Change Your Brain Every Day - The Hidden Truth About Your Brain, Trauma & Healing with Kelly Noonan Gores

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

What if changing your brain could change your life?   In this powerful conversation, Dr. Daniel Amen sits down with Kelly Gore for a deep dive into the brain, trauma, emotional patterns, healing, and the powerful connection between what we experience and how our brains function. They explore the questions so many of us are asking: Why do we repeat the same patterns? How does trauma affect the brain? And what can we actually do to create lasting change? This is a conversation about understanding your brain—not fighting against it—and discovering what may be possible when you learn how to work with it.

I had to be super hypervigilant. Believe that if you make mistakes, you're stupid, because obviously you're setting off the one person that you want to love you most. Kelly Gores is an American filmmaker. Author and host of The Heal with Kelly podcast. Best known for directing the wellness documentary, Heel, she inspires global audiences to unlock their innate mind-body healing potential. Tell me about the alcohol.

It's like literally my one vice, and that's like the one thing I use to just relieve pressure from the overactive mind and overachiever pace of life. And does it really help? you blow off. Or does it create more problems? Every day you are making your brain better or you are making it worse. Stay with us to learn how you can change your brain for the better every day. I love the testimonials at Amen Clinics. I really want you to go to Amenclinics.com and see how we can support you. Madison says, I felt

like I was a horrible person and didn't deserve to be here. I overdosed and woke up in a hospital. I went to Eamon clinics. And I'm not joking. Within a few days, I didn't have those scary thoughts anymore. Within two weeks, I was at the gym. That's all I wanted, just to be me again. Welcome to change your brain every day. I'm so excited. We have Kelly Nune and Goran. as we're going to look at her brain. She has been working in entertainment since she was seven years old. In 2012, she transitioned from acting with the intention to create conscious media that informs, empowers, and inspires.

She is the writer, director, and producer of the 2017 award-winning feature-length documentary Heel. And due to the film's popularity, wrote the movie. the companion book to continue the conversation around healing, consciousness, and personal transformation, she founded and hosts the Heal podcast. I'm so excited. You're here. Thank you.

It's such a pleasure. Especially in the middle of doing this documentary on Heal. And for so long, I'm like, well, how would you know if you didn't look? And once you look, my hope is at the end. you're going to love your brain. And you're going to take a little bit better care of it. Oh, no. And do the things I want you to do so that it can be even more awesome.

Beautiful. I hope to. So tell me your goal. I've looked at your scan. I've looked at the testing. I've read your history. So I have a good idea. But tell me your goal.

Like you said, my goal is just awareness. and know thyself, you know, so see what's happening in the brain. I'm 47. Obviously, you want to start early and earlier to see if there's to optimize so that you can live the longest, sharpest life you can, you know? So I figure the time is now and see, you know, if there's good news, bad news and what I can do about the bad news. But, you know, I always say whatever it is, it's good news because you have what you have.

And if it's great, we celebrate. And if it's not, we rehabilitate. Perfect. You know, I'm looking at your history. You know, I've been a psychiatrist for 45 years or something crazy. You're really pretty normal. You have a little worry. There's some ADD traits in there in 2026, who doesn't, right,

with all the distractions, but you're accomplished, consistent. You've had a couple of head injuries, and I think that's one thing we'll look at. Okay. Right? Snowmobiling, accident. You played soccer? I played soccer for my whole life. So definitely some hard headers at some point, but nothing that, you know, caused anyone

concern at the time. So as far as you know, no diagnosed concussions. So how many times have you hit a soccer ball with your head? Countless. Countless times. I played from five years old to, you know, 28 probably. Soccer balls aren't light. People don't understand that.

They're not volleyball. Yeah. It's not something that you want to do. But you do want to score the goals. So you sacrifice your head a few times, you know? Yeah, just having the World Cup. I saw so many head injuries. Oh, I know.

I know. And when they hit not alone the ball, but each other's heads. And so when you were 10, they hadn't made the rule yet that you can't hit a soccer ball before the age, I guess it's of 11. Oh, yeah. No, no, no. No rules back in the 80s. Yeah. Your brain is soft.

Your skull is hard. Your skull has sharp, bony ridges. And there was some indication of emotional trauma. Can you talk about that? I mean, is there a person that comes into this room without emotional trauma? Not many. I mean, I would say my general life experience has been way better than most. But I think from a child's perspective, we all have, you know, environments and caretakers and dynamics that feel traumatic to a small child.

you know, from this perspective, not so traumatic, but had a dad who was raised by an alcoholic Marine, who then became very rigid in his own emotional, you know, resilience or literacy. And so he, he just blew up a lot. It was, I don't know that I'd go so far as call him a rageaholic, but he was just frustrated at all the time. Mistakes weren't allowed. Big explosive temper tantrum. So I had to very much be super hypervigilant.

people pleasing and try to do everything I could to keep the peace. But I was constantly walking on eggshells and, you know, that was stressful. Yeah, that's not normal. No, okay. No, that's not normal. Yeah, it's chronic stress, which then changes your nervous system to be heightened. Mm-hmm. Where you're always watching.

Mm-hmm. Yes. And feeling stupid if I made a mistake because I, I was, was, you know, believe that if you make mistakes, you're stupid. Because obviously you're setting off, you're the one person that you want to love you most. Like, you set off their temper as so you feel stupid for making mistakes. You have a child, right? I do.

Seven? Seven. And if your child makes a mistake, would you ever want to make her feel stupid? Never, ever. You would actually think that's abusive. Yes. say you're dating someone. She makes a mistake and they make her feel bad.

How much longer are you dating them? Not, not very long. Not very long. Yeah. No, not normal. Okay. Because the goal is make a whole bunch of mistakes. Just learn from them.

I know. I know. Right? It's wild. I had one crazy viral video. And this is all I said and I got 50 million views. When you do too much for your child. you build your self-esteem by stealing theirs.

Oof. Because you want them to make mistakes, right? Because ultimately your self-esteem comes from being competent. But you have to make mistakes. I know. That's how we learn. So that you learn, right? It's one of the big ideas in my head every day we win or we learn.

There are no mistakes. Never lose. Win or learn. So your dad was like that. How did he get like that? I mean, I imagine, maybe this is the story of architect to explain it, but his father was an alcoholic and a Marine and just, you know. So your grandfather was the Marine. Dad was Air Force.

So the military was always there, but dad was volunteer. Yeah. They always say, what was it? Marines teach you how to die like a man and the Army we teach how to live like one. Oh. I remember that. No, I just upset a whole bunch of Marines. I know.

I know. The Air Force was the best, right? Because they have the best facilities. Exactly. The AC or whatever they're generally not being shot out of close range. Yeah. Let's hope. Was your dad in the military when you were little?

Yeah. He was in Vietnam and then came back and joined the airlines as a pilot. So he was a pilot in Vietnam? He was a pilot in Vietnam. Oh, how interesting. So I was infantry medic. Okay. During Vietnam, but thank God, for me, I went to Germany.

Okay. And I like that so much better than I imagine going to Vietnam. And you grew up where? In Long Beach, just up the road. How was growing up in Long Beach? I think it was great. Great community. I still have, you know, three of my best girlfriends I've known since elementary school.

Really tight-knit community, very active community. We all played, I played three varsity sports in high school. Which three? I played softball, tennis, and soccer. Yeah, I was just like a good. a very active kid and healthy and terrible diet. It's amazing. My brain is doing so well.

I grew up. I was such a picky eater. I grew up on McDonald's and Domino's Pizza and Kraft macaroni and cheese. But somehow I made it through. One of my patients said, I only eat yellow things. What does that mean? Macaroni and cheese, French fries. Oh, God.

It's really bad. But I think because I was active. Why were you like that, you think? I was super picky. I would eat, you know. I also did acting as a child, so we were constantly on the road going up to L.A. for auditions or driving the soccer tournaments or soccer. So it was just, we would grab whatever was available, you know, so we were a lot of fast food. And then I was super picky, which everybody but my mom made me feel bad about, but she was like, I'm not going to stress her out more. Like,

she's just, you know, I ate peanut butter and jelly at school for lunch until high school every day. Same thing. That was all I could eat because I didn't like me. mayonnaise and there was limited, limited options. When did that switch? When I went to college, I literally, like, didn't eat vegetables. I maybe ate some salad in college, which was like iceberg lettuce, which is not nutrition. And then I went to Spain and studied abroad, and I looked at these photos of myself. And I had gained whatever, the freshman 15, I just looked puffy and inflamed.

And I said, I've got to change it. And over there, it's just a, I was in San Sebastian, so San Sebastian, and it's a Basque country. So they had all this really amazing food and the Mediterranean diet. And so I just made a decision. It was based, you know, propelled from vanity. But once you start eating better, and so I just forced myself to like start eating more vegetables and just broke myself out of that picky, obviously started feeling better, lost all the weight. And that just changed how I ate the rest of my life.

But you were acting when you were young. Was there body image issues? It was never an issue until college. But yes, I mean, acting. When I got back into it in my 20s, it was like, oh, always that five extra pounds, you know? But again, there's so many body issues with that profession. And rejection. Like, you're, you know.

You have to be masterful at rejection. Right? There are very few people that are lucky early. Totally. Yeah. Ever see a psychiatrist before? Never have seen a psychiatrist. I've talked to a therapist before, but I think the first therapist I saw was in my relationship,

like my marriage, trying to figure out things there, you know, and did some EMDR. So, yeah, so I didn't see a therapist until, like, maybe eight years ago or 10 years ago. And how many EMDR sessions have you had? Probably four. Not much. I did like internal family systems. I just, because I don't see you a regular. Because I read that.

I read E of Yombeard. And I'm a huge fan. Okay. I love to do it. Yeah. When I have time to see patients, I just think it's so powerful. It's fascinating. Yeah.

Four works for people who have single incident traumas. Mm-hmm. More like 40. Yeah. I know. For most people. Yeah. If they grow up in stress.

It's really, you know, I love it so much when people just find themselves getting triggered, whether in a relationship or work. I just love hunting down the triggers. Like, well, where does that come from? Yeah. And then when you do EMDR and have somebody get on a train in their mind, their eyes going back and forth and go, let's go back to the first time you had those thoughts or had those feelings. Yeah.

It's fascinating. It's really interesting. I'm so effective. Very effective. So you've done that. And that was more for it. Like I never did that for my childhood trauma. I don't think.

It was more about like incidences that were stressful to the point of traumatic almost in the marriage dynamic of what was going on around. It was just like a very complicated family dynamic. You were married? How long? Technically still married. We've been separated for two years and we were married for almost eight before that separation. And in the process, your house burned down in the palisades. Yes, right after I separated six months later.

And I think originally when you and I talked, you're like, well, it was sort of the end of that chapter. It was very clear. I was not supposed to. What was that like for you, though, when that was happening? You know, I really remember the shock that I was, like, the initial couple weeks, just like the shock because you feel kind of numb. And in a daze, and I was like, wow, this shock syndrome is actually quite helpful. Like I could hang out in shock for a while. I don't want to feel what this could possibly feel.

But because my daughter is younger, I didn't have a house. I had the probably easiest version, I would say. And I'm not trying to discount my childhood drama and say this, but I have a lot of tools and I have a very strong spiritual faith. And my daughter's, you know, seven now. She was five at the time. So we didn't have 30 years of sentimental things built up in the house. We had a lot of stuff, a lot of very nice stuff, but nothing truly irreplaceable.

And we were renting the house. So it just felt like it was this very spiritual kind of like, I don't know, just like a lightning of the load as I move forward into a new chapter kind of thing. And were you actually here at home when the fire started? No. So I had, you know, separated six months grieving. And then I was like, I'm going to start the new year. year 2025 and I'm going to go take care of myself. So I was up at Dave Asprey's neurofeedback, 40 years of Zen because I was going to do like six days of whatever that program is. And just like

have a fresh start like with resilience and like, you know, start the new year. And so it was day two of that program. You're not supposed to have your phone. So I had, I gave the nanny who was with my daughter. It was her first day back at school. And she was still in preschool in Brentwood just down the road. And I gave my nanny the emergency phone for the landline at the center, and I put my phone away, and you check it at lunch. So I checked my phone at lunch at like 1 o'clock or something. I had 170 text messages and missed calls. And I was like, what is going on? So answer, you know, figured out, she said, we evacuated. I didn't know what to grab. But at that point still nobody thought that the whole town would burn. We thought maybe some edge houses,

maybe, you know, so it's definitely the right thing to evacuate. Nobody would have thought what happened happened. No. And I'm not an alarmist at all. I'm just like, everybody, calm down. I have like a very big allergy to drama. So I was like, okay, she's with her dad at the Beverly Hills Hotel and the nanny. Like, everything is fine. So I went back into the afternoon session. And then, you know, everybody's still talking about it and the rumors about the winds coming at night. I was just like, oh, gosh, okay. And I woke up at 3 a.m. And I was like, you know what, Riley is my daughter.

Her nervous system is so tied to mine. And I know the town is going crazy and everybody's stressed out. Like, I have to go down and just be her calming anchor. So I booked a flight on Delta at 3 and got to the airport at 5, got on the flight. And as we're landing in L.A., I get, it was from Seattle, so however long that flight is, two hours, I get a text message from our neighbor that with just someone had taken a video of the entire street and it's just everything is in flames to the studs. And I was like, oh my God. And like all the plane, you know, because we're all sitting there like, are you going on with the virus? Are you?

And so people are like learning this information and supporting each other. It's just like the wildest experience. And the EMDar was before after that. Before. Before. Do I need some more? Yeah. I might need some more.

It was wild. I'm so sorry. That's so awful. It's crazy. It's crazy that a whole town went through that together. You know, it's not the first town. It's happened other places, too, but it's just wild. This is first time it happened to you.

It is. Yeah. Now, I remember watching. And I've done a lot of work with firefighters, and they have terrible brains. And we have a nonprofit foundation, Change Your Brain Foundation. We gave 100 evaluations to firefighters. Wow, that's amazing. Their brains are terrible because of the toxins, but also the emotional trauma because

almost every workday is someone's worst day of their life. And, yeah, that's a special project for us. That's amazing. Any of those thoughts are feeling. want you. I kind of just like have the constitution of moving forward, you know? So you're not dreaming about it. You're not anxious about it.

Yeah. I don't know if I'm like a really good suppressor. Like I still like candles. Well, let's go to this spiritual foundation. Yeah. You know, I always think of people in four big circles. It's like, okay, so it's the biology. How does your brain actually work?

but also your hormones and, you know, how's your body? How's your mind? Which is, do you believe every stupid thing you think or not? What's your development, past trauma? What's this social situation you're in? Do you have people who love you? Do you have a job you like? Do you have enough money?

Like, what's the social stuff? And then there's the spiritual. stuff, which is why do you care? Why do you think you're on the planet? What's your relationship with? God, as you understand it, the planet, your past, and the future. So tell me about yours. Well, it's funny. You've got to remind me of the first two circles because I got the social and I got the, see, I'm already forgetting. This is not a good sign when I'm here for the brain. But my mind was so biological. Okay. Psychological.

Psychological. Social. Social. Spiritual. Spiritual. Great. I feel like I'm just very blessed and, like, resilient in all of those areas, meaning developmentally, no crazy, or biologically, no crazy history of, you know, psychiatric problems.

But biologically, my parents are still alive. Like, you know, fairly healthy family. No big dis-ease history there. socially, like I said, I had friendships since elementary school, my tightest girlfriends, very strong support system there. Socially, just I'm very social. I have a job I love. I feel like very much aligned and on my path.

And it's driven by service and feels good. Like I'm inspired by what I'm doing right now, especially the film I'm making. And that brings me to spiritually, I am as strong and rooted in faith than I've ever been. think some of these, and the right after the fire, actually, like I had, you know, I had kind of a knowing that like the word that I thought of when, because choosing to leave my marriage was very difficult for me. I didn't want to do it, but I knew that it was just the whole ecosystem of my ex's life was no longer supportive of me and just like, in. coherent in general. And I'm just very attuned to my body and energy. And I applied every tool I could.

And I just, there were certain dynamics I couldn't thrive in. I could barely survive. So chose to leave, but that wasn't for lack of love of him. And it just, he handles things very differently from me. And that difference became a problem. So I left. And then the house burned down. And the word that came to me was like liberating. You just accumulate so much stuff in a lifestyle like that. And I knew energetically I was entering a new field, a new chapter. And so it didn't feel like a test per se because I had a lot of really beautiful things. But it just felt like a untangling of the energy of the past. And I had to make that, like let it go. And so right after the fires, I had a beautifully facilitated psychedelic experience. and wherein I understood and had the felt experience of being held by God and understood and had kind of a life review that like everything has been divinely orchestrated from the beginning.

It was, it was intellectual and then it just dropped into like the oneness and the knowing. So I came out of that. I was like, wow, that's profound and a relief and makes total sense. Is that your first psychedelic experience? No, it was the first with that particular medicine, which was Bufo. But like I said, the facilitator was very much in integrity. And she, like, kind of, we had group, like, therapy for getting the nervous system in a very open and safe place. I walked away from that, like, really, it just made sense.

And I just had it just, like, deep into my faith. And then book ended with almost a year ago. I had a breathwork session that, no exogenous substance. And I had like kind of like a reinvigoration of that same concept where I had kind of a conversation with God. And he was like, the bridge is always here. Like everything is divinely orchestrated. Just trust. All I'm asking you to be is present. Like fully present. Everything is provided for you. Just trust. And tune in. You're guided. So I've had this series in the last year or so. And I just feel. And then last night got even

concretized even more through breath work. And it's just wild to me, but it feels like it's activated in knowings that I've had since childhood. And so spiritual bucket and social bucket, like, strong as could be. Did you grow up in faith? I grew up Catholic, both grandparents, on maternal and paternal Catholic, so long lineage of Catholicism. Catholic school? Not Catholic, public school. Public school. But, you know, church every Sunday. Me too. Moncea McGovern. God bless him.

Yeah, I was an altar boy. Oh, yeah. My brother was an altar boy. Did I tell you about my new book? I have a new book coming in, The Neuroscience of the Lord's Prayer. Yes. I'm very excited for it, actually. You know, I'm very interested in this part for you. Okay. Because there's an area of the brain that some people refer to as the God's spot.

Oh. Yours is very busy. Yeah. It's very busy. I'm like, oh, it's so interesting. Well, what does that mean? Say more on that in a good way, or am I crazy? No, you're not crazy.

I mean, we're all crazy, but no, you're actually one of the more normal people I get to see. There's a psychologist in Canada. His name is Michael Persinger. And he puts helmets on people and gives them low, both electrical activity. And when he stimulates the outside of the right temporal lobe, people feel a sensed presence like the presence of God in the room. Generally, as you understand God, so it's right here outside of your right temporal lobe.

And yours is just very busy, which I would lean into. Okay. Now, if it gave you trouble, we'd treat it. Yeah. It's not giving you trouble. So I see it as a blessing. Happiness isn't something that simply happens to us. It's a skill we build. One student said, I was struggling with maintaining a positive mindset before this course, but now I feel more empowered to control my happiness. That's the kind of growth I love to see. because happier brains build better lives. Start the 30-day happiness challenge at Amon University.com. Here's the big idea. If we want to keep your brain healthy or rescue it, if it's headed for trouble, we have to prevent or treat the 11 major risk factors.

And we know what they are. And the World Health Organization just came out and said, half of Alzheimer's disease is preventable. And I've been saying that for 20 years. I wrote a book 20 years ago called Preventing Alzheimer's. How do you do that? You prevent all the risk factors. Bright Minds is the acronym B is for blood flow.

And yours is actually very good, but could be better. Because I can see the traumas that you've had. I'll show you. Our is retirement and aging. You're all 47, so it's compared to me. You're really inflammation. I want you to send me the last. Last labs.

Okay. You did. Because I might want to order more. Okay. G is genetics. You have Alzheimer's and alcoholism on both sides. Oh. At least what I read in your history.

Yeah. Alcoholism on both sides. Alzheimer's for sure on maternal. That means that what that means is you should be on an Alzheimer's prevention program every day of your life. Have you checked your APOE4 gene? I have not. My mom has a single copy. Does that make sense? Yeah.

So we should just check. Okay. And it doesn't mean you do. Okay. Okay. Wow. Yeah. Wow. You're susceptible, yeah. I went to Berkeley my first two years and then I transferred to UCLA. And this mold exposure, I mean, I think all over Southern California and California, there's a lot of moldy buildings. But this was an apartment in the, Santa Monica when I was at UCLA.

Have someone done a urine mold test on you? Yes. It was found, I don't know, like, I'm going to say, 2000, like 15 years ago. I, when I first met my husband, he was going to like some big, you know, kind of fancy concierge doctor in Beverly Hills and had him on all these medications. And I was like, oh, God, well, we got to get you off this, this, this, this, this. So I took him to an integrative cardiologist. and he got a full panel and everything.

And I was like, well, I'm here. I might as well, I don't have a doctor. So I'll just get my whole panel done or whatever. And he called me, the doctor called me. And he's like, you know, we'll go over Alex stuff soon. But actually, like, you tested positive for a bunch of mycotoxins and Lyme disease. I was like, what? Excuse me?

So that was shocking. And we sat down and he showed me everything. and he's like, he resent whatever it was, or he had the Lyme lab of wherever, recheck or confirm. And so he recommended the time because I had resources to go to Germany and do like the three weeks of antibiotics or whatever 15 years ago was like the cool thing to do. And I said, well, let's, I'm willing to do that, but I'm not experiencing any acute symptoms. I have normal like brain fog and stuff like that, but no neural.

neurological symptoms. So let's just like detox the mold and keep an eye on the lime. And so we did that and cleared the mold out of my system. And then the lime was no longer showing up in the test after six months. But there's a difference between you have an active infection. Yeah. Or you had an infection. Correct.

So it was an active anymore. you had an infection at some point. Yeah. Yeah. I'm speaking at the International Lyme Association Conference in a couple of weeks. Like, why do I care about Lyme? Because it makes people have psychiatric problems. Yeah.

And it stays dormant, right? I mean, it's hard to get rid of fully. It can reactivate itself if you're under a lot of stress. So just knowing it's there if you start feeling off. Yeah. To get it checked. Exactly. Better under control.

Yeah. Tell me about the alcohol. Here it is. You knew it was coming. I knew. Well, it's a concern, but it's not a concern. It's like literally my one vice and like, you know, we're those memes on, on Instagram where my girlfriends and I just blow off steam and are silly. And that's like the one thing I use to just relieve pressure from the overactive mind and over.

overachiever pace of life, you know. But I don't like to feel like shit and I like to be super productive and I like my sleep. So I'm, you know, I consider myself moderate, but I'm sure my brain will say otherwise. But I'm like a happy. Anything the American Cancer Society comes out and says you shouldn't drink at all because any alcohol is associated with eight different cancers. I know. I'm like, yeah. I know.

And does it really help you blow off steam? I know. Or does it create more problems? You know, people go, oh, well, I'm just so much less anxious. It's like, yeah, because you're treating the withdrawal from it. You know, when you suppress neurons, well, when the alcohol is gone, they then bounce back. And you go, oh, yeah, I drink because it calms me down. Yeah.

All right, all right. I'm not a fan of drinking a disinfectant. I know. Jim Beam. Did you know this? Jim Beam, the whiskey company during the pandemic turned their whiskey plants into hand sanitizer plants. Just like overnight. One minor formulation adjustment.

Do you know about the microbiome? I do. So you have 100 trillion bugs in your gut. And they're all drunk. And why does my wife, who's a nurse, put alcohol on your skin before she gives you a shot? Kill the bucks. He killed the bugs. I know.

I know. I'm like, it's just a good idea to sort of rethink your relationship. I agree. I agree. And I've been in bad relationships in the past. And I'm not doing it anymore. Yeah. And I'm damn sure not doing it with alcohol or food.

All right. Have you been in bad relationships in the past? I have. I have. And you don't want to do that anymore, right? I will not. No. love yourself.

Correct. Right. Doing the right thing is never about deprivation. That's the one little hurdle we have to get over, right? It's the four-year-old in us that wants what it wants, when it wants it. True. And it wants the habit we've allowed ourselves to do. Got it.

And the teenager. There's the four-year-old and the teenager rebellion that doesn't like to. And when your- Your child's your daughter, right? Seven, yeah. When she was four, she ever had a child. tantrum? Yes. The terrible twos were non-existent, but the fours.

And if you would just give in to her tantrums, would it make them better or worse? Worse. Worse. Right. Because you're creating. Yeah. And when you give into your own internal tantrum, like, no, I want what I want

it. No, this is what I do now. You create your own behavior disorder. Yeah. I see. I see. So it's just being a good parent. To yourself. Yes. Right?

Because ultimately that's what I want to be. Yes. I hear you. I mean, thank God for me when I was 16. I got drunk on a half a bottle of champagne and a six-pack of mecalogue. I was sick for three days. And I'm like, this is not fun. That was it?

And I tried it once more when I was 21. And I'm like, I don't get it. And I'm so happy. And then when you start looking at brains like I do, you really don't get it. Recurring dreams. involved being attacked by Orcas. It's so random. Isn't that random?

Any idea why? I mean, you grew up in Long Beach. I fascinated with Orcas. I love them. And that, like, I wasn't, they never got me, but it was this impending, like, you know. I love Orchus, but yes, they were, that was my one recurring dream. So definitely not depressed. That's the PHQ9.

Clinical Global Inventory, the CGII. not sick at all, right? It's one to seven, you're one. A, it's adverse childhood experiences, one. But that's the worry. I mean, that was not nothing. Yeah, thanks. Right?

And I get a sense if you're with somebody really care about and they become erratic or they give you a look, it can probably cause you to melt. I over give to keep everybody calm. You know, it's exhausting. It's exhausting to have that still wired in your system. So maybe more EMDR could be helpful. Okay.

And now let's look at your skin. Okay. So we do a study called brain spec imaging. Spec is a nuclear medicine study. It looks at blood flow and activity. It looks at how your brain works. And it basically shows us three things. Good activity.

Too little or too much. And then my job is to balance it. So here's an example of a healthy scan. So here we look at the outside surface. Here we're looking at the inside and what areas are busy. Healthy, just full, even, and symmetrical. So top left, we're looking underneath the brain like this, down from the top, one side, and the other side.

And the color doesn't matter. It should just be full even and symmetrical. Okay. Here, the color matters. Blue is average activity. Red is the top 15%. White's the top 8%. So white's like the super active areas in your brain.

And they should be sort of in the back. So this is that area called the cerebellum. It has half of the brain's neurons and typically is the most active. When we look at your brain, beautiful overall, for someone who's 47, except up. What the heck is that hole? So this is a study of blood flow and activity. It's less active than it should be. And these are your temporal loats. They got hurt at some point. The cool thing, it's not permanent. They can be better. If you do what I say, it'll be much better. And if you don't, it'll be worse. I would want to fix it if I was you. Yeah. And,

And so you think of what makes it worse, alcohol, not sleeping, chronic stress, more head injuries. So if you're playing soccer, though, maybe. Time to hang it up. Time to at least not do headers. But this is what's causing your memory problems. Wow. And it's reversible. Okay.

Here's your emotional brain. It's sort of busy. But this is the God spot that I was talking to you about. I sort of like it. But I think of this is probably there's more trauma in there from the divorce, from the fire, from having to be perfect, then perhaps it's good for you. That's what I try to throw the alcohol on. You try to calm it down.

Try to come the white stuff down. It's not working, is what you're saying. Probably if I got you drunk, I did a show once with Lisa Gibbons that won an Emmy. It's called The Truth About. drinking. Okay. We actually got someone drunk on national television. That's wild.

And it calms it down. But the problem is tomorrow it goes back. I was back with a vengeance. I know. Cilocybin works by calming the internal chatter box down. And I could see why with hallucinogens you'd have a spiritual experience, but they probably won't fix anything. Yeah.

And you already said you have similar experience. with breathwork. Yeah. One with side effects, one without side effects. Yeah. Choose the latter. I love breathwork. Yeah. Have you been hypnotized? I don't think so. Because it's a bit like a spiritual experience.

Okay, cool. And what it does is it calms this down and stimulates this. It was a long time ago. You do not have an ADD pattern. Oh, that's good. I mean, you might have some ADD because you live in 2026 and we're always distracted and there's so many things going on. Yeah.

But what did teachers say about you in school? I was their favorite. I'm kidding. No, but I was a very easy student. I was right and got a student. So you didn't have your desk in the hallway? No, no. I was a rule follower.

You should hear the stories we hear. This is today. If you did what I say, this could be your brain next year. Okay. That's why. And who doesn't want to have a better. brain next year. Yes, everybody.

Everybody. Questions? I'm tripping on the hole. That hole right there. That's just an activity hole? It just means there's less activity there than is optimal. Okay. For you.

I'm excited to look like that next time. And so every day, I want you to ask yourself this one question. Okay. Whatever you're going to do, good for your brain or about for it. And then I'll picture this. Yes. And I'm like, okay, Kelly, which brain do you want? I just want you to have that image in your head. It's the decisions, right? It's the thousands of decisions you're going to make between now and next year that will determine the health of your brain. Well, it's very hopeful and exciting that I can regenerate, you know. I tell you about my friend Tarek El Moussa when we did the interview.

Yes, the house guy, the hoarder in the brain. Horder Cockre. His brain was so bad. And as much as I love him, a year later, it was so much better. Wow. Cool. Have you been in a hyperbaric chamber? I have, but I, yeah, I'm excited to do more.

I would want you to go like 30 times. Okay. I'll do it. Find a place close to home. It'll make a huge difference. So the concussions you had in the past, the alcohol, it can reverse all of that. And in the process, don't keep hurting it.

Okay. And sauna, infrared sauna, is that helpful? Neutral. I did a sauna today. Okay. I own one. So that's definitely easy. I think if you go four or five times a week, that's a good thing to help

detox because you have had toxin. Think of me as just someone on your team. Thank you. I care the most about your brain. I know. I appreciate this. Thank you. I'm excited to improve.

Are you taking any, you take some supplements? Well, here's the other thing with me. It's, I get, you know, because of my show, my podcast, like I interview someone and then they send me their whole protocol and they're, you know, to fix cellular energy or whatever. So I have a whole pantry of things and I'm just like, oh, this feels good today. But I take like hair. One of my biggest things is trying to grow my hair. You can tell by the flyways. So omega-3, you should be taking a really good omega-3.

Okay. Multiple vitamin, for sure. Okay, daily multi-emase. And a brain boost. So two packets a day, multiple vitamin, omega-3 fatty acid, and a brain bruise that works in six different ways. I just take two packets a day. Okay.

And then I would also take our happy saffron. I took a bottle of that last time. I would just, did you take it the gummies? Yes, the gummies. Two a day. Okay. It's just a little bit like candy, but it's good for you. Great.

And then we also have something called the aneming gummies. So when you need a drink, take three of those. Okay. Really, when you need a drink, it's just breathe. I know, I know. I love the pattern. I don't know what pattern you use, but I teach my patience the 15 second breath, four seconds, and hold it for a second and a half,

out for eight seconds. Hold it out for a second and a half. So it's a 15 second breath. If you take twice as long to breathe out as you breathe in, immediately calms down. I mean, literally four breaths, which is a minute. He's just like, oh, I feel so much better. Okay. So these are ants, automatic negative thoughts,

the thoughts that come into your mind automatically and mess you up. which of these do you have? Yes. I would say guilt beating for sure, fortune-telling as to like, I mean, even just I have, I had a really negative experience with IVs in when I went in for a lymph no biopsy when I was like 16 and Kaiser pushed my, I don't know if it was lytocaine or whatever they were pushing in my IV before the general. And I thought my whole arm, I mean, it was like the most excruciating pain I've ever felt. And so that's like still in my system.

So when beautiful Nick was trying to give me the IV today and my veins like run and hide if I'm cold or anxious. And so any, you know, my, if I'm activated, like my brain will go to the worst case scenario. He's not going to get it. He's going to have to stab three times. I'm not going to like spiral. So I would say. Fortune telling. Yeah.

EMDR around that one issue can be so helpful. Okay. I'm going to need. Because that was traumatic. And even, and then I breathe, you know, I literally like, he tried the one vein that usually works. We sat outside in the heat so that my veins would actually come back to life. And it didn't work. And I was like, the tears were coming, you know, and I'm like, then the guilt, shame, you know.

I had no idea all that was going on. For and forth Nick's out there with his sunglasses, hands shaking. And I'm calm. I'm just like, I know my body. He went back to get another catheter thing. And I just said, God, I mean, I would have probably ran from my car, but I knew we had to do this. So I just, I calmed down. I was like, look, I am safe.

I thought of my breathwork moment with God last night, that I'm like, I'm completely safe, all divinely orchestrated, just like, I was like, he's going to get this. He's going to get it the next time. And he got it. And it was good. But like, I had to talk myself through that process because this trauma is in my system. Mind reading. I always know all the negative judgments that people are having.

about me. My husband hated it. He's like, why are you putting thoughts in my head? Because I know, I know you're thinking of that. I tell my wife, please don't read my mind. I have enough trouble reading it myself. Hypervigilance, you know. So let's just pick one. What's the worst thought you have? It's really hard for me to accept someone's negative opinion of me or criticism. Like, that feels very threatening to me if people don't like me. I don't know why. trying to put it into a sentence. So the negative thought is, I hate when someone doesn't accept me. If everybody doesn't love me, I am not safe. Have you ever interviewed Byron Katie? I have not. But I've been to some of her talks before. Yeah. I love her. I love her too.

I teach people her work, and I'm better at teaching it than she is. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Okay. If someone doesn't love me, I'm not safe. even as I say that, I feel like that's not. I know that it's at this point, like, people don't like me. People have not liked me and I've been safe. It's just hot. So the first question is, is that true? No. No. So the second question is automatically now. Is it absolutely true? No. No. How does that thought make you feel? Anxious and exhausted, like, and annoyed that I have that thought. And how does it make you act? It makes me overthink everything. It makes me. me censor how I really feel and what I express in the moment to manage everybody's people please people please

manage everybody's opinion of me which again is what's the outcome of having that thought uh exhaustion exhaustion yeah suffering suffering how would you feel if you didn't have the thought liberated how would you act if you didn't have the thought i think that's what i'm scared of i would act like a crazy person because I would actually express what I feel and what if it's not acceptable. I don't know. Do you know what I'm saying? I think I'm afraid of like who I am without a governor on. Well, it's probably important to have a governor.

Yeah. Right? We all have crazy thoughts. Yeah. That nobody should ever hear. I know. I know. Right?

We all have those. It's just important to go, is this helpful? Is it useful? Is it kind? And it's not all or nothing, right? That you have no governor at all or you just have a reasonable governor. At the moment, you have one that's unreasonable. Yes.

One that's harsh. One that's punitive. Yeah. Probably you got that when you were very young because it wasn't safe. Yeah. I think maybe I'd stop saying, oh, I had a great childhood. I think maybe I would like. I know. It was hard. It was stressful.

Yeah. And I had to be perfect. And I don't really want to be perfect. And I for sure don't want Riley to have to be perfect. But you also don't want to swing the other way where everything she does is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Exactly. Finding that. That's not, that'll create entitlement, which is the biggest risk of growing up with someone who's super successful. What's the outcome of not having that thought. Liberation. Yeah, freedom. Authenticity. Freedom. But still with some

thoughtfulness. Yes. Compassion and policy. So let's see opposite of the thought. If someone doesn't like me, it's okay. I'll be fine. I'll be fine. Yeah. That's the opposite.

Do you have any examples of that? I have so many people throughout. I, I I trigger people just from who I am, I'm sure. Yes, there's been plenty of people in my past who have not liked me, not understood me, and I'm okay. And that's what you meditate on. Uh-huh. So I love this so much.

The last question is one of my favorite question. It's like I had a thought, my wife never listens to me. Well, you turn that around to the opposite. She does listen or I never listen to her. It's like, oh, ouch. Yeah. All of these are not facts. They're just meditations.

So if you can take each thought captive, 2 Corinthians 10 to 5, take each thought captive. When you feel sad or mad or nervous, write down what you're thinking and then just go, is it true? Right? Know the truth. The truth will set you free. Your brain will actually be calmer. Yeah. See, if you don't manage.

your mind, you will use substances to manage it. But when you go, you know, I'm feeling really anxious, I should have a drink. Why am I feeling anxious? Do the breathing and then go, what are you thinking? And like, oh, I had that hard interaction today. They didn't love me. We could go on and on. Yeah, yeah.

What a joy to spend time with you. Oh, thank you. You do. Questions? I don't think so. That was so helpful. Yeah. You're doing, do you have an, can you do EMDR on me? Are you booked for the next two years? No. You have no time. You have no time. I kid. I kid. But yes. No. I can help you find somebody great. Great. Who I love. I have a bunch of people. Awesome. But I'm getting myself in the hyperbaric. So hyperbaric and the supplements. So the supplements I'm going to give you, we actually did a

randomized placebo-controlled trial, better memory. Okay, I'm in. So I think, do that, do the chamber. And then let's be friends. Let's be friends. I appreciate you. Thank you. As a psychiatrist, I pay attention to subtle changes because they often tell the biggest stories.

One parent told us, my son started taking Happy Saffron Plus, and within two weeks, he was whistling. around the house and seems so much happier. I love hearing stories like that because when one person feels better, the whole family benefits. Visit BrainMD.com and use the code podcast 20 for 20% off. Thank you for watching. Change your brain every day with me and Kelly Gores and her brain.

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