Podcasts about New World Library

Air Date - 11 June 2025I am thrilled to share that my very first guest on Destination Unlimited from March of 2016, Kim “Skipper” Corbin, joins me again this week to share her amazing path. Kim is the Publicity Director and Social Media Manager of New World Library. She has also been a passionate promoter of the benefits of adult skipping since 1999 via her http://iskip.com website, which offers an information source and gathering place for people all over the world who enjoy a good skip. She's working on her own book about what she's learned through skipping through the years. And tonight, she will also share about the blessings of The Unicorn!#KimSkipperCorbin #VictorFuhrman #DestinationUnlimited #Interviews #SpiritualityConnect with Victor Fuhrman at https://victorthevoice.com/Visit the Destination Unlimited Show Page https://omtimes.com/iom/shows/destination-unlimited/Subscribe to our Newsletter https://omtimes.com/subscribe-omtimes-magazine/Connect with OMTimes on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Omtimes.Magazine/ and OMTimes Radio https://www.facebook.com/ConsciousRadiowebtv.OMTimes/Twitter: https://twitter.com/OmTimes/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omtimes/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2798417/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/omtimes/

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).We might have thought just a little more would make us happy. More money, more time, more things. But that's the problem. Like a cat chasing its tail, 'more' will never give us what we seek. As meditation teacher Billy Wynne explains, 'more' is an illusory concept. Only in accepting the emptiness of all things will we receive what we desire--the extravagant fulness of this present moment ... and then of the next. Billy's Book: "The Empty Path: Finding Fulfillment Through the Radical Art of Lessening" by Billy Wynne; New World Library, 2025Billy's Website: https://billywynne.comThe Zen Center of Denver: https://zencenterofdenver.orgPersonal LinksMy web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.caMy email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.comSeries Music Credit"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).The archetypal feminine can be many things--fierce, wily, nurturing, creative, and deeply rooted in the natural world. But Alanna Kaivalya regards two qualities in particular, intuition and emotion, at risk of being lost in the modern age, where women are expected to be strong and independent, like men. "The Satisfied Woman," she says, reclaims her feminine power in order to uniquely gift the world. Links and ResourcesAlanna's book: "The Way of the Satisfied Woman: Reclaiming Feminine Power" by Alanna Kaivalya; New World Library, 2024Alanna's website: https://www.thesatisfiedwoman.comPersonal LinksMy web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.caMy email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.comSeries Music Credit"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Podcast: This week on the show we feature a pre-recorded conversation with Billy Wynne, author of The Empty Path: Finding Fulfillment Through the Radical Art of Lessening, published this year by New World Library. Providing an antidote to our never-ending quest for more, mindfulness teacher, successful entrepreneur, and Zen Buddhist Billy Wynne shows that embracing emptiness can declutter the mind and distill our experience of daily life to its essential beauty, clarity and joy. Billy Wynne has studied Buddhism and mindfulness for 30 years. He received lay Zen Buddhist ordination from the Zen Center of Denver, where he now teaches classes and serves on the board. He is also a certified meditation teacher in the Insight tradition under Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. After traveling the world with an NGO that provides medical care to children, Billy launched a career as a health and well-being entrepreneur. He founded and serves as Chairman of Impact Health, a consultancy serving large health care organizations including Cleveland Clinic, Fortune 500 companies, and charitable foundations. In 2020, Billy founded one of the world's first alcohol-free bars, Awake. Frequently quoted by national news outlets, including the New York Times and Washington Post, he now helps mission-driven organizations refocus their vision and maximize their impact. In addition to the Zen Center of Denver, Billy has served on the boards of Operation Smile, Health365, and Cherish Children Adoption International. In 2023, he was appointed by Governor Jared Polis to serve on Colorado's Natural Medicine Advisory Board, which is implementing the state's new psychedelic therapy program. He received a B.A. from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. For fun, Billy plays keyboard in two improvisational rock bands. He lives just outside of Denver with his wife and co-founder of The Zero Proof Life, Christy, their son, and two shih-poos, Archie and Oscar. Their daughter is in college. More information about Billy Wynne's work can be found at:   Billy Wynne's website: billywynne.com,   The Empty Path at New World Library: newworldlibrary.com.

Feeling and releasing negative emotions is the cathartic theme of this week's episode of White Shores with special guest Rachel Kaplan MA, MFT. Rachel is a licensed psychotherapist, host of the acclaimed podcast Healing Feeling Sh*t Show and author of Feel, Heal and Let that Sh*t Go, published by New World Library.To contact Rachel, find out more about her emotional potty training movement and order her latest title, visit:https://thefeelingsmovement.com/To find out more about Theresa's bestselling dream, intuition, afterlife, astrology and mystical titles and mission, visit:Www.theresacheung.comYou can contact Theresa via @thetheresacheung on Instagram and her author pages on Facebook and Twitter and you can email her directly at: angeltalk710@aol.comThank you to Cluain Ri for the blissful episode music.White Shores is produced by Matthew Cooper 

How to Submit: Getting Your Writing Published with Literary Magazines and Small Presses – Dennis James Sweeney – New World Library – Paperback – 9781608689361 – 216 pages – $18.95 – February 25, 2025 – ebook versions available at lower prices This book is described by its publisher as “A comprehensive guide to getting published […] The post Dennis James Sweeney: How to Submit: Getting Your Writing Published with Literary Magazines and Small Presses first appeared on WritersCast.

Podcast: This week on the show we feature a pre-recorded conversation with Lama Lhanang Rinpoche and Mordy Levine, authors of The Beginner's Guide to Karma – How to Live with Less Negativity & More Peace, published recently by New World Library. Twenty-six centuries ago, the Buddha fleshed out the universal law of the spiritual realm: karma. The law of karma holds that our actions, our words, and even our thoughts inevitably produce effects that return to us in some form — in this lifetime or a future one. Today, most Westerners have a passing familiarity with the concept of karma, which amounts to “what goes around comes around.” This is true as far as it goes, but it merely scratches the surface of a complex and fascinating topic. In The Beginner's Guide to Karma, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche and Mordy Levine encourage readers to forget what they've heard about karma and look at the subject afresh. Delving into Buddhist scripture and tradition, the authors give a comprehensive outline of karma that incorporates psychology, ethics, and metaphysics. Using everyday language and real-life examples, they clear away myths, illustrate how karma works in daily life, and offer daily practices to build positive karma. The Beginner's Guide to Karma neatly sums up the Buddhist worldview and makes a compelling case for Buddhism as a way of life that nurtures compassion, joy, and inner peace in an uncertain world. Born in the Amdo region of historic Tibet, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche received a traditional monastic education and later studied under several respected Tibetan lamas. Today, he teaches Vajrayana Buddhism at the Jigme Lingpa Center in San Diego, California, where he lives with his wife and child. Mordy Levine is an entrepreneur, a meditation teacher, and the president of the Jigme Lingpa Center. He also created the Meditation Pro Series, a meditation program designed to alleviate chronic health issues. He lives in Rancho Santa Fe, California, with his wife, Elizabeth. More information about Lama Lhanang Rinpoche and Mordy Levine's work can be found at:   Jigme Lingpa Center website: www.buddhistsandiego.com,   Institute for Balance and Movement website: www.mordylevine.com,   The Beginners Guide to Karma at New World Library: newworldlibrary.com.

Click here to send me a text message ...Positive karma makes the world a better place and lightens our load in both this life and the next. Negative karma harms the world and burdens us with destructive habits. Becoming conscious of the bad habits we accumulate is the first step toward making better choices, finding joy and liberation for ourselves, and becoming a positive force in the world. My guest Mordy Levine, the co-author of The Beginner's Guide to Karma, breaks it all down for us.ResourcesThe Beginner's Guide to Karma: How to Live with Less Negativity & More Peace by Lama Lhanang Rinpoche & Mordy Levine; New World Library, 2024The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Beginners: A Guide to Living and Dying by Lama Lhanang Rinpoche & Mordy Levine; Sounds True, 2023Jingle Lingpa Center: https://www.buddhistsandiego.comPersonal LinksMy web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.caMy email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.comSeries Music Credit"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

A psychotherapist and hit podcaster brings empathy and humor to her first book, a radical reimagining of the self-help genre that teaches listeners how to “process their emotional sh*t,” let it go, and enjoy the life they're livingAfter suffering through her own cycle of tragedy, suppressed emotion, professional study, therapy, and eventual breakthrough, Rachel Kaplan knows from experience that many of us avoid actually feeling our feelings. Instead, we store them in a kind of emotional constipation, chasing distraction, addiction, consumption, and other forms of suppression. The only way to heal from traumatic experiences and difficult feelings, to live healthier and happier lives, is to move the emotions through our bodies—to let that sh*t go.Heal, Feel, and Let That Sh*t Go is a revolutionary and irreverent approach to personal transformation and self-care that teaches listeners precisely how to (and why they should) feel emotions to move them through the body as nature intended. Kaplan calls this modality “emotional potty training,” and the revolutionary community she's nurturing, the Feelings Movement. Her approach helps listeners heal themselves deep down, eliminate doubt about their own self-worth and value, and importantly, enjoy the journey.To accomplish this, Kaplan guides listeners to:reconnect and reintegrate with their younger selves who suppressed emotion because they needed connection and approval from parents in order to surviveaccess the inner pain resulting from the experience of feeling unlovable and other traumas that were not emotionally processed at the timeengage in self-care practices and step-by-step physical and mental exercises to work through and release these pent-up feelingsRestoring the ability to process emotion is the only effective means for reducing our backlog of emotional pain, establishing a baseline of well-being and self-trust, and overcoming the debilitating effects of core wounds, chronic stress, depression, and misery. By letting that sh*t go, listeners can enjoy the life they're living and know their worth, no matter what.Rachel Kaplan, MA, MFT, is a licensed psychotherapist, mental-health educator, and author of “Feel Your Feelings: the Healing Power of Letting That Sh*t Go,” forthcoming from New World Library in late October 2024. Creator and host of award-winning podcast, The Healing Feeling Sh*t Show, she has developed a vibrant community, The Feelings Movement, on multiple social-media channels (IG, Tiktok, Threads) with more than 150,000 active followers. She's been featured as a guest on dozens of podcasts, and her essays have appeared in the popular San Francisco Bay Area wellness magazine, Common Ground. She holds a master's degree in counseling psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and has trained in cutting-edge trauma treatment models such as EMDR. She studied yoga, meditation, and hands-on healing practices in India and Nepal, and worked for years with an Apache-initiated master healer. She runs a thriving therapy practice in the Bay Area and personal-transformation workshops in Joshua Tree.https://thefeelingsmovement.com/mediaBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/earth-ancients--2790919/support.

Happiness truly can be a hop, jump and a skip away, according to this week's inspiring special guest, founder of iskip.com and senior book publicist for New World Library publishing, Kim Corbin. Kim talks to Theresa about her passion to help the whole world fall in love with the joy of carefree skipping again. To find our more about Kim and her global skipping movement visit:iskip.comTo find out more about Theresa's bestselling dream, intuition, afterlife, and mystical titles and spiritual mission, visit:Www.theresacheung.comhttp://linktr.ee/theresacheungYou can contact Theresa via @thetheresacheung on Instagram and her author pages on Facebook and Twitter and you can email her directly at: angeltalk710@aol.comThank you to Cluain Ri for the blissful episode music.White Shores is produced by Matthew Cooper.

Cited sources: Anson, B. (2000). The Miami Indians (Volume 103) (The Civilization of the American Indian Series). University of Oklahoma Press.Arthurson W. Spirit Animals. Edmonton: Eschia Books; 2012.Basso, K. H. (1996). Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache (1st ed.). University of New Mexico Press.Heart, B., & Larkin, M. (1998). The Wind Is My Mother: The Life and Teachings of a Native American Shaman (Reprint ed.). Berkley. Kimmerer, R. W. (2020). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants (Illustrated ed.). Milkweed Editions.Mengelkoch, L., & Nerburn, K. (1993). Native American Wisdom (Classic Wisdom Collections) (1st Edition). New World Library. Myaamia neehi peewaalia aacimoona neehi aalhsoohkaana (Myammia and Peoria Narratives and Winter Stories). (2021). Miami Tribe of Oklahoma Peoria Tribe of Oklahoma. Schoolcraft, H. R. & United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs. (2015). Historical And Statistical Information Respecting The History, Condition And Prospects Of The Indian Tribes Of The United States: Collected And . . . Per Act Of Congress Of March 3rd, 1847,. Arkose Press.Treuer, A. (2012). Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask (1st ed.). Borealis Books.

In this week's episode of the 3 Pillars Podcast I will be discussing the Creator Archetype. How do you define it, what is it's shadow, and how can we apply our Christian faith to strengthen this archetype? SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEW PODCAST CHANNEL HERE: https://www.youtube.com/@3PillarsPodcast God bless you all. Jesus is King. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ ‭KJV‬‬ I appreciate all the comments, topic suggestions, and shares! Find the "3 Pillars Podcast" on all major platforms. For more information, visit the 3 Pillars Podcast website: https://3pillarspodcast.wordpress.com/ Don't forget to check out the 3 Pillars Podcast on Goodpods and share your thoughts by leaving a rating and review: https://goodpods.app.link/3X02e8nmIub Please Support Veteran's For Child Rescue: https://vets4childrescue.org/ Stay connected with Joe Russiello and the "Sword of the Spirit" Podcast: https://www.swordofthespiritpodcast.com/ Join the conversation: #3pillarspodcast References Jung, C. G. (1968). Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Princeton University Press. Pearson, C. S. (1991). Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World. Harper San Francisco. Campbell, J. (2008). The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New World Library. Lynch, G. (2007). The New Spirituality: An Introduction to Progressive Belief in the Twenty-First Century. I.B. Tauris. Frawley, D. (2000). Yoga and the Sacred Fire: Self-Realization and Planetary Transformation. Lotus Press. #podcast #archetype --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chase-tobin/support

How does speaking kind declarations to ourselves help us manage mental health challenges? In this week's episode, Sarah is joined by special guest, Vasavi Kumar. Vasavi Kumar is a first-generation Indian immigrant raised on Long Island, NY. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 19, she made it her mission to understand her mind, starting by making room to hear herself think. Through her *Say It Out Loud* podcast, keynote talks, and group programs, Vasavi has taught thousands of entrepreneurs, creatives, and artists how to work through any situation—by saying it out loud. She holds dual Master's degrees in Special Education from Hofstra University and Social Work from Columbia University. Her book, Say It Out Loud is published by New World Library. Join these ladies as they discuss the creation of Vasavi's book, her journey with managing bipolar disorder, how her culture shaped her view of mental health and practical tips on how to speak more kindly to ourselves during mental health challenges. If you want more updates on this podcast, please follow @rough.edges.podcast on Instagram or visit the podcast website at www.roughedgespodcast.com. If you have any questions or further suggestions for how this podcast can grow, please email at rough.edges.podcast@gmail.com or leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Thanks so much for listening and have a wonderful day! Vasavi's contacts: Book: https://www.amazon.com/Say-Out-Loud-Thoughts-Courageously/dp/1608688267 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mynameisvasavi/ Website: https://vasavikumar.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/roughedgespodcast/support

Click here to send me a text message ...Out here, on the far side of conventional religion, no path is more compelling than the one that leads us to know our natural place within the larger earth community. And there may be no better modern guide than Bill Plotkin, the author of four books on the subject and the founder of the Animas Valley Institute. The way is called "soul initiation," which is devastating to the ego but life-giving to the soul. And it just might help save the planet.Two TipsThis episode is longer than most, so you might find it helpful to reference the Chapters tab above and listen in convenient chunks.You might also find it helpful to read along with the poem with which we begin our conversation, "What to Remember When Waking," by David Whyte. Here's a link: https://www.awakin.org/v2/read/view.php?tid=994ErrataThe notion I mistakenly attribute to Stephen Jenkinson, that true elders consider today's actions in light of their effect seven generations out, is in fact a Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) principle I had read about in Robin Wall Kimmerer's excellent book, "Braiding Sweetgrass." I regret the error. However, both Jenkinson and Bill Plotkin assume a similar point of view, that elders seek to honour both the ancestors who have gone before and the generations yet to come when considering the actions we take today.Bill's BooksSoulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche; Soulcraft; New World Library, 2003Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World; New World Library, 2008Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche; New World Library, 2013The Journey of Soul Initiation: A Field Guide for Visionaries, Evolutionaries, and Revolutionaries" New World Library, 2021The Animas Valley InstituteHome page: https://www.animas.orgPersonal LinksMy web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.caMy email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.comSeries Music Credit"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

I'm thrilled to share this incredible conversation with Wendy de Rosa, an intuitive energy healer and author who's revolutionizing how we approach intuition and personal growth. In this episode, we dive deep into: Wendy's journey from anxiety to embracing her intuitive gifts The connection between our chakras and different types of intuition Practical tools for entrepreneurs to tap into their intuition The importance of grounding and embodiment for empaths How to balance data-driven decisions with intuitive guidance Key takeaways: Intuition is the voice of our soul communicating through our body We can have both upper body (clairvoyance, clairaudience) and lower body (empathic, knowing) intuitive skills Leaning into the "back body" can help us connect with our intuition and inner guidance Grounding is essential for empaths to prevent energy absorption and maintain boundaries Balancing creative energy with grounding practices is crucial for entrepreneurs Nature and physical practices are powerful tools for reconnecting with our intuition Intuitive development goes hand in hand with healing and personal growth I love how Wendy emphasizes the importance of embodiment and grounding in developing our intuitive skills. Her insights about the back body and the tree visualization for grounding are game-changers! I can't wait to hear how this episode inspires you to embrace your intuitive gifts and create more ease and flow in your life and business! Here you can find more details about Wendy's upcoming Energy Healing & Intuition Training: https://wendyderosa.com/energy-healing-intuition-training/ About Wendy: Wendy De Rosa is an international intuitive energy healer, speaker, teacher, and author. She offers education and training programs for developing intuition, spiritual growth, energy healing, and personal transformation to thousands of people from all over the world who want to develop their intuition and experience personal transformation. She is the founder of The School of Intuitive Studies and the renowned Energy Healing and Intuition Training. Wendy has been a leading faculty member of The Shift Network, with more than 100,000 people attending her live events and programs. She has been a featured teacher on the MindValley spiritual growth channel Soulvana and has appeared on CBS News/Better Connecticut. She's written articles for Spirituality & Health, Medium, Thrive, and more. She also hosts her own podcast called the “Wendy De Rosa Sessions” and has taught live in venues such as Kripalu, Omega, 1440, Blue Spirit, and more. She is a published author with her works, including Becoming an Empowered Empath: How to Clear Energy, Set Boundaries & Embody Your Intuition, New World Library. Her other titles include her bestselling Energy Healing Through the Chakras: A Guide to Self-Healing and Expanding Your Heart: Awakening through Four Stages of a Spiritual Opening. She is also a contributing author to Bouncing Back: Thriving in Changing Times with Wayne Dyer, Bryan Tracy, John Assaraf and other leaders in personal growth. For more information, visit: www.schoolofintuitivestudies.com and https://wendyderosa.com/ Wendy's Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-wendy-de-rosa-sessions/id1614529276 https://wendyderosa.com/ https://www.instagram.com/wendyderosa/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-de-rosa-9093b2a/ https://www.facebook.com/WendyDeRosaAuthor https://www.youtube.com/@wendyderosaoficial How to get in touch with Analena: E-mail: bloom@analenafuchs.com Analena's Website: https://www.analenafuchs.com Analena's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/analena.fuchs/

In Cow Hug Therapy: How the Animals at the Gentle Barn Taught Me about Life, Death, and Everything in Between (New World Library, 2024), Ellie Laks recounts the extraordinary journey that started with her first teacher, Buddha -- not the religious figure, but a rescued miniature Hereford cow. One evening Buddha wrapped her neck around an exhausted and upset Ellie and transferred a singular form of healing and comfort with an incredible impact. Understanding that this was something to be shared with others, Ellie developed Cow Hug Therapy, a groundbreaking approach to emotional healing that has proved effective for trauma, illness, disabilities, addiction, grief, and stress. This colorful and compelling narrative introduces the healing mavens of the barnyard, each with a unique story of being rescued from trauma and treated with love and respect. In their new role at Ellie's Gentle Barn sanctuaries, these animals have transformed lives and ignited breakthroughs and newfound purpose for visitors including a young mother who lost her baby, a suicidal teenager, a wounded serviceman, an open-heart-surgery patient, and many more. A testament to empathy and the mission to heal animals, people, and the planet, Cow Hug Therapy serves as a beacon of hope for all seeking healing and connection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In Cow Hug Therapy: How the Animals at the Gentle Barn Taught Me about Life, Death, and Everything in Between (New World Library, 2024), Ellie Laks recounts the extraordinary journey that started with her first teacher, Buddha -- not the religious figure, but a rescued miniature Hereford cow. One evening Buddha wrapped her neck around an exhausted and upset Ellie and transferred a singular form of healing and comfort with an incredible impact. Understanding that this was something to be shared with others, Ellie developed Cow Hug Therapy, a groundbreaking approach to emotional healing that has proved effective for trauma, illness, disabilities, addiction, grief, and stress. This colorful and compelling narrative introduces the healing mavens of the barnyard, each with a unique story of being rescued from trauma and treated with love and respect. In their new role at Ellie's Gentle Barn sanctuaries, these animals have transformed lives and ignited breakthroughs and newfound purpose for visitors including a young mother who lost her baby, a suicidal teenager, a wounded serviceman, an open-heart-surgery patient, and many more. A testament to empathy and the mission to heal animals, people, and the planet, Cow Hug Therapy serves as a beacon of hope for all seeking healing and connection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology

In Cow Hug Therapy: How the Animals at the Gentle Barn Taught Me about Life, Death, and Everything in Between (New World Library, 2024), Ellie Laks recounts the extraordinary journey that started with her first teacher, Buddha -- not the religious figure, but a rescued miniature Hereford cow. One evening Buddha wrapped her neck around an exhausted and upset Ellie and transferred a singular form of healing and comfort with an incredible impact. Understanding that this was something to be shared with others, Ellie developed Cow Hug Therapy, a groundbreaking approach to emotional healing that has proved effective for trauma, illness, disabilities, addiction, grief, and stress. This colorful and compelling narrative introduces the healing mavens of the barnyard, each with a unique story of being rescued from trauma and treated with love and respect. In their new role at Ellie's Gentle Barn sanctuaries, these animals have transformed lives and ignited breakthroughs and newfound purpose for visitors including a young mother who lost her baby, a suicidal teenager, a wounded serviceman, an open-heart-surgery patient, and many more. A testament to empathy and the mission to heal animals, people, and the planet, Cow Hug Therapy serves as a beacon of hope for all seeking healing and connection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/spiritual-practice-and-mindfulness

Are you ready to master the art of dog training? Welcome This Week's Guest Kathy Callahan Kathy Callahan, CPDT-KA, FDM, is an experienced certified professional dog trainer. Her family has fostered more than 200 at-risk puppies, and her first book with New World Library, 101 Rescue Puppies, features those heartwarming stories. Callahan writes monthly on training and behavior… The post Paws and Effect: Essential Puppy Training Tips for Bomb Moms with Kathy Callahan |228 appeared first on Melissa Vogel.

This week I am reading from Jeffrey Mishlove and Russell Targ's book 'Russell Targ: Ninety Years of Remote Viewing, ESP, and Timeless Awareness'.A childhood magician, raconteur, laser pioneer, physicist, parapsychologist, and psychic spy, Russell Targ has enjoyed an illustrious career spanning more than six decades. Now in his ninetieth year, Russell is still active and his work in consciousness research and extra sensory perception is more relevant than ever.Along with physicist Harold Puthoff, Targ created the now famous remote viewing program at Stanford Research Institute (SRI). The psychic intelligence-gathering program known as Grill flame, Stargate (and other names) was funded by the CIA and other US government agencies for 23 years, and brought ESP research into the mainstream, much to the dismay of materialist scientists.Those findings convinced him of the reality of non-dualism and he became a practicing Buddhist.This book dialogues 15 conversations with Jeffrey Mishlove, the veteran parapsychologist and host of the New Thinking Allowed YouTube channel, in which they delve into remote viewing by military intelligence, precognitive dreaming, ESP, and much, much more.Jeffrey BioNew Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, The PK Man, and the New Thinking Allowed Dialogues series: Is There Life After Death? UFOs and UAP: Are we Really Alone? and Russell Targ: Ninety Years of Remote Viewing, ESP, and Timeless Awareness. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in the world from an accredited university that says, “Parapsychology.” It was awarded from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1980. He is also the Grand Prize winner of the Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding postmortem survival of human consciousness.Russell BioRussell Targ is a physicist and author who has devoted much of his professional career to the research of the human capacity for psychic ability. In 1972, he co-founded the Stanford Research Institute's federally-funded program that investigated psychic abilities in humans. The program provided invaluable information and techniques to various government intelligence agencies, including the DIA, the CIA, NASA, and Army Intelligence. In his ten years with the program, Targ co-published his findings in some of the most prestigious scientific journals. He is the co-author, with Jane Katra, of five books about psychic abilities, two of which are: Miracles of Mind: Exploring Non-local Consciousness & Spiritual Healing, and The Heart of the Mind: How to Experience God Without Belief (both New World Library.). Targ was also quite active in the development of the laser and its various applications, having written over fifty articles on advanced laser research. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and has received two NASA awards for inventions and contributions in laser and laser communications. Recently retiring from his position as senior staff scientist at Lockheed Martin, Targ now devotes his time to ESP research and offering workshops on remote viewing and spiritual healing. He lives in Palo Alto, California.Amazon link https://tinyurl.com/4a5kdx8ahttps://www.thinkingallowed.com/index.htmlhttps://www.pastliveshypnosis.co.uk/https://www.patreon.com/ourparanormalafterlifeBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/our-paranormal-afterlife-finding-proof-of-life-after-death--5220623/support.

Episode 105 | Taking Your Seat with Confidence with Ethan Nichtern, Buddhist Teacher and Author Instagram: @ethannichtern Connect with Ethan's Offerings: https://www.ethannichtern.com Get Ethan's New Book Confidence: https://a.co/d/fH4Zylc Ethan Nichtern is a Buddhist teacher , and is the author of the acclaimed book The Road Home: A Contemporary Exploration of the Buddhist Path (Farrar Straus and Giroux, North Point Press), which was selected as one of Library Journal's Best Books of 2015, and one of Tech Insider's “9 Books That Define 2015.” His newest book, Confidence: Holding Your Seat Through Life's Eight Worldly Winds, which released June 4, 2024 (New World Library). For the past 20+ years, Ethan has taught meditation and Buddhist psychology classes and workshops around New York City and North America and Europe, along with working with students privately. He has primarily studied in the Shambhala and other Tibetan traditions, but has also studied Theravadan and Soto Zen Buddhism. He is also an avid yoga practitioner. He served as Shastri, or Senior Teacher-In-Residence, for the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York, from 2010-2018. Shawn J. Moore | The Mindful Rebel® www.shawnjmoore.com Join my mailing list: http://eepurl.com/g-jYE5 About: Residing at the intersection of leadership and mindfulness, Shawn creates sacred spaces for stillness and self-inquiry to help change-makers align their strengths, intention, and impact. Through his integrative approach, he holds transformative containers for self-renewal, personal discovery, and capacity-building that ease clients on their journey towards peace, clarity, and freedom. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themindfulrebel/support

This week I am talking to Jeffrey Mishlove and Russell Targ about their book 'Russell Targ: Ninety Years of Remote Viewing, ESP, and Timeless Awareness'.A childhood magician, raconteur, laser pioneer, physicist, parapsychologist, and psychic spy, Russell Targ has enjoyed an illustrious career spanning more than six decades. Now in his ninetieth year, Russell is still active and his work in consciousness research and extra sensory perception is more relevant than ever.Along with physicist Harold Puthoff, Targ created the now famous remote viewing program at Stanford Research Institute (SRI). The psychic intelligence-gathering program known as Grill flame, Stargate (and other names) was funded by the CIA and other US government agencies for 23 years, and brought ESP research into the mainstream, much to the dismay of materialist scientists.Those findings convinced him of the reality of non-dualism and he became a practicing Buddhist.This book dialogues 15 conversations with Jeffrey Mishlove, the veteran parapsychologist and host of the New Thinking Allowed YouTube channel, in which they delve into remote viewing by military intelligence, precognitive dreaming, ESP, and much, much more.Jeffrey BioNew Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, The PK Man, and the New Thinking Allowed Dialogues series: Is There Life After Death? UFOs and UAP: Are we Really Alone? and Russell Targ: Ninety Years of Remote Viewing, ESP, and Timeless Awareness. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in the world from an accredited university that says, “Parapsychology.” It was awarded from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1980. He is also the Grand Prize winner of the Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding postmortem survival of human consciousness.Russell BioRussell Targ is a physicist and author who has devoted much of his professional career to the research of the human capacity for psychic ability. In 1972, he co-founded the Stanford Research Institute's federally-funded program that investigated psychic abilities in humans. The program provided invaluable information and techniques to various government intelligence agencies, including the DIA, the CIA, NASA, and Army Intelligence. In his ten years with the program, Targ co-published his findings in some of the most prestigious scientific journals. He is the co-author, with Jane Katra, of five books about psychic abilities, two of which are: Miracles of Mind: Exploring Non-local Consciousness & Spiritual Healing, and The Heart of the Mind: How to Experience God Without Belief (both New World Library.). Targ was also quite active in the development of the laser and its various applications, having written over fifty articles on advanced laser research. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and has received two NASA awards for inventions and contributions in laser and laser communications. Recently retiring from his position as senior staff scientist at Lockheed Martin, Targ now devotes his time to ESP research and offering workshops on remote viewing and spiritual healing. He lives in Palo Alto, California.Amazon link https://tinyurl.com/4a5kdx8ahttps://www.thinkingallowed.com/index.htmlhttps://www.pastliveshypnosis.co.uk/https://www.patreon.com/alienufopodcastBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/alien-ufo-podcast--5270801/support.

Intuition is our portal to knowing everything. What our rational mind doesn't know, and can't know, is available to us through those flashes of insight that solve problems, give us direction, and suggest meaning and purpose for our lives. Kim Chestney, author of The Illumination Code: 7 Keys to Unlock Your Quantum Intelligence, has spent her life trying to understand intuition and what it does. Only recently, with discoveries from the field of quantum physics, can we begin to answer the question, but how does it work?  Her book gives us the keys to that answer. PS. Please note the new link below that allows you to respond to this episode by sending me a text message. I'd love to hear from you, for this or for any previous episode.5 Keys to Kim Chestney:Kim's recent books:The Illumination Code: 7 Keys to Unlock Your Quantum Intelligence; New World Library, 2024Radical Intuition: A Revolutionary Guide to Using Your Inner Power; New World Library, 2020Kim's Website: https://www.kimchestney.comIntuition Lab: https://www.intuition-lab.comKim's (free) Insight Cards: https://www.intuition-lab.com/insight-card-practice1 Key to Kim's mentor, Ervin László, for those ready to take a deeper dive:Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything, by Ervin László; Simon & Schuster, 2004Send us a Text Message.Personal LinksMy web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.caMy email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.comSeries Music Credit"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Caregiving for aging and dying parents can be tough for anyone, but it's even tougher when it forces you to confront longtime family dynamics of abuse. Sociologist Deborah Cohan blurs the lines between academic research on family caregiving and violence, and her own personal story about a father she calls both adoring and abusive.  Her memoir is called Welcome to Wherever We Are: A Memoir of Family, Caregiving, and Redemption. Transcript DEBORAH COHAN: Time is really strange in a nursing home. People are motivated by the mealtimes. Newspaper delivery is listed as an activity. They're just mundane activities in my life or your life, but they become these big events at these nursing homes. When you're there, and you're well, and you're witnessing that, it's really hard to watch and to do time the way they're doing time. BLAIR HODGES: Deborah Cohan knows there's nothing easy about caregiving for a dying parent. She watched over her father as he spent the last few years of his life in a nursing home. Witnessing a parent's decline into dementia is hard enough, but Deborah's situation was especially complicated because it happened after she endured years of emotional and verbal abuse from her father. What's it like to want abuse to stop, but a relationship to continue? Is it possible to forgive someone who can't even remember what they did? Deborah's answers to these questions might surprise you. She draws on her expertise as a sociologist and a domestic abuse counselor to make sense of her own life after her father's death. Her book is called Welcome to Wherever We Are: A Memoir of Family, Caregiving, and Redemption. Deborah joins us to talk about it right now. There's no one right way to be a family and every kind of family has something we can learn from. I'm Blair Hodges, and this is Family Proclamations. A UNIQUE BOOK ON ELDERCARE (1:50) BLAIR HODGES: Deborah J. Cohan, welcome to Family Proclamations. DEBORAH COHAN: Thank you so much for having me, Blair. It's great to be here. BLAIR HODGES: It's great to have you. Deborah, there are a lot of books out there about caregiving for aging parents. There are also a lot of books out there about what it's like to witness and experience abuse in families. But there aren't a whole lot of books that are about both of those things in the same book. You've written a book here about what it means to care for an ageing and ill parent who also happens to have been an abuser. That's how you introduce it. Talk about the decision to write a book like that. It's a unique book. DEBORAH COHAN: Thanks for noticing that. I guess sometimes we write the books we wish existed so we could have them as our own guide, and as an expert in domestic violence, and also as someone who's studied the sociology of families, it made perfect sense for me to create what I call a "braided memoir." These two stories are very much interlocking in the book, and in many people's lives. Even if there's not actual abuse in someone's family, there's so much relatable stuff in the book because of the different complicated dynamics we all find ourselves in just by living in our families. Most families have some complicated dynamics of some sort. I was really trying to help others to think about that, and to think about how these two things that are happening in the culture are really often happening at the same time, which is the complicated family piece, and also the fact that more and more people are involved in some amount of caregiving. And it tends to be gendered, where women tend to be doing it more. BLAIR HODGES: You're a specialist who's studied family violence as well. You say “family violence is a dynamic process. It's not an event or an isolated set of events.” It's an environment and you say it unfolds and takes different shapes, often over years of time. Now in your own personal experience, you've come to see how it can be lodged in caregiving. Talk a little bit about that. DEBORAH COHAN: A lot of times when domestic violence is talked about, especially in the media, we hear about it as an episode, or we hear about it as an incident—sort of an isolated event. What I learned through working with violent men for so many years at the oldest battering intervention program in the country—which is Emerge in Boston—and also working with survivors, is that these things that are referred to as “incidents” or “events” or “episodes,” they are connected experiences. It usually escalates over time. If practitioners and advocates and others in the field, and even just people's friends, can help people to see the connection and help them connect the dots between this episode and then this one—because I talk about how there's connective tissue, if you will. For example, most abusers don't start being abusive by punching someone or strangling them or any of those sorts of things. These things start out in lots of other ways. They get accelerated through time. I think it's important to see this stuff isn't a one-time thing. These things build on each other. SHADOWS IN SHAKER HEIGHTS (3:46) BLAIR HODGES: Maybe take a minute or two really quickly here to give us the broad strokes of your family. Who is this book about? Where are you from? DEBORAH COHAN: Currently I live in South Carolina. But I was born and raised in Cleveland in a pretty storied suburb, actually— BLAIR HODGES: This is Shaker Heights. DEBORAH COHAN: —Yes. Lots of books, and magazines, and articles, and all sorts of stuff on it. It's an interesting and complex place. I think people who don't live there think of it as this sort of gilded community, upper middle class, et cetera. Lots of other things are happening there, as they are everywhere. The one interesting thing is when you grow up in a community where there is an amount of privilege, and there are resources and things, things like family violence do become even more secretive. It's not until I published the book that I found even high school friends and acquaintances coming out, reaching out, telling me, "Oh my gosh, I experienced the same thing," or, "I had no idea you were going through that in high school. So was I." People are left feeling even more alone in a situation like that. So as I said, I was born in Cleveland and I was raised as an only child, which is a very big piece of this book because of the ways that kind of complicates things. Especially because my parents had also divorced very soon before my dad got sick. Then I wound up as his main person, his caregiver. My dad was someone who was really adoring. He was an amazing dad in many ways, actually. You know, I still, I miss and love him every day. He died eleven years ago this month, actually. But he was also abusive. That's something we can talk about later on, but that's a really big issue to me, is for people to understand the multidimensionality of the abuser, and the fact that, by all accounts, I guess people would say I grew up in a loving home. I grew up getting to do a lot of cool things with my parents. My parents were very successful. All this kind of stuff. But there was also this other side behind closed doors—or not always behind closed doors because my dad also was an expert at public humiliation and stuff. It was a lot to manage. My parents also—and I think this is really interesting, some of the demographic issues and stuff—is my dad had me when he was forty-two years old, and my mom was about to be thirty-five. In 1969 those were really older parents. Most of my friends, their parents were much, much younger. So that meant when all this started with my dad being sick, I was catapulted into caregiving at a time where my friends' parents were playing tennis and golf and retiring and doing other cool things like traveling and stuff. There again, I was sort of alone in this process. They married late because it was a second marriage. They had me later. They got divorced very late in life. They were almost sixty-five and seventy-two. All of these dynamics, all of these demographic trends, if you will—It's actually funny how the book stands at the intersection of all of these trends. And we're seeing them more and more. We're seeing people having kids later. We're seeing people divorcing later. We're seeing people living longer. BLAIR HODGES: Right, and adult kids caregiving for their parents or parent. DEBORAH COHAN: Often while caring for their own children. Then the other thing I talk about is the living apart together, where I'm partnered with someone where we don't live together. My husband lives two hours away. When I wrote the book, I didn't think about all the ways in which my life is sitting at these intersections of demographic shifts and trends and stuff. But it is, and I think some of those are really important to the way the book unfolds and to the way I think about all this stuff. BLAIR HODGES: You do sit at intersections of a lot of things. Just to flesh it out a little bit more, too, I'll mention that, as you said, your family was upper middle class in Shaker Heights. You say you were Jewish-identified but your family wasn't affiliated or practicing. Your parents were politically progressive. Your mom was artistic, an abstract artist. Your father worked in advertising. He wrote the Hawaiian Punch song. Is this true? DEBORAH COHAN: The line, yes. "How would you like a nice Hawaiian Punch?" BLAIR HODGES: Yeah! DEBORAH COHAN: Isn't that wild? BLAIR HODGES: That really caught me off guard. [laughter] Your parents were also married and divorced before they got married. Your father had two children you never got to know, just from this different phase of his life. That also fills out this background. If you have a copy of the book there, I thought it would be nice to hear you read from the Introduction. The first page gives us a good picture of what's to come. Can you read that for us? DEBORAH COHAN: "When I first set out to write about my dad, I thought my book would only be filled with stories of his abuse, his rage, my own resulting rage and grief, and maybe even his grief as well. However, the writing process revealed other emotions. Things that surprised me, disgusted me, delighted me, and saddened me. At moments, I was glad to be reminded of all the love I still feel for my father and reassured of his love for me. “I've anguished over whether in my promise to tell about my father's abuse with integrity and honesty, the story would somehow be diminished by this other story of the great love we shared. It's only now that I see that the one seemingly pure story of his abuse is not even a pure story. And interestingly, I don't think the abuse is even the grittiest or rawest part of the story. “As it turns out, the story would be easier to tell if all I needed to do was report about all the times that my dad behaved badly. You might get angry with him. And you might even feel sorry for me. But that's not what I wanted out of this book. You need to also know and feel the love we shared, the way I felt it. And I still do. “The much harder story to tell is the one that unfolds in these pages. It's the story of ambivalence, of what it means to stand on the precipice of both love and fear, and what it means to navigate between forgiveness and blame, care and disregard, resilience and despair." HIMPATHY (11:37) BLAIR HODGES: Thank you. A couple of things come to mind as I'm reading that. First of all, I wondered if you were presenting yourself as an exemplary type of person who'd experienced abuse. As it turns out, throughout the book, you don't. You don't set yourself forward as "everyone should process abuse the way I did." You don't expect people who have been abused to be forgiving, or to seek all of that. I want to let people know that right off the top. I did want to talk about Kate Manne's idea of "himpathy," because that's what came to mind here at the opening of your book before I knew what was coming. Himpathy as I understand it is this idea of extending sympathy to men who are doing crappy stuff, basically. The guy's the problem, but we tend to side with the guy or try to get inside his heart or his head and extend sympathy to someone who's done terrible things. You have a background of working with these domestic violence survivors and perpetrators. So I just wondered about your thoughts on that idea of himpathy, and how you negotiate with that as you think about your own relationship with your dad and as you were writing this book. DEBORAH COHAN: I have to admit I have not heard of that word or that theory. That would be interesting to read more about. I certainly did worry about that a bit. Here I am, trained in feminist sociology, and have done all this work, and it's almost like I didn't want to let people down or something, or didn't want to seem like I was giving him a pass, so to speak. BLAIR HODGES: Right. DEBORAH COHAN: I also had to write it in that authentic way I feel I did, and just realize the much more nuanced approach is actually the approach I took—which is that no one is purely one thing or another. Neither am I. I come out as pretty flawed in the book too, which I'm glad about because it's the “no one's perfect” thing. I think there are certainly people who might read the book who might say, "Oh, my gosh, I would never still love my dad," or, "I would have stopped talking to him," or "F– you" kind of stuff. I don't know. To me that would be too easy. I think the harder piece is to deal with that ambivalence. And as you say, it's not right for everyone and it's totally dependent on different people's situations. I also think, for some people, it's like some readers have told me, it's very valuable to have gotten to juggle both, so they can see how to juggle both themselves. It's not really that rare that someone who's been hurt by someone still wants a relationship with them. I guess the real essence of dealing with an abusive relationship is you want the abuse to stop but you want the relationship to continue. BLAIR HODGES: You “love” the person. DEBORAH COHAN: Yeah. We see that with sexual abuse survivors a lot. There's a lot of research on that. It's complicated. It makes me want to read about this "himpathy" piece. BLAIR HODGES: Look up himpathy. It's this sympathy for men, basically. DEBORAH COHAN: She's critical of it. Obviously. BLAIR HODGES: She's critical, but it's very thoughtful. It resonates well with what you present in your book, which is, you're not giving your dad a pass or excusing his behavior, you're just also recognizing the ways you loved him and why. That's different than saying, "You know what, actually the abuse was okay," or even, "The abuse was maybe beneficial or maybe deserved." Or that all your attention would be focused on protecting your father's reputation, rather than talking about what the relationship really was and processing your feelings for other people to kind of witness and maybe go alongside with you. I think it's helpful. DEBORAH COHAN: Yeah. If I grew up in the home my dad grew up in maybe I wouldn't have done anything different either. So it's really hard truths to reconcile, but I think they're really important. WHAT HE DID (15:31) BLAIR HODGES: It's important to think about individual responsibility, but also context. Sometimes it's easier to offload our anxiety that stuff like this happens by just demonizing an individual person. I want to be a strong proponent of justice and of attending to the person who has been abused first and foremost. I think their experience really needs to be attended to. I think if we just demonize an individual person, it excuses the ways we participate in a society that can facilitate stuff like that, basically. DEBORAH COHAN: Exactly. BLAIR HODGES: They're really bad. I can kind of overlook the crappy ways I treat people because here are these evil enemies over here I can identify as the bad people and not think about the ways I might be implicated. It's complicated, though. It's complicated. DEBORAH COHAN: Right. BLAIR HODGES: Let's talk about some abuse examples from your father. You say he was financially generous, but he was also financially controlling. You've seen this dynamic in other families. There comes this moment early on where he makes this comment to you. He says, "You'd make my life a lot easier if you'd just commit suicide." It seems like he wasn't saying that as a joke. It comes across as though he just said this to you as a matter of fact. DEBORAH COHAN: Yes, that was in the context of something that was financially abusive and controlling. It's so interesting to hear that comment restated to me, and I've heard it so many times since the book came out. It was even really startling the first time I saw it on the jacket of the book, and then it's on Amazon. It's like people glom on to it because it's so over the top for a parent to say that to a kid, or in this case a young adult woman, because I was in my twenties. I think that's the comment that makes people say, "Oh, I could never have cared for him. I could have never had a relationship with him." There is something odd about hearing it back and realizing that in a way, at the time, it was really upsetting but it almost—I guess like so many other acts of abuse, things get minimized or forgotten or denied. It's interesting to think of probably how soon after I still was able to talk to him or willing to engage with him, that sort of thing. And at the same time, I wouldn't really tolerate that. It's just one of those things where it's very hard to describe how I know that comment is so searing to readers and anybody hearing it. It's just so disturbing. At the same time, it's such a good example, though, of how his feelings were the priority, as is true in abusive relationships. Where it's like the abuser is so focused on their feelings and the other person's actions. It was such a prime example of where he completely distorted what I was saying and where I was trying to do something that could be helpful—to find out something about insurance and his financial contribution with stuff, and he just jumped into me verbally with this accusation and assuming the worst of me. In a sense, what I would want people hearing this to understand is not just the intensity of what he said, but how it encapsulates so many different pieces related to abuse. Like the threats, the focus on his feelings and my behavior. All of this. The assuming the worst of me is really the key piece of this. BLAIR HODGES: This is the kind of abuse you experienced, this verbal assault. You even say your father never actually hit you, physical abuse, but you did always have the perception he could. There was always a sense that he might, and you say that was its own sort of terror that can give a person trauma. DEBORAH COHAN: Oh, for sure. Because somebody who says something that vicious and cruel and brutal: "My life would be easier if you commit suicide." It is a slap in the face. It is a punch in the gut. It is all of those things, kind of metaphorically. I mean, this is why I think it's so crucial and I always try to encourage my students, and I talked about this with violent offenders, is to not create a hierarchy of what sort of abuse is worse than another. Because right, it's true. He did not pull my hair or spit on me or punch me or throw me against a wall or strangle me or any of these awful things that happen. But the threat of violence, the constant berating, the criticizing, the defining of reality—when someone says something like that to you, what are you supposed to say? I mean, there's no way to respond. It was his ability to try to exert that level of power and control, and that level of silencing me, and putting me in my place in this way. Those are some of the core defining features of abuse. BLAIR HODGES: I learned a lot more about abuse and seeing these patterns of abuse—for example, you talked about how maybe you would be together during a trip and he would freak out. He would scream and swear at you publicly. So not only did it hurt you because your dad's treating you that way, but also, it's embarrassing and other people are witnessing this, which compounds the hurt. This would happen during a trip where he was visiting. Then at the end of the trip you say he had this tactic of minimizing and mutualizing. Talk about the tactic, what that looks like to minimize and mutualize after an assault like that. DEBORAH COHAN: It's comments like, "It's not so bad," or, "Didn't we have a fun time?" Or glomming onto the parts that were fun. “Wasn't that wonderful when we saw the Lion King?” Or, “Wasn't that amazing when we ate at this restaurant?” By highlighting the goodies it forced me—again, it's part of his defining reality, but then it made me have to think, “Oh, that stuff was really nice. That was good. So maybe that's not so bad, the other stuff.” BLAIR HODGES: It doesn't feel like he was really asking, either. It seems like what's happened here is control. He needs to control the story. He's not really looking for your input about how you felt about everything, but really telling you, “By the way, this trip was awesome, you better think it was and if you don't, there's a problem with you.” DEBORAH COHAN: Not just that there's a problem with you, but also that you're insatiable and that you— BLAIR HODGES: That you deserve my yelling and stuff? DEBORAH COHAN: Or nothing I do for you is ever good enough. Then it turns into I'm not grateful enough, which was a huge part of the narrative. **WHEN REDEMPTION ISN'T FORGIVENESS (22:16) BLAIR HODGES: As we said before, this isn't a book of forgiveness for your father. You do repeatedly express your love for him and describe to the reader where that love comes from or what it looks like. But you're saying there's a sense in which you want some redemption for that relationship, but not necessarily forgiveness. That was an interesting distinction I'd never thought about before. Talk about how you see those two things of seeking some kind of redemption versus just forgiveness. DEBORAH COHAN: I love that question because so often people still conclude I've totally forgiven him and then decide, "Oh, I'm not sure I could forgive him." Like I talk about in the book, forgiveness is a bit overrated. As someone who does not identify religiously, forgiveness feels far too rooted in notions of religion. I'm not totally comfortable with that. I mean, I think the redemption is more that now I'm fifty-three years old, I understand people like my parents did the best they could with what they had at the time they did it. So I have more sort of acceptance of the multidimensionality of my parents in a way, and I think their deaths—because my mom has died also—their deaths helped to do that, even though that was something I dreaded for so long. But then it turns out there's something about it now, that I can see the full humanity of both of them in a way that maybe it was harder to see when they were alive. The other piece of the forgiveness thing is that in working with abusers, I remember working with a counselor. We were co-facilitating a group one evening and he was pushing this abuser, really holding him accountable. He kept saying to him, "What are you sorry for, who are you sorry for?" It was like, "Who are the tears for?" Really trying to get this guy to see he still didn't really seem like he was apologetic, really truly remorseful. That it was more about his own saving face. So I guess the reason full forgiveness still feels hard for me is my dad and I never had that full, totally open, me totally exposing all of my thoughts on this, kind if conversation, maybe over a period of months and years, where I could come to that, or where he asked for it in a way that I could give that to him. So I feel the most we can do here is redemption. BLAIR HODGES: How do you define that then? What is that redemption? DEBORAH COHAN: I feel like it's maybe that acceptance of all that imperfection and all the flaw and all the limitations and things, and that there are still these redeeming aspects of him as a man in the world, of him as a father, of him in my life. I mean, I guess I couldn't have the level of loving and missing him every day without that level of some redemption. And then some people have asked me, "Well, it does sound like you forgive him, though." It's almost like people just want to use that word so much— BLAIR HODGES: I feel tempted to that question, too. I wanted to say it's sort of a “brand” or a “genre” of forgiveness or something. [laughs] DEBORAH COHAN: Exactly. It's so interesting, though. I was friends with a couple. The woman has died and the man is much, much older. He's probably in his nineties now. Their daughter was murdered by their son-in-law. I had them speak at my classes and they were often asked, "Do you forgive the son-in-law?" Shirley, the mother, would always say, "No, and he never did anything to ask for it. He really never apologized. There was no authentic anything that would have warranted it and he never really accepted enough responsibility for forgiveness to be possible." I guess I'm still kind of at that piece. BLAIR HODGES: That's a forgiveness that seems like it has to be mutual, like the other person who hurt you needs to get inside your story, show they understand it, and make some kind of reparation or connection there. And for that kind of forgiveness to happen, yeah, you have to have the other— I think what people might be thinking when they suggest you have forgiven is the sense that you still find good in your dad. You love him. But there's also, as you say, there's always that disconnect that's a result of the years of abuse, you can't fully reconcile because reconciliation requires both people to be involved with it. And so it's just not possible. That kind of forgiveness has to be mutual. The other person has to be involved for that forgiveness to even work, I guess. DEBORAH COHAN: Yeah, that it's more of a process. It, like the abuse, is not just an episode or an instance or a moment. It's much larger. One of the things that's difficult is my dad seemed to have in certain ways, he softened and almost showed me the possibilities of redemption once he was quite ill. Once he was very needy and dependent. He was in a nursing home, and that's when towards the end of the book he's telling me about his experience growing up and his father being abusive to his mother and witnessing it and thinking it was an outrageous thing. And his empathy went to his mother as a child. Yet he still reproduced this as an adult. But here was a man with dementia and he was totally immobile, and by then incontinent and all these other things. It was just—That wasn't the time to start digging into our relationship. But had he told me all that and had we been able to have that conversation when he was well, I don't even know if that would have been possible. Had that happened, had he been able to show me more, really that actions speak louder than words, really show me in a consistent, meaningful, trustworthy way, "Deb, I can't believe I did that to you." Really showing me through living out life with me that he would never do it again. But we never got there. FAMILY DYNAMICS WITH MOM (28:50) BLAIR HODGES: It was thirteen years before he died—eight of those years, he was very sick in these care facilities. You say you were lodged in an uncomfortably intimate relationship with him, as you mentioned, because you were an adult child of divorce. The family dynamic you grew up with was one where you trended toward being closer to your dad. I think there was probably a protective element to that. Your mom felt sort of sidelined. You really paint a compelling picture of why the divorce happened later on, the way your mom was sidelined, the way your family was this triangle that you felt pressured to make feel whole, which is something no child should have to reckon with. But then later on when they get this divorce, here's a quote from you, "During the years I cared for my dad, my mom's absence felt like a death." I realized, Deborah, how hard that must have been to basically be the only one who could really care for your dad during those eight years because your mom was gone. You're an only child of these divorced parents. DEBORAH COHAN: She kind of would accuse me of being angry at her for leaving. She would say that somehow I thought it was her responsibility to stay. She could tell it was really hard for me. In a certain way, though, she was very compassionate at times about what I was dealt with in those moments. Then there were other times in which she, as I say, almost accused me of being angry about it. Which is a whole other piece. BLAIR HODGES: Was that like a “They protest too much” kind of thing? It seems you were in some senses abandoned to care for him. I'm not suggesting that your mom shouldn't have gotten a divorce or anything. But their child is involved. You were stuck with handling that. It seems like a lot for a child in a family, even though you were a grown up at this point, to manage by yourself. I wonder if she worried if you resented it. It seems like— DEBORAH COHAN: Absolutely. She didn't just worry about it, she accused me of it! [laughs]. And then it was a little confusing. BLAIR HODGES: But did you feel that resentment? Was her charge valid? DEBORAH COHAN: That's a really good question, because I teach this book now in my class, and it's very interesting how I ask my students if they find my mom to be a sympathetic character. The reality is, I guess she is and she isn't. There are a lot of people who come to the conclusion, a little bit what you were just alluding to, of I should not have been left like that. It's kind of like my mom did something wrong, that I got stuck with all of this. What's interesting is, the book came out in 2020. My mom died a few months later. Here I am teaching the book. I can't have this conversation with my mother, which I would really like to have, which is, "Oh my gosh, if only you could hear all the ways in which I stand up for you." You know what I mean? I constantly am saying to students, "No, I don't blame my mom for leaving." In some ways I just wish she had left sooner, so they could have each had their new lease on life. To me it feels very sad that she did this at close to sixty-five and he was seventy-two. I'm not sure what else could have been done, though. I wouldn't expect people to stay in a marriage that isn't good or healthy for them. I can't fault my mom for leaving. It's more, I wish she had been able to do it earlier and I know I was probably part of the reason she didn't, which is a hard thing to deal with at the same time. BLAIR HODGES: Would you resist it if I said something like, “I wish your mom had tried and pitched in a little bit to take some of the pressure off?” DEBORAH COHAN: No, I think that's true. She did in certain ways, but she couldn't in other ways. From a legal standpoint, all this financial stuff, everything. She was certainly financially generous in her own way later and about other stuff. It might have been helpful had she just said, "Gosh, I see you're going to Cleveland again." I wasn't taking trips and doing really great stuff. I was going to Cleveland many times from Boston as I was in graduate school, as I was adjuncting, and teaching in different places, and commuting to Connecticut. I wish in those moments instead of just taking me out to dinner or—because she was living on Cape Cod by then so we were living much closer together. It might have been nice if she had just said, "I'll buy the airline ticket," or, "Let me make the reservation for you at the hotel," or whatever it was. That might have lessened the burden. Although, she did in other ways because then she might have helped fund something else I did need. It was just a very difficult time. AT THE NURSING HOME (33:54) BLAIR HODGES: That is helpful. I didn't have hard feelings toward your mom, I just wondered a little bit about— As you said, your mom was still alive when you were finishing this. It makes sense that some of that stuff couldn't have been processed yet. So that's helpful. I think people that pick up a copy of the book and check it out, that's a really great supplement to it. I'm glad to hear you can talk to people about that as you teach the book, too. The book we're talking about, by the way, again, is called Welcome to Wherever We Are: A Memoir of Family, Caregiving, and Redemption. It's written by Deborah J. Cohan, who is professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina Beaufort. You mentioned this a minute ago—finances. You basically witnessed your father's finances completely collapse. This is something a lot of people are experiencing and will probably be experiencing more and more because the social safety net in the United States is not great, but he went from a sharp dressing, fancy food enjoying ad executive to this man in filthy sweatpants sitting in this dilapidated care facility, living on Medicaid. And he ended up dying with about fifty dollars to his name. So you witness over the time he was there, his complete impoverishment. DEBORAH COHAN: Yeah and also I think that's some of the redemption for him too, is just knowing if he was aware of what was left at the end, and what happened—I mean, his dream would have been to leave me with more to pay off my student loan debt, you know, all that kind of stuff. He would have been ashamed and humiliated in many of the ways that breadwinning and masculinity are so entangled with each other. BLAIR HODGES: Ah, that reminds me, there's an excerpt I thought you might read on page twenty-seven. You actually take us to the nursing home with some stories about what it was like when you visited him. It's that middle paragraph there. If you could read that excerpt—it's a list but wow, it certainly evokes experiences I've had. DEBORAH COHAN: "The nursing home: paved driveway. Automatic doors. Cigarette butts. Patients waiting for the next distribution of cigarettes. Orange sherbet and ginger ale and Saulsbury steak. Sticky floors. Dusty roads. Vinyl recliners. Bed pans. Bingo and sing-alongs. Stashes of adult diapers in the closets and drawers. Motorized wheelchairs. Schedules. Forms. Nursing aides and personal attendants. Styrofoam cups. Stale urine. Plastic water pitchers and bendable straws. Hospital beds. Dark, dingy rooms. A small rod for hanging clothes. Non-skid socks. No privacy. Open, unlocked rooms filled with demented wanderers. Whiteboards with washable markers stating the day of the week and the nurse on duty. Dead plants. Almost-dead people. Harsh overhead lighting and overheated rooms. Not enough real light. Tables that roll across beds for getting fed. Call bells and strings to pull in the bathroom. Air that doesn't move." BLAIR HODGES: The stories you tell there, Deborah, visiting there seemed really hard for you, let alone what it must have been like to live there. You felt such ambivalence about it. Because you say you almost couldn't stand being there at the moment, but you also would get really distraught about leaving there. DEBORAH COHAN: Absolutely, yes. And thanks for having me read that piece, by the way, because it's been so long since I've actually read it. It takes me back to the room also. The ambivalence showed up in so many different ways. I think that's so true of people who are visiting people who are frail and dying, or very ill. This sense of, you want to go, like I would be in Boston, I would want to go so badly. I would want to see him. I would want to give him a big hug. I would want to finally bring him food he craved or food that was a special treat instead of some of the things I listed in that piece. Then I would get there. It was like, “Oh, gosh.” I just wanted to flee. I walked in and it was just the chaos and the bureaucracy and just the antiseptic but actually filthy quality of these places that I illuminate in that piece. Then the guilt that totally seeped in in that moment, because then it was like, "Wait, I got here. I'm here. I'm supposed to want to be with him. I'm supposed to want to stay,” and now I'm counting down the time. It's sort of like, "Oh my gosh, I've been here twenty minutes. It feels like four hours." Then when I'd leave it was almost like that, "Oh, but I spent three hours," almost like I did good time or something. BLAIR HODGES: A Herculean effort just to get through the three hours. DEBORAH COHAN: Yeah, and time is strange in a nursing home also, as it is in a hospital. People are motivated by the mealtimes. The newspaper delivery is listed as an activity at the place. These things that are just mundane activities in my life or your life, they become these big events at these nursing homes in ways that, when you're there and you're witnessing that, and you're well, it's really hard to watch and to do time the way that they're doing time. BLAIR HODGES: On a bigger scale, too, the cycle that would happen. So you talk about how there would be a medical crisis, things would seem really bad, but then he would kind of rally, show some resilience, kind of recover for a bit, you'd get a little bit of hope, and then it would crash again. And this cycle kept happening. It reminds me of this paragraph I highlighted here. You say, "Perhaps many adult children caring for dying parents deal with this dilemma. How much to let the parent in. How much to keep the parent at bay. It's hard to get that close to almost-death, to anticipatory grief, and when an abusive history is part of it, that push/pull with how to have healthy emotional closeness and distance becomes that much more intensified." You're talking about the already complicated dynamics and then you add the layer of abuse into it, which makes it all the more complicated. DEBORAH COHAN: I appreciate you did such a close good reading of it, because I don't know that everybody picks up some of the pieces and the nuances and especially the contradictory realities that are present. I really appreciate that and what you've read and shared and asked and are revealing to the audience. That's just the hardest part of all, is reconciling those pieces. Okay, I spent most of my childhood really worried my parents would die or my parents would get divorced. As an only child, those two things felt incredibly scary, that I would lose one or both of them, or that they would get divorced. It kind of haunted me up until they died, really. And my dad, like any one of the things he suffered from people die from pretty easily. You know, he had an aneurysm. He had a heart attack. He had diabetes. He had so many different things— BLAIR HODGES:  —He had dementia, yeah. DEBORAH COHAN: Yeah. And then at the same time, though, he kept—like you're saying—bouncing back. It was like the Energizer Bunny. It was like nothing's going to get this guy. In a way that's an interesting parallel with the abuse. It was almost like, unstoppable. It was the sense of like, he could be abusive and then quick fix, make it up. Apologize, be really sweet and kind, and then do it again. But it's like… BLAIR HODGES: Another kind of cycle. DEBORAH COHAN: Yeah, another cycle. And also the cycle of vulnerability coupled with this omnipotence. That was present when he was ill. Like he was totally vulnerable. There was a time in 2006, I think it was, where I really thought he was going to die. There was no doubt. It just felt like this is imminent now. He was hallucinating and all these other things. He didn't die for six more years! And between those six years he moved to different nursing homes, basically, because of bad behavior. But it reminds me of those inflatable dolls, or those inflatable things on lawns. BLAIR HODGES: Like outside the car dealership thing? DEBORAH COHAN: Like you hit it and it keeps coming back. BLAIR HODGES: Oh, yeah. It falls and then pops back up. DEBORAH COHAN: And it'll keep standing, exactly. And that was my dad in everything. BUTTERFLY EFFECT FIXATION (42:54) BLAIR HODGES: You say nothing could really prepare you for that. There was this moment when he falls at the Cleveland airport, you kind of pinpoint this as a turning point for him, where he seems to be in relatively good health, but he fell and broke his hip. You were involved in that trip too. You carried these feelings about that. DEBORAH COHAN: Absolutely. BLAIR HODGES: You were worried he was about to die then, and you weren't ready. Then again, you were less prepared for what ended up happening, which was years of this cycle of health crises and then recoveries. Nothing could have prepared you for that. DEBORAH COHAN: And the reality is you're never ready. It's almost like you can know what's happening. He was never going to get better. But I also didn't think he was going to die three days before I started my new job in South Carolina, three weeks after I moved here, after just being divorced myself. I didn't really, it was like, “That was interesting timing, Dad.” [laughs] But you just said something that was really interesting and reminds me of the passage I just read from being in the nursing home, and it relates to the moment he fell. So when my dad fell at the airport, he was going there in a limo, being dropped off, got out of the car and fell on ice in Cleveland at the airport. My friend, who's now, I mean he's ex-husband, Mark, he and I were heading to Cleveland to meet my dad to then go to Florida. BLAIR HODGES: With him. DEBORAH COHAN: With him. It was supposed to be this vacation. My dad had packed his red suitcase, and it turns out that red suitcase, which is also featured in the book, that thing was screaming at me every time I would go and visit him in a nursing home. I don't know why I didn't think to trash it. Maybe because I kept hoping we would get to pack it and he could go home. But like, honestly, that suitcase was just—it was like a bully, you know?  It was this sense of like—it was taunting because I felt, and I still kind of do, if my dad wasn't taking us to Florida, he wouldn't have fallen on ice at the airport and he wouldn't have broken his hip, and then he wouldn't have—then his whole life wouldn't have come tumbling down with it. BLAIR HODGES: Butterfly effect moment, right? DEBORAH COHAN: Yeah. But at the same time, that's sort of abuse survivor logic. BLAIR HODGES: Oh, you're putting it on you. DEBORAH COHAN: Yeah, like if I hadn't have done this, he wouldn't have done that to me. Or if I had done this, he definitely would have behaved differently and then I wouldn't have been told “I wish you'd commit suicide” or something. It's interesting how even in a moment like that, that has really nothing to do with abuse, the psyche that's been dealing with abuse and those dynamics, is still contaminated by that. There was still that sense of, “God, if only we hadn't gone to Florida! If only we hadn't made that trip!” And the reality is, I was actually very tentative about wanting to go on that trip. My dad really wanted this for us. He really wanted the three of us to go and have this wonderful time and be at this resort. And I was haunted by some of my memories of my dad on trips. I didn't want to deal with that with my husband at the time. BLAIR HODGES: Right. DEBORAH COHAN: And then I also dealt with the guilt and the shame around not really wanting the trip. And then he actually—his whole life tumbled down as a result of a trip he really wanted that I didn't want because I wasn't grateful enough. So it did this whole thing. I mean, I can still feel it. BLAIR HODGES: It recurs. You bring it up throughout the book. This Cleveland airport is a recurring moment you keep going back to. DEBORAH COHAN: Yes. And then isn't it wild that I got the news of his death at a different airport— BLAIR HODGES: Right! DEBORAH COHAN: —as I was about to board a plane to go and see him for the last time, which at that time really I knew was the last time because they called me to pretty much tell me that earlier in the day. So I arranged to leave that evening, and then missed it. Again, at the time it was like, “Oh my gosh, you're such a screw up! You can't even get to see him when…” It was just this… BLAIR HODGES: The reflex of self-blame. DEBORAH COHAN: Criticism, yes. I had internalized that so much, and so it was a process to try to realize like, no. My dad could have fallen anywhere. Something else could have happened. Because of course something else would have happened. But it was so hard to see in that moment. ONE LITTLE EXTRA SOMETHING (47:49) BLAIR HODGES: This reminds me the ways you're very confessional and vulnerable yourself in the book. This isn't a book about Deborah Cohan the hero who cared for her dying father. This is a book of Deborah Cohan who's wrestling with the ambiguity of being someone who experienced abuse, who has really hard feelings about that, and who also has feelings of love. But there was, I think one of the most arresting— Well I probably shouldn't try to qualify it. To me, the most arresting moment in the book is when you're listing all the medications he's taking on any given day when he's in a care facility. There's Ambien, Glucotrol, amoxicillin, mycelium, and even more. You see this one-month pharmacy bill that added up to twelve hundred dollars. Then you add this startling line. You say, "One extra little something slipped into this whole mess would be untraceable." This is one of the darkest thoughts a caregiver might experience, but you're not the only caregiver who I've heard talk about this. So I wanted to spend a little bit of time there about what it was like confessing that, talking about that in your book. DEBORAH COHAN: Yeah, I certainly—I hope it's understood in the book that it wasn't about revenge. BLAIR HODGES: Right. DEBORAH COHAN: It wasn't like because of that moment when my dad thought his life would be easier if I committed suicide that I want to somehow poison him or kill him. It was this very deep in my bones feeling of, “No one should have to live this way.” BLAIR HODGES: It was, you were witnessing suffering. And your brain was like what can we do for this? DEBORAH COHAN: To stop it, yes. My parents, as I said, and you identified it as well, they were very progressive. And I still remember conversations when I was growing up where my dad would say, "If that ends up happening to me—” like, you know, he would talk about people who— BLAIR HODGES: Right. “I don't want to live like that." DEBORAH COHAN: “I don't wanna live like that. Just kill me. Do something.” So I think even he would have been compassionate and understanding to the thought I had. But what's also interesting that you didn't reveal in your question though is, when I revealed it to myself, I was also telling it to my husband at the time, who thought I was just totally crazy for thinking it, for saying it. It was almost like I should be ashamed of myself. And then there I go, retelling the whole thing in the book. So I wasn't, I really never wound up being so ashamed of it. It was more the sense of the absolute desperation a caregiver feels. The absolute helplessness to stop the suffering and to also stop witnessing it, too! It was like, how much longer can we all go on like this? It was sort of like this is an untenable situation. BLAIR HODGES: Yeah, this wasn't a revenge plot. DEBORAH COHAN: Absolutely not. BLAIR HODGES: This was a desperate moment of trying to figure out how to make the suffering end. I mean, you talk about how caregiving amplified your childhood instincts, your hyper-responsibility and hyper-vigilance, and what toll that could take on you over a number of years. What was it like being hyper-vigilant, hyper-responsible about your father? DEBORAH COHAN: Well you almost alluded to it in the list of the medications. I was carrying around like, a file box in my car with all sorts of information about his health, with all sorts of papers, with duplicate copies of things, because I don't want to be caught off guard, not prepared. If someone calls me, I want to have it all ready. I always had pen and paper with me. Yeah, it's true that there's a hyper-vigilance that happens when someone's experiencing an abusive relationship or witnessing abuse. That sense of being on guard, of trying to have every base covered. That sort of thing. BLAIR HODGES: Be blameless, really. DEBORAH COHAN: Yeah, you know I did that, I extended that into caregiving. I made a list of—I mean, it was sort of crazy, but I did—I sent a copy to my mother, I sent a copy to the nursing home, I sent a copy everywhere. And actually it was when he lived at home, before that, where I had something on the refrigerator that had his social security number, all of his information—like the drugs he takes, his health history, the dates of surgeries—so that any of the nurses caring for him in his home could see that, could know what was going on, could assist. BLAIR HODGES: You were also on call all the time, expecting any phone call. It seemed like you were just tied to your phone in case there was a phone call that would come in. DEBORAH COHAN: Right. And when he died, I talk about how that night after talking with my friend for hours on my couch, afterwards then I just go and I turn off the phone. And I've done that every single night since. I never leave my phone on. BLAIR HODGES: Right! From that point on. DEBORAH COHAN: It's like he'll call me at three or four in the morning. If I'm up, I'll answer, if I'm not— I could be called at any moment about anything and there was just no boundaries on it. Because again, it's the sense of they have to for different liability reasons, but I was being called about anything and everything. DOES THE CHILD BECOME THE PARENT (53:22) BLAIR HODGES: It took up mental and emotional space twenty-four hours a day. And as you watched all these losses pile up—he stopped being able to drive, he stopped being able to walk, he stopped being able to write, then read, then feed himself, then he lost control of his bladder, he couldn't think straight, he couldn't remember. The dementia took over. And you tell us about a friend of yours called Julie. She's a geriatric care specialist. You said she's actually not comfortable when she hears people talking about a role reversal in this situation. It's common for people to say the child becomes the parent and the parent becomes like the child. You're doing a lot of the same things. They're helping feed them, they probably wear diapers, there's all these things going on. You say Julie is not comfortable with that comparison. But you kind of disagree with her. I wanted to hear your thoughts about where Julie's coming from and how you see it. DEBORAH COHAN: Well I mean, she was so compassionate to me about my dad and about all that has happened. In fact, I remember saying to her, I'm going to be using your name, if you don't want me to use it, I can give you a pseudonym. BLAIR HODGES: It's the risk of being friends with a writer. [laughter] DEBORAH COHAN: Exactly! But I mean, nobody's really talked about in a singularly bad way in the book. Not even my dad. So with Julie I think that's a common thing in gerontology, in her field, is the sense of empowering the person who is being cared for. BLAIR HODGES: Conferring dignity. If you say they're like children that's undignified or that's demeaning. DEBORAH COHAN: Exactly. And that's why these nursing homes will ask families to post pictures of when the person was younger and more robust and vibrant on the door or in the entrance to the room, so when people are going in to see the patient they're also reminded, “Oh, this is really who I'm seeing. I'm not just seeing this person who's only weak and sick and vulnerable.” But you know what's interesting to me about that is I felt that a lot with my father. I felt like I wanted to just scream to [laughs] anybody who would listen or any of the nurses or anyone, this isn't really my dad! This is my dad! Kind of asserting the strengths and the brilliance he did have. At the same time, though, it was very hard for me to give that credit to other people, you know? [laughs] So when I would see other residents who were really bad off, I had a hard time thinking about them in their prior phases of their life. I think that's just something caregivers struggle with. I certainly wasn't unique in that. BLAIR HODGES: Sure, and I'm sympathetic to Julie in the sense of conferring dignity and being mindful of this person as a person worthy of concern and care and not infantilizing people. But you also say, when you're feeding your dad and he's spitting up down his shirt and all these things, you can't help but feel like that role has been reversed. I'd like to find a way to both dignify and honor the parent, and also validate and recognize the experience of the child who is now being a caregiver. I think both things are possible. DEBORAH COHAN: That's why when I talk about feeding my dad birthday cake, there's this point where I talk about it as like a terrible beauty in feeding a parent. That gets at that to me. Again, the ambivalence, the contradictory reality, the sense that we should be there in a certain way. They did this for us. We should do this for them with no sense of negativity. At the same time, this is not really how it was supposed to go. BLAIR HODGES: There was no rehearsal for it, too, for you. You were just there. The cupcake was there. And here you are, you're feeding your dad. DEBORAH COHAN: And he wouldn't have wanted that. The last thing he would have wanted was to have me feed him, I mean oh my gosh. LETTER TO DADDY (57:34) BLAIR HODGES: There's one more excerpt I'd like to hear you read here. You wrote some of this book in your dad's presence there at the nursing home when he would be asleep, and you were at his side. This is on page one 142. You wrote to him in that moment in 2009. If you can read it. DEBORAH COHAN: Sure. It's just funny. I'm laughing only because I feel like I have that page memorized. I have actually read this piece quite a bit when I've spoken about the book. It does feel like a really evocative passage, and not because it talks about his abuse at all, but also because of the writerly technique that I used in it of taking almost like field notes that I wound up using. It's exactly the same, I didn't change anything. But I didn't know I was writing a book at that moment either. "I watch you as you sleep, not unlike you probably watched me as I slept as a newborn baby and as a young girl, and wonder, in awe, in calm, and in worry. A parent watches a child sleep with anticipation of a future. An adult child watches a sick parent sleep with a sense of the past. You are finally still and quiet. You, a man who I know is chaotic and loud. We rest in this calm as you fall in and out of slumber and I grade papers. I need to study your face, memorize it, because I know I'll need it one day. Yet the you now is not the you I want to remember. “In a few days, I'll be back with over a hundred students, giving lectures, attending meetings, going to a concert, a lunch with a friend, a performance of The Vagina Monologues. And in my week ahead, I worry about being too busy, about running from one activity to the next, breathless. “Yet one day, Daddy, you did this too, right? How would you restructure those days now? What did you hope for? What do you look for now? You look tired, though I can't tell if you're tired of this life. Yesterday I brought you coffee from Caribou with one of their napkins that made a jab at Starbucks that said, 'Our coffee is smooth and fresh because burnt and bitter were already taken.' Whenever I see great lines and logos I think of you. Your creativity still shines through as we leaf through metropolitan home and marvel at minimalist spaces. Your stained sweatpants are pulled up halfway toward your chest and your stomach looks distended. “Earlier today I saw as you put imaginary pills to your mouth with your fingers, something I assume to be a self-soothing ritual you performed after the nurse told you it was not yet time for more medication. Being in Cleveland, I'm surrounded by childhood friends hanging out with their dads, younger men than you in their sixties and early seventies. Robust, athletic, energetic men vigorously playing tennis and golf, working, traveling and chasing after their dreams, not figments of their imaginations in thin air. “Oh, Daddy. Your eyes open suddenly, and you ask, ‘What are you writing?' I quickly respond, ‘Oh, nothing really, it's just for school.'" LATE-STAGE CONFRONTATIONS (1:01:06) BLAIR HODGES: That's Deborah Cohan, professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina Beaufort. She earned her PhD in Sociology and a Joint Master of Arts in Women's Studies and Sociology at Brandeis University. That excerpt is from her book, Welcome to Wherever We Are: A Memoir of Family, Caregiving, and Redemption. You mentioned a little bit about this already, Deborah, but maybe just take one moment and talk about the ways your father maybe tried to reckon with the abusive dynamics of your relationship later in life. If there was any indication that he came to regret how he treated you. You talk about, for example, when he tried to volunteer at a domestic violence clinic. Even in that context, it didn't really come up. It doesn't sound like you had many opportunities, or that you felt safe enough or whatever, to straightforwardly confront him and say this was an abusive situation. DEBORAH COHAN: I certainly tried. There was a time when I was doing the abuse intervention work and I was working late into the night and our groups ran from 8pm to 10pm, after men had worked their jobs and then came to this program, and then I was leaving Cambridge—This was when I was in Boston, and leaving late at night, 10:30, 11 o'clock, and walking into a parking lot by myself and driving home. And I remember this one day my dad and I were on the phone, he was so concerned for my safety. It really upset him that I was doing this, and doing it late. And I did in that moment really try to question his fear and to try to help him understand, though it didn't really work, but to really try to say, ‘Dad, the things that these guys do are no different than things you've done. I'm not afraid of them. That was not an issue for me.' I guess he didn't want to also see me driving around late at night. But the reality is had I been afraid I wouldn't have been an effective counselor for these guys either. I had to try to help my dad understand that I was working with them in as fearless and compassionate a way as possible, but I guess in that moment I also felt fearless and compassionate in the conversation with him, of trying to say, ‘Dad, you're labeling these guys as monsters, as demons. And actually, your behavior is on a continuum with theirs.' And that's disturbing to hear from your daughter, obviously. But it was important for me to say. So I'm really glad I had a moment to tell him that. It didn't lead to a very productive conversation because he, like many men in the program, still wanted to minimize aspects of their behavior or rationalize it, or it was like this—"But Deb, I never hit you. Deb, I never did this. I never did that. Like that would be horrifying. But what I did wasn't as bad." I didn't really let him get away with that, and that's another reason why, for me, writing this book was critical. Because there really is not enough out there to highlight the damage of verbal and emotional and psychological abuse and threats. There's so much out there around physical abuse, and also sexual abuse. Movies and books and things like that. And those are really important cultural documents we have in the world. But the thing that also has happened is, people don't understand enough about the damage of the emotional abuse and the verbal abuse. And as a result, with so much less written about it, I really felt this tremendous ethical responsibility to write the book. SEE YOU AROUND (1:05:06) BLAIR HODGES: You talk about how much your dad is still with you. You close the book by saying you see him in so much of life. I wondered what's an example of that? And whether you think that fades over time at all? DEBORAH COHAN: No, I don't think any of this fades. I definitely don't think time heals everything or any of that stuff that people say. No, I do—I see him in so much, I guess in the past six years or so I have gotten much more involved as a public sociologist, translating ideas and concepts and theories and things for the larger public. So getting quoted in major news outlets and doing a lot of writing and things like that. That's probably the part where I so miss my father, because he would get such a tremendous kick out of the fact that I wrote for Teen Vogue, or that I, you know, was quoted in Time magazine, or I wrote a piece for Newsweek recently. I mean he just, that was his bread and butter. That's what he loved. I mean, he would have loved that I was on this podcast. He would probably be really angry and humiliated about some of what I'd be talking about. But he definitely had this overwhelming pride and interest in my accomplishments. And that has been a really hard thing to deal with because my career really took off since I've lived here, and that's when he died. And he always dreamed of living in the Carolinas, or in New Mexico, or Arizona. So sometimes I feel like I'm sort of living out something he really wanted that he didn't actualize. I think he would be pretty over the moon about the fact that I moved to South Carolina and have made a good life for myself here. I'm a lot happier as a person than I ever was before. Some of that is probably healing from abuse. It's being in a new relationship. It's so many different things. Like, I wish he could know me now. I wish I could talk to him and know him now. It's just such a strange thing, you know? But I do feel like, hopefully somehow, he knows. I had him for a long time. I'm partnered with a man whose dad died when he was ten years old. I'm often thinking to myself, "Man, I wish he knew Mike." I mean, he really missed out. He really missed out, and Mike missed out knowing his father. And I didn't have that. But instead, I had this very torturous, very complicated relationship. It's really tricky. But it's interesting because the conversations I grew up having with my dad that were really fun and provocative and helpful to me were often conversations around advertising and marketing and all that kind of stuff. Funny enough, my partner, Mike, that's his thing! He's a Director of Media Relations. So here I am still having those conversations at dinner. It's a little bit bizarre. **REGRETS, CHALLENGES, & SURPRISES (1:08:19) BLAIR HODGES: In some ways, that circle continues to close. DEBORAH COHAN: Exactly. BLAIR HODGES: Well, Deborah, let's conclude with the segment Regrets, Challenges, & Surprises. This is when you can talk about anything you regret about the book now that it's out, what the most challenging thing about writing it was, or what kind of surprises you encountered as you created this book. You can speak to one, two, or all three of those things. Regrets, challenges, and surprises. DEBORAH COHAN: I would say I don't have any regrets, which I'm so pleased about because of the nature of the topic. And the fact that surviving abuse and dealing with caregiving are riddled with regrets, the fact that I could write a book and not have regrets about it is pretty remarkable to me. BLAIR HODGES: You didn't even find any typos or anything like that? [laughs] DEBORAH COHAN: There might be I don't know— BLAIR HODGES: I didn't notice any. [laughter] DEBORAH COHAN: There might be, I don't know, but I'm kind of crazy about that kind of stuff though. My dad was too. Oh my gosh, I inherited my spelling and all that craziness from him. BLAIR HODGES: Funny. I didn't notice any. So no regrets. Alright, well, challenges and surprises? DEBORAH COHAN: I mean I don't have any regrets! I don't feel like there's anything I revealed in the book that I wish I hadn't revealed. There's nothing I wish I had included that I didn't include, that kind of thing, which feels really good to me. Yeah, I mean I actually have been thinking about this a lot as I've been writing this new book I'm working on, because it's that sense of, you just really don't want to forget something. You want to make sure that whatever you wanted to say is in it. BLAIR HODGES: Once it's out, it's out, so. DEBORAH COHAN: Right. And at the same time, though, I've started to grow more comfortable with the fact that writing itself is a process and that I will come to think about things and know things in new and different ways. And I guess, when you ask what's surprising, I will say it has surprised me that the thing I was most afraid of—which was the death of a parent or both parents—has been also freeing. It's been a pretty startling revelation I guess you could say. BLAIR HODGES: Is it hard to talk about that? Some people might say,

Danielle is a poet, painter, teacher, and word-witch. The author of Bones & Honey, The Holy Wild Grimoire, The Sacred Hags Oracle, Seasons of Moon and Flame, Woman Most Wild, and The Holy Wild (published by New World Library), she teaches internationally and has facilitated circles, embodiment trainings, communal spell-work, and seasonal rituals since 2007. Ever grateful to her many teachers, Danielle has most recently studied with Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes (Singing Over the Bones Training, 2019), Bayo Akomolafe (We Will Dance with Mountains, 2022), and John Cantwell and Dr. Karen Ward of Sli An Chroi (2018-2024). She holds a BA in painting from Arcadia University, is the founder of The Hag School, and believes in the emerging power of wild collectives and sudden circles of curious dreamers, cunning witches, and rebellious artists in healing our ailing world. She splits her time between the whiskey-soaked streets of a Pennsylvania steel-town and the wilds of upstate New York. Find her praying under pine trees, wandering through the haunted places, and whispering to her grandmothers' ghosts.   https://danielledulsky.com/about/

You can hear it in her voice. This is a woman who knows herself and her place in the universe. But fortunately for us, she believes that that place is to help others find their voice too. "Writing by Heart" is Meredith Heller's invitation to find the inner path to yourself ... through poetry. It's a book. But it's also a portal. And it's beckoning ... Resources:Meredith's latest book: Writing by Heart: A Poetry Path to Healing and Self-Discovery by Meredith Heller; New World Library, 2024Featured Song: "Come Undone" from Meredith's album, Soul SirenMeredith's other books and workshops: https://www.meredithheller.comMeredith's albums are available wherever you stream your musicPersonal LinksMy web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.caMy email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.comSeries Music Credit"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Renowned animal ethologist Dr. Marc Bekoff shares insights from the newly revised edition of his classic book: “The Emotional Lives of Animals: A leading scientist explores animal joy, sorrow, and empathy, -- and why they matter” with a foreword by famed primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall. In April 2024, with the release of the book near Dr. Goodall's 90th birthday, Dr. Bekoff spent 38 minutes with host Carrie Freeman discussing: what it's like working with Dr. Goodall, what has changed in the exploding field of cognitive ethology (the study of animal minds) in the last 20 years, how fairness and justice are a common trait in social animals to maintain cooperation (like with coyotes), why less "charismatic" animals like fish and mice will surprise us with their personalities (as all animals are individuals not just inter-changeable members of their species), how we need to work for animal "wellbeing" not just animal "welfare" for domesticated and wild animals, and ethical choices -- what we all can do to play our part in reducing animal suffering and advocating for animals (whom we should no longer under-estimate or ignore). We end on a hopeful note, thanks to a 4th grader who inspired Marc.  The Emotional Lives of Animals book chapters cover: the indisputable case for animal emotions; animal minds and hearts;  what animals feel;  wild justice, empathy, and fair play; and a final chapter on why animal wellbeing matters - with lots of recommendations across various fields of animal types and uses (zoos, farms, research labs, etc.). The author, Marc Bekoff, PhD has been an animal advocate and researcher for close to 50 years, and he's a prolific author of more than 30 books on nonhuman animals. A professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Dr. Bekoff has won many awards for his research on animal behavior, compassionate conservation, animal protection, and animal emotions. He publishes regularly for Psychology Today. His website is https://marcbekoff.com/  I'm happy to report that The Emotional Lives of Animals book is printed on 100% recycled paper bc the publisher -- New World Library--  is part of the Green Press Initiative. I wish all book publishers made recycled paper a priority.   "In Tune to Nature" is a weekly radio show airing Wednesdays at 6:30pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station). Hosted by Carrie Freeman or Melody Paris. The show's website and action items can be found at https://www.facebook.com/InTunetoNature  Please support indie media like Radio Free Georgia at https://wrfg.org/   Take care of yourself and others, including other emotional animal species. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG its board, staff, or volunteers....most of us are volunteers.  

This week on The KORE Women podcast, Dr. Summer Watson welcomes Chloe Panta, who is the author of Untapped Magic: Manifestation Methods for Living a Limitless Life and a highly sought-after Mindset Expert and Transformational Coach, who helps people achieve their ultimate life goals. In Untapped Magic: Manifestation Methods for Living a Limitless Life published by New World Library, March 12, 2024, Panta shares her personal story and offers readers a step-by-step approach for activating their inner power and manifesting the life of their dreams. Chloe grew up in one of the roughest areas of west Detroit and is here to share a bit of her journey from adversity to entrepreneurial success. Chloe has been featured in numerous media outlets to include the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, and Medium.  You can follow Chloe Panta on Facebook, Instagram and at: chloepanta.co Thank you for taking the time to listen to the KORE Women podcast and being a part of the KORE Women experience. You can listen to The KORE Women podcast on your favorite podcast directory - Pandora, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, Podbean, JioSaavn, Amazon and at: www.KOREWomen.com/podcast. Please leave your comments and reviews about the podcast and check out KORE Women on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.  Please leave your comments and reviews about the podcast and check out KORE Women on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also learn more about Dr. Summer Watson, KORE Women, High Performance Coaching, how to create a journey you love, and creating an incredible professional community of support at: www.korewomen.com. Again, thank you for listening to the KORE Women podcast! Please share this podcast with your family and friends.

This week on the KORE Women podcast, Dr. Summer Watson welcomes Meredith Heller, who is a poet, educator, and author. Her book, “Writing by Heart: A poetry path to healing and self-discovery” was recently published by New World Library. Meredith has used poetry to heal her own life and has been guiding others toward self-expression ever since. Writing by Heart's unique approach to personal growth will helps readers: process emotions and find clarity in the midst of life's challenges  learn the tools of poetry such as metaphor and simile, point of view, editing techniques, and more start and maintain a regular writing practice  connect with themselves and others with more depth and honesty  turn past wounds and emotional hurdles into opportunities for growth  You can follow Meredith Heller on Instagram at: MeredithHellerPoetry, on FB at: Meredith.Heller.5 as well as MeredithHellerPoetry, and at: MeredithHeller.com. You call also find her book at most retailers to include Amazon. Thank you for taking the time to listen to the KORE Women podcast and being a part of the KORE Women experience. You can listen to The KORE Women podcast on your favorite podcast directory - Pandora, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, Podbean, JioSaavn, Amazon and at: www.KOREWomen.com/podcast. Please leave your comments and reviews about the podcast and check out KORE Women on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.  Please leave your comments and reviews about the podcast and check out KORE Women on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also learn more about Dr. Summer Watson, KORE Women, High Performance Coaching, how to create a journey you love, and creating an incredible professional community of support at: www.korewomen.com. Again, thank you for listening to the KORE Women podcast! Please share this podcast with your family and friends.

Bones & Honey: A Heathen Prayer Book (New World Library, 2023)l is a collection of nature-inspired prayers, mythic incantations, stories, and pagan poetry that can be enjoyed slowly or all at once. It will resonate with anyone looking to soothe the wounds of modernity with eco-devotional language, spellwork, and daily spiritual nourishment. Danielle Dulsky speaks to the expanding movement of those returning to slow, simple living and cultivating an Earth-inspired, sustainable existence. Organized around thirteen archetypes and their themes, ranging from the Mountain Mage (solitude) and Bone-Witch (grievers) to the Heathen Queen (empowerment) and Shepherd (nurturing), Bones & Honey will carry you to the “third road,” the unforeseen way that arises from the tension of opposites. Danielle Dulsky is an Aquarian mischief maker, painter, and word-witch. Author of The Holy Wild Grimoire (New World Library, 2022), Sacred Hags Oracle (New World Library, 2021), Seasons of Moon and Flame (New World Library, 2020), The Holy Wild (New World Library, 2018), and Woman Most Wild (New World Library, 2017), Danielle is the founder of The Hag School and believes in the power of wild collectives and sudden circles of curious dreamers, cunning Witches, and rebellious artists in tending to the world's healing. Mother to two wildlings and partner to a potter, Danielle fills her world with nature, family, old stories, and intentional awe. Find her in the haunted wilds of central New York or the whiskey-soaked streets of a Pennsylvania steel town; she calls both places home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Bones & Honey: A Heathen Prayer Book (New World Library, 2023)l is a collection of nature-inspired prayers, mythic incantations, stories, and pagan poetry that can be enjoyed slowly or all at once. It will resonate with anyone looking to soothe the wounds of modernity with eco-devotional language, spellwork, and daily spiritual nourishment. Danielle Dulsky speaks to the expanding movement of those returning to slow, simple living and cultivating an Earth-inspired, sustainable existence. Organized around thirteen archetypes and their themes, ranging from the Mountain Mage (solitude) and Bone-Witch (grievers) to the Heathen Queen (empowerment) and Shepherd (nurturing), Bones & Honey will carry you to the “third road,” the unforeseen way that arises from the tension of opposites. Danielle Dulsky is an Aquarian mischief maker, painter, and word-witch. Author of The Holy Wild Grimoire (New World Library, 2022), Sacred Hags Oracle (New World Library, 2021), Seasons of Moon and Flame (New World Library, 2020), The Holy Wild (New World Library, 2018), and Woman Most Wild (New World Library, 2017), Danielle is the founder of The Hag School and believes in the power of wild collectives and sudden circles of curious dreamers, cunning Witches, and rebellious artists in tending to the world's healing. Mother to two wildlings and partner to a potter, Danielle fills her world with nature, family, old stories, and intentional awe. Find her in the haunted wilds of central New York or the whiskey-soaked streets of a Pennsylvania steel town; she calls both places home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Bones & Honey: A Heathen Prayer Book (New World Library, 2023)l is a collection of nature-inspired prayers, mythic incantations, stories, and pagan poetry that can be enjoyed slowly or all at once. It will resonate with anyone looking to soothe the wounds of modernity with eco-devotional language, spellwork, and daily spiritual nourishment. Danielle Dulsky speaks to the expanding movement of those returning to slow, simple living and cultivating an Earth-inspired, sustainable existence. Organized around thirteen archetypes and their themes, ranging from the Mountain Mage (solitude) and Bone-Witch (grievers) to the Heathen Queen (empowerment) and Shepherd (nurturing), Bones & Honey will carry you to the “third road,” the unforeseen way that arises from the tension of opposites. Danielle Dulsky is an Aquarian mischief maker, painter, and word-witch. Author of The Holy Wild Grimoire (New World Library, 2022), Sacred Hags Oracle (New World Library, 2021), Seasons of Moon and Flame (New World Library, 2020), The Holy Wild (New World Library, 2018), and Woman Most Wild (New World Library, 2017), Danielle is the founder of The Hag School and believes in the power of wild collectives and sudden circles of curious dreamers, cunning Witches, and rebellious artists in tending to the world's healing. Mother to two wildlings and partner to a potter, Danielle fills her world with nature, family, old stories, and intentional awe. Find her in the haunted wilds of central New York or the whiskey-soaked streets of a Pennsylvania steel town; she calls both places home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven is a Movement Master, Author, and Recovery Advocate who is passionate about helping others navigate towards a happier, healthier life. His lifelong love and a key foundation to his own spiritual fitness is 'movement' and he firmly believes our relationship with our body is vital for emotional, physical, and spiritual health.   Steven's online members' community, SWE Studio, offers 300+ mindful movement video classes and wellness resources including Pilates, Qigong, Meditation, Laughter Medicine, and more for the body, mind, and soul. Steven had a successful career as a contemporary dancer, working at New York City Opera, Metropolitan Opera, and appearing on Broadway in Disney's, The Lion King but often used drugs and alcohol to cope with anxiety and self-doubt. Since making the conscious decision to get sober twenty years ago, he has impacted countless lives through movement and his keen ability to connect and relate to others.    During his study of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Steven discovered a love for the ancient Chinese movement practice of Qigong and became a Certified Qigong Instructor. Added to that, Steven is a Pilates teacher and has taught individuals and groups for over 20 years. Steven's writings, articles, and life experiences created the inspiration for his first book, Recovering You, Soul Care and Mindful Movement for Overcoming Addiction. Published by New World Library, the book's unique self-care focus is complemented by the use of Qigong movements. Steven hosts a monthly Heart/Mind Moments YouTube series with videos on physical, emotional, and spiritual health, and his movement and mindfulness work has received over one million views on YouTube. ✨Highlights from the show:   00:03:47 Movement is healing and vital. 00:10:26 Qigong promotes mind-body connection. 00:12:32 Importance of feeling and moving 00:21:30 Breathing deeply helps reduce anxiety. 00:25:08 Breathing helps regulate the nervous system.

Podcast: Screen Use and Mental Health   Evaluation and Credit:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MedChat58   Target Audience             This activity is targeted toward primary care and geriatric healthcare providers and advanced providers.   Statement of Need  This program will review the negative impact of digital technology (screen use) on brain health and cognitive brain development. Recent research indicates that children in the US spend more than 4 - 6 hours a day watching/using screens, and teens up to 9 hours; adults approx. 10.5 hours per day. This podcast will discuss the negative impacts of screen use for adolescents as well as characteristics and management of screen addiction..   Objectives  At the conclusion of this offering, the participant will be able to:  Distinguish between passive and interactive screen use. Identify the current diagnostics and clinical presentations for screen addicted patients. Discuss the emotional and physiological underpinning of interactive screen use compulsivity. Review the overview treatment methodology and clinical interventions for screen addiction.   Moderator Erin Frazier, M.D. Pediatrician Norton Children's Medical Group – Broadway Norton Healthcare Louisville Kentucky   Speakers Michael Eiden, LCSW, LCADC, CSAT   Eiden Integrative Counseling Louisville, Kentucky   Moderator, Speaker and Planner Disclosures   The planners, moderator and speaker of this activity do not have any relevant financial relationships to disclose.    Commercial Support   There was no commercial support for this activity.    Physician Credits Accreditation  Norton Healthcare is accredited by the Kentucky Medical Association to provide continuing medical education for physicians.     Designation  Norton Healthcare designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.   Nursing Credits Norton Healthcare Institute for Education and Development is approved with distinction as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the South Carolina Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. This continuing professional development activity has been approved for 1.0 contact hours. In order for nursing participants to obtain credits, they must claim attendance by attesting to the number of hours in attendance.     For more information related to nursing credits, contact Sally Sturgeon, DNP, RN, SANE-A, AFN-BC at (502) 446-5889 or sally.sturgeon@nortonhealthcare.org.   Resources for Providers Healthy Children.org from the American Academy of Pediatrics   American Academy of Pediatrics Screen Time Guidelines   Resources for Additional Study Screen Time and Children Screen Time and Children (aacap.org)   Dunckley V. L. (2015). Reset your child's brain: a four-week plan to end meltdowns raise grades and boost social skills by reversing the effects of electronic screen-time. New World Library.   Norton Healthcare, a not for profit health care system, is a leader in serving adult and pediatric patients throughout Greater Louisville, Southern Indiana, the commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond. Five Louisville hospitals provide inpatient and outpatient general care as well as specialty care including heart, neuroscience, cancer, orthopedic, women's and pediatric services. A strong research program provides access to clinical trials in a multitude of areas. More information about Norton Healthcare is available at NortonHealthcare.com.     Date of Original Release |Oct 2023; Information is current as of the time of recording.  Course Termination Date | Oct 2025 Contact Information | Center for Continuing Medical, Provider and Nursing Education; (502) 446-5955 or cme@nortonhealthcare.org    

How we talk to ourselves sets the tone for every experience in our life. Our voice is a powerful guide in releasing emotions, traumas, and difficult memories. It can be dramatically effective in transforming our lives in meaningful ways. As we start speaking to ourselves out loud with kindness and curiosity, our body will loosen up and speak back to us. Vasavi Kumar is a first generation Indian American, a life coach and licensed therapist who holds degrees in social work and special education from Hofstra and Columbia Universities. She runs the Say It out Loud Safe Haven community for coaches, creatives, and entrepreneurs. She is the author of Say It out Loud: Using the Power of Your Voice to Listen to Your Deepest Thoughts and Courageously Pursue Your Dreams. (New World Library 2023)Interview Date: 7/7/2023 Tags: Vasavi Kumar, trigger points, procrastinating, procrastination, Gabor Maté, curiosity, Personal Transformation

Vasavi Kumar a first generation Indian American and is a life coach and licensed therapist who holds degrees in social work and special education from Hofstra and Columbia Universities.. She runs the Say It out Loud Safe Haven community for coaches, creatives, and entrepreneurs. She is the author of Say It out Loud: Using the Power of Your Voice to Listen to Your Deepest Thoughts and Courageously Pursue Your Dreams. (New World Library 2023)Interview Date: 7/7/2023 Tags: Vasavi Kumar, walk our talk, integrity, internalized conflict, disembodied, fragmented self, using others as our saviors, internal resources, motivation, energy inventory, personal inventory, joy is a renewable energy, play, weekly voice notes, Personal Transformation

Can diving into a practice of silence improve your life? Tune in for an inspiring discussion with Thomas Moore on his new #book The Eloquence of Silence: Surprising Wisdom in Tales of Emptiness.Moments with Marianne airs in the Southern California area on KMET 1490AM & 98.1 FM, an ABC Talk News Radio Affiliate! Thomas Moore is the author of 24 books about bringing soul to our personal lives and culture, including his #1 New York Times bestseller Care of the Soul. He has been a Catholic monk and university professor and is also a psychotherapist influenced mainly by C. G. Jung and James Hillman. His work brings together spirituality, mythology, depth psychology, and the arts, emphasizing the importance of images and imagination. http://www.ThomasMooreSoul.com For more show information visit: www.MomentswithMarianne.com#bookclub #consciousliving #consciousness #mindfulness #consciousness #consciousnessshift #personalgrowth #meditation #shadowwork #shadow #reclaim #intuition #selfhelp #silence #ThomasMoore

Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, writing coach, and longtime ASJA member and an adjunct instructor at New York University and for Writer's Digest. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Independent, WIRED, Huffington Post Personal, AARP the Magazine, Vox,Insider, Next Avenue, GH, Marie Claire and more. Estelle's articles for the New York Times and Washington Post have gone globally viral. She has appeared on Good Morning America, Fox News with Ernie Anastos and has had her articles mentioned on "The View". She is co-host of the Freelance Writing Direct Podcast (found on iTunes and Spotify) and was a guest judge for the Writer's Digest 2022 Personal Writing Contest. Her book WRITING THAT GETS NOTICED: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, and Get Published from New World Library is available online and wherever books are sold. Find her on Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus, Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus, TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus  and on her website at http://estelleserasmus.com/ and on Substack https://estelleserasmus.substack.com

Steven Washington is a Movement Master, Author, and Recovery Advocate who is passionate about helping others navigate towards a happier, healthier life. His lifelong love and a key foundation to his own spiritual fitness is 'movement' ​and he firmly believes our relationship with our body is vital for emotional, physical, and spiritual health.  Steven's online members' community, SWE Studio, offers​ 300+ mindful movement video classes and wellness resources including Pilates, Qigong, Meditation, Laughter Medicine, and more for the body, mind, and soul​.Steven had a successful career as a contemporary dancer, working at New York City Opera, Metropolitan Opera, and appearing on Broadway in Disney's, The Lion King but often used drugs and alcohol to cope with anxiety and self-doubt. Since making the conscious decision to get sober twenty years ago, he has impacted countless lives through movement and his keen ability to connect ​and relate to others.   During his study of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Steven discovered a love for the ancient Chinese movement practice of Qigong and became a Certified Qigong Instructor. Added to that, Steven is a Pilates teacher and has taught individuals and groups for over 20 years. ​Steven's writings, articles, and life experiences created the inspiration for his first book, Recovering You, Soul Care and Mindful Movement for Overcoming Addiction. Published by New World Library, the book's unique self-care focus is complemented by the use of Qigong movements. Steven hosts a monthly Heart/Mind Moments YouTube series with videos on physical, emotional, and spiritual health, and his movement and mindfulness work has received over one million views on YouTube.In this beautiful conversation, we talked about:Steven's spiritual awakening and recovery pathHow humans might use addiction to numb pain and shameHis journey from a Broadway performer to a Qi-Gong masterWhat is Qi-Gong? And what is the difference between Qi-Gong and Tai Chi?Why Yoga might be more mainstream than these traditional Chinese practicesMovement as medicine: how does movement heal? How we can connect more deeply with the intelligence of our physical bodyPractical tips to start using movement and mindfulness as a healing toolThe role of the heart and mind in the healing journey ⭐ Steven's website: https://stevenwashingtonexperience.com⭐ Steven's book "Recovering You: Soul Care and Mindful Movement for Overcoming Addiction": https://tinyurl.com/recoveringyouConnect with Steven:

New York Times Best Selling WriterWhat a fun interview. Stephanie is AWESOME!Stephanie Gunning is a bestselling author, editor, and publishing consultant specializing primarily in books on the topics of health, spirituality, personal growth, and new thought. She is a New York Times Best Selling writer, her A List Clients: Ernest Chu, Gregg Braden, Hale Dwoskin and many others.Her creative endeavors are dedicated to individual empowerment and the conscious evolution of humankind. “Working with visionary thinkers gives me an advanced education in human potential,” Stephanie says. “Each day they inspire me to contribute my own talents and message to the world, as best as I am able.”“A dream to work with ...”—Hale Dwoskin, author of the New York Times bestseller The Sedona Method and featured in "The Secret"“I am thankful to Stephanie for helping me take the complexities of science and transform them into the joy of empowering wisdom!”—Gregg Braden, author of the New York Times bestsellers The God Code, The Isaiah Effect, and The Divine MatrixFor over twenty-five years, Stephanie has worked in numerous capacities within the book publishing industry, including as an in-house editor, a behind-the-scenes book “doctor,” and an editorial consultant to several major literary agencies. After graduating from Amherst College, she launched her publishing career in New York City, rapidly rising through the editorial ranks at HarperCollins Publishers, then being recruited as a senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell, and ultimately establishing an independent business as an editor, collaborative writer, and publishing consultant in 1996. Her elite roster of clients has included well-established publishing firms, innovative small presses, and respected literary agencies: Hay House, New World Library, Harmony Books, Jodere Group, Sedona Press, aha! Process, Three Rivers Press, FinePrint Literary Management, Imprint Agency, The Ford Group, Nine Muses & Apollo, and Lowenstein-Morel Associates, among others.© 2023 Building Abundant Success!!2023 All Rights ReservedJoin Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon Music ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy:  https://tinyurl.com/BASAud

Summer Series: Moving through some of our favorite episodes over the years that still ring as timelesss and true. Love Cycles will help you to understand where you are in the circle of a relationship and provide strategies and clarity on how stay happy and committed, even in difficult times. Our road map will take you from The Merge, through Doubt and Denial, Disillusionment, and Decision to the joy of Wholehearted Love. Love Cycles unlocks the secrets of attraction, showing why we don't always choose the person who is best for us, why even the most solid-seeming couples don't always make it, and how unlikely-seeming couples sometimes are truly meant for each other.

Summer Series: Moving through some of our favorite episodes over the years that still ring as timelesss and true. Love Cycles will help you to understand where you are in the circle of a relationship and provide strategies and clarity on how stay happy and committed, even in difficult times. Our road map will take you from The Merge, through Doubt and Denial, Disillusionment, and Decision to the joy of Wholehearted Love. Love Cycles unlocks the secrets of attraction, showing why we don't always choose the person who is best for us, why even the most solid-seeming couples don't always make it, and how unlikely-seeming couples sometimes are truly meant for each other.

Join Nichole this week, in an entire episode dedicated to using your voice to get what you want with special guest, host, voice over actress, and author of Say it Out Loud, Vasavi Kumar. Together, they dive into the journey of using your voice to shape your reality, finding peace amidst chaos, and recommitting to yourself after experiencing self-betrayal. In this episode, Nichole and Vasavi explore the profound impact of words and how they can impact how we feel about ourselves and our situations. Discover the importance of recognizing when you feel disconnected from your true self, and learn how to navigate back to embodying the true essence of how you want to feel. As the conversation unfolds, Vasavi Kumar shares her wisdom on embracing peace and breaking free from a challenging past. Learn Vasavi's favorite thought-provoking questions like "Is this an act of love?" and "Am I available for this?" you'll gain valuable insights into reconnecting with self-love to make loving choices that align with your highest good. In this episode we talk about: using your voice to get what you want  being unfamiliar with peace or addicted to chaos  the power of words  recognizing when you are far from yourself  recommitting to yourself after self betrayal  reconnecting with self love via the questions "is this an act of love" or "am I available for this"? Connect with Vasavi: https://www.vasavikumar.com/orderthebook Check out her bold voice training program:  https://www.vasavikumar.com/boldvoice Follow her on Instagram:  www.instagram.com/mynameisvasavi Connect with Nichole: www.nicholeaton.com Join the Comeback Club: www.nicholeeaton.com/pages/the-comeback-club Follow Nichole on social: www.instagram.com/nicholeeaton.xo www.tiktok.com/@nicholeeaton.xo   About Vasavi Kumar: Vasavi Kumar is often described as the “Queen of Saying It Out Loud.” A first-generation Indian immigrant raised on Long Island, NY, Vasavi has relentlessly searched to find her own voice, access the freedom of her creative spirit, and help others along the way…out loud. When she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 19, she made it her mission to understand how her mind works, starting with making room to hear herself think. Her mission is to share everything—the good, bad, and ugly—in order to teach a more mindful, practical, and simple way of running every aspect of your life. Through her Say It Out Loud podcast, keynote talks, group programs, social media, and weekly email newsletters, Vasavi has taught thousands of entrepreneurs, creatives, and artists from all walks of life how to work through any situation —by saying it out loud. Vasavi is a Former TV host, Licensed Therapist, Voiceover Artist, and Creator of the Say It Out Loud Safe Haven, an online support community. She holds dual Masters degrees in Special Education from Hofstra University and Social Work from Columbia University. Recently she was on the May Cover of Austin woman magazine, and has been featured on VH1, NBC, FOX, Good Day Austin, CW, WSJ, and many more!Her newly released book, Say It Out Loud, was published by New World Library in May of 2023. Go to sayitoutloudbook.com to receive your copy today!

Today's episode features ethnobotanist and anthropologist, Dr. Glenn Shepard. This two-part discussion between Dr. Shepard and Dr. Plotkin covers an array of fascinating topics, including the role language plays in ethnobotany, shamanism in a changing world, and personal encounters and experiences with tobacco in indigenous Amazonian communities (revisit our most recent two episodes to brush up on tobacco!). In today's part two of this interview, we delve more deeply into tobacco use in indigenous Amazonian communities. Dr. Shepard also discusses his organization Rainforest Flow which is devoted to delivering clean water, sanitation, and hygiene programs to indigenous people in Peru's Amazon rainforest.   Episode Notes “A Deep History of Tobacco in Lowland South America.” The Master Plant : Tobacco in Lowland South America, https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474220279.ch-002.  Descola, Philippe. The Spears of Twilight: Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle. New Press, 2009.  Emboden, William. Narcotic Plants. Collier Books, 1980.  Furst, Peter T. Hallucinogens and Culture. Chandler & Sharp Publishers, Inc., 1997.  Goodman, Jordan. Tobacco in History and Culture. Thomson Gale, 2005.  Goodman, Jordan. Tobacco in History: The Cultures of Dependence. Routledge, 1994.  Hobhouse, Henry. Seeds of Wealth: Four Plants That Made Men Rich. Macmillan, 2012.  Marris, Emma. “The Anthropologist and His Old Friend, Who Became a Jaguar.” Culture, National Geographic, 4 May 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/160518-manu-park-peru-matsigenka-tribe-death-jaguar.  Narby, Jeremy, and Rafael Chanchari Pizuri. Plant Teachers: Ayahuasca, Tobacco, and the Pursuit of Knowledge. New World Library, 2021.  Ott, Jonathan. Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History. Natural Products, 1996.  Schultes, Richard Evans, and Albert Hofmann. Plants of the Gods: Origins of Hallucinogenic Use. A. Van Der Marck Editions, 1987.  Shepard, Glenn H. “Psychoactive Plants and Ethnopsychiatric Medicines of the Matsigenka.” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, vol. 30, no. 4, 1998, pp. 321–332., https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.1998.10399708.  Steffensen, Jennifer. “The Reality (TV) of Vanishing Lives: An Interview with Glenn Shepard.” Anthropology News, vol. 49, no. 5, 2008, pp. 30–30., https://doi.org/10.1525/an.2008.49.5.30.  Wilbert, Johannes. Tobacco and Shamanism in South America. Yale University Press, 1993.

Today's episode features ethnobotanist and anthropologist, Dr. Glenn Shepard. This two-part discussion between Dr. Shepard and Dr. Plotkin covers an array of fascinating topics including the role language plays in ethnobotany, shamanism in a changing world, and personal encounters and experiences with tobacco in indigenous Amazonian communities (revisit our last two episodes to brush up on tobacco!). Join us today for part one of this captivating interview.   Episode Notes “A Deep History of Tobacco in Lowland South America.” The Master Plant : Tobacco in Lowland South America, https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474220279.ch-002.  Descola, Philippe. The Spears of Twilight: Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle. New Press, 2009.  Emboden, William. Narcotic Plants. Collier Books, 1980.  Furst, Peter T. Hallucinogens and Culture. Chandler & Sharp Publishers, Inc., 1997.  Goodman, Jordan. Tobacco in History and Culture. Thomson Gale, 2005.  Goodman, Jordan. Tobacco in History: The Cultures of Dependence. Routledge, 1994.  Hobhouse, Henry. Seeds of Wealth: Four Plants That Made Men Rich. Macmillan, 2012.  Marris, Emma. “The Anthropologist and His Old Friend, Who Became a Jaguar.” Culture, National Geographic, 4 May 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/160518-manu-park-peru-matsigenka-tribe-death-jaguar.  Narby, Jeremy, and Rafael Chanchari Pizuri. Plant Teachers: Ayahuasca, Tobacco, and the Pursuit of Knowledge. New World Library, 2021.  Ott, Jonathan. Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History. Natural Products, 1996.  Schultes, Richard Evans, and Albert Hofmann. Plants of the Gods: Origins of Hallucinogenic Use. A. Van Der Marck Editions, 1987.  Shepard, Glenn H. “Psychoactive Plants and Ethnopsychiatric Medicines of the Matsigenka.” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, vol. 30, no. 4, 1998, pp. 321–332., https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.1998.10399708.  Steffensen, Jennifer. “The Reality (TV) of Vanishing Lives: An Interview with Glenn Shepard.” Anthropology News, vol. 49, no. 5, 2008, pp. 30–30., https://doi.org/10.1525/an.2008.49.5.30.  Wilbert, Johannes. Tobacco and Shamanism in South America. Yale University Press, 1993.

In today's episode, we continue learning about tobacco, one of the most widely used mind altering substances. During this two-part discussion, Dr. Plotkin addresses the duality of this well-known plant of the gods. Between its spiritual significance and its ties to addiction, disease and enslavement, the story of tobacco is complicated yet fascinating. In the second half, we'll hear about some of Dr. Plotkin's own experiences with tobacco, and how indigenous peoples in both Mexico and Amazonia employ this sacred plant for healing purposes.   Episode Notes “A Deep History of Tobacco in Lowland South America.” The Master Plant : Tobacco in Lowland South America, https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474220279.ch-002.  Descola, Philippe. The Spears of Twilight: Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle. New Press, 2009.  Emboden, William. Narcotic Plants. Collier Books, 1980.  Furst, Peter T. Hallucinogens and Culture. Chandler & Sharp Publishers, Inc., 1997.  Goodman, Jordan. Tobacco in History and Culture. Thomson Gale, 2005.  Goodman, Jordan. Tobacco in History: The Cultures of Dependence. Routledge, 1994.  Hobhouse, Henry. Seeds of Wealth: Four Plants That Made Men Rich. Macmillan, 2012.  Marris, Emma. “The Anthropologist and His Old Friend, Who Became a Jaguar.” Culture, National Geographic, 4 May 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/160518-manu-park-peru-matsigenka-tribe-death-jaguar.  Narby, Jeremy, and Rafael Chanchari Pizuri. Plant Teachers: Ayahuasca, Tobacco, and the Pursuit of Knowledge. New World Library, 2021.  Ott, Jonathan. Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History. Natural Products, 1996.  Schultes, Richard Evans, and Albert Hofmann. Plants of the Gods: Origins of Hallucinogenic Use. A. Van Der Marck Editions, 1987.  Shepard, Glenn H. “Psychoactive Plants and Ethnopsychiatric Medicines of the Matsigenka.” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, vol. 30, no. 4, 1998, pp. 321–332., https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.1998.10399708.  Steffensen, Jennifer. “The Reality (TV) of Vanishing Lives: An Interview with Glenn Shepard.” Anthropology News, vol. 49, no. 5, 2008, pp. 30–30., https://doi.org/10.1525/an.2008.49.5.30.  Wilbert, Johannes. Tobacco and Shamanism in South America. Yale University Press, 1993.

Today’s episode on Gateways to Awakening is about creating a visionary business and walking a magical path toward the life of your dreams with Marc Allen. Marc Allen is an internationally renowned seminar leader, entrepreneur, author, and composer. He co-founded New World Library (with Shakti Gawain) in 1977 and has guided the company, as president and publisher, from a small start-up to its current position as a major player in the independent publishing world. He has written several books, including The Magical Path, The Greatest Secret of All, The Millionaire Course, Visionary Business, and others. As a gifted speaker and seminar leader, Marc works with people around the globe to craft lives of lasting abundance and prosperity. His online programs include The Magical Path, Success with Ease, Visionary Business, The Power of the Feminine, and How to Get Happily Published. To learn more about his programs visit www.MarcAllen.com. We talk about the following and so much more: ❇️ The word “magic” and what a magical life and path means to him ❇️ Some of the most important keys to creating a visionary business? ❇️ Why he says that many of us simply don't ask the right questions when it comes to our life ❇️ The power of repetition ❇️ Why he created The Millionaire Course ❇️ How we cultivate our own authentic life path, and how we stay true to ourselves If you'd like to check out my new YouTube channel where I talk about some of the highlights I've learned about intuition, intention, and personal development, you can subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCEt1RNc-eummCqiPC6-AEQ If you’d like to join the waitlist for my next coaching program, sign up HERE: https://www.yasmeenturayhi.com/gateways-to-awakening/ Please tag us and tell us what you loved! You can follow @Gateways_To_Awakening on Instagram or Facebook if you’d like to stay connected.

Today’s episode on Gateways to Awakening is about creating a visionary business and walking a magical path toward the life of your dreams with Marc Allen. Marc Allen is an internationally renowned seminar leader, entrepreneur, author, and composer. He co-founded New World Library (with Shakti Gawain) in 1977 and has guided the company, as president and publisher, from a small start-up to its current position as a major player in the independent publishing world. He has written several books, including The Magical Path, The Greatest Secret of All, The Millionaire Course, Visionary Business, and others. As a gifted speaker and seminar leader, Marc works with people around the globe to craft lives of lasting abundance and prosperity. His online programs include The Magical Path, Success with Ease, Visionary Business, The Power of the Feminine, and How to Get Happily Published. To learn more about his programs visit www.MarcAllen.com. We talk about the following and so much more: ❇️ The word “magic” and what a magical life and path means to him ❇️ Some of the most important keys to creating a visionary business? ❇️ Why he says that many of us simply don't ask the right questions when it comes to our life ❇️ The power of repetition ❇️ Why he created The Millionaire Course ❇️ How we cultivate our own authentic life path, and how we stay true to ourselves If you'd like to check out my new YouTube channel where I talk about some of the highlights I've learned about intuition, intention, and personal development, you can subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCEt1RNc-eummCqiPC6-AEQ If you’d like to join the waitlist for my next coaching program, sign up HERE: https://www.yasmeenturayhi.com/gateways-to-awakening/ Please tag us and tell us what you loved! You can follow @Gateways_To_Awakening on Instagram or Facebook if you’d like to stay connected.

In today's episode, we embark on a journey learning about one of the most widely used mind-altering substances: tobacco. During this two-part discussion, Dr. Plotkin addresses the duality of this well-known Plant of the Gods. Between its spiritual significance and its ties to addiction, disease and enslavement, the story of tobacco is complicated but fascinating. With his usual mix of knowledge, insight and humor, Mark provides an ethnobotanical perspective on tobacco's pleasure and pain.   Episode Notes “A Deep History of Tobacco in Lowland South America.” The Master Plant : Tobacco in Lowland South America, https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474220279.ch-002.  Descola, Philippe. The Spears of Twilight: Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle. New Press, 2009.  Emboden, William. Narcotic Plants. Collier Books, 1980.  Furst, Peter T. Hallucinogens and Culture. Chandler & Sharp Publishers, Inc., 1997.  Goodman, Jordan. Tobacco in History and Culture. Thomson Gale, 2005.  Goodman, Jordan. Tobacco in History: The Cultures of Dependence. Routledge, 1994.  Hobhouse, Henry. Seeds of Wealth: Four Plants That Made Men Rich. Macmillan, 2012.  Marris, Emma. “The Anthropologist and His Old Friend, Who Became a Jaguar.” Culture, National Geographic, 4 May 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/160518-manu-park-peru-matsigenka-tribe-death-jaguar.  Narby, Jeremy, and Rafael Chanchari Pizuri. Plant Teachers: Ayahuasca, Tobacco, and the Pursuit of Knowledge. New World Library, 2021.  Ott, Jonathan. Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History. Natural Products, 1996.  Schultes, Richard Evans, and Albert Hofmann. Plants of the Gods: Origins of Hallucinogenic Use. A. Van Der Marck Editions, 1987.  Shepard, Glenn H. “Psychoactive Plants and Ethnopsychiatric Medicines of the Matsigenka.” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, vol. 30, no. 4, 1998, pp. 321–332., https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.1998.10399708.  Steffensen, Jennifer. “The Reality (TV) of Vanishing Lives: An Interview with Glenn Shepard.” Anthropology News, vol. 49, no. 5, 2008, pp. 30–30., https://doi.org/10.1525/an.2008.49.5.30.  Wilbert, Johannes. Tobacco and Shamanism in South America. Yale University Press, 1993.

Your darkest moments often bring about your most significant growth. Today's special guest understands this all too well. He is an accomplished author and a former dancer on Broadway. Join us and learn how you can follow your creative passion to the fullest and turn a breakdown into a breakthrough.  Listen as Movement Master, Author, and Recovery Advocate Steven Washington helps you navigate toward your most fulfilling life as he shares tools helping you align with what's right for you.  “There is a part of me that has this idea that once you make a decision to do something, that you have to follow through and do it. There is no such thing as changing your mind. That's such a limiting belief and such a limiting idea that you create a prison for yourself and so I struggled with that.” Steven offers you many valuable insights and shares his own personal struggles with acknowledging and moving through shame. “Shame needs three things to survive. Secrecy, silence and judgment. So sharing it with someone; allowing them to hear your shame, and not judge you for it hopefully will give you energy that will help you to not judge yourself so harshly.” The conversation moves ahead with Steven explaining the ancient Chinese healthcare system called Qigong, and sharing his self-care routines and ultimately concludes with a positive message of hope that is sure to inspire you. “My message of hope is to just know that you are enough. Because sometimes we feel like we are not enough because something is missing. If only we had that thing that we think is missing, then we would be enough. But actually, just as you are, broken pieces and all, you are enough.”    In this episode: (01:26) –  How to transition from one passion to another. (07:06) –  How to open up and ask for help and why it's important.  (12:30) – The importance of self care and how it boosts your body, mind and spiritual health. (17:54) – Dating apps still work!  (18:40) – Explaining the ancient Chinese healthcare system Qigong. (20:17) – Why or how you can take that leap of faith.  (22:03) – On staying focused and not going after everything. (23:37) – Talking about shame and working through it. (25:50) – How Steven starts his day and his self-care routine. (28:15) – Talking about friendship and making friends as an adult. (30:09) – Steven's message of hope to everyone. (30:45) – Opening up about facing the hardest challenge. Guest Steven Washington is the author of Recovering You: Soul Care and Mindful Movement for Overcoming Addiction, published by New World Library and released in November 2022. As a former professional dancer who performed on Broadway in Disney's, The Lion King, his love of movement inspired him to become the highly acclaimed Qigong and Pilates teacher that he is today. Steven lives a joyful life of recovery and is passionate about helping others as they navigate towards health and happiness.   Resources & Links 52 Weeks of Hope https://www.52weeksofhope.com  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyLA7Rb6E0PtKBhPGu1vcjA  https://www.facebook.com/52weeksofhope  https://www.twitter.com/52weeksofhope https://www.instagram.com/52weeksofhope Get Your FREE Confidence and Clarity Growth Scorecard now   Steven Washington https://www.stevenwashingtonexperience.com/ https://www.facebook.com/stevenwashingtonexperience https://www.instagram.com/STEVENWASHINGTONEXPERIENCE/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCELKG49gXvN7E-GY271iSHQ   Mentions https://www.stevenwashingtonexperience.com/WRITINGS Recovering You: Soul Care and Mindful Movement for Overcoming Addiction by Steven Washington