From Gastroenterology to Game Beyond the Game: Rediscovering Dreams, Healing, and High-Performance Living

In this episode of Roots of Healing, Dr. Siri Chand Khalsa speaks with Dr. Leybelis Padilla, a gastroenterologist, lifestyle medicine physician, and co-founder of Game Beyond the Game. Together, they explore what happens when a physician realizes she’s stopped dreaming and what it takes to reclaim vision, purpose, and a life that feels truly aligned.

Dr. Padilla shares the moment of awareness when she realized that becoming a physician had quietly become the end point of her dreaming. From there, she takes us through her journey of self-development, mindset work, and courageous career shifts. From Navy hospital GI practice to locums, to founding Unlocking GI, a telemedicine practice rooted in her 4M framework: Medicine, Meals, Mindset, and Movement.

They also dive into her work with her husband, Prince who was once a professional athlete, through Game Beyond the Game, where they host intimate, luxury events to help high performers reconnect with their vision, values, and inner landscape beyond career achievements.

Whether you’re a clinician who feels stuck on autopilot, a high performer navigating relationship and identity shifts, or someone who suspects you’ve quietly stopped dreaming, this conversation offers language, tools, and inspiration for beginning again.

If you're inspired by our exploration on Routes of Healing, a physician-led podcast that brings forward the unique voices and lived experiences of lifestyle and integrative doctors, subscribe to get new episodes shared with you weekly.

• Realizing: “I had stopped dreaming” after becoming a physician
• The power of being given permission to dream again
• How self-awareness and mindset work opened new paths in medicine and in life
• From Navy hospital GI practice to locums to building Unlocking GI
• The 4M Framework: Medicine, Meals, Mindset, Movement as pillars of digestive and whole-person health
• Functional vs. inflammatory bowel disease, and how lifestyle and nutrition fit in
• Why culturally sensitive nutrition matters (and why rice and beans aren’t the enemy)
• Creating Game Beyond the Game and luxury mindset events with her husband
• Relationships, co-regulation, and the behind-the-scenes work of growing together
• Why physicians need spaces to be seen as whole humans, not just roles
• The cost of autopilot in medicine—and how to step off the conveyor belt

00:00 — Cold Open: “I had stopped dreaming.”

00:37 — Welcome to Roots of Healing

02:34 — “Is that me?” Owning Your Story on Paper

03:13 — Childhood Curiosity, Nutrition, and Early Seeds of Medicine

05:49 — CTE, the NFL, and Advocating for Family Through the Medical System

09:11 — From Internal Medicine to Gastroenterology & Loving the Big Picture

14:40 — Navy Hospital, IBD Clinic, and Constraints in Federal Systems

17:40 — Tony Robbins, Landmark, Dispenza: Entering the World of Self-Development

20:42 — Visioning Exercises & The Moment She Realized She’d Stopped Dreaming

24:28 — Game Beyond the Game: Intimate Events for Mindset, Vision & Wealth

27:04 — The Power of the Five Senses, Community, and Being Seen

30:33 — Loneliness, Connection, and Community as Medicine

32:11 — Partnership, Communication & Co-Growth in Marriage

38:54 — Physicians, Autopilot,...