Drop The Shades

What if the key to your energy, mental clarity, recovery, and even emotional health starts in your gut?

On this episode of Drop The Shades, Joseph Elisha sits down with nutrition coach, integrative wellness consultant, and ultra endurance athlete Lauren Callahan to unpack the surprising connection between gut health, mental health, performance, and personal growth. After struggling for years to complete a marathon despite doing “eve...

What if most of the thoughts in your head simply are not true?

In this reflective solo episode of Drop The Shades, host Joseph Elisha explores the quiet but powerful realization that our minds are master storytellers and not always reliable narrators. From late night cosmic worries to everyday anxieties about work, family, and the future, Joseph unpacks how our brains constantly create stories designed for survival rather than truth...

What if the answers to better health have been hiding in plain sight all along?

In this eye-opening episode of Drop The Shades, host Joseph Elisha sits down with actuary, corporate executive, and health advocate Emma Tekstra to challenge the modern healthcare model and explore what true wellness really looks like. From helping Fortune 500 companies redesign benefits programs to healing her son after an autism and ADHD diagnosis, Emm...

What if the voice you’ve been ignoring is the one you should trust most?

In this episode of Drop The Shades, Joseph Elisha sits down with Lenka Schulze to explore intuition as more than a gut feeling. She reframes it as our first sense, one that guides everything from survival instincts to deeper life decisions, relationships, and purpose. Through powerful insights and real-life examples, Lenka shares how intuition can be developed,...

What if the thoughts in your head are not telling you the truth?

In this reflective solo episode of Drop The Shades, host Joseph Elisha explores the nonstop noise of the human mind and why so many of our thoughts are misleading, exaggerated, or completely imagined. After a humorous real life moment sparks deeper reflection, Joseph breaks down how our brains create stories that pull us away from clarity, peace, and the present moment...

What if the deepest trauma in your life became the reason you could heal others?

Dr. Robert Bleck shares his harrowing story of enduring years of physical and emotional abuse as a child and how that pain shaped his path to becoming a therapist and professor. Through decades of work, he developed Source Completion Therapy, a process designed to help people finally release the trauma they’ve carried for years.

In this conversation, he ...

What if the key to healing isn’t doing more, but slowing down?

In this episode of Drop The Shades, Dr. Emily shares her journey from years of autoimmune disease and medication to finding true healing through functional medicine and lifestyle change. In this conversation with Joseph Elisha, she breaks down how stress, inflammation, and everyday habits silently shape our health and how small, intentional shifts can completely transfor...

What if the cracks in your life are the very thing that makes you valuable?

In this reflective episode of Drop The Shades, Joseph Elisha explores the Japanese philosophy of kintsugi, the art of repairing broken pottery with gold. Through this powerful metaphor, he reframes pain, failure, and hardship as essential parts of the human story rather than flaws to hide.

Instead of chasing perfection, Joseph invites listeners to see their s...

What if recovery is not about willpower, but about belonging?

In this powerful episode of Drop the Shades, host Joseph Elisha sits down with Beck Gee, CEO of Breathe Life Healing Centers in Los Angeles, to explore a journey shaped by addiction, secrecy, gender identity, faith, and ultimately, profound self-acceptance. From growing up in an alcoholic home to navigating sobriety, depression, and coming out as trans later in life, Beck...

What if the person you’ve been searching for is you?

In this first episode of Drop The Shades, host Joseph Elisha invites you into a quiet moment of reflection. When life gets loud with responsibilities, expectations, and constant noise, it’s easy to drift away from who you truly are. This conversation is about slowing down, getting honest with yourself, and beginning the journey back home.

Instead of chasing perfection or productivi...

This podcast is evolving. In this special episode, Joseph shares the story behind the transition to Drop The Shades—a new direction focused on helping you quiet the noise, reset your nervous system, and find calm in a chaotic world. Drawing from decades in the operating room, Joseph introduces a deeper, more personal format built around stories, reflection, and practical tools to help you step out of overwhelm and reconnect with yo...

In this episode of I'll Ask The Questions Around Here, Dr. Joseph Elisha shares a reflective monologue on how we think about the mind—as both a noun and a verb. Drawing from personal experience, everyday stressors, and the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, he probes the labels we apply to our thoughts and feelings. Joseph explores the practice he calls “dropping the shades,” a method of pausing and resetting through nostalgic reconnect...

In this episode of I'll Ask The Questions Around Here, Dr. Joseph Elisha sits down with pastel artist Robin Frisella, PSA-MP, IAPS/MC, whose still life paintings evoke nostalgia, serenity, and emotional depth. Robin shares how a casual invitation to a pastel class ignited her lifelong artistic journey, transforming a quiet post-childraising chapter into a vibrant second act. The discussion touches on the emotional processes beh...

In this episode of I'll Ask The Questions Around Here, Dr. Joseph Elisha speaks with 12-year-old Madelyn Quinn and her parents, about Madelyn’s life as a heart transplant recipient. From enduring multiple surgeries in infancy to becoming a world-ranked junior golfer, Madelyn shares her powerful story of resilience, gratitude, and connection with her donor family. The conversation explores medical challenges, family dynamics, em...

In this episode of I'll Ask The Questions Around Here, Dr. Joseph Elisha welcomes back Dr. Joseph Scherger, a leading voice in longevity and functional medicine. The conversation explores the fundamentals of anti-aging strategies—from supplements like metformin, NAD, and resveratrol to stem cell infusions and photobiomodulation. Dr. Scherger shares his insights on healthspan vs. lifespan, discusses cutting-edge therapies includ...

In this episode, I take a hard look at the cost of political assassination — not just in the moment, but in the waves it sends through history and society. From the shot that killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and set off World War I, to the attempt on Donald Trump that only deepened his support, we see a pattern: violence doesn’t silence a movement, it often strengthens it. What drives a person to believe a bullet is more powerful th...

In this episode (upon reflection on an embarrassing moment at home!), Dr.  Elisha explores why silence unnerves us, why we drown it out with constant noise, and why stillness may be the very thing we need most. From Susan Cain’s Quiet and the overlooked power of introverts, to the hush that falls in the operating room when a patient goes under anesthesia, Joseph reflects on what silence reveals, what we run from, and how to reclaim...