Finding Serenity and Health with Dr. Donna Chacko, MD
Dr. Donna Chacko is Dr. Brad Miller’s guest on Episode 214 of “The Beyond Adversity Podcast.”
She is a medical doctor and an author who overcame several obstacles in her life, both professionally and personally. She focuses on strengthening health in these three aspects – the mind, body, and spirit. She also established the Serenity and Health Ministry, which focuses on the pursuit of attaining an abundant state of health. In addition to that, she is the author of the book “Pilgrimage: A Doctor’s Healing Journey.”
The challenges that Dr. Donna had to overcome in her life were something that no one could have predicted. People thought of her as an excellent doctor with a great family. In reality, she has had quite a long and difficult marriage. At the time, her faith was lost and inactive. She eventually realized that she wouldn’t be able to fix it herself. She didn’t know what to do and worried that the situation would significantly affect her children.
She surrendered herself to God and let him lead. She remained in her marriage because she was under the impression that this was what God wanted her to do. They attempted to improve their relationship by attending marriage therapy, but to no avail.
Episode 214 of The Beyond Adversity Podcast is for those who wants to improve their mind, body, and spiritual health as well as those who wants to achieve abundant health.
In this episode, Dr. Donna discusses in detail the challenges she has faced throughout her life and explains how she has overcome them. She talks about her problems in marriage, family, and her connection with God. She also talks about what she can offer the people.
“The Beyond Adversity Podcast with Dr. Brad Miller is published weekly with the mission of helping people “Grow Through What They Go Through” as they navigate adversity and discover their promised life of peace, prosperity, and purpose.
https://www.serenityandhealth.com/
Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1643886525
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/serenityandhealthdc
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DonnaChacko
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnachacko/
Transcript
Dr. Brad Miller here on Beyond Adversity. This is the podcast where we
Dr. Brad Miller:are all about helping you. You the good folks that are listening to the
Dr. Brad Miller:audience who find yourself in some adverse life condition. And we look
Dr. Brad Miller:to help you to grow through what you go through. And we love to talk to
Dr. Brad Miller:folks who have done that themselves who have encountered some
Dr. Brad Miller:adverse life event, found their way through it, and then have somebody
Dr. Brad Miller:to teach to you. Today we have a special guest with us Donna Chacko.
Dr. Brad Miller:She is the author of Pilgrimage: A Doctor's Healing Journey. Her website
Dr. Brad Miller:is serenityandhealth.com. She is a medical doctor, who has gone
Dr. Brad Miller:through a series of challenges in her life and her personal life and
Dr. Brad Miller:other things that you walk. She's in her walk in life. But now, she is
Dr. Brad Miller:all about promoting health, body, mind, and spirit, answer and call
Dr. Brad Miller:and it's founded the ministry, serenity, and health, which is all
Dr. Brad Miller:about helping you find abundant health. Donna, welcome to Beyond Adversity.
Dr. Donna Chacko:Thank you, Brad, very, very happy to be with you today.
Dr. Brad Miller:Awesome to have you with us, Donna. You have quite a story to tell.
Dr. Brad Miller:You are a medical doctor, you've been rich. It means that you have a
Dr. Brad Miller:calling in your life to help people make their lives better and their
Dr. Brad Miller:physical health at least. But I know in your life, according to your
Dr. Brad Miller:story and your book, and what you have to share, things have not
Dr. Brad Miller:always gone smoothly for you and your own right. And that's impacted
Dr. Brad Miller:how you serve others. Let's hear just a little bit about the story of some
Dr. Brad Miller:of the adversities that you have faced. And then we'll talk a little bit
Dr. Brad Miller:about what you did to move out of that to help others. That's every bit of your story.
Dr. Donna Chacko:Okay. You know, it's interesting, my adversity wasn't so visible on the outside.
Dr. Donna Chacko:I think it appeared probably to outsiders that I was a successful doctor, big,
Dr. Donna Chacko:lovely home, the beautiful children. But my adversity, so to speak, was a very
Dr. Donna Chacko:long and difficult marriage, and so it took me years to learn from that. But as
Dr. Donna Chacko:I was going through it, I just became more and more desperate. I wasn't active
Dr. Donna Chacko:in my faith at that time. I had let my childhood faith go because I was
Dr. Donna Chacko:very, very busy, always too busy. That was my problem, I think. And in
Dr. Donna Chacko:the relationship, of course, it was difficult for me, but my huge pain was
Dr. Donna Chacko:worrying about the kids that are three daughters. I just couldn't seem to
Dr. Donna Chacko:do anything to change the trajectory of the marriage, it was very dysfunctional.
Dr. Donna Chacko:It was very dysfunctional in the home. And this was not a short lived
Dr. Donna Chacko:problem. Unfortunately, this went on. And it eventually took me to my
Dr. Donna Chacko:knees, it took me back to God. It just made me realize I couldn't fix this.
Dr. Donna Chacko:And I just I really didn't want to get a divorce, I consider that I went
Dr. Donna Chacko:to the lawyer. it was just a period of great crisis and quandary for
Dr. Donna Chacko:me. And the action, you know, I finally just got to the point where
Dr. Donna Chacko:the pain was unbearable for me and the worry about the kids. And
Dr. Donna Chacko:I had no solution. And I reached the point where I just turned to God
Dr. Donna Chacko:and desperation and said, Okay, I give, you know, I surrender. I'm going
Dr. Donna Chacko:to come back to you, and we're going to have to let you be in charge.
Dr. Donna Chacko:And especially the hard part was let him be in charge of the girls
Dr. Donna Chacko:because I felt like I had heard God tell me I was supposed to
Dr. Donna Chacko:stayed married. So if I stayed married, then we would still be in
Dr. Donna Chacko:the home. And so the big quandary for me was what about the
Dr. Donna Chacko:girls? How would they how would they be if the relationship
Dr. Donna Chacko:continued and I stayed married? I that was my decision. And that's what I did.
Dr. Brad Miller:So you had this dilemma then between staying in the marriage and
Dr. Brad Miller:you know, the marriage and the whatever toxic nature whatever was
Dr. Brad Miller:going on in the marriage, you were concerned about how that was
Dr. Brad Miller:impacting your children. So this is a real dilemma on several different
Dr. Brad Miller:levels, wasn't it? It is really in your life and you and your husband and
Dr. Brad Miller:you and your children and your children and your husband and I'm sure
Dr. Brad Miller:it had some impact in your professional life. So you were in turmoil were you not?
Dr. Donna Chacko:That's about it.
Dr. Brad Miller:And so that impacts everything. You said that you went to your knees.
Dr. Brad Miller:Tell me about that seminal moment that defining moment. There had to
Dr. Brad Miller:be a defining moment there Donna, where it was just kind of like okay,
Dr. Brad Miller:this is the breaking point. Wait, something's gotta give here. What was
Dr. Brad Miller:some of the circumstances surrounding, as you say, to her knees?
Dr. Donna Chacko:Yeah. Well, my dilemma became more acute when I started to realize that
Dr. Donna Chacko:God, when I started realized, I thought he really did want me to stay married,
Dr. Donna Chacko:that I didn't have an escape here, right? And so there were several things that
Dr. Donna Chacko:happened not acutely, but over, I don't know, many months, actually three
Dr. Donna Chacko:specific things where my husband did something positive way out of line
Dr. Donna Chacko:with how he might otherwise have done.. Like, for example, go with me to
Dr. Donna Chacko:a second retrovirus marriage retreat. That's like a very, very stepped up
Dr. Donna Chacko:version of Marriage Encounter for marriages, throwing a rock, for him to go
Dr. Brad Miller:was pretty intense, pretty intense marriage therapy
Dr. Donna Chacko:Pretty intense. Now, we didn't get much out of it, but he agreed to go.
Dr. Brad Miller:Okay.
Dr. Donna Chacko:And then another thing happened, we had an ongoing crisis for at least a
Dr. Donna Chacko:year, because two of our three girls were not baptized, and I was bringing
Dr. Donna Chacko:them back into the church, and he didn't want them to be baptized in the
Dr. Donna Chacko:church. He wanted them to be baptized at home, and this just became an
Dr. Donna Chacko:insoluble crisis, because I'm Catholic, and the priest said, The Baptism has
Dr. Donna Chacko:to happen in the church. And, you know, I'm wailing, what do you want me
Dr. Donna Chacko:to do? You know? And then he agreed, just out of the blue, and there was
Dr. Donna Chacko:another thing similar to that. And I just felt like, oh, my gosh, that means
Dr. Donna Chacko:something. Those are three things that I wish I could ignore that I can. And
Dr. Donna Chacko:anyway, it was it became clear to me somehow that that was God's
Dr. Donna Chacko:message to me, that I was trying to ignore him, but that I was supposed
Dr. Donna Chacko:to stay married. So I made that decision and trusted him with my girls. And
Dr. Donna Chacko:I when I wrote the book, and I mean, this, I was very aware of this at the
Dr. Donna Chacko:time, but when I wrote the book, I I realized, Oh, my somewhere in the process
Dr. Donna Chacko:there, I realized that oh my gosh, that's like Abraham, as that's how I felt like
Dr. Donna Chacko:Abraham. Like I was putting my girls like here on the altar, I hope.
Dr. Brad Miller:Oh, okay. Abraham and Isaac story. Okay.
Dr. Donna Chacko:Abraham and Isaac
Dr. Brad Miller:All right.
Dr. Donna Chacko:Abraham and Isaac. Yeah, that's how it felt. I mean, it was really it was really,
Dr. Brad Miller:it's pretty intense.
Dr. Donna Chacko:It is pretty intense, it was pretty intense.
Dr. Brad Miller:Your girls old enough to be tunneled. So they were aware. And they were
Dr. Donna Chacko:they were aware
Dr. Brad Miller:that some form or another involved with this conversation, is that correct?
Dr. Donna Chacko:With with, yes,
Dr. Brad Miller:Around the baptism, and around all this intensity in the family, they were
Dr. Donna Chacko:Yes,
Dr. Brad Miller:somehow involved with it as well. So
Dr. Donna Chacko:They could not be shielded from that. No, of course. They were going along
Dr. Donna Chacko:with joining the church. It wasn't something they grew up with. So they were
Dr. Donna Chacko:going along with it, and I won't say with a great deal of enthusiasm.
Dr. Brad Miller:Okay,
Dr. Donna Chacko:but once I made that decision, and just put divorce out of my mind. In our
Dr. Donna Chacko:home, things got calmer. The relationship improved somewhat. But there
Dr. Donna Chacko:were we unfortunately, we had several major health crises. And the worst
Dr. Donna Chacko:health crises was that my husband was diagnosed with a pre-leukemia
Dr. Donna Chacko:that turned into leukemia. And within a few years after this, he died.
Dr. Brad Miller:Oh, my goodness.
Dr. Donna Chacko:So it was like, what does that mean to God?
Dr. Brad Miller:Yeah.
Dr. Donna Chacko:It was confusing and challenging. And so now
Dr. Brad Miller:you have to come to terms not only with, you know, your dilemma,
Dr. Brad Miller:but your marriage, but you've got the health crisis, which led to death.
Dr. Brad Miller:And I have to believe there was the emotional turmoil and perhaps,
Dr. Brad Miller:you know, guilt or some other emotions that were embroiled here. Is
Dr. Brad Miller:there. Is there anything to that?
Dr. Donna Chacko:Oh, absolutely.
Dr. Brad Miller:Okay.
Dr. Donna Chacko:Absolutely. The guilt and the huge confusion kind of came after he died.
Dr. Donna Chacko:When he was sick, I will say that's it fit into my need to stay busy and
Dr. Donna Chacko:do so I had a defined purpose to take care of him and try and hold the
Dr. Donna Chacko:family together. You know, it was very
Dr. Brad Miller:kind of task oriented, kind of you have turned on your professional, you know, mode
Dr. Donna Chacko:Wifely mode to just be with him too. And he became an easier man
Dr. Donna Chacko:during the illness and there was some healing in our family. During
Dr. Donna Chacko:the illness and and it's just so strange how that is. Those six weeks
Dr. Donna Chacko:at home when he was in hospice, it was summer and all my girls were
Dr. Donna Chacko:home. And there was some healing
Dr. Brad Miller:in sounds like, in a way that was a time of blessing and healing
Dr. Donna Chacko:in a way, kind of
Dr. Brad Miller:in that amazing Oh, that sometimes works out that way. So now you're
Dr. Brad Miller:in a better place now, Donna, that's evident and you've written this book,
Dr. Brad Miller:and you've done other things here. So what were you say, in your own
Dr. Brad Miller:heart of hearts? You know, you mentioned the turmoil in your marriage
Dr. Brad Miller:and health and all this other family dynamic stuff, you know, the church
Dr. Brad Miller:related things as involved here as well, you were feeling pressure for
Dr. Brad Miller:your priest and so on, at least, you know, in the sense of, I'm, as a pastor
Dr. Brad Miller:myself, I'm aware about the dilemma about public and private baptism
Dr. Brad Miller:confirmation. So you had all that going on. But what was what do you
Dr. Brad Miller:think are some of the decisions that you made in your heart of hearts,
Dr. Brad Miller:that changed you to be able to have a much more sense of direction
Dr. Brad Miller:or discernment or peace about what you were about? What are some
Dr. Brad Miller:of the actions that you took?
Dr. Donna Chacko:Well, the biggest one was to allow God back into my life, and make
Dr. Donna Chacko:that relationship a priority to give him some time in my life, which I
Dr. Donna Chacko:never had time for myself or for God, for that matter of trying to be
Dr. Donna Chacko:a full time working mother with children, and in a not so great
Dr. Donna Chacko:relationship with it wasn't really a partnership. So I made that a
Dr. Donna Chacko:priority. And I kind of started fresh again, with trying to figure out
Dr. Donna Chacko:my beliefs. Making sure now had an adult faith that I was choosing
Dr. Donna Chacko:to believe in God to believe in Jesus to be a Christian, that I want
Dr. Donna Chacko:to return to the Catholic Church or some other Christian church,
Dr. Donna Chacko:and I felt really comfortable returning to the Catholic Church eventually.
Dr. Donna Chacko:And it wasn't just returning to church, though it was your journey to
Dr. Donna Chacko:community and participate, participation and having relationships
Dr. Donna Chacko:I had never had, for so long, have that sort of thing, the deep, intimate,
Dr. Donna Chacko:special holy relationships where you talk about your faith in your future,
Dr. Donna Chacko:oh, my gosh, it was just like, so, so supportive, and
Dr. Brad Miller:wonderful, you're part of a community, then that was helpful to
Dr. Brad Miller:you and your transformation as well. And it sounds like you really felt
Dr. Donna Chacko:I started having a prayer practice.
Dr. Brad Miller:Okay, that's awesome. So that's probably why I want to get out, get
Dr. Brad Miller:out with you, as you made some decisions to change in your own
Dr. Brad Miller:heart of hearts, you know, your heart softened towards your husband
Dr. Brad Miller:and, or changed, you know, in terms of acceptance that you were
Dr. Brad Miller:going to stay married. And you went through the process of health
Dr. Brad Miller:declining and death and dying process, and dealing with your
Dr. Brad Miller:daughters in the church and all that, and you've made this decision
Dr. Brad Miller:to turn to a life of faith to be helpful to you. So you saw how
Dr. Brad Miller:transformation really happened when you you know, really made
Dr. Brad Miller:an intentional connection with something greater than yourself.
Dr. Brad Miller:Tell me how that it becomes now a part of what you teach and
Dr. Brad Miller:what you're about to others? Is this a significant part of what you
Dr. Brad Miller:share with others about how they folks if they want to have true
Dr. Brad Miller:peace and transformation, and they have to connect with a
Dr. Brad Miller:higher power something greater than themselves?
Dr. Donna Chacko:Well, yes, the short answer is, you know, my emphasis has always
Dr. Donna Chacko:been health because I'm a doctor. But what I learned through my
Dr. Donna Chacko:own journey, and through all that, I studied after my husband died,
Dr. Donna Chacko:and I retrained in primary care and then I worked in the inner city,
Dr. Donna Chacko:and I learned so much about stress and how it devastates health.
Dr. Donna Chacko:I learned the science of all that and and I had burnout myself which
Dr. Donna Chacko:was a very difficult and what I came to understand is how health is
Dr. Donna Chacko:an abundant, authentic, full health. If we who are blessed with faith,
Dr. Donna Chacko:if we can base our health on the art, the foundation of our faith, and
Dr. Donna Chacko:if we can throw in there an effort to have emotional health to think
Dr. Donna Chacko:about that, and to think about our health habits or lifestyle. And if
Dr. Donna Chacko:we're active in our faith and have a community it all works together
Dr. Donna Chacko:to create this some you know, what I call abundant health.
Dr. Donna Chacko:We have a purpose and meaning the path. We have trans
Dr. Donna Chacko:community, goals, challenges. it's just It works very it's a
Dr. Donna Chacko:wonderful way to celebrate health
Dr. Brad Miller:So abundant health, it seems like when I'm understanding, it has
Dr. Brad Miller:to do with the integration of be intentional about your, you know,
Dr. Brad Miller:your health, about those types of things, your physical body, your
Dr. Brad Miller:physical self, your emotional well being, as well as the spiritual life.
Dr. Brad Miller:And if you have some balance, or at least of integration of those
Dr. Brad Miller:things, that gives you the opportunity for abundance in, in your
Dr. Brad Miller:health, in your in everything in your life. Is that a fair kind of
Dr. Brad Miller:assessment of what you're all about?
Dr. Donna Chacko:Yes, I think so. And it's a big change from the way I was trained,
Dr. Donna Chacko:you know, I learned health is defined thing. It's an absence of
Dr. Donna Chacko:disease, and patients come and they tell you their problem, and
Dr. Donna Chacko:then the doctor makes the diagnosis and gives the treatment
Dr. Donna Chacko:then you go on to the next patient. Well, I don't see health like
Dr. Donna Chacko:that. I mean, I look at it in drastically different way now. You know,
Dr. Brad Miller:I'm sorry, that means you changed, you've changed some of
Dr. Brad Miller:your practices that you've done, you know, in your own your
Dr. Brad Miller:own health protocols and your own protocols. And then that's
Dr. Brad Miller:what you're teaching others? What about what are some of the
Dr. Brad Miller:disciplines or practices, health wise, prayer wise anyways, that you
Dr. Brad Miller:do that may be different now than what your lifestyle was before?
Dr. Brad Miller:Because you've mentioned burnout a couple of times. You've
Dr. Brad Miller:mentioned stress a couple of times, you've mentioned how there
Dr. Brad Miller:was, you know, physical health factors with your husband and
Dr. Brad Miller:other things going on? What are some practices or disciplines that
Dr. Brad Miller:are that you have now that you would never different than what you had before?
Dr. Donna Chacko:Okay, well, the biggest is that I allow time and make time with God
Dr. Donna Chacko:a priority every day, in my prayer practices. And everybody has their
Dr. Donna Chacko:own preferences, I have found incredible benefit from quiet prayer.
Dr. Donna Chacko:And it's like the meditation I it's called the practice, the Christian
Dr. Donna Chacko:meditation that I follow is called centering prayer. And my mind
Dr. Donna Chacko:had been going too far too fast for too long. And so this prayer
Dr. Donna Chacko:allows me to slow down and really surrender myself as best I could
Dr. Donna Chacko:to God for you know, a set period of time, once or twice a day as I
Dr. Donna Chacko:progressed through. So that was one dramatic thing.
Dr. Brad Miller:So to slow down, take time. Okay, good. Got it.
Dr. Donna Chacko:Yep, the other I call my on the go prayer. But this has been miraculous,
Dr. Donna Chacko:to be honest. It's kind of like the Jesus Prayer or trying to pray sisisly
Dr. Donna Chacko:which never made much sense to me, and but I read this book
Dr. Donna Chacko:called Sacrament of the Present Moment, a little book written
Dr. Donna Chacko:in the 1700s. And I got to thinking about each moment. And, if
Dr. Donna Chacko:somehow, each moment you could somehow, you know, tune in,
Dr. Donna Chacko:and listen to people and listen to God. But that's hard, of course.
Dr. Donna Chacko:So I started saying, just a brief phrase, my lord, oh, my God, of
Dr. Donna Chacko:course, it's from the Bible. And in beginning, I would just kind of
Dr. Donna Chacko:force myself to say that, like, if I was upset, or anytime I could
Dr. Donna Chacko:remember, right? But the goal was to use that prayer as an anchor
Dr. Donna Chacko:to bring me back to the moment, to bring me back to God anytime
Dr. Donna Chacko:I felt angry, irritated, judgmental, impatient, whatever, and it
Dr. Donna Chacko:come to find out that happens many, many times, in my world.
Dr. Donna Chacko:And so I'm forever saying that prayer. And when I say miraculous,
Dr. Donna Chacko:it's because it became automatic. I don't have to think about it
Dr. Donna Chacko:anymore. This is the the really miraculous thing if I just start to
Dr. Donna Chacko:think about some negative thought about that person over there,
Dr. Donna Chacko:this makes me crazy. It just popped into my head, my Lord, oh my
Dr. Donna Chacko:God. And so it brings me back to God, it brings me back to the
Dr. Donna Chacko:moment and, and I just, those two prayers have really made me
Dr. Donna Chacko:just less reactive than I used to be.
Dr. Brad Miller:That's also goes to the one aspect of prayer as your you know, kind
Dr. Brad Miller:of defined very intentional, quiet time and so on, that you, you know,
Dr. Brad Miller:you I teach, you know, have a quiet time in place, and tools to use and
Dr. Brad Miller:that type of thing in your prayer life. But the other thing is kind of
Dr. Brad Miller:applicable to whatever you know, it's something called Jesus Prayer
Dr. Brad Miller:to say the word Jesus or something like that. Other principles for you
Dr. Brad Miller:can you know, some people use like a other trigger, like I used to
Dr. Brad Miller:keep a rubber band on my wrist and snap it once in a while to try
Dr. Brad Miller:to be a reminder to pray or to something else that would be alive.
Dr. Brad Miller:And that's awesome. So those are two really great takeaways there
Dr. Brad Miller:about how to pray and how that helps to give you centered in your life.
Dr. Brad Miller:If and that's a great thing, but now you're teaching others. And it seems
Dr. Brad Miller:to me you're teaching others Donna, out of a real sense of you. You've
Dr. Brad Miller:established a ministry, for instance, that is all about this abundant about
Dr. Brad Miller:abundant living. And you are all about this process here. And so what
Dr. Brad Miller:are you teaching people in your book, in your website, through your
Dr. Brad Miller:ministry, what are you offering to people that can be helpful to them
Dr. Brad Miller:to learn how to your experience about how to have abundant health
Dr. Brad Miller:and their health in their life?
Dr. Donna Chacko:Well, the, you know, I talk about on my in my blogs, and anytime I get a
Dr. Donna Chacko:chance, I talk about the various aspects, the steps that people need, or
Dr. Donna Chacko:can take towards health towards serenity, health and closeness to God
Dr. Donna Chacko:and the fact that we have so much more power over our health than
Dr. Donna Chacko:we will admit. So healthy habits, slowing down, the prayers, I mentioned,
Dr. Donna Chacko:participating in a church, understanding that we can't be spiritually
Dr. Donna Chacko:healthy if we're not emotionally healthy. And I didn't mention but
Dr. Donna Chacko:one of the practices that helped me get through some of my whole
Dr. Donna Chacko:mess and in writing the book was is psychotherapy, not giving it the
Dr. Donna Chacko:day being on the receiving end. So in my website, and all I sometimes
Dr. Donna Chacko:do open programs at my church, and they're on the website, there's
Dr. Donna Chacko:your path, online program that people can sign up for, that's free. And
Dr. Donna Chacko:just to get ideas on what steps you can take, and we're all different. So
Dr. Donna Chacko:some people, they might start their healing process with the daily walk.
Dr. Donna Chacko:Some people might start with the daily mass, some people may start
Dr. Donna Chacko:playing the piano, I don't know. But you know, there's so many ways that we can
Dr. Brad Miller:to do something and you have some
Dr. Donna Chacko:Yes, take it, if you're stuck, you've got to, you know, to see a change,
Dr. Donna Chacko:you have to make a change. And it might just be should be start a tiny
Dr. Donna Chacko:step of some kind or another. And because the mind and the body and
Dr. Donna Chacko:the spirit are all connected, you know, if you just keep with it. Eventually,
Dr. Donna Chacko:you'll start to feel better. At least that's what I think
Dr. Brad Miller:That's awesome. That's awesome. So people could find this type of
Dr. Brad Miller:information at your book, Pilgrimage: A Doctor's Healing Journey, and
Dr. Brad Miller:in your website's serenityandhealth.com. I got a feeling Donna, there
Dr. Brad Miller:has been some people that you have worked with, or either in your
Dr. Brad Miller:practice or through your book, or through your teaching, through your
Dr. Brad Miller:workshops, and so on that you've seen a change happen. So let's talk
Dr. Brad Miller:for a minute about a person or a situation, maybe you've where you've
Dr. Brad Miller:seen some transformation take place with someone who basically
Dr. Brad Miller:following what you teach. Yeah, so tell me about that.
Dr. Donna Chacko:Well, I guess I'm thinking of one particular woman that came to the
Dr. Donna Chacko:very, very first program I ever had at church. When I introduced
Dr. Donna Chacko:Serenity and Health, and it was a six week, small group program to
Dr. Donna Chacko:work through these various topics that I've just talked about.
Dr. Donna Chacko:And she, like, so many others, you know, with stressed and and
Dr. Donna Chacko:worrying, this seems to be the most common thing that I see is just
Dr. Donna Chacko:stress and worry and anxiety, of course, now, we're all like that, in a
Dr. Donna Chacko:way with the world being the way it is. But anyway, we need all these
Dr. Donna Chacko:practices more than ever is that is the message there. But anyway,
Dr. Donna Chacko:back to her. She participated in that program fully. And she tried
Dr. Donna Chacko:different things. And I started doing some centering prayer and thinking
Dr. Donna Chacko:about the God centered mindfulness piece. And she's continued to be
Dr. Donna Chacko:active in the programs that I have had. And of course, also became a
Dr. Donna Chacko:good friend along the way. But she said that people that work with tell
Dr. Donna Chacko:her Oh, my goodness, you're, you know, you're the most calm and patient
Dr. Donna Chacko:person I ever knew. And she said I wasn't like that before. So she has found
Dr. Donna Chacko:that's just some more serenity. I remember another lady who would that I
Dr. Donna Chacko:don't know as well, but just it was so stressed out at work. The pressure,
Dr. Donna Chacko:and this was pre COVID. Yes, in a hospital actually. And the thing that
Dr. Donna Chacko:helped her was just to start a breathing practice. And she would even go
Dr. Donna Chacko:into the bathroom and when she was just so tense, trying to recognize
Dr. Donna Chacko:the tension in the body so that you can do something about it, you know,
Dr. Donna Chacko:some sort of body awareness. So she started to be aware when she was
Dr. Donna Chacko:going down that road. And she would go into the bathroom and practice
Dr. Donna Chacko:her slow breathing. And it was something that she a portable therapy she
Dr. Donna Chacko:could do anytime, any place it really helped her.
Dr. Brad Miller:So some practical things and some indications there some testimonial
Dr. Brad Miller:stories that you have that are really, really great. So Donna some great,
Dr. Brad Miller:great stuff here for people to check out. Tell us how people can get
Dr. Brad Miller:connected to you if they want to get connected to you, where they can
Dr. Brad Miller:find your book, and what kinds of resources they can find on your website
Dr. Brad Miller:if they want to get connected to what you are all about Donna.
Dr. Donna Chacko:Okay, well, I invite all of you to come and look at my website. It's all a
Dr. Donna Chacko:free volunteer effort. I don't charge for anything and I never share emails
Dr. Donna Chacko:or have ads. But on there, there's a blogs on various topics about mind,
Dr. Donna Chacko:body spirit, because it all goes together. And there's some wonderful I
Dr. Donna Chacko:call them pop up conversations with just some really interesting people
Dr. Donna Chacko:whose whose life either work or their personal life is all wound up in their
Dr. Donna Chacko:face. And there's a lot to be learned there. And as I mentioned before, you
Dr. Donna Chacko:could sign up for the your path online program. I'd love to have you sign up
Dr. Donna Chacko:for my subscription list where you would get one or at the most two emails a
Dr. Donna Chacko:month. And if you sign up we'll send you three keys to how to have a wholly
Dr. Donna Chacko:happy and healthy life.
Dr. Brad Miller:That sounds awesome. Well, that's a great resources here. Her name is
Dr. Brad Miller:Donna Chacko, that is spelled D,O, N, N, A and then Chacko is
Dr. Brad Miller:C, H, A, C, K, O. And her website is serenityandhealth.com and
Dr. Brad Miller:her book, Pilgrimage: A Doctor's Healing Journey. She is all about
Dr. Brad Miller:helping you to find your healing path and it would have been a
Dr. Brad Miller:pleasure to have her as our guest today on the Beyond Adversity
Dr. Brad Miller:podcast with Dr. Brad Miller. Thank you for being with us.
Dr. Donna Chacko:Thank you Brad.