The Dr. Josh Axe Show
The Dr. Josh Axe Show

5 Signs Your Spiritual Health Is Destroying Your Physical Health | Stasi Eldredge

October 8, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

5 Signs Your Spiritual Health Is Destroying Your Physical Health | Stasi Eldredge

Podcast: The Dr. Josh Axe Show
Guest: Stasi Eldredge, author of Captivating and The Ladder of Love

The Link No One Talks About

Eighty percent of doctors' visits are stress-related. Stasi Eldredge puts it plainly: "As the soul is doing, so the body is doing." She and Dr. Josh Axe argue that spiritual and emotional health is the single most overlooked factor in physical healing—more foundational than diet or exercise. "When we know who we are, when we are at rest, not in fight or flight, when we can actually be at rest in receiving and believing the love of God, then it will change everything."

Why Spiritual Wounds Show Up in the Body

Axe has seen this pattern repeatedly in his practice. He can change a patient's diet and get 50% improvement, but then they hit a wall. "The biggest roadblock is childhood trauma that's never been dealt with," he says. "A lot of Christians think, 'Once I became a Christian, that stuff just went away.' But it doesn't."

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

What you'll learn

  • 1 (02:08) **The Central Thesis** - Dr. Axe introduces the core idea: spiritual breakthroughs and emotional healing are often the missing key to physical health, and brings on Stasi Eldredge, author of *The Ladder of Love*.
  • 2 (03:35) **Identity as the Core of Healing** - Stasi explains that wounds from the past affect every part of our being, and that shifting our identity to who we truly are in Christ is foundational to health.
  • 3 (08:26) **The Foundation: Receiving God's Love** - Dr. Axe and Stasi discuss the transformative power of focusing on how much God loves you, rather than trying to love God through your own effort.
  • 4 (10:37) **Why Women Struggle with Self-Worth** - Stasi explains the unique pressures women face that lead to low self-esteem, linking it to the wounding of their God-given glory and beauty.
  • 5 (12:13) **The Ladder of Love Framework** - Stasi introduces the central metaphor of her new book, explaining how different biblical images of our relationship with God act as "rungs" for ascending in intimacy.
  • 6 (15:47) **The Physical Cost of Spiritual Disconnection** - Dr. Axe connects spiritual health directly to physical conditions like cancer, autoimmune disease, and hormone imbalances, arguing it is the single greatest factor in physical health.
  • 7 (17:43) **The "Door" Exercise and Hidden Barriers** - Dr. Axe shares a personal experience with a healing exercise that revealed a hidden barrier in his connection with Jesus, showing that even devout Christians have areas of disconnection.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Dr. Josh Axe

Show Notes

Stasi Eldredge thought she’d had an ideal childhood—until her husband, John, told her, “You're raging and it's hurting our children.” His honesty sparked a journey toward healing the wounds she hadn’t recognized.


Dr. Josh Axe sits down with Stasi, co-author of Captivating and author of The Ladder of Love, to explore how emotional healing and spiritual breakthroughs connect to physical health—and how reexamining our stories can reshape our understanding of God and ourselves.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Dr. Josh Axe Show

More from this podcast

The Dr. Josh Axe Show →