137. Orthodox Christianity & Alternative Medicine: Yoga, Herbology, Meditation & Jiu Jitsu with Dr. Mike137. Orthodox Christianity & Alternative Medicine: Yoga, Herbology, Meditation & Jiu Jitsu with Dr. Mike
Raised & Redeemed
Michaela talks with Dr. Mike about how Orthodox Christianity intersects with alternative medicine, yoga, herbology, meditation, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. They discuss which practices may fit within the faith, which are best avoided, and how fasting and prayer can reshape a person’s understanding of healing.
1:38:01•16 Sept 2026
Faith, Fasting and Healing: Dr. Mike on Orthodoxy and Alternative Medicine
Episode Overview
- Question whether a healing practice’s physical elements can truly be separated from its spiritual roots before adopting it.
- Fasting and the Jesus Prayer offer Christian-centred alternatives to secular meditation and optimisation trends.
- Yoga, as commonly practiced with its names, music, and underlying worldview, is presented as incompatible with Orthodox faith.
- Herbs and natural remedies can be used within a Christian framework, provided their use does not slip into occult or New Age thinking.
- Martial arts like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can support discipline and growth when stripped of ritualised spiritual elements and treated as sport.
“It's like what people are seeking, you know, all these Christians that are falling away from Christianity because they don't think it has what they're looking for for healing. It's because they're following a fallen form of Christianity and not the fullness of the faith.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol, trauma, and spiritual confusion—and then rebuild on a completely new foundation? Raised & Redeemed brings that question to the front as Michaela Nikolaenko chats with Dr. Michael Christian Kuhn about Orthodox Christianity and alternative medicine. You’ll hear Dr.
Mike trace his path from being a sickly child misdiagnosed with cystic fibrosis, to growing up with a naturopath father, to becoming a health sciences doctor immersed in paleo, ancestral diets, and martial arts. Along the way he bumps into yoga, meditation, herbology, and psychedelics—and starts asking a huge question: can you really separate the physical from the spiritual in these practices?
He explains how discovering the ancient Orthodox fasting rhythm and the Jesus Prayer reshaped his entire view of health, shifting him from evolution-framed ancestral fitness to a Christ-centred approach. Some practices, he argues, can be "baptised" into the faith—like using herbs for healing or treating Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a disciplined sport rather than a spiritual system. Others, like yoga and reiki as commonly taught, he sees as too spiritually entangled to safely mix with Orthodox life. Dr.
Mike also shares how books by Fr. Seraphim Rose and other Orthodox writers answered his questions about society, nihilism, and the meaning crisis that often drives people toward substances, new age spirituality, and extreme therapies. Throughout, the conversation keeps circling back to discernment: what helps you move toward Christ and genuine healing, and what quietly pulls you away?
If you’re wrestling with how to care for your body while safeguarding your soul—especially after addiction or new age experiences—this chat offers plenty to ponder and practical questions to ask. How might your own health routines look if they were fully aligned with your faith?
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