A Better Pill To Swallow

In today’s episode, I’m sitting down with Zach Jones, associate director for Wild Earth Middle School Initiative. Zach is an avid world traveler and nature expert who has a wealth of experience working with kids of all backgrounds who cosmically happens to be my next door neighbor. We talk about the role of privilege in immersive programs like Wild Earth, as well as how to build resilience in children.

We also discuss the role of travel in mental health, touching on how the go-go-go American lifestyle often prohibits transformative cultural experiences, and how travel can be therapeutic. Finally, we discuss how Zach has thrived in the face of ADHD, including the lifestyle 

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In this episode, Pam Dunn, leader of "Your Infinite Life Training & Coaching Company" discusses her journey from a stay-at-home mom to life coach, the differences between coaching and therapy, the role of medication in personal development, and her experiences coaching within the Orthodox Jewish community. Pam, an expert in emotional intelligence and values-driven leadership, also delves into strategies for building healthy relationships. With decades of experience, Pam offers a compassionate and insightful perspective on navigating emotional growth and fostering deeper connections. David expounds and interjects his own personal experience of working with Pam, as she has served as his coach since 2019.   

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In part two of our podcast with Marilyn Manno, I discuss non-toxic living and cancer prevention, specifically as it pertains to living with the BRACA gene. We dive into the trials of finding balance between taking care of ourselves with the stress of trying to control the uncontrollable. We also touch on the critical importance of mental health in intimate relationships and even delve into some of the larger implications of AI. Check out the episode and share with any friends who might be interested!

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Marilyn Manno is a writer, creative director, and dear friend living medication-free after being hospitalized for a manic episode in 2011. In this episode, we talk about her lifestyle that led to her psychotic break, and how she was able to find her way back to homeostasis. 

In part one of this two-part podcast, we delve into a rich discussion on grief, as Marilyn recently lost her beloved father to fast-progressing brain cancer. We touch on the superhuman power that denial can unleash, the rage that so often arises when losing someone close to you, and the importance of healthy emotional expression. 

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We now welcome to "A Better Pill," Amy Eidelman. She has struggled her entire life with food and environmental allergies. In her early 20s, her sensitivities devolved into full-blown IBS, leading her into Xanax dependency and recovery, and more recently several bouts of long Covid. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more sensitive body than hers. Yet through her suffering and struggle, Amy has come to discover her depth and power. For Amy's top-tier sensitivity has led to Jedi-like ability with Reiki, and a new discipline called "Journal Speak."

Founded and taught by psychotherapist Nicole Sachs, and based on Dr Sarno's principles, Journal Speak is a method of offloading onto paper (or keyboard) your unfelt feelings, until they pour out of you. In this episode, we drill down on the importance of denying nothing, acknowledging everything, and actively moving through your pain, whether you’re dealing with anger, physical ailments, heartbreak, grief, or multi-generational trauma. 

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Join us for Part 2 of our conversation with Lou about living with ADHD. Diving deeper into our discussion of the benefits and challenges of having an ADHD brain, we also address the impacts of various medications on different people, medication withdrawal, sleep, and relational impacts with loved ones. And if that's not enough, we redefine the meaning of "woo-woo." 

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On this week’s episode, we focus on the ADHD brain. Our guest is Lou, an IT specialist, who was diagnosed with severe ADHD and put on Ritalin at age 5. Today at 44, Lou has managed to build a successful business doing what he loves, create a beautiful family, and maintain a vibrant network of friends and hobbies, even despite the immense challenges posed by his “ADHD” orientation to the world. Through deep personal insight and brilliant analogies, Lou provides a compassionate understanding of what it’s like to live with ADHD, as well as tips and tricks for thriving both in spite of and because of it.

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In the second half of this two-part saga, Sandi Neiman unearths the many details and infinite aspects of the end of David's father's life. We discuss hospice, our culture’s strained relationship with death, and the painful reality of what Sandi had to face leading up to his passing. We discuss a host of topics, including body autonomy and the right to die,  how our system is rigged to siphon money from patients in their final stage of life,  the bastardization of Big Pharma, Sandi's grieving process, and her battle with breast cancer promptly following his death. 

We touch on the remarkable advent of death doulas in our culture who do the good work of preparing those who are dying for The Last Goodbye.  On the talkback, David honors his father with hilarious and touching stories about what a remarkable man his father was. 

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Next guest up is Sandi Neiman. She’s a licensed marital and family therapist, previously the COO of National Seating and Mobility, a multi-billion dollar national healthcare business…and if you’ll notice her last name, she also happens to be the host's stepmother. 

In this special two-part episode just in time for Father's Day, Sandi leads us through her experience of the full body contact sport that was being married to David's father, Bennett Neiman. He was afflicted with family trauma, abuse, and undiagnosed mental illness. She had a front-row seat for his rapid decline as it related to his past, and the undeniable coup de gras: my brother’s meltdown, disappearance, and tragic death. We discuss multi-generational trauma, and further dimensions of my brother’s demise including our cultural understanding of body sovereignty. 

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     In our latest, and most hilarious episode yet, we welcome accomplished actor and playwright, Paul Stroli onto the show. We open with how Paul first met and became instant friends with the host David, and his brother Andy as a creative pair who wrote the show they were all in together before Andy passed away. We take a moment to honor Andy, touching on various aspects of grief. 
     Paul then shares how he began suffering from debilitating panic attacks in his mid-30s. Instead of succumbing to prescription medication, he "stared down the dragon."  He challenged himself by doing a one-man show, leaning all the way into his fear instead of running from it. He also learned that his incessant personal expectation, which plagues so many of us today, was a central source of his psychological tumult. When he learned to surrender his ego, he found that his salvation lay in looking instead for where he "fit in the big masterpiece." 

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