We’re spotlighting Shop member Barbara and her new practice, GoodImmunity, a coaching and therapeutic yoga practice that brings together science, lifestyle, and individualized care.
Barbara is a physician-scientist who has spent decades working in prevention and virus research. She also runs the Vaccine Safety Initiative, a nonprofit research institute she has operated out of The Shop for nearly ten years. Through GoodImmunity, she’s building on that experience to help people focus on the things that can get overlooked in busy lives, including energy, sleep, focus, movement, and everyday habits.
Get to know Barbara, learn more about the thinking behind GoodImmunity, and find out how to connect with her below.
Meet Barbara: GoodImmunity Q&A
You have been a member here for a while. What are you doing now that is new?
I started GoodImmunity, a coaching and therapeutic yoga practice. Tailored one-to-one sessions on the things that quietly slip when everyone is busy: energy, sleep, focus, movement, and how the day is actually built. I see people here at The Shop or online.
Some members will remember you from before. What were you doing then?
Much the same, and still am. I run the Vaccine Safety Initiative, a non-profit research institute, and I have run it out of this space for nearly ten years now. Some of you may know that I am a physician-scientist who weathered Ida and Covid here with the hard core who kept turning up, and who has taught yoga on the rooftop now and then. I did my first 200 hours of yoga teacher training here in New Orleans, during Covid. As we all know, people who had Covid fared very differently, and that is true for other infections as well. GoodImmunity is not a departure from any of that. It is the result of my increasing interest in viewing disease prevention holistically, bringing together all the things I have learned and researched, and making them available to my clients individually. At the same time, I enjoy innovating and depolarizing: bridging the gap between conventional medicine and holistic, integrative practices. These two aspects of healthcare belong together, as they support each other.
You are a physician and a scientist. Why coaching as well?
Because of what I kept seeing missing. Medicine is very good at the moment something goes wrong. It is much less good during the long stretch before that, where most of a life actually happens. I have spent decades on prevention and virus research, and the longer I do it, the clearer it becomes that what people most need is not another instruction. It is time, attention, and someone who listens properly. Everyday healthcare has no room for that. Coaching and therapeutic yoga do. Dance therapy does. I am also more and more interested in science-informed, highly individualized complementary practices.
What is the training behind it?
I trained in Advanced Yoga Therapeutics in Healthcare at Stanford School of Medicine, a 300-hour program that completed my 500-hour yoga teacher registration, and in health coaching on their NBHWC-approved program. Before that, I trained in lifestyle and wellness coaching at Harvard Medical School, which is what sparked my interest and sent me looking for the deeper training. I also mentor Stanford’s incoming yoga teacher cohorts, and I am co-writing a book chapter on yoga for children on the autism spectrum.
What actually happens in a session?
We talk, and I listen, and between us we work out what you want to change and what would make that change hold. Sometimes there is movement or breath work. Sometimes there is not. Sometimes I invite you to try something new, or to explore what is needed if you wish to make changes in your home or family setting, or at work. It is collaborative rather than prescriptive, and it is coaching rather than medical care. With GoodImmunity, we catch the observations that often fall through the cracks in hectic, routine healthcare encounters. Here, we have time to help you connect the dots.
Where does the name come from?
I came up with the name during Covid. I became more and more interested in the immunological and lifestyle parameters that influenced disease severity. The immune system is a complex network of interactive, regulatory and feedback pathways in our body. A growing body of scientific evidence shows that what we do in daily life can positively influence and balance these mechanisms.
A good immune system that does its job is rarely noticed. It learns from every encounter, remembers what matters, and knows what to let be and when to respond. We only notice the instances when it fails to protect us fully. Then there are situations where it overreacts: allergy and autoimmunity, for example. Restraint is the intelligence. It is fascinating: a good life works the same way, and that is the whole idea behind GoodImmunity.
The wellness world is crowded. How is this different?
We call it wellness, without the woo-woo. We are creating a healthy space where science and lifestyle interact. I recommend what is evidence-based and what works for the person in front of me, wherever it comes from, conventional or traditional, without prejudice either way. And I am not anti-doctor. I am a doctor.
Tell us a few things that would surprise us about you.
I have danced my whole life, and when in New Orleans, I have trained with the New Orleans Ballet Theatre. I am also a ski instructor. Movement was never a program I took up. It is just how I have always been in the world. I am grateful to my parents for making me crave movement and music by setting healthy habits early on. Not everyone is that lucky, but it is never too late to start.
And something from the research that stayed with you?
There is a study where volunteers were given a cold virus under careful medical supervision, with full consent, and then watched. The people with a narrow social world got sick considerably more often than those with a wide one. Friends, it turns out, are part of the immune system. I think about that one often.
How can members find you?
Our website is goodimmunity.com, and I have a Substack, goodimmunity.substack.com, where I write about the GoodImmunity philosophy. You can book a session through the website, or, to take advantage of the Shop member special, use the QR code on the flyers here at The Shop.
Also, I am at The Shop on Wednesdays from 2 to 3 for office hours. No booking, no charge, no obligation. Come by and ask me what any of this means, or email me at barbara@goodimmunity.com.
Learn More About GoodImmunity
GoodImmunity offers one-to-one coaching and therapeutic yoga sessions, each an hour long, at The Shop or online. Built on decades of experience in medicine and science, along with advanced training in health coaching and therapeutic yoga at Stanford, the practice focuses on the parts of everyday life that can get squeezed when work gets busy: energy, sleep, focus, and movement.
Shop members can learn more or book a session at goodimmunity.com. You can also stop by Barbara’s office hours at The Shop on Wednesdays from 2 to 3 p.m. No booking, no charge, and no obligation. To take advantage of the Shop member special, look for the QR code on the flyers around The Shop.
Follow Barbara’s writing on Substack or contact her at barbara@goodimmunity.com.