Press Kit – Karyn Shanks MD

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Biography

Karyn Shanks MD is the author of *Unbroken* and *Heal*.

Karyn Shanks MD is a physician, author, and pioneer in the field of root-cause healing, with over forty years of experience helping clients recover their lives from chronic, complex illness. She is board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Functional Medicine, and a founding diplomat of the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine. She is also trained in trauma-informed psychotherapy through Dr. Gabor Maté’s Compassionate Inquiry Professional Training Program.

Karyn brings together the sciences of directable human potential—epigenetics, neuroplasticity, core functional systems biology, and transformational psychology—with the deep wisdom of lived experience, spiritual inquiry, and narrative transformation. Her work centers on the belief that people are not broken, but wise and whole, and that sustainable healing begins with reclaiming that truth. Her private practice, teaching, and writing are deeply influenced by her own journey through illness and recovery.

Through her work, writing, and lived wisdom, Karyn is trusted by both patients and professionals alike—as a guide, mentor, and visionary voice in a new healing paradigm. Karyn is also an author, teacher, wife, mother of two sons, dog lover, and avid enthusiast of nature.

Karyn is the founder of the Unbroken Academy, an online educational platform for healing through story, self-trust, and embodied resilience. She is the author of UnBroken: Reclaim Your Wholeness, and two previous books—Heal: A Nine-Stage Roadmap to Recover Energy, Reverse Chronic Illness, and Claim the Potential of a Vibrant New You and The Wisdom of COVID-19. Her voice is known for its clarity, warmth, and fierce compassion.

UnBroken

A Manifesto to Healing in a World that Keeps Us Sick, Suffering, and Stuck

Reclaim Your Wholeness

Why do we feel broken when we’re sick and suffering? Why does help so often fall short—even when we’ve done everything “right”?

Right questions. Wrong assumption.

UnBroken radically reframes our suffering: The problem isn’t us. The problem is how we see ourselves when we’re vulnerable and in need: through a lens of brokenness and disconnection. Drawing from cultural history, trauma science, and her decades of experience, physician Karyn Shanks MD exposes how the dominant medical paradigm reduces us to disconnected parts, pathologizes our suffering, and reinforces the false belief that we are broken and need to be fixed. This narrative, so deeply ingrained in all our human experiences, forms the bedrock of our science and medicine, traumatizes us, and keeps us sick, suffering, and stuck.

UnBroken gently leads us back to ourselves: already whole, innately wise, and fully capable of deep resilience. With powerful narrative, robust science—including epigenetics, neuroplasticity, core systems functional medicine, and transformational psychology—and embodied practices, UnBroken invites readers to decode the deeper meaning of their suffering and reclaim the flow of their lives. This is not a protocol. It’s a call to remember your innate potential, to step into your personal agency, and to live your new story of wholeness.

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in print, e-book, and audio: available through all major booksellers

Karyn Shanks MD is a physician, author, and teacher who helps clients recover their lives from chronic complex illness—a journey she’s walked herself. Her work integrates the sciences of directable human potential—epigenetics, neuroplasticity, systems-based functional medicine, and transformational psychology—with the lived wisdom that safety, compassion, and story are the true foundations of healing. Over four decades, she’s learned one enduring truth: everyone can heal, and the best medicine comes from within.

Praise for Unbroken

“Karyn’s book feels like a breath of relief. She takes the overwhelming, confusing, and often shaming world of medicine and makes it human. She invites us not to somewhere new, but to a wisdom and self so many of us have lost.”

—Kevin Goldwater
trauma-informed licensed mental health counselor (LMHC), adjunct professor at NYU

“A masterwork of wisdom and right thinking … so important in these times.”

—Shari Rhoads, Internationally Renowned Conductor/Pianist

“UnBroken is a formula for transformation but there are no rules or prescriptions to be found here. Dr. Shanks’ genius lies in her compassionate determination to transform you into yourself. She does this by revealing where harmful influences have taught you to limit your thinking, ultimately delivering not a conclusion but a fresh start. This book will leave you permanently equipped to manifest your own unique version of a healthy and happy life.”

—Robin Stephen, Author

“This transformative book is a beautifully written, well researched, and expertly laid out guide to becoming your healthiest, most vibrant self. The author blends science and personal insight as she leads readers through nine steppingstones toward becoming our ‘TotalGloriousOneness,’ shifting our biology, genetics, stories, and actions.

This book highlights where Western medicine falls short of treating the whole person. I earmarked countless pages and will return to this book again and again as a lifelong reference. Just WOW!”

—Beth Dosland Mullan, RN

“This phenomenal book is a must-read for hungry, healing souls! Every chapter serves as a profound guide, aligning your internal compass no matter where you find yourself on life’s map, illuminating the trails of healing you are meant to explore right now. This is more than a book, it is a transformative journey brimming with wisdom, love and raw, unapologetic truth. It gently validates and meticulously unpacks the wrinkled stories of your very soul.

“The author, with profound grace, encourages you to “be curious” with every pause, every breath, as you unpack and unfold along every trail of self-discovery. This book is not just a guide, it is your compass in finding yourself again, reminding you with unwavering certainty that you are not broken.”

—Jane Bourgeois, DC

UnBroken Downloads

PAPERBACK DETAILS
ISBN: 978-1-7339176-5-0
Publisher: Heal Literary Press
Trim Size: 8.5 x 11
Category: Nonfiction

EBOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 978-1-7339176-6-7
Publisher: Heal Literary Press
Category: Nonfiction

AUDIOBOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 978-1-7339176-7-4
Publisher: Heal Literary Press
Category: Nonfiction

Heal

A Nine-Stage Roadmap to Recover Energy, Reverse Chronic Illness, and Claim the Potential of a Vibrant New You

“I just want to be . . . myself . . . again.”

“I want my life back.”

Fatigue. Suffering. Chronic illness. Feeling like you’re lost, hopeless, or not living up to your life’s potential. These are not your destiny. They’re a wakeup call. Your call to a healing life.

All things heal.

Healing is a primary urge of nature. We see it all around us. How the earth destroyed by fire will soon sprout new trees, the waters flow again, and the animals return. You have the same potential for rebirth and renewal.

Applying the science of human potential—epigenetics, neuroplasticity, core biology, and body-mind psychology—you will master The Nine Domains of Healing, tools for your energy recovery and healing. You will experience firsthand how fatigue, suffering, and chronic illness are the unsung messengers leading you directly to new hope and your untapped potential.

Together, let’s call back your energy, your potential, and your power to heal.

You can heal.

Praise for Heal

“Dr. Shanks is a thought leader and rare gem in the field of medicine, and one who walks her talk. Listen intently to the wisdom she distills….it is right on target.”

-Betsy Rippentrop, PhD,
Licensed Psychologist, Yoga Teacher, Author

“Karyn Shanks is a gifted diagnostician who realizes that true health care is more than a diagnosis and a pill.”

-Margaret J. Hansen, DC,
Clinician, Author, Inspirer

“There is a paradigm shift occurring in medicine and Karyn Shanks MD has made it her life’s work to embrace that shift for the benefit of her patients. Read this book. Restore your life. The choice is yours.”

-Jordan M. DeGrazia MA, DC

“Dr. Karyn Shanks has written a book that is literally the only reference of its kind.”

-Candida Maurer, PhD, licensed psychologist,
mind-body therapist, and co-founder of
Iowa’s largest alternative medicine center

“Karyn is the real deal and has put large amounts of time, energy and grit into her education and her own battles to be and stay healthy through life’s challenges….this has given much deeper wisdom and insight to her work.”

-Conrad Stalheim, DC, Chiropractic Physician,
BS Ex. Science & Health & Human Performance,
Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist

“Heal, will be a valuable new roadmap for those seeking to restore their health and vitality.”

-Terry Wahls, MD, IFMCP, researcher, author
The Wahls Protocol: A Radical New Way
to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune
Conditions Using Paleo Principles

“Dr. Shanks is not interested in treating illness, she is interested in treating the human experiencing illness. Her openness to the entire human experience and it’s effect on health makes her an approachable and effective healer.”

-Alice Spitzner Claussen L.Ac., Dipl.O.M.,
Twig and Needle Chinese Medicine

“A must-read for individuals seeking optimal wellness. ”

-Joseph Lamb MD, Medical Director,
The Hughes Center for Research and Innovation

“Dr. Karyn Shanks has created a masterpiece of empathy, storytelling, and expertise. This book will change lives.”

-Robin Stephen, Author

“This book is a must read for anyone who is looking to improve their life’s journey. You hit the nail on the head with your insight. Love, love, love Heal!”

-Linda Mardorf, Iowa farmer