Can you be both a scientist and a mystic? In this extraordinary episode, Professor Selena Bartlett speaks with Dr. Anona Blackwell — a Lancet-published academic, former consultant physician, and author of From Medic to Mystic — about the turning point where evidence-based medicine no longer had all the answers.

Raised in rural poverty in Wales and rising to the heights of British medical academia, Dr. Blackwell quietly navigated a parallel world of intuitive experiences, energy healing, and psychic insight. For decades, she kept this side hidden. Now, at 75, she’s sharing it all — and helping rewire our understanding of medicine and healing.

In this conversation, we explore:

· The moments science couldn’t explain — and why she couldn’t ignore them

· How trauma, intuition, and healing intersect in clinical settings

· The courage it takes to speak about the unseen in a sceptical world

· Why the future of medicine must integrate both body and energy, logic and intuition

Dr. Blackwell’s story challenges the idea that you must choose between science and spirit. Instead, she shows us that healing lives at the intersection of both.

Her memoir, From Medic to Mystic, is available now.

https://www.amazon.com/Medic-Mystic-Academic-Physicians-Paranormal/dp/1068511001

Listen and discover what it really means to rewire medicine.

Support the show

Subscribe and support the podcast at
https://www.buzzsprout.com/367319/supporters/new
Learn more at www.profselenabartlett.com

In the rush to do more, fix more, and be more, we often forget the simplest truth:

When I sat down recently with Amanda Cooke—poet, writer, and creator of Reunion Songs—what unfolded wasn’t just an interview. It was a reconnection. A weaving back into something ancient and alive. Something that felt less like conversation and more like song.

A song that belongs to all of us.

Amanda Cook is a writer, poet and songwriter who grew up wild on Yuggera Turrbal country (Brisbane) and spent much of her adult life in cities far from home. After 25 years away, including six years in the middle of nowhere, she found herself back near where she began—realising that living wildly is not about escaping, but about remembering and reclaiming the life she longs for.

Her writing is rooted in everyday freedom, sacredness, mysticism and practical animism. Through poetry and personal essays, Amanda explores what it means to belong—to ourselves, to each other and to the greater web of life. When she is not writing, Amanda is close to home with her family, immersed in books, art, nature, music, poetry or dancing—anything that reconnects her inner and outer wildness.

The Beauty of Remembering

Amanda describes her book not in chapters, but in song cycles. Because the poems didn’t arrive in a straight line, they emerged like ripples. Whispers. Threads in the greater tapestry of the natural world—the web of life—calling her back to herself.

“The name Reunion Songs came from the joy of remembering. Remembering that I belong—not just to myself, but to the Earth, to others, to everything I thought I had lost.”

This isn’t just poetic language. It’s a biological truth. We now know through neuroscience that connection rewires the brain. That being seen, supported, and attuned to can restore nervous system balance. Being in nature, or even just thinking about it promotes a sense of calm.

Amanda’s poem Restoration Song captures this beautifully:

Take off your shoes now, you here in this body— the body of the Earth rising up to meet you, saying yes. This is where you belong. It’s never too late to remember what you’ve been waiting for.

What if healing is not something to achieve, but something to allow? What if it’s already here—beneath your feet, within your breath, in the rhythm of your heartbeat?

For Educators, Carers & Everyone Holding It Together

If you’re someone working on the frontlines—whether in a classroom, clinic, kitchen, or courtroom—this message is for you. You don’t need to push harder. You need a moment of grace. Amanda’s work in youth justice and my own work in neuroscience agree: people are not machines. We are relational, rhythmic beings. And we heal through connection, not perfection. Let Amanda’s words hold you, even if just for a moment:

“You’re doing a great job. What you do matters. Let yourself be held too.”

If you’re longing for a softer, wiser way to walk through this life, here’s where to begin:

• Listen to Amanda’s episode
• Read her poetry collection Reunion Songs (Amazon or ask your local shop)
• You can buy the book www.amandacooke.com
• Subscribe to her Substack: Alchemy in Between
• Substack link:https://amandacooke.substack.com/amandacooke.substack.com

Step outside. Take off your shoes. Let the Earth say yes to you again.

Support the show

Subscribe and support the podcast at
https://www.buzzsprout.com/367319/supporters/new
Learn more at www.profselenabartlett.com

When we visit the doctor, we routinely measure blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, weight, and heart rate. For years, we’ve known that early life experiences—especially stress and adversity—leave long-lasting marks on the nervous system. But we rarely stop to ask: How can we see those marks?

That’s where the eye comes in.

Why the Eye Reveals the Brain

The corneal nerve plexus is a dense network of sensory nerves at the front of the eye.
It’s part of the peripheral nervous system, which connects directly to the brain.

Emerging research shows that these corneal nerves reflect the state of the broader nervous system, including:

• Stress load
• Inflammatory markers
• Neurodegenerative changes

In other words:
When we look at the eye, we’re not just seeing vision structures—we’re seeing a living map of how the brain and body have been shaped over time.

I had the fortunate opportunity to do study leave at UC Berkeley in the School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, a research project with Drs Katie Edwards and Luisa Holguin Colorado and Kerri Gillepie at QUT and Dr Suzanne Fleiszig and Dr David Evans at UC Berkeley.

Why Isn’t Nervous System Analysis Routine?

Here’s the bigger question.

When we visit the doctor, we routinely measure blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, weight, and heart rate.
But the nervous system—the control center of our entire body—is rarely assessed in standard care.

Why?

We know that chronic stress increases risk for mental illness, metabolic disease, cardiovascular conditions, and cognitive decline. We know that early life stress reshapes neural pathways and immune responses.
Yet we lack accessible, affordable, and scalable tools to routinely check the health of the nervous system.

That’s what makes the eye so exciting. It offers a non-invasive, real-time window into nervous system health—and a chance to shift medicine toward prevention and early detection, rather than just reacting to crisis.

In this episode we discuss:

• How the eye reveals hidden stress
• What we’re learning about the links between early life adversity and neural health
• Why public engagement is critical as we develop these new tools

This is a conversation not just for scientists, but for everyone who cares about mental health, brain health, and the future of healthcare. I’d love to hear what excites or concerns you about this emerging field. When we truly see how early life shapes the brain, we can no longer treat people as just symptoms or diagnoses.

It opens a new kind of care:
Asking what happened to you? not just what’s wrong?
Making nervous system health part of routine care
Prioritising prevention, resilience, and healing

By measuring the hidden imprints of experience, we can design treatments that help rewire the brain, not just manage symptoms.

This isn’t just science. It’s a transformation in how we care for people.

Let’s build that future, together.

Support the show

Subscribe and support the podcast at
https://www.buzzsprout.com/367319/supporters/new
Learn more at www.profselenabartlett.com