When the Body Speaks: Functional Medicine & Somatic Wisdom with Dr. Kaeri Schaefer

Kaeri Schaefer brings us “collaborative understory medicine”—a root-cause, relational approach that treats symptoms as body communication. Today we cover Kaeri’s path from family medicine residency to functional medicine, bodywork, and somatic practice, and how this reshaped the way she supports “chatty” bodies (often highly sensitive nervous systems).

Throughout the episode we discuss how money and medicine intertwine—including the role of financial privilege, the tension with insurance, and what it took for Kaeri to launch a nonprofit clinic and later step away to practice more freely. We discuss practical somatic cues around money stress (chest, jaw, pelvic floor), how space and environment affect care (natural light and color matter), and why relationship—not hierarchy—creates safety and better outcomes. I’m grateful for Kaeri’s grounded wisdom and the gentle pace she models for truly listening to our bodies.

Meet Dr. Kaeri Schaefer

Kaeri Schaefer, MD is a healing provider integrating functional medicine, bodywork, and somatic practice. Trained at the University of Wisconsin and board-certified in Family Medicine, she blends clinical rigor with deep listening, describing her approach as “collaborative understory medicine.” Her additional training includes functional medicine through the Institute of Functional Medicine, craniosacral and osteopathic studies with Carol Gray and Christopher Frothingham, DO, and decolonial medicine coursework with Dra. Rocio Rosales Meza.

Kaeri’s work centers relational, consent-forward care and longer visits that allow the body’s communications—not just “symptoms”—to be heard. A mother of two, magical queer cis-womyn, and intuitive healer, she honors inner knowing and self-honoring action as pathways for personal and collective healing. She has led accessible care initiatives, including a nonprofit model committed to not turning anyone away, and now practices in a way that supports her clients—and herself—to feel grounded and radiant.

Episode Highlights

Introducing “collaborative understory medicine”
From “loud bodies” to “chatty” nervous systems
Naming financial privilege and its impact on career choices
Why 20 minutes isn’t enough: pace, safety, and trust
Ditching “non-compliant” medical approaches to center consent and collaboration
Moving beyond labels in medical care
Somatics of finance: locating money stress in the body
Reframing shame as systemic grief and longing for equity

Keywords

#Somatics #FunctionalMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #BodyCommunication #TraumaHealing #NervousSystem #MedicalBurnout #AccessibleCare #MindBodyConnection #FinancialWellness

Resources

Website

Embodied Anatomy course

The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, & Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté

Click here to watch our interview on Youtube

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