In this heartfelt episode of Hear in Step Wellness, Mei Liu and Dr. Jengyu Lai sit down with Suzanne Koepplinger, the early funder and champion who helped them secure seed grants to launch the very first Lotus Health Foundation Community One Symposium and gala more than 10 years ago. Together, they reflect on those beginnings and how that “risky bet” on community-based, whole-person care has grown into a movement for healing justice and community wellness.
Suzanne shares her journey from leading the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center to directing the Catalyst Initiative at the George Family Foundation, where she focused on integrative health, cultural healing, and supporting grassroots leaders closest to community needs. She explains how historic trauma, toxic stress, and “soul wounds” show up in Indigenous communities and beyond—and why funding must honor community-defined practices, from traditional foods and ceremony to elders and healers in residence.
Mei and Dr. J connect this to their own work at Lotus Health Foundation and lifestyle medicine, discussing how our healthcare system overvalues procedures, undervalues conversation, and often treats disease instead of promoting wellness. They talk about burnout among clinicians and nonprofit staff, the need for self-care and forgiveness, and practical ways organizations can support nervous system regulation and resilience so they can better serve their communities.
If you care about health equity, Indigenous and community-led healing, or the story behind Lotus Health Foundation’s beginnings, this conversation will inspire you to see wellness as both individual and collective work—built one relationship, and one soul, at a time.
Join the Online Lotus Health Community:
https://lotushealthfoundation.org/lotus-community
Tickets for the Community of Wellness Symposium & Gala on April 9-10, 2026 in Rochester, MN are available at:
https://lotushealthfoundation.org/wellness-symposium-gala
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