From Stethoscope to Paintbrush: How Dr. Vasu Tolia Heals Through Art

What if healing wasn’t just about medicine, but also about color, creativity, and self-expression? Meet Dr. Vasu Tolia, a tenured pediatrician who swapped her stethoscope for a paintbrush—proving that healing doesn’t always come in the form of prescriptions. In this episode, we explore her fascinating journey from a high-stakes medical career to a flourishing second act as an award-winning artist.

Dr. Vasu shares how art became her unexpected path to mindfulness, emotional resilience, and even scientific validation—because, yes, neuroscience backs up the power of creativity! We talk about how art can transform trauma, boost mental clarity, and even help neurodivergent minds find peace. Plus, hear the heartwarming story of an autistic child’s reaction to her work that will leave you speechless.

Whether you consider yourself artistic or not, this episode will challenge you to rethink creativity as a tool for healing and self-reliance. So, grab a cup of tea, settle in, and let’s explore why a little bit of color might just be the thing your soul needs most. 🎨✨

Join us at Preparedness Pro in our Facebook Group or on our blog where you'll find peaceful, practical preparedness advice every day of the week!

Transcript

From Stethoscope to Paintbrush: Dr. Vasu’s Journey of Healing Through Art
Kellene: [00:00:00] Welcome to Preparedness Pro, where being prepared isn't about fear, it's about freedom. I'm your host, Kellene, and every episode we explore the peaceful principles of preparedness and self reliance. No gloom, no doom, just practical solutions for everyday living that help you become more independent and prepared for whatever life brings your way.
From kitchen skills to financial wisdom, emergency planning to sustainable living. We're building a community of capable, confident people who understand that preparedness isn't about preparing for the worst. It's about being free to live your best life regardless of what comes your way. So whether you're starting your preparedness journey or you're a seasoned pro, you're in the right place.
Welcome.
Hey, everyone. Good morning to you. This is Kellene, the Preparedness Pro, and I'm ready to share another great episode with you. We're gonna go a little bit more Zen today, , with our guest. We have Vasu Tolia, Dr. Vasu Tolia, as a matter of [00:01:00] fact. And Vasu has done something very interesting that I think most of us would never think to do.
She left a very prolific career as a doctor and she has embarked on an artistic journey instead. She's a self taught artist. After retiring from the medical field, she was in the medical field for over 40 years. Her work serves as a bridge between diverse life Sciences and her passion for visual arts and through her art.
She seeks to help with healing and she likes to capture the essence of humanity and nature and the ever evolving world around us. She aspires to translate. Intangible thoughts and emotions, individual narratives. And I think that really helps a lot of times with our views, , to interpret and connect to their perspectives.
I think sometimes . We have these unique perspectives that we don't really connect to. We don't really [00:02:00] claim ownership of, but her artistic journey is one that's centered her greatly and her mission extends to capturing then, all the beauty around us in the universe.
And she finds that to be very healing and it's very. Well backed by science as well. And we're gonna talk to her about that today. Not that I really expect anybody to carry paint brushes and paint in their go bag. But perhaps in the meantime, while you're so busy and focused on preparing for life's curveballs.
Maybe it'd be a good idea to take a step back periodically and to center yourself and to get back to the real purpose in your life. You know, your faith, your family the priorities in your life that means something to you, your north compass. Instead of always being so busy preparing for this and getting meals on the table for this and running errands for this, maybe if we took a moment to just Take a step back, [00:03:00] center ourselves, get back to who we know we are and focus it on that on a more eternal perspective rather than just right here and now.
So Vasu, thank you so much for being willing to be on this show with us. This is going to be a really interesting journey that we're going to have today. 
Vasu: Thank you, , Kellene, for having me on your show. I'm really looking forward to the conversation and I like the term centering ourselves. 
Kellene: Yeah, I think that's what I think of when I think of you and our previous conversation that we've had.
Now, you've had this incredible journey. from being a tenured professor in pediatrics to becoming an artist whose work promotes healing. Was there a defining moment for you? Some kind of aha moment where you knew that you had to trade the stethoscope for the paintbrush? 
Vasu: I wouldn't say that there was a single aha moment when I realized this is when I exchanged rates, but it was a [00:04:00] gradual awakening.
 Like medicine was my first love and healing has always been my purpose. But when I stepped away from clinical practice, I initially explored music, even learning to play the harmonium, singing, but it was painting that truly spoke to me. And There were days when I found myself completely immersed in color, form, projecting emotions, that I lost track of time in a way that felt very meditative.
And that was very calming for me. That aha moment, I felt myself healed. And then I realized that I could still heal, but just through a different medium. 
Kellene: Yeah, it's interesting. So many of us are in need of healing, and we don't realize it. My mom says that you never know how sick you are until you try and get better.
So until you've had an experience where you [00:05:00] just truly, like I go to our temple and I feel healing. Or when I pray if I'm praying in earnest and not just praying so I can check it off my list. I find healing there, but so often people are so busy in their life that they don't go. Hey, I need to do some healing work.
I need to heal my spirit. That's just overwrought with the world today. And I'm just really impressed that you had that experience and that you're sharing this message with everyone. When you do, you know, with your medical background does that shape your artistic vision? Do you ever criticize your and diagnose your paintings like you once did your patients?
Vasu: Absolutely. I'm so glad you asked that question. As a physician, I was trained to look beyond the obvious, to see the patterns, connections, underlying causes. Even in the interactions with the family, and the same analytical [00:06:00] yet intuitive approach translates into my art. I find myself diagnosing emotions in my paintings, much like I would read between the lines of a patient's symptoms.
My medical background also makes me deeply aware of, like, color psychology, science of chromotherapy, and how composition can influence a viewer's mood. So I try to apply Some of these things, but yet, intuitively, not following the traditional principles of how art is made, et cetera, because I never went to an art school, but I think overall the things fall in place and when they look like they have fallen in place, I call that painting done.
Kellene: Nice. That's nice to be able to say, okay this segment of healing is finished. That's wonderful. How refreshing that must be. As you know, we talked about this before in the preparedness world, mental resilience is everything. How has [00:07:00] your work, both in medicine and art, taught you about the power of mental preparedness and facing challenges?
Vasu: It's the mindset, the mental preparedness that to be able to face and deal with whatever comes in your way so that you can come out as whole as possible, whether that experience is exhilarating or it's traumatic. The resilience is something when you deal with an adverse situation, but still come out ahead.
If not better than what you were that's what I call resilience. And both these things, like there is an, an absolute joy, something that you cannot describe. When you see a patient or a parent's face when their child is healed 
Kellene: in 
Vasu: the medical world. And the same way, if I see a viewer in a gallery of my [00:08:00] show at the reception if they are studying one of my paintings and I go and chat with them and they tell me it reminds them of this and that and all that is it's a feeling you cannot describe.
Kellene: Now, I want to bring that up because you're not just somebody who dabbles in art for healing. I mean, you've taken this to extremes. You have shows that you present. How are people responding to your art? emotionally? 
Vasu: Most of the times the response is very positive. They are actually amazed as to what I'm able to do.
And how frequently because I have a solo show every year. And it's on a different theme, and I don't repeat the paintings from previous years, or anything like that. I come out with a whole new body of work, and it varies anywhere from 40 to 60 paintings every year. And this keeps me going, to think of a theme, and to [00:09:00] devise paintings, you know, that would fit in the theme.
And it just keeps my creativity so flowing, and keeps me full of. Anticipation as to what I'll be able to do.
Kellene: You know, you say you create a theme each year. I can't help but wonder, is that theme your theme for healing for that year then? Is that what you do is on an annual basis? You say, okay, this year I'm going to focus on healing this part of me.
Or I'm going to focus on connecting with this part of me. 
Vasu: No, not necessarily that. It's like my first solo painting was on a woman's journey. where I had 24 paintings with women in different roles as role models, writing, starting right from a daughter to being different kinds of professionals.
And the next thing I did was like emotions, you know, I call that symphony of sentiments. So I created emotions for that. Then I again [00:10:00] said, based on the lyrics of Chaka Khan song, I created, I am every woman. And I showed women being bold and women being harassed and everywhere. And my mind also responds to the current events.
And I respond to calls also, because I feel that if I do that, then it, Makes me step out of my mindset and box, and makes me think about different things. Like if there is a theme saying call for blue. So, I can think, I can make of blue paintings where, you know, blue is the predominant color. So that way, you know, it's different.
And it's not the same throughout the year. But for the solo show, I focus on that. Okay. 
Kellene: So your work has actually been featured in healthcare settings. So I'm curious what changes you have noticed in [00:11:00] people when they interact with your pieces. Have you ever had a moment where someone's reaction to your art surprised you?
Vasu: Once, it really surprised me because I had donated a piece of one painting for a fundraiser for autism and I had attended that fundraiser myself and I saw a mother, looking at her child and standing with him, just staring at my painting. And when I went near them and just tried to converse, the child was autistic.
So he didn't respond to me like that. But the mother said that I have never seen him stand in front of anything still like this for 10 minutes because that painting had repeated patterns and colors and all, which sometimes appeal to, neurodivergent population. So that kind of reaffirmed my belief that what I was doing was Doing the [00:12:00] work in the right direction to heal and to inspire people to use that as therapy for healing.
Also, the children with autism, if you intervene early with these kinds of interventions, then it might help them deal with the situations more positively than otherwise, because and, you know, it can be a different form of art. It doesn't have to be visual art. It can be like sculpting and playing.
And because those children also love to play with textures and deal with it better, some go with music, dancing moment, whatever, you know, form of art that appeals to that particular person, whether. regular person or a neurodivergent person, I think that can be a healing form for them. 
Kellene: Well, I totally believe that art can be a tool for mindfulness and emotional regulation.
I have a lot of art [00:13:00] pieces that I use specifically for that in my own home. And I don't have a piece just because. Every piece that I have does something for my heart. I once had a woman come by my house and drop off some things that I had gotten from her. And right in my doorway, there's a piece of art.
And she just gasped. She said, I had never seen that portrayed that way before. And she just really liked it. I, I definitely believe that art can be a tool for mindfulness and emotional regulation. So my question to you is, what do you say to people, Ben, who claim I'm non artistic? I can't use art for stress relief.
Vasu: I would really tell them that forget about the end result. You know, don't think about what you can make. Art is not about making something good or bad. It's about the process. Just think of it like journaling. But with color shapes and lines instead of words because even simple acts like scribbling doodling or playing with Clay can shift your [00:14:00] mind from and focus from stress to a flow state.
So I think that's what people need to focus on and not worry about wanting to create a masterpiece the first time they dabble at it, you know. Masterpiece may never happen. You know, for years and years, for 
Kellene: anyone. Right, even for Michelangelo and other famous artists they didn't hit a home run every time.
I mean, now that they're dead, everything that they have is a home run, but you know what I'm saying. Yes, 
Vasu: totally. And those things, Matter that we don't look for perfection, go with the flow of the process.
Kellene: So, do you think the way that we process art is similar to how we process trauma or major life shifts?
How can people use art to work through difficult emotions?
Vasu: I think it's a, this is a great question. You know, trauma is often non linear, stored in the body in the way words can't always express. [00:15:00] as to how you are feeling. Art bypasses the need for that language and lets us process emotions in a subconscious safe way. So engaging with art, whether creating or just observing it can give people an outlet for emotions.
They might not even realize that they needed that release, but once they experience it, then I think they, they feel relieved and released from that stress that I think it's such an important connection. And after that, it may be easier for them to engage with him on a more regular basis. 
Kellene: So with your background in pediatric medicine, does art impact children differently than adult, especially in terms of healing?
Vasu: I think it does because when you start using art as an outlet to [00:16:00] release stress or express yourself that you couldn't say in words or actions it creates healthier habits to deal with stress. And hopefully many of these kids will be able to deal with the higher level of stress as we get older and get out in the world from the sheltered life of a home hopefully, you know, they will deal with it and handle all those situations more positively.
And there is a lot of research going on in this area. So I'm sure. We will hear more about outcomes when therapy was started at a younger age compared to older age. 
Kellene: So start them young to explore art and different expressions of art. Yes. I was never good at art in the way that I defined good and so I left it alone.
My art expression comes in making flower [00:17:00] arrangements. Or, like you said, the doodling. I'll do some doodling. And I never thought about that changing my mindset from one of fear to one of flow. That's really interesting. I have a friend that doodles all the time as she journals. And I'm going to have to tell her what a great combination that is for her.
It is. Have you noticed any patterns and how different brains respond to different colors or forms or styles of art? 
Vasu: Yes. What actually happens when we engage with art neurologically is it's far from creative pastime. You know, it is a full brain workout, to be honest with you. Logical effects. When we engage with art, several key regions of the brain light up, like the prefrontal cortex, which is right behind our forehead.
This area is responsible for decision making, problem solving, and emotional regulation. So whether we are painting, sculpting, or simply [00:18:00] observing art, we activate this region and it improves our ability to manage emotions and think critically. The next, the limbic system, which is inside the brain, and it includes amygdala and hippocampus, it's involved in emotional processing and memory formation.
Engaging with art can trigger deep emotional responses, sometimes even helping individual process trauma and unlock the buried emotions. So, art taps in the brain's reward system, increasing dopamine, which is a feel good neurotransmitter. This is the same chemical associated with pleasure, motivation, and even love.
This is why art can be an uplifting, mood boosting experience. It reduces cortisol levels and studies have shown that creating or even passively observing the art can lower the levels of cortisol, which is the [00:19:00] stress hormone. And that's high stress environment like hospitals, waiting rooms or other crisis situations.
Introducing art in those areas for people to experience can significantly reduce anxiety. And being in, you know, creating art often induces a state of flow that I was telling you about. A meditative, immersive state where I lose lack of time. This mental state helps to improve focus, reduce symptoms of depression.
and increase overall life satisfaction. So I think these, all these neurological cascade of events that happen is helping scientists also realize that art is such an important factor in dealing with stressful situations. And to use it as a therapeutic tool, I think has enhanced our management of these kinds of patients.[00:20:00] 
Kellene: So you think if hospitals and health care spaces embase, and let me try that again. If hospitals and health care spaces embraced more healing art, you think that that would actually make a change for the patients and staff?
Vasu: It will make the patients change, make a change for everybody.
Caretakers, caregivers, and the care needers. I think they will all benefit from it. 
Kellene: Okay, I'm going to ask you an interesting question. I hope I don't put you on the spot. But if you had to create a single painting that captured the essence of self reliance, what would it look like? What kind of colors, what kind of lines do you think it would have?
Vasu: Self reliance. I would probably produce, make a tree as an anchor in that painting and try to show roots coming out of it. Because that will kind of stabilize it and from the tree, I would show flowers and maybe people in the [00:21:00] flowers that, you know, everybody is happy and show the blue skies and it's difficult for me to predict the exactness of such an imaginative painting, but I think I would just let myself flow from being anchored in it.
a situation and let it go whether I'm going to have flowers in odd shapes or typical flower shapes or in people as just stick figures or just faces in them and smiling or Dealing with different situations, because, as I make a painting, I let myself go, and I don't always know what the end result will be.
I'm not sure I can define exactly how it would turn out, but there would definitely be a lot of blues and greens, and some, Yellows with pastel colors, because I think [00:22:00] that would, I can depict it as a, you have given me inspiration for doing something like that, by asking that question, 
Kellene: you're a good sport for taking that question.
I appreciate it. Now, you've won some major awards. and you've had public installations and Edith even made it on the cover of a CDC journal. What's been the most personally fulfilling milestone in your art career so far?
Vasu: Getting on the recognition by the Washington Post as My one of my art pieces being top 20 in the nation was definitely an accolade that that boosted my confidence and having had CDC approach me to use it for the cover of the journal was a major achievement in my art career, I feel, and this is where I felt like my medicine and art came together.
Kellene: Yeah. 
Vasu: [00:23:00] It was definitely a huge aha moment, which boosted my confidence. I was telling you about the neurologic effects of awards, it really boosts your dopamine release and all that. It makes you feel all good and elated, and that's such a great. state to be in, and it's not that I expect every painting of mine to win an award, because I may be producing the best art that I feel I have made, but art is a very subjective thing, because what appeals to me may not appeal to the next person or somebody else.
as much, or maybe not at all, or their thinking may be similar to mine. So, I think I try to do the best I can, and keep on hoping for aligning with the viewer's minds, and opening up their minds to interpret it, and feel positive. 
Kellene: If you could give advice to your younger self, let's say [00:24:00] the Vasu fresh out of school, what would you say?
Vasu: I would tell myself that you should pick up a hobby because I, studying for medicine and being in residency and all, I never had time for it. That I should pick up a hobby and try to release myself from just being on the go all the time, which is something you said in the beginning, that we don't take time to be with ourselves and find our inner circle and anchor it.
I would also tell myself that
You know, write more like journal more from the beginning and it can be an art journal or with a few words in it, like you said, your friend does. And I would just tell myself to try and do whatever I felt like doing and not just focus in a single direction, which is the way I was when I was in academia [00:25:00] because I was a research mentor clinician.
everything I was doing, rolling so many balls at one time, at that time it was able to do it without any hesitation or any reluctance and I was enjoying it. And as long as I was enjoying it, I think it was fine to do. But when certain changes came about and I didn't enjoy it, that's when I started to look for another outlet as to how I was going to spend my time.
And I'm so glad that I found this other focus, just shifted my healing from medical practice through healing via art. And I'm learning more and more about it because there is a lot more research coming out about mindfulness and art and the effects of art on the brain. So I'm constantly learning about these things too.
And I think I just have to tell [00:26:00] myself to continue to do what, whatever makes me happy and fulfilled. 
Kellene: Okay. So let's say people get to take in your art. What's the one thing that you wish that they would take away from it?
Vasu: Every time I make a piece of art, like I start with a blank canvas and work on it. And depending on the size of the canvas, I can devote anywhere from two to two hundred hours on it, and so a lot of me is in that piece. And I'm trying to convey all these feelings of healing, etc. in that piece.
I hope that the viewers would capture that and also interpret it in whatever way they want to. And if they would let me know what they thought of it, which many people do at receptions for these shows and all, [00:27:00] they'll come up to me and say, what does this mean to you? And I would sometimes ask back, what do you see in it?
So I think that kind of an exchange and openness like even in a Kelly, even when I make a flower that is a representational flower, like a rose there is a lot in it beyond just the physicality of the rose. There is the colors and the shapes and the lines and everything that I hope gives the viewers a lot of pleasure happiness and joy by looking at it.
And there are so many kinds of arts. You know, there is surreal arts and hideous art and all, but that's all the expression of the artist. that how they feel and whether it reflects social injustice or not. It's really very individual or it's just a response to a call, like I was telling you. But if I make a connection with the viewer and [00:28:00] affect them in a positive way, then I feel my job as an artist is accomplished.
Kellene: So let me ask you this serious question. If your art could whisper something to the world long after you're gone, what, what would it say?
Vasu: I would tell them that I hope that they will feel that this person makes this piece of art and make them wonder about what I must be feeling when I was thinking, and this is how. they perceive it, and whether there is alignment in our conceptions, or there's a total diversity of opinion about it, because every time I make a piece of art, I write something about it as to what it means to me and what I was thinking as I was doing it.
And in abstract art it doesn't always happen, because an abstract piece you look at in different light or from a different angle. [00:29:00] can mean different things to you as a single person observing it from time to time. So, obviously, with different viewers, you know, it will be a different take, but I hope it will always be a positive take.
And if I can create that kind of a reaction in viewers long after I'm gone, that will be my biggest legacy. 
Kellene: Yeah, it would indeed. And I'd say you're on your way to that. I'm just I applaud you. I'm so amazed at what you've done. You've had a very successful career in pediatrics and now you're in your second act.
Do you think there's a third act waiting for you?
Vasu: Kellene and only time will tell. I'm enjoying this particular act and don't know what it is in the future, but whatever it is going to be, I'm, I will be willing to embrace it. 
Kellene: That's wonderful. Well, Vasu, thank you so much for being on the show. I appreciate your insights and I think I'm going to, I think [00:30:00] I'm going to take my healing a little bit more seriously and be more deliberate about it, regardless of which venue I use.
So thank you for reminding me to do that. And all of us. 
Vasu: Thank you so much. It was an honor to be on your show, and I enjoyed our conversation, Kellene 
Kellene: thank you, Vasu. 
Vasu: Thank you.
Kellene: Thanks for joining us today on Preparedness Pro. I hope you enjoyed yourself and learned something new. Want more Preparedness inspiration? Join our live shows every Tuesday and Thursday at 11 a. m. Eastern on YouTube or Facebook at Preparedness Pro, where we can answer your questions live. Looking for a community of like minded people who understand that preparedness is about freedom?
Come join our Facebook group and just search for Preparedness Pro under groups. If you have questions or want to connect, you can message me directly on Facebook or Instagram via [00:31:00] our preparedness pro page. If you found value in today's episode, be sure to like, share, and subscribe to our podcast. It helps us reach more people who want to embrace a peaceful prepared lifestyle until next time.
Remember, preparation brings peace and peace brings freedom. See you soon.