Balance starts with the basics, walking you through foundational tools like body scanning and breath focus in five in-depth sections. Once you master those techniques, you can personalize your practice to what works best for you with as little or as much guidance as you need.
Ever wanted Harry Styles to whisk you off into dreamland? The Calm app makes it happen. In addition to its extensive library of freeform practices—ideal for the more skilled users—you can also select a sleep session narrated by celebrities like Laura Dern, Matthew McConaughey, and the former One Direction star.
Headspace makes meditation look fun, with cool illustrations and an app that’s easy to navigate. Their library consists of a wide variety of meditative practices to address specific issues, including anxiety, stress, work, and kids. Session lengths vary, so you can sneak in a meditative moment even if you have only three minutes on hand.
The Chopra Center is making it easier than ever to take your self-care on the go. Their new app, launched in September, has guided meditation, helpful articles, and personalized tips for your personal growth and overall well-being.
Om No
Can’t get into meditation? Try mindfulness instead. The trick is to tackle one task at a time and to focus on being fully present in just that one task. Whether it’s washing your car, going for a walk, or sweeping the floors, you can still give your mind a break from the busyness without sitting down and saying “om.”
Our annual list of the top talent defining the future of San Diego’s health care
Castle Connolly Top Doctors is a health care research company and the official source for Top Doctors for the past 25 years. Castle Connolly’s established nomination survey, research, screening, and selection process, under the direction of an MD, involves many hundreds of thousands of physicians as well as academic medical centers, specialty hospitals, and regional and community hospitals all across the nation.
The online nominations process, located at castleconnolly.com/nominations, is open to all licensed physicians in America, who are able to nominate physicians in any medical specialty and in any part of the country, as well as indicate whether the nominated physicians are, in their opinion, among the best in their region in their medical specialty or among the best in the nation in their medical specialty. Once these nominations have been made, Castle Connolly’s physician-led team of researchers follows a rigorous screening process to select top doctors on both the national and regional levels.
Careful screening of doctors’ educational and professional experience is essential before final selection is made among those physicians most highly regarded by their peers. The result: We identify the top doctors in America and provide you, the consumer, with detailed information about their education, training, and special expertise in our paperback guides, national and regional magazine “Top Doctors” features, and online directories.
Doctors do not and cannot pay to be selected and profiled as Castle Connolly Top Doctors.
Physicians selected for inclusion in this magazine’s “Top Doctors” feature also appear online at castleconnolly.com, or in conjunction with other Castle Connolly Top Doctors databases online on other sites and/or in print.
Castle Connolly was acquired by Everyday Health Group (EHG), one of the world’s most prominent digital health care companies, in late 2018. EHG, a recognized leader in patient and provider education, attracts an engaged audience of over 53 million health consumers and over 780,000 US practicing physicians and clinicians to its premier health and wellness websites. EHG combines social listening data and analytics expertise to deliver highly personalized health care consumer content and effective patient engagement solutions. EHG’s vision is to drive better clinical and health outcomes through decision-making informed by highly relevant data and analytics. Health care professionals and consumers are empowered with trusted content and services through Everyday Health Group’s flagship brands, including Everyday Health, What to Expect, MedPage Today, Health eCareers, PRIME Education, and our exclusive partnership with MayoClinic.org and The Mayo Clinic Diet. Everyday Health Group is a division of J2 Global Inc. (NASDAQ: JCOM), and is headquartered in New York City.
ADDICTION PSYCHIATRY
Fred Berger, MD Scripps Clinic La Jolla 9850 Genesee Ave., Ste 420 La Jolla, CA 92037 (619) 298-3251
How one of San Diego’s prominent health care centers fought their way through the first days of the pandemic
By Ian Anderson
Palomar Health’s infectious disease specialist and medical director, Dr. Sandeep Soni
Jenny Siegwart
Palomar Health admitted its first COVID-19 patient March 13, only two days after the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a global pandemic. However, at both its Poway and Escondido medical centers, preparation had been ongoing for months. Hospital directors produced coronavirus protocols beginning in January, with a strong focus on treating those infected without letting the illness spread to staff or any other patients in the building. They succeeded.
As of press time, Palomar Health had administered 1,075 positive COVID-19 tests since early February, and admitted 389 patients. Yet not a single patient or staff member contracted the virus while on campus during this time.
Leading the effort was infectious disease specialist and medical director Dr. Sandeep Soni, who, like most first responders, felt personally invested in preventing further spread of the coronavirus. “My wife is a critical care specialist at Palomar Health,” he says. Their biggest concern was “making sure we’re not taking everything home to our family.”
Working closely with Dr. Soni was Valerie Martinez, a nurse with three decades’ experience who serves as Palomar’s infection control officer, directing a team of infection preventionists. “We used to be called ‘infection control personnel,’” she clarifies, “but we changed our name across the US to ‘infection prevention,’ because we want to prevent rather than have to go in and try to control it.”
First priority, says Soni, was to increase the hospitals’ number of negative pressure rooms. These rooms are equipped with ventilation systems that keep airborne contagions isolated by siphoning the air flow through filtered exhaust vents that lead outside the building.
Palomar’s two campuses had 27 such rooms between them at the beginning of the year. But its facilities operations department went to work around the clock to convert an additional 57.
Valerie Martinez, infection control officer at Palomar Health.
Jenny Siegwart
In normal times, negative pressure rooms might isolate patients with tuberculosis, or other well-studied infectious diseases. At this point, very little was known about this coronavirus—the CDC wouldn’t advise that its transmission is primarily airborne until May—and the Palomar team was able to disregard public health guidelines calling for only conditional use of negative pressure rooms. Instead, it isolated every patient possible in this way, primarily on its Escondido campus.
They also required facial coverings for everyone entering the hospital from the outset, “before it was a directive from county public health,” notes Martinez. This early action looks prescient now, due not only to the well-publicized risk of asymptomatic spreaders, but also that of presymptomatic carriers. “You can transmit the virus about 48 hours before you start showing symptoms,” she explains.
But Soni and Martinez didn’t have to act on foresight. They based many of their decisions on their experience with another coronavirus. “We had to go through this when SARS was on the map a few years ago,” Soni says. “We put those protocols in place because they were very similar.”
Year-round, Martinez and her team work closely with the county to identify the presence of viruses and bacteria before they spread. But more immediately, they work with the hospitals’ environmental services staff—its cleaning crews.
While the facilities department worked to keep hospital air free of coronavirus, Maria Zaragoza-Magno and 124 other custodial employees were implementing best practices to eradicate it from surfaces. On a daily basis, they don protective gear and thoroughly sanitize the rooms of COVID-19 patients, including those on ventilators. Zaragoza-Magno and her colleagues already possessed the skills needed to safely clean isolation rooms before the pandemic, and now they’ve taken additional measures, like using oxycide, a specialized disinfectant, on high-touch surfaces like faucet handles, light switches, and call buttons.
Dr. Soni points out that the work of environmental services staff carries as much risk of infection as that of doctors and nurses. “They still have to gear up, gown up, put on N95 masks, and go into that room,” he says. “They’ve stepped up.” From top to bottom, the roughly 700 employees at work in the two Palomar hospitals on any given day have all faced the risk of picking up the illness and taking it home to their families. “I don’t think there’s a group of nurses or physicians who have not worked with COVID-19 patients.”
Since the pandemic started, the number of non-coronavirus patients in the hospital has steeply declined, most likely because people are avoiding seeking treatment due to fear of catching the virus. For better or for worse, this has left specialists from other departments available to step in to help with COVID-19’s myriad complications, from thickening blood (thrombosis) to loss of elasticity in the lungs (fibrosis).
Maria Zaragoza-Magno is one of 125 environmental health services workers dedicated to sanitizing the isolation rooms.
Jenny Siegwart
As professional and public understanding of this confounding new illness changed, at times drastically, Soni credits department leaders with helping develop and implement new protocols on the fly. “I think, as a patient, you’re coming into the hospital expecting your physicians to know everything,” he says. “But we were kind of in a no-man’s land.”
A committee of department heads worked together, seven days a week, deliberating over email threads in response to new data and treatment guidance. The pharmacy team fought to secure medications, lab directors sought materials to reduce test result times from days to hours, anesthesiologists implemented plasma transfusion plans, the heads of emergency and critical care kept teams up to date, and the IT staff kept the hospitals’ internal systems updated so providers could successfully order and track shifting courses of treatment.
Soni also lauds the Palomar Health board of directors, who, by May’s end, had spent $4 million to keep the medical centers supplied with materials necessary for both prevention and treatment. In addition to the cost of negative pressure rooms, protective gear, and hard-to-find medications, Palomar Health boosted the number of ventilators on hand from 40 to 160.
Meanwhile, less-invasive treatments have evolved from pursuing unproven long shots (like hydroxychloroquine) to banking on a four-pronged combination supported by the latest research: anticoagulants to prevent thrombosis; plasma infusions from COVID-19 survivors to accelerate immune system response; the corticosteroid dexamethasone to reduce inflammation; and the go-to antiviral drug remdesivir, which has only recently become readily available to all patients who need it.
As September began, 47 Palomar Health patients had died from COVID-19, so the system stood at an 88 percent survival rate, versus 78 percent in San Diego overall. Soni observes that the results have improved since this spring, but he already has his mind set on the upcoming flu season. “How is your body going to react?” he wonders. “That’s the big unknown right now. That’s what keeps me up at night.”
Nevertheless, Martinez stresses that people who need treatment for ailments other than COVID-19 should feel confident and safe in visiting the hospital. “It is safe to come in,” she says.
Our annual list, plus stories on fighting the pandemic at Palomar Health, respiratory therapists, nurse support, giving birth while masked, and why you should put your mental health first—ASAP!
Jenny Siegwart
Palomar Health infection control officer Valerie Martinez, infectious disease specialist and medical director Dr. Sandeep Soni, and environmental health services worker Maria Zaragoza-Magno
Finding a gift that feels truly personal can be surprisingly difficult. In a sea of generic options — flowers, gift cards, candles, and the like — Xplosion Box offers something more lasting: a customized keepsake built around the photos, messages, and memories that matter most.
Founded by Southern California entrepreneur Jay Vijay, Xplosion Box LLC creates fully customized explosion gift boxes that arrive professionally designed, printed, assembled, and ready to gift. Each box opens layer by layer to reveal personal photos, heartfelt messages, pull-out albums, origami-style photo pockets, and hidden notes, turning a simple gift into an emotional reveal.
The brand was built for people who want to give something meaningful without spending hours printing photos, cutting paper, folding cardstock, or assembling a DIY project. Customers simply choose a box, upload their favorite photos, add personal messages, and the Xplosion Box team transforms those details into a polished keepsake that feels thoughtful, personal, and beautifully made.
Xplosion Box offers personalized gift boxes for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, proposals, bridesmaid gifts, long-distance relationships, and thoughtful “just because” moments.
Customers can choose from flexible customization options starting at $27. The Mini Surprise Box includes 10 photos, three message cards, and one hidden secret note, while the Mega Surprise Box offers a fuller keepsake experience with 40 photos, three message cards, and one hidden secret note.
What sets Xplosion Box apart is its high level of customization combined with convenience. Filled with personal photos, custom text, decorative details, and layered surprises, each box gives customers the freedom to create a gift that feels one-of-a-kind — without having to make it themselves.
At its core, Xplosion Box helps people turn favorite photos, stories, and words into something tangible: a keepsake that can be opened, revisited, and remembered long after the occasion has passed. asion has passed.
I was just entering my third trimester in March. The weekend before everything happened (the stay-at-home order), I started to keep a low profile, refrained from going to the store, and just started being cautious. In your third trimester, you have to start going to the doctor every two weeks—and I had heard, based on what was happening in New York, that there was a chance your significant other may not be able to be there for your appointments. But since I hadn’t heard anything from my doctor, I remained hopeful. We went to my next appointment, and once we arrived, they told my husband that he couldn’t come in. I thought, This is serious. And what does that mean for me? This is my first child.
But eventually, he was able to come to the appointments once they had screenings (such as temperature checks) set up. I felt lucky to have a doctor who was allowing significant others—I had friends who were expecting who had to FaceTime their significant others during their appointments.
Another thing I was worried about was delivering without my husband there—I had heard about women having to deliver their baby alone, or even talking about having home births. It definitely brought up a lot of anxiety and sleepless nights.
My doctor told me that things were changing by the day, and finally he was able to assure me that I wouldn’t have to deliver my baby alone, if I tested negative for COVID-19.
Family Ties
At the beginning of the pandemic, I was just starting to show. When I was far along, my family couldn’t come and see me. Our moms, sisters, and best friends would like to have felt the baby kick, or see me pregnant (in person), but they couldn’t. Also, I wanted to have a baby shower—that couldn’t happen either. My family did put together a “drive-by” baby shower. It was nice to at least say hi and bye to everybody.
I didn’t leave the house, other than going to the doctor, until early June. I’m very lucky that my husband was working from home. He also carried the burden of running all the errands, doing all the grocery shopping.
Yariela Freeman (right) and Amara Gigi Freeman born June 24, 2020 at 8 pounds, 21 inches
Delivery Day
The day I was admitted to the hospital, one of the first things they did was test me for coronavirus. I was induced, and my husband couldn’t come into the room for about an hour—I had to have my tests and IV done.
Except for when my husband and I were alone in the room, I had to wear a mask the whole time, even while delivering my daughter, and I had a 37-hour labor. My mind was so focused on pushing, and after a while you’re hot, but I didn’t have a hard time breathing with it on. It did feel constraining, and I felt smothered by it at times because I had to wear it for so long. After I delivered my baby, I was able to take it off to kiss her and talk to her. So I was able to have that moment.
Normally, significant others can leave the hospital and come back, but my husband was confined to my room the entire time. He couldn’t go to the cafeteria, or out to the car if he forgot something. We packed up practically my entire house to prepare, to make sure he had food, snacks, clothes. Being in there as long as we were, he was definitely getting tired of the hospital.
What Other Mothers Should Know
Find that community of mothers who have given birth during the pandemic and have this discussion with them. It was hard for me. At the time, some people didn’t understand why I was being so cautious. Do what’s right for you and your family, and don’t allow anyone else to dictate that.
What It’s Like to Be Pregnant Now
A mom-to-be works through the worries of a pandemic labor
Top Doctors 2020 / Pregnancy Amanda Thomas
Amanda Thomas anticipated the typical nerves of a first-time pregnancy: wondering about the labor, the long nights, and the health of her baby. What she didn’t anticipate was giving birth during a global pandemic. “All moms are anxious about germs and the safety of their new babies, but the pandemic makes things a little scarier.”
As part of a long list of safety measures from the hospital, only one person is allowed to be with her—her husband, Dalton. While some women may miss sharing the experience with more family members in the room, Thomas finds some comfort in the policy. “There’s a lot of pressure on new parents because everyone wants to see the baby, but it can be a lot to navigate,” she says. “In a way, the pandemic has helped me realize it’s okay to set boundaries and do things in our own time.”
And though it won’t be the birthing experience she anticipated, she has found a lot of strength in knowing that many others are going through the same thing: “Wearing a mask during labor and dealing with the unknown of COVID-19 makes us pretty badass.”
If you’re anything like us, it can be easy to get so caught up in taking care of everyone else, that your own needs get lost in the ether. But while this may be a cliché, that doesn’t make it any less true: You can’t give your best self to other people unless you’re taking care of yourself.
Sometimes, that looks like stopping in for your regular acupuncture or chiropractic appointment. Other days, it means giving your body the fresh, organic fuel it needs to truly feel and function at its best. And some other times still, it involves leaving your responsibilities behind for a weekend to pamper yourself at an incredible resort and spa.
Only you can decide what your truly need. We’re just here to help you find the best ways to get it.
Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa
Island living meets desert luxury at the Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa in Indian Wells. When you step onto the 11-acre property, you’ll be surrounded by sweeping view of the Santa Rosa Mountains with olive trees and fragrant citrus groves decorating the grounds. In other words, everything about this relaxed but refined resort is primed to help you let go of the stress from home and enjoy easy sun-soaked days and gorgeous starry nights.
The rooms blend calming, woven textures with Tommy Bahama’s signature tropical prints and feature private lanais, making it easy unwind the moment you walk in the door. If you book one of the four Villa Suites, you’ll be treated to exclusive Tommy Bahama furniture and unique personal touches to further that feeling of instant ease.
At the award-winning Spa Rosa, the expert team will help reset and recharge your body and mind using methods and rituals inspired by the desert. The 12,000-square-foot retreat includes outdoor soaking pools, eucalyptus steam rooms, and outdoor cabanas, as well as massages, facials, and body masks—all aimed at creating a day dedicated to you. We’re particularly partial to the Day Long Escape, an indulgent all-day affair of CDBs soaks, renewing scrubs, life changing massages, and transformative facials.
Following your treatment, continue the experience with a meal on the patio at Grapefruit Basil. We love the Hamachi Crudo, a light, citrus-forward dish featuring premium yellowtail, house-made ponzu, creamy avocado, and fresh seasonal garnishes.
Whether you’re strolling the gardens, relaxing beside its saltwater pools, or indulging in a restorative treatment, you’ll be able to escape in style and relax in luxury at the Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa.
Healcove Chiropractic
There’s no shortage of ways to stay active in San Diego—but if you really want to enjoy everything the city has to offer, you’ve got to make sure you’re giving your body its tune-ups. Enter: Healcove Chiropractic. The board-certified chiropractors and wellness professionals at Healcove are experts at addressing that stage where you’re not injured, exactly, but you’re not at 100%, either. Maybe you’re feeling a bit tense or stressed out. Or it could be that you’re not quite moving the way you want to. Sometimes, it’s just that the accumulation of days, weeks, or even years of daily strain is starting to take a toll. No matter what stage you find yourself at, the Healcove Chiropractic team can provide integrated, preventative care centered on long-term, science-backed approaches that ensure you can always stay active and live the life you want to live pain-free.
This starts by providing truly individualized care. Every patient can expect a thorough 60-minute consultation session that includes a posture and movement screening. This allows the team to develop a completely personalized plan. That plan might include chiropractic care, acupuncture, or massage therapy, as well as functional fitness training, vibration and sound therapy, and Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization, a clinical rehabilitation method that retrains the body’s stabilization systems. Whatever the team recommends, you can be sure that it’s tailored to meeting your body’s needs today and the future.
There’s a reason that San Diego Magazine named Healcove the “Best Chiropractor in San Diego”—don’t wait until you’re struggling with an injury to find out why. Book an appointment today for holistic, integrated care that helps ground and heal your body before it reaches a crisis point.
Juice Holler
West Coast wellness culture meets the community feel of Southern Appalachia at Juice Holler. Juice Holler’s menu consists of made-to-order smoothies and smoothie bowls, as well as grab-and-go cold-pressed juices, wellness shots, salads, and more. It operates from the blissfully simple premise that fueling up with food and drink that’s guilt-free and good your body should be simple, accessible, and, above all else, delicious. And if you haven’t yet made it out to the Encinitas café, which opened just this year, let us be the first to tell you: Juice Holler delivers on each and every of these fronts.
We love the Supercharger smoothie, a mood-lifting and body-fueling option made with banana, almond butter, blue spirulina, maca, grass-fed whey protein, raw cacao nibs, medjool dates, and coconut milk. We’re also partial to the Thrive Alive smoothie bowl, where avocado, mango, sea moss, spirulina, mint, coconut milk, and agave are mixed and topped with coconut, chia seeds, strawberry, mango, and chocolate drizzle. The wellness shots include the Detoxifier, a cleansing blend of kale, cucumber, lemon and spirulina, plus a shot specially designed to fight inflammation (named, fittingly, Anti-Inflammation). Probiotic overnight oats, lemon turmeric bars, and strawberry shortcake chia pudding are other standouts on the grab-and-go menu.
Much of the vibe feels beachy North County chic—think green tile with orange and pink accents, grounded with greenery and natural wood—but Juice Holler founder Kelly Sergott, a longtime Encinitas local, has also enfused the space with her Kentucky roots. In Appalachia, a holler is small valley between hills and mountains, where nature reigns, community is king, and nourishment comes right from the land. At Juice Holler, Sergott has created a holler for the busy modern times, using local ingredients to create a spot for people to come together and enjoy fresh, fast, feel-good fuel for their day.
Everwell Acupuncture
We’ve all had that experience with a medical professional where we’ve felt rushed, ignored, or misunderstood—and ultimately, like we didn’t get the answers that we needed. But at Everwell, the holistic acupuncture practice located in Solana Beach, the care team wants to transform your understanding of what healthcare can look like.
Patients at Everwell experience care rooted in intentional listening and radical empathy—and trust us, those aren’t just corporate buzzwords. This place actually puts those ideas into practice. You will always be given the time you need to tell your story— initial in-take appointments are two hours long—and you can rest assured that your story will be believed. Every single question and concern will be addressed by a dedicated practitioner who wants to find the specific solutions that work best for you, and you’ll receive care that’s aimed at healing the body, mind, and spirit.
Everwell’s highly trained, doctorate-level practitioners blend evidence-based acupuncture with the practice of classical Chinese medicine. (If you’ve never tried acupuncture before or aren’t sure if the team will be a fit, we’d highly recommended Everwell’s complimentary 20-minute consultations.) Research shows that by stimulating specific points on the body, acupuncture activates a natural healing response in the body, helping to restore balance, regulate the nervous system, and improve overall wellbeing. This allows the practice to address an incredibly wide range of conditions from chronic pain and autoimmune disorders to digestive issues, from stress and burnout to headaches migraines, fertility and postpartum struggles, hormonal imbalances, sleep concerns and more.
At Everwell, you can expect to feel heard, trusted, respected, and cared for. This is a space that doesn’t want to be just another healthcare provider you visit; it wants to provide patients with dedicated partner who will be there for their entire health journey.
