waking up to the intricate connection that exists and the power of our thoughts and all those things and how it all plays together. It's a beautiful symphony and that's great. And and so I think that also will draw people more towards these integrative approaches. speaker-1: Welcome to the Loren Castle Show, a podcast for people on a path to well-being, body, mind, heart, and soul. Join us for conversations at the intersection of pharmacy, functional medicine, and psychedelics. My hope is that each episode will leave you feeling inspired to step into your power, speak your truth, and live your most authentic life. Let's begin. Welcome back to another episode of the Loring Castle Show. I am excited to bring you another guest interview today with Dr. Lara May. She is an advanced practice clinical pharmacist specializing in functional medicine. She is also a master-attuned intuitive healer and teacher. And she has been working in the energy medicine and Reiki space since 2017 when she started studying and practicing it. After working in emergency rooms and adult care for over a decade. She's really transitioned into integrative health through struggles with her own health. But ultimately, her passion and mission is empowering patients to take an active role in their health so they can create health on their own terms. And of course, we're gonna talk about functional medicine today as well and how all of these different fields and practices can coexist. So welcome, Lara. speaker-0: Thank you. I'm excited to be here. speaker-1: So Lara and I connected mostly back in 2024, whenever I was recruiting state leaders to come be part of our functional medicine pharmacist boot camp. So I had been teaching our FMPHA boot camp by myself for a couple of years. And as things started to grow and we started helping pharmacists get further into building their practices. I realized that there were going to be questions that I could not answer on a state to state basis. And so rather than just try and do it all myself, I got this idea to bring in state leaders and really start to create the community that I wish existed, hence the map and all of the amazing leaders that we have. And Lara's name came across the application list for California. And I had a fangirl moment because I had seen her content on the internet through Instagram and LinkedIn and places. ⁓ she's a podcast host herself. And I was just so like so shocked and honored that someone like her would be applying to be part of this organization that I was building. And I think I called you up and I was like, ⁓ I have bigger plans for you. I'd really love for you to support at a higher level because I was kind of breaking it into. regions. ⁓ so we had our West Coast region. ⁓ and out of all the different pharmacists that applied to to be part of this state leader program, I was like, for West Coast, like I would love to have you help support not just our pharmacists that are going through the boot camp, but all of the leaders that we have ⁓ on that side as well. Since we do try to structure things in our programs with different call times and such, ⁓ just to make it more accessible since we all work different hours or or in different time zones. ⁓ so that was a little bit of like our background and and how we met. ⁓ but I'm also curious for you, like how did you even find out about FMPHA or ⁓ kind of get get more involved in that space? speaker-0: ⁓ I socials, I think essentially it was what brought us both together. Cause I had also seen and been following your work and really admiring the stance and sort of that pioneering ⁓ spirit and leadership that you just stepped into, which I thought was awesome and brave. yeah, very brave. And so yeah, when you contacted me or I well, I saw it, I was like, well, maybe I could do this one little thing. But then you asked me to be the Western states leader. I was like, ⁓ well, ⁓ sure. ⁓ because I am licensed in both California and Nevada. ⁓ and I have and am kind of always like considering other Western state licenses too. ⁓ as we sometimes ponder leaving California for for other for other states. ⁓ but anyway, so yeah, yeah, just yeah, the same kind of speaker-1: Yeah, I I just think it's amazing like how small the world of pharmacy really is. And like yet we're so disconnected. And that was kind of what I realized when I was building FMPHA is I was meeting all of these different individuals, you know, all over the country, whether it was at pharmacy conferences or even just, you know, online or state level meetings and things. And like there was no centralized network for us to all like Communicate and share resources and support each other. And I just, yeah, I was like, okay, I guess we're gonna build this thing. and never had any expectations of exactly where it was going to go. But we actually, you and I just got to meet in person for the first time a few months ago. And it really made everything feel so full circle to like. Come to California. And I literally called you like a week or two before this event. And I was like, ⁓ how far away from El Dorado County are you? And you were like not far. Come on over, you can stay. We'll go adventuring. And like the timing, of course, I always say the timing is always divine. And it was. ⁓ it worked out with work schedules and everything. And like, Yeah, it it was a little bit of a pilgrimage for me. ⁓ because my parents were actually living in Folsom whenever I was born in California. So fun fact, I feel like I am truly a California girl at heart. ⁓ and in my blood and my bones, like I am not meant to be a Midwesterner. but it was just so cool to get to go. Go on this trip and get to explore, you know, that whole area around Lake Tahoe and everything was just so beautiful. And none of it would have been possible had it not been for F and PHA and this community and like the friendships, like really and truly, you know. I think sometimes in business we just have these like lines that we kind of set, and everything is like, ⁓ well, this is work related and just business. you know, and sure we're cordial with people or we're friendly with people, but like really and truly I can say that F and PHA, like everyone in this organization is someone I consider a friend. Like and especially in the whole online space, I think there's a lot of like differentiation between like, ⁓ these are your clients or, you know, whatever that looks like. And for me, I'm like, no, these are real human beings that I And part of their lives and you are part of my life. And now whenever we get to take things off the internet and actually in person and get to travel and be together and like hang out, like, isn't that what this is all about? It is to me. Yeah. ⁓ speaker-0: Yeah, real connection for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, even yeah, like you said, like taking it above and beyond just the business level or even like that networking level. You know, like as pharmacists, I think, especially even as students, we're kind of taught like networking is key. And like you go to these state and national conferences and organizations to meet other pharmacists and, you know, like whether it's talking about legislative initiatives or whatever. speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ speaker-0: ⁓ but then that even that step above that is yeah, that true personal connection. ⁓ 'cause it just I don't know, it brings that extra level of meaning, I think, which is super important, especially these days. speaker-1: Definitely. Yeah, there was a post on LinkedIn that ⁓ a colleague of mine had made and it was talking about kind of the networking that happens in between conferences, you know, the sessions, but maybe it's you're in line to get coffee or you're checking in and out to the hotel room, right? The moments that you're like off work, you know. And I commented, I was like, ⁓ anyone who knows me knows that my saying when it comes to attending conferences is that my best meetings happen in the pool. Like absolutely if you want to like have a one-on-one with me and catch up and get to meet and network, it's gonna happen like by the pool, in the pool, in the hot tub. Like that to me is like there is no better place to just completely relax and like Just be real, you know. I think at least for me it's easy to have my suit and tie and, you know, all that kind of stuff on and be all dressed up, but like the pool is like the great equalizer. It's like, ⁓ nope, we're all just humans. Yep. Even yeah. Even me. I'm just a human wanting to hang out. ⁓ so I digress. you know, I wanted to kind of take things back. To the beginning. ⁓ you know, I love to ask where everyone got their start in pharmacy because I do think that it really shapes the conversation of how you got into functional medicine. So ⁓ that's another thing that I just really admire is, you know, you're an advanced practice pharmacist and you have all of this highly clinical background, which kudos to you. That was like never on my radar to even set foot in a hospital if I had to. ⁓ So how did you get into this field? How did you get into pharmacy? and let's see where that journey takes us. speaker-0: ⁓ wow, we're gonna go with a Wayback Machine because I actually started my pharmacy career as a technician. And first it was retail, but then I ⁓ at the time was living in central Florida, and so I became a pharmacy tech for a hospital outside of Orlando and made really good relationships with the pharmacist that I work for and was lucky enough as a technician, even To step into some leadership positions, help write some policies and procedures at that time for the IV room that didn't exist, for different, you know, narcotic accountability. So different roles that ⁓ luckily my mentors saw potential in me and fostered that. And then, you know, they asked, Well, are you thinking about going to pharmacy school? Because at this time in my life, I already had a bachelor's. So I was out in the world f trying to find my way. I had graduated with a BA in bio with a focus on botany, actually, not human science at all. And ⁓ and then from there I didn't really find anything that I jived with. I worked in restaurants and ⁓ that was paying the bills, but my parents weren't stoked that I wasn't using my degree. And so the agreement was that okay, let's try this pharmacy tech thing. And if you like it, then you'll go to grad school. And so we sort of agreed. And so eventually, yes, ended up in pharmacy school in the southwestern corner of Virginia, which was just three hours away from where I grew up in East Tennessee. So lots of southeastern region living and ⁓ the program that chose and was accepted to was a three year accelerated program that really focused on rural medicine. That area of the country, Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, East Tennessee, ⁓ very rural, very remote, hard to find medical resources for a lot of people. And so I love that program because they really trained us to be. Yes, pharmacists, but also that mid-level practitioner that they we talked very early on about collaborative care practice agreements, ⁓ learning patient assessments, learning all about point of care systems, anything and everything that you could use to either take out into the field or create a small local clinic that you could help people more. So we already knew at that point that pharmacists were the most available, but at the time and probably still at today means that they're available at the counter in that retail level to have the conversation to get information to be a resource. That's true. But we still have a crisis of access in this country. And I would say it might even be getting worse because of how the funding has shifted. ⁓ I just read an article earlier in the week about how like 16 rural hospitals in California are on the verge of closing. Because of resource and funding shifts. That's huge because California, again, is a big, huge state. We have a lot of rural area. So we need that rural medicine resource. So anyway, ⁓ so I ended up there, came out west for residency. Within my residency is where I fell in love with emergency medicine and critical care. And that's sort of where my career has taken me since then. And then in terms of functional medicine, I came to functional medicine as being a patient. I was diagnosed with IBS at 23 and never really got any help or resources. My I had the my GI doc at the time told me, ⁓ aloe vera juice can help. Maybe you should try that. Like, ⁓ okay. ⁓ but then once I got into my career, into my 30s, you know, all that. Chronic inflammation was finally catching up with me and it was starting to interfere with life and work. And I had also had chronic migraine since I was a teenager. And that became more cyclical, more severe. And I just got to the point to where I was actually having a really hard time functioning, even when I was at work, like showing up and being able to function at work. And so I'm like, okay, this, this is not okay. There's something has to give. And while I had great Western medicine practitioners, we'd sort of met our limit as to what they could offer me. And everything they had offered really wasn't helping. It was like symptomatic band-aid treatment, but nothing to like stop it seemed like that inflammatory cycle. So I found functional medicine and that along with and what that what that meant for me at the time because that can also be like mean a lot of different things for different people. And so for me at that time, that was cleaning up my diet, really supporting my detox pathways and learning what that meant and going through a again, like I would say like seasonal ⁓ detoxes, not constant, but like having at least a week or two period every quarter where I really focused on eliminating toxins from my life, my body. all the all that. ⁓ and then, you know, a good supplement protocol. And that changed depending on the testing that I had done at the time. Cause some of it, you know, sometimes I needed hormone support. Other times I needed adrenal support. Other times I needed, you know, that gut microbiome support. So it really just depended on like where I was in my phase of healing. But eventually after because I was working with a chiropractor that was doing the testing and the functional medicine and also helping with my hormone balance. Because unfortunately, even in my thirties, I never really had what I would consider like a healthy hormone balance at all. Like I was nothing was ever quote unquote normal for me. But physicians were just like, ⁓ this is just it is what it is. You know, here, take some birth control and and deal with it. So ⁓ So anyway, I I I saw what she was doing and I did some research. I'm like, huh, like a pharmacist could definitely do this. And we already have an intimate understanding of human physiology, of medicines, medications, ⁓ a lot of supplements because we are, we are, I would say superficially trained with supplements, you know, ⁓ not a deep dive, but enough. And so I I started doing some research and figuring out. And so my first step was actually a health coach certification because I again, through my own experience, I definitely knew that just changing your diet and lifestyle and could be so powerful. And that really I was that was also like the beginning of my spiritual journey and also learning about thought work and that piece of the coaching side of things. And how powerful our mind is. And so around the same time in parallel, I was seeking out energy medicine practices to help myself. And so Reiki was one of the ones that I found to be the most accessible, but also because a lot of my issue was the go, go, go and the push, push, push, which is, you know, a very Western American woman. No, no, not at all. And so again, and like by being a client and a receiver, there was something that I was like, okay, I am feeling the benefit of this. This is making a difference in my life. This is helping support me along with all these other things. And so I can also help other people. speaker-1: Definitely. Nobody can relate to that on this show. speaker-0: And so that was always my motivation. Like once I saw something that worked for me, how many other people could benefit from something like this or at least being exposed to it so that they can choose for themselves what they want to try or be exposed to or, you know, and I and I think that was the other thing along my journey was always thinking about that autonomy. And having that choice and making the choice instead of just being told by a practitioner, you do this. ⁓ luckily I never had any doctors that were like the my way or the highway type of people. But, you know, through COVID, a lot of things shifted. And I would say, like, so I was health coaching and then and working on my functional medicine certificate. ⁓ through FMU, Functional Medicine University. And I completed it right around 2020, 2019, 2020. And so around that time too is where we saw a lot of things shift across the board with the pandemic, but really within the medical field. There was where there used to be this culture of autonomy for the physician or practitioner to try whatever their they felt their patient needed, there was something shifted and that authority dynamic shifted. And a lot of physicians were being scrutinized andor just told, you could do this, but you can't do this. Or no, you can't even try this. And even in the hospital, I had several, several really hard conversations with physicians that I really enjoyed working with. That I had to say no to because that was the hospital policy. Or that was, you know, like the state of California's put out these guidelines. And as a hospital, we have to follow this. And now that you're a physician or pharmacist within the system, now you have to follow it too. And so it really narrowed the treatment options for a myriad of things. But I would say, you know, COVID was sort of the the leader for that. culture change. And I didn't like it. You know, ⁓ I don't, I've never, you get my parents will attest to this. I have never ⁓ liked being told because I said so or it's my way or the highway. Like that just doesn't jive with me. I am the type of person that is always asking why. But why? Like why does it work this way? Why do we have to do it this way? If there's a better way, then let's try the new and better way, even if it doesn't work like let's let's always be open to change and shifting if we need to for the best possible outcome. And so also too like I just kept seeing the patients that were coming in that were not leaving the hospital during that time, they were coming in with conditions that were completely preventable and reversible. Maybe when they got to us, they were past the point of reversing. But along the way, if they had been given the right resources, maybe the right educational tools, they could have chosen to reverse their their chronic illness and they would have never shown up in my ICU to not leave it. And so that too, I thought, well, geez, like maybe they just don't know. Maybe there's maybe we're not doing a good enough job of educating. And so it was around that time too that I decided to start my podcast. And that's why like More people need to know that diabetes is type two diabetes is a hundred percent reversible, especially at those early stages. At the later stages, especially once you've done, you know, the eye, kidney, you know, extremity damage, nerve damage, probably not. You can still help yourself, but probably not 100% reversible. But these early stages, totally reversible and not a lifelong sentence of medication. So there was that. So that's I mean, stop me at any time. But so those are really like sort of like the hallmarks that stood out and like sort of drove me to where I am today. speaker-1: Yeah. It's an incredible journey. And again, I feel like so many pharmacists can relate to different points and periods of that, right? very specifically having your own firsthand health experience. You know, I find that is so common, and that was certainly the case for me. And my husband also worked with a chiropractor who was doing functional medicine for him. And then I I'm actually in the process of writing about my own. Functional medicine health journey, also dealing with hormones, having to go off of birth control and just realizing that I, you know, have been taking this for 15 years now. And what is it doing for me? What is it doing to me that I am not even aware of? And how is it actually, like you said, causing me to just completely override my female physiology as a woman and how we are meant to live and work and how our bodies are meant to function? And it was terrifying. Like it was so scary to think like, okay, I'm I'm gonna go off of this medicine and try and figure out how to live my life, you know, and and it absolutely took a a detox diet, right? Like cleaning out all of that excess, you know, in exogenous hormone and then actually reprogramming my HPA access to be able to even produce its own hormones. And I think there's so many people who, like you, struggle with gut issues that there's so much more we could be doing for people. And I feel like I meet someone almost every week that either has IBS or IBD or Crohn's or something. And they're just like, ⁓ well, yeah, like I'm on these medications for it. And like they have no idea the power of food. and how transformative it can be for your health. But it can be hard. It can be hard to go against, you know, the grain, so to speak, of well, this is the standard American diet and this is just the way we eat. And well, if I change my diet, then everyone in my household has to change theirs. And so the health coaching piece I think is is so important. And this is something that we We spent a lot of time on in the boot camp actually, in really like carving out what are the differences in scope of practice for health coaches, for pharmacists, for chiropractors, for doctors, right? Like we all have different lanes that we can practice in. And yes, sometimes there are things that, you know, health coaches can do that pharmacists can also do, that a nutritionist could also do, right? We can all talk about. How to change your diet and support, you know, a particular disease state, but the depth that we're gonna go to is gonna look different. The approach that we're going to use is going to look different, right? So it's like me as a pharmacist, yeah, if I'm talking to someone about counting carbs as a diabetic, which I am wearing a CGM right now for myself. I just got all of my blood work back ⁓ from a function health panel that I was doing. And I didn't like where my glucose was. I didn't like where my A1C was. I was like, we're not out of range yet, but I saw like a little tiny upward trend. And I was like, nope, we're gonna stop that right here. So back on the CGM we go to start seeing like what is it, you know, in me that is happening. And that is something that pharmacists can do all day. Like all day. We could be having these types of conversations. As could a health coach, right? Looking at data and equating it to the behavior change. And, you know, I think that's something that we also really share in common. I loved how you said that you started looking at energy medicine. And I want to get deeper into that. ⁓ because when I got started, it was like very focused on the physiology first, right? The body itself, physical health, and I went through my own mental health challenges. I think, you know, I've shared a little bit about that in some episodes, and I'll probably do even more deeper dives in the future. But there is also what I like to describe, you know, I think we say body, mind, spirit. I usually say body, mind, heart, and soul because I do think that there's a really unique sort of nuance to this where. Body's pretty straightforward, mind is pretty straightforward. ⁓ but when you really get into the emotional side of things and things like trauma and how our physical body processes that, the funny things that our mind will do around trauma or you know, emotional struggles that we've had or relational challenges that we've had. And then you add in this layer of spirituality. you know, what is a soul? Where does it live? Like what animates us in this human body that we get to live our life in? Where is that, you know, that particular essence of spirit or soul and the energy piece, you know, I just for me as a pharmacist, I vaguely remember learning about Reiki. I think they talked about it in like one of our complimentary and alternative medicine classes. And they were like, Yeah, there was some study that they did where it was like they did Reiki on some patients prior to surgery. And then they did like sham Reiki. And I was like, How do you do sham Reiki on someone? You know, before a surgery and like, was there significant differences? You know, any of those things. And like, ⁓ well, there's, you know, it's not, it's not like majorly significantly different or whatever. And so you kind of just, I just sort of set it all aside, you know, as like there's this this thing that maybe a patient will ask me about and, you know, it's not going to hurt anybody. ⁓ but is it part of my practice? Like, no, it wasn't. Until I started going through more of those mental health struggles and those traumatic you know, experiences that I was trying to process. And, you know, I've also spoke about my experience working with psychedelics. And that was sort of the gateway to understanding energy medicine. It was like for me, my regular everyday consciousness could not have an embodied experience or understanding of what energy medicine was or how it worked or what it was doing or, you know, I couldn't feel anything. ⁓ until after that. And then I, you know, I don't know if it was just like I became more sensitive to these things. ⁓ you know, I do think my yoga training also helped. You know, I've been practicing yoga for over 15 years as well. And it was just always, again, more of a a physical thing, a type of exercise. Sure, like there was some some mental health benefits to it as well, in terms of just calming down my thoughts and my mind and helping me focus and be present. ⁓ But when I did my teacher training, that also really started to show me like these are ancient principles and practices. And, you know, whether it's Reiki that's originating in, you know, Asia, or it's yoga originating in India. And these modalities that have been around for thousands of years, you know, before we did the scientific method and these These humans, these people who had these more spiritual practices, these cultural practices, there was something to that, right? Like it was a different way of living and a different way of being and a different way of understanding the body that really just kind of all got cut out whenever modern medicine and modern science came into the picture. But once I was finally able to experience it and feel the difference myself, it really changed how I looked at these things. And, you know, I just I really appreciated how there was like that understanding of these different layers of the body, that body, mind, heart, and soul, and then also the energetic body itself as sort of this this other way to look at our health and how we operate. And I just, I'm so Excited to see where all of this goes in the future because now, like the science is starting to quantify some of these things and pick up on some of these things. ⁓ and that's sort of where the field of bioenergetics, you know, comes into play. It's like this this more modern take, more scientific take on things that we've known for thousands of years, but just didn't quite have the ability to measure or, you know, explain. in technical terms. So would love to hear a little bit more, you know, how you're using Reiki and and what you find is is so beneficial for it. speaker-0: I just want to back up a little too and like give you like a little bit of background as to like I said like when it came into my field and my practice, but being raised in the South, I was raised in and around the Southern Baptist Church. So those dogmas or those opinions. have all like were in my life, I was exposed to this concept of is there a like, well according to them, yes, there is a God. To me, is there a God? Was one of the things. And who or what is it? How do I interact with it? Who is this person that they call the son of God? You know, like the whole thing. So I left that tradition. ⁓ as soon as I graduated high school and and went on to college. However, I was exposed to many different religions and philosophies throughout high school and then throughout my undergrad, I'm actually only two courses shy of a minor in philosophy. So again, I've excuse me, I've always been a questioner. Sorry. and I think that is also what brought me to this tradition. ⁓ because there's many different types of energy medicine. However, I've always also been a scientist. Like throughout all of my schooling, I've always graduated, gritated towards the scientific, the the math and the science. Areas of education. So we know the laws of thermodynamics. And I think essentially what I did was ask well, if these things apply to the natural world, then why wouldn't they also apply to humans? We are part of the natural world in terms of we are part of the animal kingdom and that taxonomy. And it's funny because like, Culturally, we don't a lot of times we separate humans outside of a lot of that. And I think that's ⁓ I think we're evolving past that, but for the longest time, I think there was that was part of the disconnect. And then depending on which religious structure you are raised in andor not, then sometimes you're taught, well, the there are these barriers that you have to work through or with to get to. The source, the G O D, whatever. And essentially what I've come up within all my studies and all my practices and experiences is that there is no separation between us and source. We are source. We are energetic beings having a physical experience on this planet in this life right now. Our soul just also because energy and matter can neither be created nor destroyed, that means that we also can neither be created nor destroyed. We are infinite. We get recycled. So even when we leave this physical container, something has to happen with that consciousness that we are, according in my opinion. So that's sort of what brought me to being open to the energy medicine piece of thinking like, okay, something physical is going on, I don't like it. It's obviously a dissonance. How can I bring it back into homeostasis? And if everything has a vibration and if everything that has an action has an equal and opposite reaction. Again, coming back to the laws of thermodynodynamics, then there must be something creating this dissonance. And what is that? So also too, like for me, the within the questioning, like always trying to get back to the root. And I think that's what really drew me to functional medicine also, is that it's a root cause approach. We look at physiology, we do all, you know, a myriad amount of testing, but essentially we're trying to figure out where's the inflammation coming from and why. And so then from there, studying with people like Joe Dispenza, really diving in, and my my life coaching teacher, Brooke Castillo, really diving into that concept of the power of the mind of your thoughts is what's creating your reality. Huge, huge, huge. I mean, because we look at all these tangible things around us and we assume, I mean, that is our reality. But if we think about if Our thoughts are creating it, then that means we have the power to change it because we also have the power to choose our thoughts. So all these pieces that again have been so impactful for me and so eye-opening and so aha and life-changing is really what I bring into my practice. So I bring in those life coaching pieces, I bring in the mind work. I also am ⁓ double yoga ⁓ teacher trained and vinyase and kundalini. And In terms of like a mind-body practice, all yoga is, but to me, kundalini yoga is one of the most powerful because of the mantra, the breath work, you know, the the movement, the actual asana too, and how it you do it all together at the same time to really then you see, you feel the change in your physical body. So again, it it brings that union of mind, body, and soul or spirit all together all at once. So and there's only one more thing I haven't talked about, which is my QH T training. Yes. And that's the most recent. So that's Dolores Cannon's approach to hypnosis. It's quantum healing hypnosis technique. And through her years and years of work and documentation and writing books, we know that speaker-1: I like, talk about it. speaker-0: Past lives are real, ⁓ and that we store past life experiences in our body. And even though we're leaving this physical vehicle and then coming back to it, imprints from those past lives are brought back into this current life and body. And that can influence your physical experience. So whether that's a health experience or, you know, or a sickness experience. Or, you know, again, you talked about trauma and where it's stored in the body. That could be generational trauma. It's not just trauma from this life. And using that deep, deep hypnotic state to be able to dive in and see, okay, like what is this pattern? What is it trying to teach me, or what do I have to learn from it? And have I done that so that I can now release it, let it go and be done and heal and move forward? Or is there still something there I need to learn? ⁓ because again, if we are thinking about the infinity of our souls, then then one begs the question, well, then why? Why do we have this soul and why are we infinite? What's the purpose there? Good question. But a lot of people think it's Especially on this planet, to experience contrast, but to also really learn and live and practice unconditional love. And what does that look like? And how does that show up? And how do we get there? And how do we do it within all the contrast and the trauma and the challenges? it's hard. It's not easy. ⁓ and it's like woo-woo is not always fun. But yeah, I would say like we are lucky to be living in this time and this space on this planet because, like you said, we are finally starting to get to the point where we can quantify the woo-woo. We can quantify the medical ph metaphysical, we can use quantum physics to start to understand these other aspects. And, you know, maybe I should just leave it there. Yeah, I think that's enough. speaker-1: I know. I mean, seriously, we could record multiple podcast episodes on each and every one of these different modalities. I've also had some experience with all of the things that you have mentioned. and yeah, they were they were so eye-opening to me. And I often also wonder about, you know, timelines and things and The work that I did with some of that was through the shamanic perspective. and really just had this like experience of realizing there's so many possibilities and paths that I could end up on, you know, in this life, whether you think of it like the butterfly effect or, you know, whatever, where it's like everything is circumstantial, right? Everything. is dependent on interdependent on each other. And at the end of the day, like I just I just come back to like what yeah, like what is my purpose here? What am I doing here? And I find there are so many people who are just living sort of on autopilot and they're not consciously thinking about that or really aware of it. It's just more based on conditioning from Those around us, how we were raised. I was also raised in a Pentecostal Christian church. ⁓ and so of course, like never got exposed to any of these things. And, you know, after I had my first psychedelic experience, I was like, I'm actually really glad I was raised the way that I was because I think it there was a reason for it. I think there was a purpose for it. I think that, you know, my soul, like probably now that I've had these experiences and I realize how. much more sensitive to things I can be, yeah, it probably would have been like mind blowing if I had had some of these experiences at an earlier age. And so again, like the timing's always divine. It's always perfect. Everything is always working out for us. And those are thoughts and beliefs that I have adopted for myself, right? You like you said, you get to choose your thoughts and I also learned about that in a very conventional mental health setting, cognitive behavioral therapy, right? These are like foundations of mental health that we understand how our thoughts create our actions and we can change those. So that is totally where things like meditation come into play. You know, lots of scientific studies and evidence behind that now to show that yes, it helps, it works. And yet it's been around forever. And people figured it out, right? They figured out these altered states of consciousness, these different ways of being, and how it could actually help us live a more aligned life with our purpose. So I I was sort of the opposite. I really didn't know much about other cultures or religions. I was sort of like sheltered and, you know, very Midwest upbringing. And even in college, I we went to ⁓ Ohio Northern, which is a Methodist school, and you know, there was a world religion class, but I didn't even take it in person. I took like an online version to like get through my credits. And even then, it was kind of like, ⁓ man, I never even thought about the fact that like there's all of these other religions out there and and cultures and belief systems. And it has been fascinating as I've studied other forms of medicine, whether it's Ayurveda or traditional Chinese medicine, and you start to understand like all over the globe, we have these different healing systems and different ways of, you know, creating that integrative approach. And we've really lost that in America. Like we've really fragmented just so deeply that I think that's why we're having this crisis of meaning and this crisis of you know, chronic disease and like healthcare systems just being overburdened because we're trying to put everything onto like mainstream medical doctors. And this is just why functional medicine has so much practice because at the very heart is the mental, the emotional, and the spiritual. And like when you really zoom in on each of those areas, it goes so deep. And that's that's what I love. Like it's it's just Fascinating. And I even think back to when I worked, you know, at Walmart and I would have moments with a patient giving them a vaccination. When I started integrating more of like the shamanic practices and the energy work, like every prescription bottle that I would pick up to check, and I would read their name and I would say a prayer for them. And I would like hold the medicine in my hands. And I would infuse my own energy to say, like, you know, may this medicine help this person on their path and like minimize the side effects, like just like truly hold that intention for them. Because there was a a like a medicine person that I heard speak at a psychedelic conference and they sort of share their own experience of like having to go to the hospital for like an acute issue and being handed this little white pill. And they're like, I don't want this, you know? And it's like what we believe about the medicine that we take, the power of our thoughts to influence our own biology, that state of being, that energetic state that we're in, all of that is creating real physiologic change moment by moment in our human bodies. Like the chemicals that get released when you think a negative thought versus a positive thought, like. All of it, it is a symphony that is happening in real time. And so whether it's handing someone their medications and like having that moment to connect with them and like truly give them hope, like that is one of the most powerful things we can do. Same thing if you are like giving someone an immunization, the state of like stress or like Yeah, just the state that they're in when they even get the immunization is going to affect how their body responds to it. Like psycho neuroimmunology. Look it up. It is fascinating. And that is the interplay of all of these different systems of the mind, of the body, of the energy and our bodies. Like it's all connected and it all matters. It is all very real. And so I would take those opportunities, you know, that I am laying hands on someone to use biblical terms, right? And knowing that like how I comfort that person and like the technique that I use, yes, like very technical scientific things, but also like being an empathetic human being. You know, I think we've all probably had experiences like that where you can tell like the energetic state of the person who is giving you a shot or giving you an IV or like, you know, part of your medical treatment and like how you feel. All of that matters so much. Like speaker-0: So, so much. Even if you're just at the register and you're like, ⁓ man, they really hate their job. ⁓ speaker-1: It's so true. It's so true. And, you know, this could be a tangent, but I think it's an interesting one anyways. Like, I think that's why, you know, being a manager or being a leader is so important as well, because you are essentially helping other people in their own development. And like I think about that a lot. It's like, sure, on a like very capitalistic level, we have all of these NPS surveys about, you know, customer service and satisfaction and all of these things. But it's like if we're really serving people from our heart and like we are truly doing our best to meet people where they are, then a lot of times those things should handle themselves. Sure, you're going to get challenges that come your way. You're going to have other humans and people that come in with a lot of baggage and a lot of things going on. But it's like, hi, hello, this is why we all got into this field because we feel called to be healers, to be called To caring for others and and helping people. And a lot of times that can absolutely come with like the territory of being able to witness someone, you know, and that is at its core also what functional medicine really is. Like the the operating system that we use is based in this, of being able to hold that space for another person on this. this healing journey that they're on. And so it's not enough to just look at the physical body and and these physical tools, whether it's a lab or a supplement. Like you really do have to have the full toolkit to practice functional medicine. And anyone that is like just doing labs and supplements, they're not doing functional medicine, right? It's just green allopathy. That is all that is. So I like to clarify that, you know, because I think it's important for people to really realize like whatever name you want to give to all of these things and whatever modalities you want to include, like at its core. And the reason that I am still such a believer in the practice of functional medicine is because it is this truly integrative method that you're going to meet someone right where they are, and you're going to use the tools that you have and that make you unique and Build that therapeutic relationship so that you can help that person live their healthiest, best life. speaker-0: Yeah, yes, absolutely. And but I think I think there is actually is a ver a big challenge, at least this is what I've seen within my practice, because patients, clients are not familiar with this model. And so when they come to us, they really are looking for a green allopathy. They don't even n realize that, you know, that's so I think there is an onus on us. to again continue that education and be, and I know I'm guilty of this of like acquiescing, like thinking that I was meeting them where they were. And maybe I was, but I think, and this is how my practice is shifting today, is actually being more I don't want to use the word stringent, but ⁓ preserving the container that I want to present and I want to use to help my clients so that it is truly holistic and all all encompassing. At least from the perspective of yes, we're going to do the testing for whatever you need. Yes, we're going to come up with a supplement protocol for whatever you need, not everything under the sun. And it will definitely not have just a plain old micro ⁓ multivitamin because that's a waste of time and money. ⁓ but it will include coaching and you know, clients that come to me and they say, No, thanks. I don't want that part, then okay, we're not gonna work together. ⁓ you know, blessed be you go on and you can find, you know, I have a whole list of other practitioners I can recommend to you. Because there is, like you said, there has to be this culmination. And this implementation that we really hold to the highest standard. you know, and then I still offer if clients want that energy medicine piece, then fine, yes, okay, you can like we'll build that into. And I totally get that not everyone is there. And I would never, ever, ever quote unquote force that onto anyone. But the mind mindset work I think is non negotiable. Because until you realize again, you're okay, let's just think about it this way. We'll go back to your CGM. Stress drives blood sugar up, inflammation up, cortisol, like releases, you know. So like there is a physiological pathway. And so if we want to, yes, we're gonna address whatever hyperglycemia with food, of course. We're going to optimize your sleep, of course. But then we're also we need to figure out how you're handling stress. You know, like what do you consider stressful? And when you do consider it stressful, what are the thoughts that you're thinking about it that are causing that inflammatory response in your body? And that's where that, so if for anyone listening that's like was sort of like not sure about how that would actually come together, that's a perfect example of how that comes together because any sort of stress in the system drives inflammation and your thoughts. Processing your concept of stress is really the cornerstone of that whole pathway. speaker-1: Yeah, I love it. It's so true. Stress is at the root of everything and it's so individualized. And, you know, I often think about like Maslow's hierarchy, right? Where it's like you have people at different points in their life and that also can really dictate like where are we at? What are we capable of doing? ⁓ you know, and and I think that's important to consider as well, because not everyone's gonna be at the same place and you have to be able to make sure we're meeting all of those different needs, you know, on all the different levels. but at the end of the day, the mindset absolutely is crucial to all of that and being able to move between those different states. speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ you mentioned earlier like the the amount of the population that's just moving through life on autopilot versus those of us that try to, you know, live our lives with a little bit more intention and awareness. I do think like we are in the middle of this like great awakening and more and more people are waking up to the intricate connection that exists. And the power of our thoughts and all those things and how it all plays together. It's a beautiful symphony. And that's great. And and so I think that also will draw people more towards these integrative approaches because Western medicine, allopathic medicine was intentionally changed. Back at the in the turn of the last century, because there used to be a lot of herbology, acupuncture, all these different things were, you know, all practiced all over the country. And they were even included in a lot of ⁓ medical schools in terms of their education as possibilities and options. But there, and I won't go into it, but there was a specific push that changed that. It changed medical education. And I think that was what sort of disconnected us both from a practitioner level, but also just from being the patient. Because again, now we have these people that we call doctors and they have this level of power over us and we're supposed to listen to them and we're supposed to do what they say because they know so much more than we do. And ⁓ we should just do do what they say because they know best. We don't know best, but they do. And so I think there's a big shift. And that's one of the things that I definitely encourage ⁓ with anyone I work with is an open dialogue. Like I am here to, you know, maybe build a protocol with you, but it's up to you what you choose to implement and what you choose not to, you know. speaker-1: Yeah. So absolutely. Well, I think we've covered so much ground today. And I'm so grateful to have you on the show sharing all of your wisdom and experience and expertise. And to have you inside of FMPHA leading coaching calls and helping our pharmacist start to explore these possibilities and understand what is out there. ⁓ and really just yeah, bring all of this incredible knowledge and experience ⁓ to all of us. So tell everybody where they can find you ⁓ if they wanted to connect and learn more, if they're a patient or practitioner, where can we find you? speaker-0: My website is draramé.com, D-R-L-A-R-A-M-A-Y.com. Almost all of my socials are the same at Dr. Laramie. ⁓ the only one that's really different is TikTok, and that's Dr. Laramie F-X-N-M-E-D. If you are a TikTok lover. which I am fairly new, but ⁓ I have been pleasantly surprised as to the amount of reach that I've been able to create there. And again, like to me, that's one of the most important reasons why I do this is to help as many people as possible. Again, just expose them to different ideas and ⁓ give people the option of new things to choose. and yeah, so if you are interested in working with me or even just have questions, whether again client or practitioner, ⁓ you can direct message me directly from my website. There's a services page there, dr Lara May.com forward slash services, where I offer a variety of functional medicine programs. ⁓ I offer some programs that are just pure life coaching. And and then I also have some like little membership things where like if you want like a different meal plan every month, I have that ⁓ just to like provide they're all clean eating, they're all, you know, anti inflammatory. And but if you're ever looking for like recipe or like meal plan resources, ⁓ it's something like easy and like super entry level that I found that I can offer. So again, like just trying to meet different people where they are. and I think that one's like only nine dollars a month. So speaker-1: I mean Yeah. Yeah. I might need to check that out for myself because I'm ready for for some anti inflammatory delicious meals. So well thank you. speaker-0: ⁓ I was gonna say they're all seasonally designed too. So like I'm a big proponent of eating with the seasons. So there's that. All right. That's all. speaker-1: Even better. ⁓ well, thank you again so much. And for pharmacists who are listening, just know that our fall boot camp is coming up. You'll hear more about enrollment soon. But if you want to get a little sneak peek and start to understand what it takes to actually become a functional medicine pharmacist, we've created a new resource. You can go to fm.org slash roadmap. And that will give you a free guide to becoming a functional medicine pharmacist. So would love for you to check it out. Let us know what you think and what questions you have so we can answer them on future episodes. And thank you again so much for tuning in. And we'll see you on the next episode. That's it for this episode of the Loren Castle Show. Thank you so much for tuning in. And I hope you'll join us for the next one where you'll hear more stories from me and some of my amazing guests. Be sure to like and subscribe to the podcast no matter where you watch or listen, and check out our website, dr laurencastle.com and fmpha.org. We'll see you next time.