Lost or Found

Karen Snedeker is on the show today to talk about her near death experience.  At the end of a mission trip to Brazil, a truck going at full speed struck their car while they were stopped alongside the freeway. The majority of the impact was on the side in which she was sitting. A horrific accident, where the car had been crushed, Karen came out of that accident without any external bleeding, altho...

Everybody poops and most of us don’t talk about it.  And while it may not be pleasing to talk about our bowel movements, our poop offers us valuable clues to our health.   On today’s episode, Jonathan Miller returns to the show to talk about his love of ferments and beans, one of the ways in which we can improve our BM’s.  If you’re producing soft, well formed logs that aren’t hard to push out and...

How can we live our lives when everything seems to fall apart—when we are continually overcome by fear, anxiety, and pain? The answer, Pema Chödrön suggests, might be just the opposite of what you expect.  Pema shows that moving toward painful situations and becoming intimate with them can open up our hearts in ways we never before imagined. She draws upon traditional Buddhist wisdom and offers li...

Today on the podcast, we discuss Ascended Female Masters!  Ascended Masters are enlightened beings whom many believe have evolved beyond the need to reincarnate on earth and now act from a higher plane of existence to assist humans in their movement toward enlightenment, guiding the human race in its evolution.  Think Mary, the Beloved Mother; Isis the Egyptian goddess of Nature; and Guanyin, the...

On today’s show, we have psychiatrist Dr. Anna Lembke, the author of Dopamine Nation, here to talk about dopamine, which rules the pain and pleasure centers of the mind.  She describes that we live in a time of indulgence with unparalleled access to high-reward and high-dopamine stimuli. In an era of overconsumption and instant gratification, Dopamine Nation explains the personal and societal pric...

In Duchenne muscular dystrophy, milestones for a child reverse themselves.  Kids eventually regress, moving backwards in their development.  On today’s episode, Sara Aluffi is on the show to talk about her younger son, Joaquin, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy.  Duchenne is a rare genetic disorder, primarily affecting males, causing the muscles in the body to become weak and damaged over time....

Dyslexia is so common, affecting 20% of the population and represents 80-90% of all those with learning disabilities. It can include slow or inaccurate reading, poor spelling, poor writing, or mixing up similar words. It can occur in anyone, and the level of severity may be different. People who are very bright can be dyslexic. It’s important to think about and to address appropriately- as dyslexi...

Chronic pain is one of the leading causes of long-term disability in the world.  And it’s generally known that the power of medicine to relieve pain remains sadly inadequate. Dealing with chronic pain can wear a person down.  Oftentimes, people also experience frustration and mental health issues because of the pain.  People who suffer from chronic pain are three times more likely to suffer from d...

Christopher Greer joins the show today to continue our discussion on addiction.  Having worked in primary care, and as I continue to work in the hospital, I have witnessed so many people dealing with addiction. Those who struggle with addiction often hide it until it can’t be hidden anymore.  I’ve seen people in their worst state, and I would wonder if they had reached their rock bottom.  The trut...

On today’s show, Cierra Ryczek and I discuss  The Four Agreements  by Don Miguel Ruiz.  It was a New York Times Bestseller for almost a decade, and it is a timeless and inspiring book with many great lessons.  Everything we do is based on agreements we have made: agreements with ourselves, with other people, with God, with life.  But the most important agreements are the ones that we make with our...

The psychologist Douglas LaBier believes all life forms have purpose, and we as humans feel a drive to define a purpose for our lives.  Maybe it’s okay to be comfortable just existing, not being aware of why we do things or behave as we do, but the drive to find meaning may also be essential to our human experience.  Your purpose is unique to you. Your purpose helps to create meaning in your life,...

Meet Dr. Manas Kshirsagar: a board certified Ayurvedic doctor. Ayurvedic medicine is one of the world’s oldest holistic healing systems: where the goal is to cleanse the body and to restore the balance to the body, mind, and spirit. He provides Ayurvedic consultations at his clinic in Santa Cruz, CA, and teaches both health professionals as well as the community how to care for one’s health and we...

Family Secrets. We all have them. And while family secrets can seem terrifying or traumatic, these discoveries also have the power to liberate, heal, and transform us.  On today’s show, we have Yvonne Liu to talk about her life as an adoptee and childhood trauma survivor.  She is a freelance writer, who lives in Los Angeles, whose her Huffpost adoption essay was viewed over 1.5 million times in on...

On today’s episode, we have Rabbi Eli Cohen on the show again to talk with us about Passover, as it brings up the powerful theme of redemption. The holiday commemorates freedom and justice for all. Passover is centered around the retelling of the biblical story of the Jewish people being freed from slavery in Egypt.  The holiday is so rich in symbolism and meaning, as it incorporates themes of spr...

We have a super fun conversation today, as Jonathan Miller is on the show to talk about healthful food.  He brings up the impact of globalization on food and how it’s changed how we eat.  It’s certainly a reminder how the convenience and availability of food doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for us.  And he describes to us what real eating is! I promise you, he’s going to inspire you such that yo...

We live in a youth-obsessed society, that tells us our value declines as we get older.  Simply being alive implies growing older, but after a certain point, what may lie ahead becomes more real.  We may desire something that we can’t humanly have, as we are made to believe that our youthfulness is our ticket to remain relevant. Then, we might feel shamed for not better preserving that youth.  It’s...

The death of someone we love, changes our lives forever.  And after someone dies, it’s almost always a long and painful journey.  According to Dr. Alan Wolfelt, after working with thousands of grieving people over the years,  he writes that he has “learned that if we are to heal we cannot skirt the outside edges of our grief.  Instead, we must journey all through it.” Grief is what we think and fe...

“Everyone’s body has some story to tell.”  Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT) is a unique set of techniques, approaches, and methodologies that address pain, dysfunction, disease, and disability.  IMT achieves health and healing by taking into account the whole body, identifying the primary source of dysfunction or the underlying cause of a problem, rather than just treating symptoms.  Practitioners...

I guess we’re going there today. And it’s a hella interesting conversation!   And as Dr. Chris Fahrenbach says in the interview, “If you can’t talk about something…Why is that?” I am a Catholic. And I don’t understand why Womenpriests are not formally accepted. As a Catholic, I often find myself at a crossroads.  When I feel lost, confused, or really sad, going into a church makes me feel safe and...

We’re baaaaaaack!!  Season 2 begins today!  Hello!  Welcome!  We’ve missed you!! On today’s episode, my friend Cierra Ryczek and I discuss Lindsay Gibson’s book,  Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents .  Even the title made me pause, because, well, it feels like a gigantic dose of reality.  Like a bit of vomit plus a good cry.  It’s definitely an Ouch (plus probably a couple of expletives...

On today’s episode, Oriana Gliessman asks ME questions!  It definitely feels different not being the one to ask the questions, but the one answering them.  Awkward, informative, fun, or funny?!?  Always, all of the above!  We talk about the path, the process, what led to it, and well, what now?  Why didn’t I just buy the fancy red sports car during my midlife crisis??  This will be the last show a...

Lorna Bryne, an international bestselling author, is here to talk about Angels!  It’s amazing to think how the imagery of angels is recognized by virtually everyone, yet in our society, many of us do not believe that they actually exist. Born in Ireland, Lorna is the author of seven best-selling books, including Angels in My Hair , A Message of Hope From the Angels , and Angels at my Fingertips . ...

“It’s a wise person who rules the stars, a fool who is ruled by them”, -Martinie. Today we’re talking about Astrology with Jenifer Edwards!  She is a gifted Maine-based Intuitive Astrologer who believes that her divine mission is to assist others in discovering their Soul’s Purpose through their unique astrological fingerprint, their birth chart.  The birth chart is a soul map of our journey in th...

On today’s episode, we have Dr. Jyothi Rao, MD on the show to speak about Gut Health!  Learning about the gut is extremely important.  Our gut has tons of bacteria in it, and these gut bugs are responsible for much of our immune system defense as well as hormone and mood regulation. Our gut bacteria can even decrease inflammation, and they likely play a role in how we get sick.  Although we may no...

On today’s episode- we talk about Gratitude!  There are scientifically validated benefits of gratitude, and it’s so much more than saying “thank you”.  Gratitude affects us mentally and physically.  There are numerous studies that suggest that showing gratitude can increase one’s happiness, decrease inflammation in one’s body, reduce stress, increase optimism and change our brain, increase satisfa...