The Doctor Who Prescribes Stilettos | How one physician rewrote the rules of healing

Let me tell you about a doctor who used to write prescriptions for three-inch red stilettos and hotel getaways instead of antidepressants. Dr. Andrea Best, a holistic psychiatrist who's been practicing medicine for three decades, had patients lining up at her Beverly Hills office—not because she was handing out easy fixes, but because she was asking the question nobody else was asking: "What does your body actually need to heal?"

When I sat down with Dr. Best for the Shaping Freedom podcast, she shared something that made me sit up straight. This woman has created a framework that helps everyone from Google executives to third-graders access their natural healing systems. Her approach isn't about adding more supplements or treatments—it's about clearing away everything that's blocking your body from doing what it already knows how to do.

"Every cell knows how to heal," she told me. "They know how to integrate and work together. My job isn't to fix you—it's to help you figure out what needs to be removed so you can access the intelligence that's already there."

Here are three insights from our conversation that completely changed how I think about stress, healing, and what it means to listen to your body:

1. Your gut is making decisions about your life—and you don't even know it.

Dr. Best broke down something most of us never think about: when you're stressed, your entire digestive system shuts down. Your body literally cannot absorb nutrients properly when you're in survival mode. But here's where it gets interesting—your gut produces 90% of your body's serotonin. So when your digestive system is compromised by chronic stress, you're not just dealing with bloating or stomach issues. You're dealing with depression, anxiety, and brain fog.

"Your gut is your second brain," she explained. "When there's inflammation in your gut from stress, processed foods, or emotional upset, that inflammation travels directly to your brain. Your mood, your decision-making ability, your energy—it's all connected to what's happening in your digestive system."

This is why she started writing those unconventional prescriptions. A patient would come in feeling depressed, and instead of immediately reaching for medication, Dr. Best would assess their entire system. Sometimes the answer was a prescription for alone time, sometimes it was instructions to get outside and put their feet on grass, sometimes it was literally to go buy something that made them feel beautiful and alive.

"I could write on the prescription: go buy some three-inch red stilettos, go stay in a hotel, get away from your kids," she said. The point wasn't the stilettos—it was helping people remember they had permission to nourish themselves.

2. You're probably operating in crisis mode and calling it normal.

Here's something that stopped me cold: most of us are living in what Dr. Best calls "high beta" brain waves—basically a constant state of emergency—and we think that's just how life is supposed to feel. Your adrenals are pumping stress hormones, your nervous system is on high alert, and your body is literally preparing for danger that isn't actually there.

"High beta is when we're doing, doing, doing and super stressed about it," she explained. "That's not enjoyable work. That's overwhelm. And your adrenals are pushing out so much cortisol that it's causing inflammation throughout your entire body."

But here's what's wild: when you shift into what she calls "alpha" brain waves through breathwork or meditation, everything changes. Your lymphatic system starts draining properly, your hormones rebalance, your creative thinking comes back online. The same tasks that felt overwhelming suddenly become manageable.

The solution isn't working harder or pushing through—it's learning to recognize when you're in crisis mode and knowing how to shift out of it. Even two minutes of intentional breathing can move you from survival to creativity.

3. The divine shows up when you do the work.

This might sound mystical, but Dr. Best is a scientist who's spent decades measuring this stuff. She told me something that gave me chills: "100% of the time, if you do the program and you're open to the process, something greater flows through. My piece is telling the science, teaching the meditations, creating the nutrition plan. But what they receive beyond that? That's the divine doing all the work."

She's not talking about magic—she's talking about what happens when you clear the noise and create space for your body's natural intelligence to function. When you address the brain fog with proper nutrition, calm the adrenals with stress management, and heal the gut with mindful eating, you literally create the conditions for insight, creativity, and healing to emerge.

"I don't give you anything you don't already possess," she said. "My job is to irritate and agitate areas of dormant potential, gifts you didn't know you had."

This is what sets Dr. Best's approach apart from conventional medicine. She's not trying to manage your symptoms—she's trying to remove the obstacles so your body can remember how to be healthy, your mind can access clarity, and your spirit can guide you toward what you actually need.

The next time your body sends you a signal—the afternoon energy crash, the Sunday night anxiety, the weird gut feeling about a decision—don't reach for a quick fix. Ask yourself what Dr. Best would ask: "What needs to be cleared so I can access the intelligence that's already here?" Your prescription might not involve stilettos, but I chances are it won't look like anything you can find in a pharmacy either.

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

• Your gut controls your mood more than your thoughts do. Chronic stress shuts down digestion and serotonin production, creating a cycle of physical and emotional dysfunction.

• Crisis mode isn't normal—it's optional. Learn to recognize high beta brain waves and shift into alpha through breathwork to access creativity and calm.

• Healing happens when you clear the obstacles, not add more fixes. Your body already knows how to heal—you just need to remove what's blocking its natural intelligence.

Learn More

• Explore the BAG Framework: Learn more about Dr. Andrea Best's Brain-Adrenals-Gut approach through her workshops and individual consultations.

• Experience Dr. Best’s retreats: Discover her personalized retreat experiences designed for specific life transitions and healing needs.