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Michael Amster, M.D., is the co-author (with Jake Eagle, LPC) of The Power of Awe. Dr. Amster is a pain management specialist and awe researcher who teaches at the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. He’s also a long-time meditator and yoga instructor. He joins host me to share what he and Jake discovered a few years ago about the amazing power of “micro-dosing awe” and how the simple practice they teach can impact almost every area of your physical, mental, and emotional health.

In this episode, Dr. Amster defines “awe” and distinguishes it from other emotions like gratitude, discusses the three types of awe and how we know we’re experiencing them, and shares the quick 5 to 15-second A.W.E. Method that he developed with Jake Eagle at the start of the global pandemic. 

He goes on to explain the incredible results their formal awe research studies have generated and the science around...

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Julia Anderson shares her incredible story of leaving the “cult-like” experience of her evangelistic Christian upbringing (including its purity culture) at the age of 19 to raise her newborn daughter and create the independent, successful life she craved. Julia is now the CEO of the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CanWaCH) and has over 15 years of senior and executive-level experience in international development, not-for-profits, civil society, human rights, and gender equality. As CanWaCH CEO, she continues to champion bold, innovative - and even disruptive - approaches to advancing the health and rights of women and girls around the world.

Julia and I met over a year ago in an online writing group. Julia discusses her experience as a female CEO in the non-profit sector, the stresses associated with that, and how she works to prioritize and maintain her own balance and that of her staff (to...

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As a best-selling author and speaker, Meg Geisewite is changing the narrative on the mommy wine culture, hustle culture, and our pro-drinking culture. In Meg’s debut book, Intoxicating Lies: One Woman's Journey to Freedom from Gray Area Drinking, Meg flips the script on the five most intoxicating lies we tell ourselves about alcohol.

In this episode, Meg shares her story of being an ordinary, working mom who found herself trapped in the mommy wine culture, and how her love of science led her to discover the real truth about alcohol and its seductive lies as she embarked on a journey to becoming alcohol-free.

Meg and I discuss the common lies women tell themselves including that “we deserve a drink” and that we “don’t have a problem” as gray-area drinkers.

We review the common signs of gray-area drinking and Meg shares her “just one sip” story. We also discuss the shame cycle, the detox to...

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Amy and Matt Edwards are the hosts of the Alcohol-Free Marriage Podcast. Amy is also a certified coach who helps high-achieving women get out of the shame and blame cycle when it comes to their relationship with alcohol.

They join me today to share their story of quitting drinking as former craft beer enthusiasts and starting the podcast – the ups, the downs, and some of the joyful surprises of leaving alcohol behind together.

Tune in to find out how they got to the decision to take a mindful break from alcohol, who stopped first, who was the “ringleader” when it came to their drinking, what was hardest about quitting for each of them, whether moderation worked for either of them and what advice Matt and Amy would give an alcohol-free person whose spouse is still drinking.

This is a really entertaining conversation with a fun and upbeat duo!

Alcohol-Free Marriage Podcast info:

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Tabbin Almond is a certified coach living in Devon, England, who is passionate about removing the stigma and creating meaningful employee support around alcohol use disorder. She is committed to changing the corporate wellness conversation to include alcohol as an important factor in employees’ physical and mental health.

Tabbin has a book in the works called The Wellness Conversation We’re Not Having, where she explores the corporate world’s failure to address the role that over-drinking is playing in many cases of employee burnout, depression, and anxiety. Employees are often hesitant to ask for help with their drinking because of the stigma and fear of career reprisals. If they do ask for help, the help is often woefully inadequate and misguided.

Tabbin shares her personal alcohol story, including how she found her “drinking boots” during her years as a successful advertising exec, how hypnotherapy led her...

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Scott Pinyard is the owner and coach at Modern Coparent, a company dedicated to helping people find peace while coparenting. He has years of coaching experience both in private practice and as the Head Coach of This Naked Mind. Scott’s focus is in helping people through challenging growth with compassion, patience and humor.

Scott shares his personal story of modern coparenting and how he came to be a coach in this area. He explains how our lives are built on story and how these stories inform how we parent and coparent. Scott and I discuss some of the most common coparenting stories, why we often get stuck in patterns that don’t serve our kids, and how we can step into personal responsibility once we get clear on our stories and replace them with new beliefs that serve us better as individuals and parents. Scott provides some accessible, practical tips for parents who are currently in conflict and seeking more peace around...

This morning I had the opportunity to talk about the new Canadian Guidelines for Alcohol Consumption from the Centre for Substance Abuse and Addiction. In particular, we discussed how they are impacting women and women's drinking.

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If you recently saw the revised drinking guidelines in Canada and gasped, you’re not alone. Most Canadians are drinking more than two drinks a week, the new low-risk maximum.

Ann Dowsett Johnston is an award-winning journalist and the bestselling author of Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol, a book named one of the top 10 of the year by the Washington Post. Ann is also now a psychotherapist, and my friend, mentor and writing coach.  

Ann joins me for a discussion about the alcohol consumption guidelines in Canada released by the Centre on Substance Use and Addiction in January, which replace the 2011 Low-Risk Drinking Guidelines. The new guidelines present a continuum of health risks associated with different levels of alcohol consumption, including the risks of breast and colon cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Ann and I discuss what now constitutes low-risk, moderate, and...

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Are you stuck in a job, habit, or relationship that’s not serving you? Maybe you’re struggling with whether you should stick it out a little longer in case it gets better. In this episode, I share the approach I use with coaching clients who are feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled to help them gain clarity, get unstuck, and start taking action to create the life, habits, and relationships they dream of. I explain how to articulate the fear behind your resistance to change, how to make as many uncertainties in your situation “certain” to reduce that fear and anxiety, and a simple tracking system I use with my clients that will help you know when it’s time to leave. My unique approach is flexible and helpful no matter where you are feeling stuck, whether it’s your career, your marriage, a friendship, or an unhealthy habit like alcohol.

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My friend Jenn Salib-Huber is a Registered Dietitian, Naturopathic Doctor, and intuitive eating advocate who provides health and hormone education to women in midlife without a side of diet culture, so they can make peace with food, aging, and hot flashes and find the confidence they deserve in midlife.

In this episode of Bite-Sized Balance, Jenn and I discuss the concept of “un-dieting your life”, body neutrality v. body positivity, the second peak of body dissatisfaction that occurs in perimenopause, the real factors that contribute to our weight regulation (they're not what you think!), and why weight loss will never protect us from a negative body image.

We also discuss how we, as mothers, can help break the generational cycle and give our kids freedom from body image issues. 

I reflect on my experience with weight and intuitive eating principles after ditching the scale five years ago and moving...