Guest: Karen Maezen Miller, author of Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood.

06/17/15 • 58 min

Relationships 2.0 With Dr. Michelle Skeen

About the book: Combining humor, honesty, and plainspoken advice, Momma Zen distills the doubts and frustrations of parenting into vignettes of Zen wisdom. Drawing on her experience as a first-time mother, and on her years of Zen meditation and study, Miller explores how the daily challenges of parenthood can become the most profound spiritual journey of our lives. This compelling and wise memoir follows the timeline of early motherhood from pregnancy through toddlerhood. Momma Zen takes readers on a transformative journey, charting a mother’s growth beyond naive expectations and disorientation to finding fulfillment in ordinary tasks, developing greater self-awareness and acceptance—to the gradual discovery of “maternal bliss,” a state of abiding happiness and ease that is available to us all. In her gentle and reassuring voice, Karen Miller convinces us that ancient and authentic spiritual lessons can be as familiar as a lullaby, as ordinary as pureed peas, and as frequent as a sleepless night. She offers encouragement for the hard days, consolation for the long haul, and the lightheartedness every new mom needs to face the crooked path of motherhood straight on. About the author: Karen Maezen Miller is a wife and mother as well as a Zen Buddhist priest at the Hazy Moon Zen Center in Los Angeles. She and her family live in Sierra Madre, California, with a century-old Japanese garden in their backyard. She writes about spirituality in everyday life. She is the author of Paradise in Plain Sight: Lessons from a Zen Garden, Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life, Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood, and her writing is included in numerous anthologies.

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Guest: Kimber Simpkins, author of Full: How I Learned to Satisfy My Insatiable Hunger and Feed My Soul

About the book: Full is the true, poignant story of one woman’s spiritual journey as she recovers from anorexia, eases the emotional pain of her hunger through yoga and Buddhism, and finally becomes full. In this inspiring and captivating memoir, Kimber Simpkins captures vividly—with piercing insight, raw emotion, and often humor—the all-consuming hunger she felt on a daily basis as a result of an eating disorder. Sick of dieting and hating her body, Simpkins decides to get to the bottom of her unhappy relationship with her body. That’s when she discovers the healing power of yoga and Buddhism. Along the way, Simpkins realizes her hunger isn’t simply physical, but that it comes from a place deep inside her. Through the wise teachings of yoga and meditation, Simpkins discovers she doesn’t have to live in a prison of self-dissatisfaction. In fact, by understanding the root of her pain and learning to love herself in body, mind, and spirit, Simpkins is able to truly set herself free. As she wrestles with her inner demons of hunger and perfectionism and learns how self-acceptance can soften even her toughest inner critic, Simpkins takes us along on her voyage of self-discovery. At its core, this book is a journey to find true self-fulfillment that will inspire readers in their own search to create a full and meaningful life. From the author: Hi, I’m Kimber Simpkins. As long as I could remember, hunger followed me like an annoying little brother from the elementary school tetherball court, around the middle school track, into the spotlight of my high school’s production of “Once Upon a Mattress,” even tracked me into my college dormitory with its multi-table buffet, and all the way past long days spent in the dark law school library cubicles. As a lawyer and a new mother, I thought I would never be rid of it. It took years of practicing the gentle awareness that my yoga and meditation teachers urged me to offer myself before I figured out how to turn hunger into a friend instead of a problem. This is the story of Full. I’m also working on a second book, 52 Ways to Love Your Body (New Harbinger, Jan 2016), which is full of simple practices you can use daily to treat your body with more love. When I’m not balancing on my wobbly indoor standup paddleboard yoga mat, I might be outside in the garden meditating on our flock of backyard chickens while getting ready to go teach a yoga class or workshop. I am a big fan of the Health At Every Size (HAES) movement and community, and welcome students of all sizes and levels in class. I’m grateful to be a long-time Bay Area resident, enjoying the California weather with the love of my life, son, dog, cat, and chickens in Oakland.

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Guest: Alex Korb, PhD author of The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

This week my guest is Alex Korb, PhD author of The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time. Alex first discussed his book, specifically how we can get stuck in the downward spiral, on my radio show on Tuesday April 28, 2015 (you can find it on the podcast archive page). He is returning for a second time to discuss how we can create an upward spiral. About the book: Depression can feel like a downward spiral, pulling you into a vortex of sadness, fatigue, and apathy. In The Upward Spiral, neuroscientist Alex Korb demystifies the intricate brain processes that cause depression and offers a practical and effective approach to getting better. Based on the latest research in neuroscience, this book provides dozens of straightforward tips you can do every day to rewire your brain and create an upward spiral towards a happier, healthier life. Whether you suffer from depression or just want a better understanding of the brain, this book offers an engaging and informative look at the neuroscience behind our emotions, thoughts, and actions. The truth is that there isn’t one big solution to depression, but there are numerous simple steps you can take to alter brain activity and chemistry. Some are as easy as relaxing certain muscles to reduce anxiety, or getting more sunlight to improve your mood. Small steps in the right direction can have profound effects—giving you the power to become your best self as you literally reshape your brain, one small change at a time. About the author: Alex Korb, PhD, has studied the brain for over a decade. He earned an undergraduate degree in neuroscience from Brown University, and received his PhD in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles. He wrote his dissertation on depression, and has published numerous scientific articles on depression. He is currently a postdoctoral neuroscience researcher at UCLA in the department of psychiatry, and is also a scientific consultant for several biotech companies. He has a wealth of experience in yoga and mindfulness, physical fitness, and even stand-up comedy.