How do we talk about depth in healthcare without relying on overused language that no longer says much? In this episode, James and Devynne explore words like holistic, root cause, and adrenal fatigue—terms that are everywhere in modern healthcare but whose meaning is often assumed rather than examined.
April 27, 2025
Shen & Shenanigans
Ask Better Questions
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Episode Notes
How do we talk about depth in healthcare without relying on overused language that no longer says much?
In this episode, James and Devynne explore a conversation that has been unfolding quietly in their clinical work for years. Words like holistic, root cause, and adrenal fatigue are everywhere in modern healthcare, but their meaning is often assumed rather than examined.
This isn’t about policing language or dismissing other approaches. It’s about slowing down and asking better questions: What do these terms actually point to? How do they shape patient expectations, treatment relationships, and the way care unfolds over time?
What We Explore
- Why common healthcare buzzwords can obscure individuality rather than clarify it
- The difference between surface-level diagnosis and truly individualized assessment
- How standardized protocols and “party trick” medicine miss lived experience
- Why lab results and external metrics don’t always reflect how patients actually feel
- The practitioner–patient relationship as a primary source of insight
- What changes when treatment is responsive instead of scripted
- How burnout develops slowly — and why it can’t be undone overnight
- Helping patients reconnect with their own body awareness rather than outsourcing it
- The value of asking better questions — and finding practitioners willing to answer them
For Patients & Practitioners
This episode is for anyone questioning whether care can go deeper than symptom management — and for practitioners reflecting on how language shapes the way we listen.
For patients, it’s a way to listen for what matters when choosing care. For practitioners, it’s an invitation to consider how presence, timing, and attention influence outcomes more than protocols.
Key Takeaways
Meaningful care unfolds through conversation, presence, and attention — not predetermined plans.ling and care.
Buzzwords often stand in for real thinking. Ask practitioners what they mean when they use them.
Individualized care isn’t a protocol — it’s a relationship that responds to how you show up.
Your body’s feedback matters. External tests are useful, but they don’t tell the whole story.
Good practitioners welcome thoughtful questions. If they don’t, that’s important information.
Topics:
Show Transcript
TRANSCRIPT – Episode 4: Ask Better Questions
[00:00:00] OPENING
Devynne: We’re even wearing different clothes today. Normally we both have our black hoodies on.
James: Did that on purpose too.
Devynne: Oh, I did not. I just—
James: Changed the hoodie. Shaved a little bit. Freshly pulled back hair.
Devynne: I straightened mine.
James: Yeah. Look at you. Alright.
Devynne: All right. So Shen & Shenanigans, episode four. I don’t even know where we’re at. I think episode four. Let me double check.
James: I believe it’s episode four.
[00:01:00] TEA & UPDATES
Devynne: I think we decided one of the things we were gonna do—I lost myself. Hang on. I can no longer see me, man.
James: Acupuncture’s fantastic for finding yourself.
Devynne: There I am. Alright, go. Good talk. I think with this one we were talking about starting with a little—giving the tea that we’re drinking a little bit more of a platform as well as just some clinic updates and weekly wins and those types of things before we dive in too far with our topic.
Today we picked—we’re on an oolong kick right now, so anybody watching this is gonna know that we are once again talking about oolongs. Today we’re drinking Sun Kiss Oolong, which is just a nice—we’re enjoying the lightness of it in transition into spring. It’s also a little fruitier. I think it smells like Captain Crunch. I just discovered that today.
James: Share what the ingredients are in it. We don’t have to read all of them, but what’s the highlight?
Devynne: So oolong, hibiscus, rose hips, malva flowers—which was something that like, I don’t really know what that is—and raspberry pieces. So it’s a little tart, little sweet. It’s a nice light flavor. The color is also very light, if you can see that. But yeah, oolong is making us feel like legit acupuncturists in our tea drinking instead of just banana bread, which is one of our favorite favorite teas.
James: Available at Nerdy Girl Tea.
Devynne: Yeah. That’s our other hat with the tea. So yeah, we’ll drop it in the comments.
[00:04:00] CLINIC UPDATES & NEW PODCAST
Devynne: We started another podcast in case you didn’t know that. The gym hat of what we do—its own space to grow. We’re expecting there to be some overlap in conversation, but while we’re expecting to get into a little bit of mindful movement and things within this space, we also wanted to give CrossFit its own container. Refining 33 is where we’ll be covering more CrossFit and fitness, still mindset and life oriented, but through a different lens than just the acupuncture and medical side of what we do.
James: There’s no real clinic updates. Patients are doing well. It’s nice to see patients reaching goals and life shifting for them. Things are going well in the clinic. There’s been some topics come up that we probably won’t touch on today, but some stuff that—just make sure you’re building a good team around you. That includes your acupuncturist, of course, but also make sure that the people that are on your team are supporting you.
[00:05:00] THE MAIN TOPIC: BUZZWORDS IN HEALTHCARE
Devynne: So I guess that sort of leads into the topic today. How do we communicate the real depth of what we do without getting lost in buzzwords like “holistic” and “root cause”? It’s a conversation we’ve been having behind the scenes for years.
James: The issue is that words have meaning, but over time, they lose it. “Holistic” gets thrown around so much that it doesn’t actually mean anything anymore. Same with “root cause.” Everyone’s looking for the root cause, but what does that actually mean?
Devynne: Right. And I think part of what we’re cautious about is how language shapes expectations. If someone comes in thinking we’re gonna find the one root cause and fix it, and that’s not how bodies work—
James: It’s not that simple. And honestly, we’ve gotten to a place where we call it the “party trick.” Like you can go to a party and diagnose because 95% of the room has spleen deficiency. 65% probably have liver qi stagnation. The guy in the corner with a migraine probably has liver yang rising. It’s not that simple. That’s where your brain starts.
[00:15:00] BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS
Devynne: Are you sensitive to gluten? Maybe. And dairy? Obviously you’ve worked it out of your diet and you feel better on it. But there’s still something going on. It doesn’t make it not real, but can we look a little deeper?
James: Can we look a little further into it and say, okay, what else is going on? Why? What’s going on in your life? What kind of things can we shift and change? Can we sit and have a conversation and dig into things a little bit deeper and make a plan that goes beyond swallowing pills to get you to feeling better?
I had one patient recently who had all the lab work done, hadn’t gotten the results back yet, came in the door and just told me how great he’s feeling. Then the lab results came through and they were a little better, but not as good as he would’ve liked. But he was feeling better. And the point is—feeling better is feeling better. It’s not dependent on something coming back on a piece of paper.
Devynne: Right. I’ve had people come in and ask, “What kind of exams are you gonna run?” And I’m like, I am the tool. The main diagnostic tool is us, the practitioner. And that’s part of what we’re so used to—if we don’t see it, they can’t, it’s…
James: My favorite is, “How did you sleep last night?” And they’re like, “Well, my watch says I slept no…” Really? Like, do you have an opinion?
[00:30:00] LISTENING & CONNECTION
Devynne: A lot of the work is helping patients reconnect with themselves, right? Instead of this external thing. I don’t wanna tell you how you’re feeling today, but I do want to give you feedback—like, yeah, I think things are moving in the right direction and X, Y, Z. And at the same time, how do you feel? Have you ever stopped to think about it?
Speaking of adrenal fatigue—one night’s sleep is not gonna recover you burning the candle at both ends for 20 years. From all the years of softball, student athlete, I was getting gray hair as a child. We didn’t know anything about this world at that time, but as we started studying, it was like, yeah, your reserves. And it took years of changing things. You can’t just pour into a bucket and then kick it over your shoulder. At some point you’ve gotta start spending less than what you’re getting.
I use the phrase “life tired” with a lot of my patients. Yeah, you’re sleeping, you’re eating, you’re moving your body. Why am I still so tired? It’s because for the last 10 years you’ve been running yourself into the ground. I’m glad we’re making some changes and adjustments, but that’s just not gonna go away overnight. You gotta give yourself time.
[00:45:00] ASKING BETTER QUESTIONS
James: The thing is, if you have questions, ask them. If a practitioner doesn’t want to answer your questions, they’re not the right person for you. I truly believe that.
Devynne: Ask what they mean by “getting to the root.” What does that mean to you? How should they be answering?
James: Ask good questions so you don’t have to ask Google so many questions. The words to live by in our clinic is ask me anything you want to, and if you do, go ask Google. Come back and ask me about what Google said because you’re not in this alone. You don’t have to solve it yourself. Find people that will help.
Devynne: This falls under why we wanted to start the podcast in the first place. These are conversations that you and I have around the clinic. And when we talked about sitting down and recording stuff, it was like, yeah, we get into some places. So let’s talk about it and see what happens. If you have questions, drop ’em in the comments below, and we’ll do our best to answer them.
James: Check out Refining 33. It’s not all CrossFit. It’s gonna be a lot of CrossFit, but it’s really about life stuff. And a lot of these conversations will layer in over there in a different way. But it’ll be interesting to explore those ideas too.
Devynne: If there’s any curiosity and interest in just movement—there’s following some Facebook groups for the area. A lot of people have home gyms and they’re trying to move better. And if you are doing any sort of weightlifting or just have a regular movement practice, that podcast is gonna be a lot of fun for you. Some of the philosophy behind movement and different approaches and peace.
END OF EPISODE
Jing Shen Healing Arts