Dr. Rob Downey welcomes Benjamin Bressington for a wide-ranging conversation that goes far beyond the mushroom hype cycle and into lived experience, integrity, and true therapeutic potential. Benjamin traces his path into mushrooms through years spent navigating infertility and IVF, where he witnessed firsthand the physical and emotional toll of narrow, protocol-driven medicine. That disillusionment, combined with his own struggle with depression as a high-performing entrepreneur, led him to explore mushrooms as a tool for accessing buried trauma and restoring a sense of vitality that talk therapy alone never unlocked. The discussion then turns practical and deeply educational. Benjamin breaks down why caffeine creates a cycle of "borrowed energy" and crashes, while certain functional mushrooms support the body's natural energy systems more sustainably. He also exposes why many mushroom supplements fail—using clear analogies to explain the difference between fruiting bodies and mycelium, and why extraction methods matter so much. By unpacking spagyric extraction and microdosing concepts, this episode equips listeners to make informed, discerning choices in a rapidly growing (and often misleading) wellness space.

Time stamps

01:27–06:19 — Infertility, IVF, and disillusionment with conventional medicine 03:04–04:08 — Depression, trauma, and mushrooms as a catalyst for healing

08:43–10:12 — Caffeine crashes vs. clean, adaptogenic mushroom energy

18:12–24:08 — Fruiting bodies, extraction methods, and why most products fail

Key takeaways

• Caffeine often stimulates fake energy, while mushroom adaptogens support real, sustainable energy production.
• The therapeutic impact of mushrooms depends heavily on fruiting body sourcing and extraction quality.
• Many "high-dose" mushroom products are ineffective because they rely on mycelium and weak extraction methods.
• Ancient practices like spagyric extraction and microdosing offer insights that modern wellness often overlooks.

Get your free sample: https://checkout.bareremedy.net/energygummy1?event_id=1ecc8bda-7d0c-4db1-a6e7-850bf586a522

Heather Moon, our wonderful nurse practitioner here at Seaworthy, is taking over as host for this episode of The Field Notes Podcast!

She welcomes fellow NP, Marcia Mankin, whose lifelong passion for skin health began on a Wyoming ranch and deepened through profound personal experiences with melanoma in her family. Together, they explore something I wish more people understood: your skin isn't just a surface.

It's a living, intelligent messenger—constantly reflecting your internal health, your environment, your stress levels, your sleep quality, and even your emotional state. Marcia brings decades of surgical and clinical wisdom to this conversation, helping us see how skin changes often reveal what's happening before we see it anywhere else.

Heather and Marcia also unpack the lifestyle patterns that shape skin health—nutrition, movement, hydration, sun exposure, and daily habits—and they shine a light on popular aesthetic trends that may do more harm than good. It's an empowering, science-grounded discussion that reminds us that the fundamentals matter far more than quick fixes. If you've ever wondered why your skin suddenly looks dull, inflamed, puffy, reactive, or "off," this episode will help you understand the deeper story and make meaningful changes that support whole-body vitality.

5 Key Takeaways

• Your skin is often the first place deeper issues—autoimmune, inflammatory, emotional, or organ-related—show up.

• Whole foods, adequate protein, hydration, and micronutrients directly support collagen, repair, and radiance.

• Stress, sleep quality, and emotional health influence the skin almost immediately—often within hours.

• Be cautious with trendy aesthetic procedures like PDO threads and injectable PDGF; research is limited, and risks include inflammation and scarring.

• The most powerful skin practices are simple: daily sunscreen, gentle cleansing, hydration, good sleep, and consistent care.

In this episode of the Fieldnotes podcast, Dr. Rob Downey interviews naturopathic doctor Sarah Love about why nutrition alone often fails to resolve modern health issues. Sarah explains that despite patients following excellent diets, chronic stress, lack of breaks, and sympathetic overdrive frequently block healing. She emphasizes the importance of intentional rest, reconnecting with nature, and stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. Her clinical experience led her back to herbal medicine and the creation of her own caffeine-free tea blends designed to support relaxation, gut health, cognitive clarity, and daily rituals that restore vitality. The conversation highlights simple, "common-sense" lifestyle practices — like scheduled breaks, outdoor time, and herbal tea — as essential foundations for wellness.

Timestamps:
02:40 – Diet alone not healing patients.
04:54 – Break culture urgently needs revival.
06:43 – Breaks must be truly restorative.
13:48 – Herbal teas reintroduced into practice.
21:39 – Gut drives overall body health.

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Key Takeaways:
Breaks are essential for true healing.
Stress blocks digestion and vitality.
Nature exposure boosts parasympathetic activity.
Herbal teas support gut and mind.
Simple habits outperform complex interventions.

In this episode of the Fieldnotes podcast, Dr. Downey interviews Natalie Lund and opens up about her unexpected journey through perimenopause and how it forced her to rewrite long-held beliefs about her body and identity. She shares how she experienced medical gaslighting when her symptoms were dismissed, and how she found real relief through hormone therapy and the mindset-shifting technique of rapid transformational therapy (RTT). She explores how hypnosis and RTT helped her reclaim control over her life, reset her mental and physical state, and begin seeing her femininity and wellbeing in a completely new way. The conversation offers raw personal testimony, practical tools for women navigating hormonal chaos, and a message that transformation is possible when you stop trying to live by old rules.

Timestaps:
(00:05:12) Realizing the symptoms meant perimenopause
(00:18:45) Doctors dismissed her pain and fog
(00:29:33) Discovering RTT & hypnosis as tools
(00:41:20) Hormone therapy changed her outlook
(00:55:10) Reclaiming identity beyond physical symptoms

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Key Takeaways:
Hormonal life changes demand identity transformation
Medical dismissal doesn't mean symptoms aren't real
RTT and hypnosis changed her internal narrative
Hormone therapy unlocked physical and mental clarity
Reclaiming femininity starts with redefining self

In this episode of the Fieldnotes Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dr. Marissa Heisel—a chiropractor and midwife—about the importance of trusting our body's innate wisdom and recognizing that true healing begins from within. She shares how modern society, particularly for women, has conditioned us to depend on external authorities rather than our own intuition. Through her experiences in chiropractic, midwifery, and holistic care, Dr. Heisel emphasizes the power of self-trust, simplicity, and returning to natural grounding practices to restore vitality and sovereignty over one's health.

• (00:02) Introduction to Dr. Marissa Heisel and the theme of self-healing

• (02:11) Her transition from conventional medicine to holistic practice

• (03:48) Core philosophy: "You are your own best medicine"

• (08:24) How cultural conditioning undermines women's body wisdom

• (32:05) Practical guidance—using breath and nature to reconnect to inner balance

Key Takeaways

• We are both our own best expert and our most powerful healer.

• Cultural conditioning often erodes self-trust, leading to overreliance on external validation.

• True healing begins by simplifying—removing noise and reconnecting with the body's signals.

• Mindful breathing and grounding in nature are accessible ways to restore inner clarity and resilience.

Learn more about Dr. Marissa here:

In this episode of the Fieldnotes Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Jodi Cohen, founder of Vibrant Blue Oils, about the transformative power of essential oils on the brain and nervous system. Cohen recounts her personal journey, showing how scent can help regulate the vagus nerve, restore parasympathetic balance, and support emotional healing. She explains the direct neurological link between smell and safety, how scent can rewire stress responses, and why essential oils like clove, lime, and rose can serve as simple yet profound tools for trauma recovery, anxiety relief, and nervous-system regulation.

Timestamps:
(01:18) Started using oils for sleep
(03:50) Discovered vagus-nerve stress connection
(05:57) Created clove-lime parasympathetic blend
(12:49) Used rose oil to heal grief
(27:15) Linked neck fascia to relaxation

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Key Takeaways:
Smell directly accesses the brain.
Oils can shift stress to calm.
The vagus nerve controls healing.
Grief inspired powerful emotional blends.
Regulation begins with the parasympathetic system.

In this episode of the Fieldnotes podcast, Dr. Rob Downey is joined by Dr. Michael Blahut, a family practice physician with integrative training, to discuss his philosophy that the life you live is your medicine. Dr. Blahut emphasizes that lifestyle and our connection to the natural world are the most potent forms of medicine, going beyond supplements and testing. The conversation centers on restoring the body's original biological blueprint by tapping into nature's wisdom through simple practices. They explore the critical roles of natural light and the circadian rhythm in health, discussing the benefits of sun exposure and the use of tools like blue blockers. Finally, they delve into the power of sound and frequency for nervous system regulation and the profound importance of belief, purpose, and community as fundamental, root causes of health and well-being.

Timestamps:
(01:05) Lifestyle is the wellspring of health.
(03:04) Life you live is medicine.
(04:51) Get outside; get natural sunlight.
(26:54) Sound shifts nervous system state.
(33:20) Purpose, community matter most.

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Key Takeaways:
Your life, not pills, is the medicine.
Restore your body's natural health blueprint.
Daily sun exposure regulates your health.
Sound and rhythm heal the nervous system.
Purpose and community are the best medicine.

In this episode, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Angie Gallagher—an exercise physiologist and integrative health coach with over 25 years of experience in cardiac rehab—about why conventional heart care is missing the mark. Angie shares how her frustration with recurring cardiac events in patients led her to explore functional medicine approaches, integrating gut health, nervous system regulation, and metabolic markers into her practice. The conversation dives into overlooked lab tests, the gut–heart axis, HeartMath for nervous system balance, and why managing stress and blood sugar may be more important than cholesterol. Angie's holistic approach redefines what it means to truly protect the heart.

Timestamps:
01:15 – Angie's shift from conventional care
05:40 – Key labs doctors often miss
10:20 – Gut inflammation linked to heart disease
13:30 – HeartMath improves nervous system balance
18:45 – Blood sugar more critical than cholesterol

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Key Takeaways:
Gut health directly impacts heart health
Blood sugar drives endothelial damage
HeartMath balances stress and HRV
Standard tests miss root cause markers
Nature and breathwork support heart healing