In this episode of Being Different Together, Kelly and Nyssa break down one of Buddhism’s most practical (and misunderstood) teachings: emptiness—using the now-famous story of the pen. Is it a pen or a chew toy? It depends who’s looking. 

Drawing from the Heart Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, and modern life at the kitchen table (complete with dog Poppy chewing pens), they explore how reality doesn’t come from objects themselves, but from the karmic seeds and meanings our minds project onto them.

You’ll also learn a simple 4-step Buddhist-inspired method for “getting what you want”—whether that’s more money, better health, deeper love, or greater inner peace—without relying on empty affirmations or spiritual bypassing. 

Instead of “toxic positivity,” they talk about intentional action, generosity, and planting seeds in your mind through how you treat others. 

If you’ve ever wondered how karma really works, how to manifest change in a grounded way, or how ancient Buddhist philosophy can actually help your day-to-day life and relationships, this conversation is for you.

Main Topics Covered:

• How a simple pen (and a chew-happy pup) can explain Buddhist emptiness
• Why reality doesn’t come from things, but from you and your mind’s “seeds”
• The surprising link between karmic seeds, perception, and everyday reactions
• What Buddhism actually means by “emptiness”(and why it’s not “nothing matters”)
• A 4-step Buddhist-inspired method to get what you want in life
• How to use karma and generosity to attract more money, love, health, and peace
• Why affirmations and prayers alone don’t change your life—and what does
• The role of intention in shaping your reality (and why that makes humans unique)
• How to “water” the right seeds at night with a simple bedtime reflection practice
• Turning your life into a karmic garden: becoming a “karma farmer” on purpose

Links Mentioned:

• Going Upward Newsletter – Join Nyssa’s list here

Books:

• The Diamond Cutter by Gesha Michael Roach
• Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Stay in Touch:

Nyssa Hanger: www.nyssahanger.com | IG: @nyssahanger

Kelly Brady: www.kellybrady.me | IG: @drkellybrady

If you’ve ever wondered how to start a creative project with your partner—or why it can feel so hard—you’ll feel right at home in this episode. 

Kelly and Nyssa share the honest story behind launching their podcast: from the initial “we should record this” spark to choosing equipment, taking a podcast course, and dealing with all the resistance that shows up when you actually hit record and publish. 

They talk about perfectionism, creative block, and resistance, drawing on influences like Seth Godin, Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, morning pages, and Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art to unpack what it really takes to keep creating.

Main Topics Covered:

• How a four‑hour phone call and bed‑coffee chats slowly turned into a podcast
• Why “done is better than perfect” might be the only way any episode gets made
• Seth Godin on “talker’s block” and what it reveals about creative resistance
• Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, morning pages, and why blocks often show up in midlife
• The hidden dynamics of co‑creating with your partner (and what birth order has to do with it)
• Projective identification, survival dances, and why so many couples just want to be “right”
• Turning conflict into a “play space” instead of a minefield in your relationship
• Spreadsheets vs. creative flow: respecting wildly different work styles in a shared project
• Why they’re waiting for 100 audio episodes before adding video or YouTube
• “Constipated creativity,” soul‑murdering projects, and finding that sweet spot of challenge

Links:

The Movement Maestro (Dr. Shanté Cofield) (Shante's program, Press Publish, is what got us started!)

Books Mentioned:

The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron

The Practice – Seth Godin

The War of Art – Steven Pressfield

Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be – Steven Pressfield

Stay in Touch:

Nyssa Hanger: www.nyssahanger.com | IG: @nyssahanger

Kelly Brady: www.kellybrady.me | IG: @drkellybrady

Feeling overwhelmed by the news? In this episode, Kelly and Nyssa unpack how to cope with bad news, negativity bias, and constant stress without totally checking out. 

They explore why our brains are wired to focus on threats, how the modern news cycle exploits that, and what happens when our stress cycles never fully complete—hello burnout, anxiety, and numbness.

With a mix of psychology, mindfulness, and real-life stories, they share practical ways to stay informed without destroying your mental health: “titrating” your news intake like strong medicine, completing the stress cycle, grounding in everyday life, and making small but powerful community connections. 

Drawing on ideas from Burnout, Four Thousand Weeks, Bare Bones Meditation, Rest Is Resistance, and Audre Lorde’s famous insight that self-care is political warfare, this conversation invites you to rethink your relationship with the news, your nervous system, and what “taking care of yourself” really means.

Main Topics Covered:

• Why your brain is so obsessed with bad news (and what “negativity bias” really means in daily life)
• How much news is “enough” before it quietly turns toxic to your nervous system
• The surprising link between unfinished stress cycles, burnout, and doomscrolling
• What ancient humans got right about stress that modern life gets totally backwards
• A simple metaphor that can change how you think about the unconscious (hint: lungs and vacuums)
• How tiny, mundane interactions—like chatting at the grocery store—protect your mental health
• The tension between wanting to stay informed and wanting to stay functional
• Why “self-care” has been co‑opted—and what Audre Lorde really pointed to as political self-preservation
• Practical ways to double down on what you can control when “the world” feels out of control
• How small, local actions and community connections quietly reshape big, broken systems

Links:

Workshops & Newsletter

• Partner Thai Massage Workshop – Sign up here
• Going Upward Newsletter – Join Nyssa’s list here

Referenced Episodes / Resources

• “Enemy Button” episode/resource

Books Mentioned

• Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle – Emily & Amelia Nagoski
• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals – Oliver Burkeman
• Buddha’s Brain – Rick Hanson
• Bare Bones Meditation – Joan Tollifson
• Rest Is Resistance – Tricia Hersey
• Real Self-Care – Pooja Lakshmin

Writers & Substacks

• Joan Tollifson’s Substack: https://joantollifson.substack.com/
• Polly’s Substack (on brain/consciousness): https://substack.com/@drpolly/p-185555303

Stay in Touch:

Nyssa Hanger: www.nyssahanger.com | IG: @nyssahanger

Kelly Brady: www.kellybrady.me | IG: @drkellybrady

In this episode, Wes Bozeman joins us at the kitchen table for a wide-ranging conversation about yoga, touch, teaching, and community. We talk about Ghosh yoga, Thai massage, authenticity in practice, and what it means to hold tension without trying to resolve it too quickly. The conversation moves between philosophy, lived experience, and the quiet moments where healing actually happens.

Main Topics Covered:

• How a dad, yogi, and massage therapist became the founder of Gays Hot Yoga
• The double meaning behind the studio name “Gaze” and why mirrors matter so much
• “Silence interrupted 26 times by poses”: Wes’s take on the 26 & 2 practice
• Why Gaze Hot Yoga is hot, bright, and relentlessly honest—and how that changes people
• From massage table to mat: why Wes moved from hands-on therapy to teaching movement
• The no-touch policy at Gaze: verbal cues, mirrors, and vulnerability instead of assists
• Ghosh yoga 101: Bishnu Ghosh, Paramahansa Yogananda, and the Bikram connection
• What Bikram got terribly wrong—and what the lineage still offers students today
• Inside the first-ever Ghosh Yoga Festival coming to Tampa this Spring
• How standing in front of a hot mirror helped Nyssa transform her post-COVID life
• Thai massage as “lazy man’s yoga” and a “massage picnic” on the floor
• The karmic chain: how one Thai massage training led Nyssa and Kelly to meet
• Why “clear is kind” has become a guiding principle at Gaze Hot Yoga
• Is Gaze the new modern-day ashram? Community, belonging, and daily practice in Tampa
• The three words Wes ends every class with—and why they never stop feeling profound

Links:

Thai Massage Workshop at Gaze Hot Yoga, Feb. 21, 2026: https://www.nyssahanger.com/workshops

Gaze Hot Yoga: https://www.gazehotyogatampa.com/

Stay in Touch:

Nyssa Hanger: www.nyssahanger.com | IG: @nyssahanger

Kelly Brady: www.kellybrady.me | IG: @drkellybrady

Touch is both essential and complicated.

In this episode, Kelly and Nyssa explore touch as a human need—how it can be both deeply healing and highly charged. 

The discussion moves through consent, subjectivity, non-sexual touch, and how cultural conditioning has shaped the way bodies relate to one another. 

Drawing from bodywork, psychotherapy, Thai massage, and lived experience, the episode names touch as a form of communication that can support healing, connection, and dialogue.

Main Topics Covered:

• Why touch is politicized, sexualized, and often misunderstood, especially in Western culture
• The importance of consent, communication, and clear boundaries in both professional and personal touch
• How their work as a psychotherapist, acupuncturist, and massage therapist shapes the way they think about safe, attuned touch
• The developmental impact of early touch (and lack of it), including attachment and our capacity for empathy
• The philosophy and practice of Thai massage as a form of slow, negotiated, non-sexual touch that can deepen connection between partners, family members, and friends
• How expanding our “touch menu” can make it easier to ask for non-sexual touch and potentially even strengthen or “save” relationships

Links:

Thai Massage Workshop at Gaze Hot Yoga, Feb. 21, 2026: https://www.nyssahanger.com/workshops

Book: Constructing the Sexual Crucible by David Schnarch

Stay in Touch:

Nyssa Hanger: www.nyssahanger.com | IG: @nyssahanger

Kelly Brady: www.kellybrady.me | IG: @drkellybrady

Kelly and Nyssa dive into the topic of retreat, exploring why stepping back from everyday life—especially through silence and meditation—can be so transformative. 

Kelly shares stories from her early Zen retreats, including a hilarious (and humanizing) fart-at-the-final-ceremony moment that shattered her assumptions about belonging, and she explains how intensive practice, noble silence, and communal practice shaped her understanding of presence. 

She then contrasts group retreats with her recent largely self-directed, partly solitary retreat in Florida and North Carolina, describing how extended periods of silence help the “posse dust” of a busy life settle, revealing deeper layers of consciousness, health benefits, and a more intentional way of moving through the world. 

Together, they reflect on the countercultural nature of retreat in America, the difference between retreat and vacation, and offer accessible first steps for listeners—like carving out small, daily pockets of intentional silence—so that anyone, even without a full week away, can begin to experience the therapeutic and spiritual value of stillness.

Main Topics Covered:

• The fart that broke noble silence: a Zen retreat story you won’t forget
• How Kelly went from “they all hate me” to “I’m part of this warm, funny sangha”
• Retreat vs. vacation: why they’re not the same thing at all
• What a Zen sesshin actually looks like—from 4:30 a.m. bells to crying-yourself-to-sleep naps
• How a marching band inspection taught Kelly the healing power of silence
• “There is no nothing”: emptiness, relationship, and Buddhist philosophy in plain language
• The “posse dust” metaphor that perfectly explains what happens when you finally stop
• Why sitting still is not “doing nothing” (and why our culture gets this so wrong)
• Kelly’s week-long, mostly solo retreat: Airbnb in the forest + empty Zen center Zendo
• The subtle ways retreat shifted Kelly’s daily life—more tears, more openness, more intention
• Why screens make reality feel boring—and one simple grayscale phone hack
• Practical baby steps: how to start with 10 minutes of silence a day (even with kids)
• How to create a tiny “retreat space” at home, even without a spare room
• What to expect when you first try sitting in silence (hint: it may feel worse before it feels better)
• Why Kelly keeps going back on retreat: not just to feel better, but to understand what’s really going on here

Links:

Windhorse Zen Center: https://windhorsezen.org/

Stay in Touch:

Nyssa Hanger: www.nyssahanger.com | IG: @nyssahanger

Kelly Brady: www.kellybrady.me | IG: @drkellybrady

In this companion episode, Kelly uses the skills of Real Dialog to interview Nyssa about her unconventional path into healing work. 

Nyssa traces her journey from teen poetry nights and open mics, to aromatizing Manhattan after 9/11 with her mom’s aromatherapy team, to studying religious experience and Sanskrit, and ultimately building a career as a massage therapist, aromatherapist, and coach. 

Along the way, she shares how words, scent, and touch became tools for transformation, and why falling “off track” is actually part of the upward spiral.

Main Topics Covered:

• How a teen poetry night at the public library changed Nyssa’s life
• From marching band to a performing arts high school: Nyssa’s “vision quest” detour
• The open mic mentor who saw Nyssa’s talent and nudged her toward a new path
• What it was like aromatizing Manhattan after 9/11 with essential oils and chair massage
• How witnessing trauma care at Ground Zero redirected Nyssa’s career toward healing
• Why Nyssa chose massage and psychology over a traditional creative writing path
• Falling in love with religious studies and discovering Sanskrit as an “ancestral” language
• The connection between poetry, mantra, and having a numinous (holy “quaking”) experience
• Using scent, words, and intention as a kind of everyday spellwork for change
• What Nyssa learned from running her own healing center before and through the pandemic
• Redefining the “downward spiral” and why falling off track is actually part of the path
• How Nyssa now supports wellness solopreneurs to grow without burning out

Links:

Partner Thai Massage Workshop, February 21, 2026 at Gaze Hot Yoga: https://www.nyssahanger.com/workshops

Stay in Touch:

Nyssa Hanger: www.nyssahanger.com | IG: @nyssahanger

Kelly Brady: www.kellybrady.me | IG: @drkellybrady

Nyssa uses the principles of Real Dialogue to interview her wife and co-host, Kelly, about how she found her way into psychology, chemical dependency work, acupuncture, and Zen Buddhism. 

Kelly traces the breadcrumbs from Codependent No More on the back of the toilet and bedtime stories from the psych ward to Virginia Satir, Thich Nhat Hanh, her Zen teacher Lawson, and a whole-person practice that serves “the worried well.” 

The conversation lands on embodying the work, experiencing life as art in service of others, and inviting listeners to follow their own signs and symbols toward growth.

Main Topics Covered:

• How a paperback left on the back of a toilet (Codependent No More) quietly redirected a 17-year-old toward a life in mental health
• The moment a music-obsessed teenager ditched a University of Miami scholarship and a possible philharmonic future to study the humanities instead
• Bedtime stories from a closed psych ward in 1970s Fort Lauderdale and how they sparked a lifelong fascination with consciousness
• Discovering Virginia Satir, family systems, and the radical idea that “the identified patient” is never the only one who needs to change
• From Maslow and Jung to 12-step work: early influences that shaped Kelly’s view of human and divine potential
• How an Intro to Religion class, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, and Autobiography of a Yogi reframed spirituality—and even the Jesus story
• The “coming out” moment as a Buddhist on retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh, and what it feels like when a teaching truly “rings the bell” inside you
• Finding a Zen teacher who felt like a lost child finding their mother—and why that relationship still brings Kelly to tears
• Why Kelly believes therapists are today’s secular shamans, working at the crossroads of body, mind, and spirit
• What happens when you treat the whole person: how mind–body work helps the “worried well” change jobs, relationships, and lives

Links:

Book: Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki

Book: Codependent, No More by Melody Beattie

Book: Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Book: The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin

Mozart Clarinet Concerto

Episode 3: https://www.nyssahanger.com/podcast/ep3

Episode 1: https://www.nyssahanger.com/podcast/ep1

Stay in Touch:

Nyssa Hanger: www.nyssahanger.com | IG: @nyssahanger

Kelly Brady: www.kellybrady.me | IG: @drkellybrady

In this episode, Nyssa and Kelly talk about what it means to be together as a companion to their previous conversation on being different. 

They share memories of how they met, how Thai massage shaped the early days of their connection, and how each of them first encountered the idea of conscious relationship. 

The conversation moves through their personal histories, key teachings from John Welwood, and the role of Real Dialogue in navigating conflict, intimacy, and growth.

Main Topics Covered

• How a Thai massage class, grief, and a post-pandemic hug-fest led to a surprising love story
• What “conscious relationship” actually means (and why both hosts made it their #1 non‑negotiable)
• The three dimensions of conscious relationship from John Welwood: evolutionary, personal, and sacred
• Why your most intimate relationships might be your deepest spiritual path
• How unresolved childhood wounds show up in partnership—and what to do when they do
• Conscious vs. unconscious relationship: projection, blame, and “cleaning up your side of the street”
• A middle‑of‑the‑night Advil incident as a perfect example of taking ownership instead of blaming your partner
• The role of dialogue as the core of communication in conscious relationships
• How to honor “being different” while staying deeply together

Links:

• Episode 2: www.nyssahanger.com/podcast/ep2
• Ordinary Magic by John Welwood
• Love Between Equals by Polly Young-Eisendrath
• Bodhi Sangha Thai Massage School (Ariela Grodner)
• Matlock on CBS / Paramount+

Stay in Touch:

Nyssa Hanger: www.nyssahanger.com | IG: @nyssahanger

Kelly Brady: www.kellybrady.me | IG: @drkellybrady

In this episode of Being Different Together, Nyssa and Kelly dive into what it means to be different and why our brains are wired to treat difference as a threat. They share personal stories from childhood, band days, identity, and relationships to highlight how difference can create conflict or become a catalyst for transformation. The conversation moves from instinct to intentionality, showing how Real Dialogue helps turn conflict into a play space for learning and connection.

Main Topics Covered

• Ever felt like the “odd one out”? Discover how embracing your differences could be your superpower.
• Honest and humorous personal stories about growing up feeling “different”—and why that’s totally normal.
• Find out why noticing differences is deeply human—and how it can shape our relationships for better or worse.
• What do pickles, band kids, and list-making reveal about partnership and individuality? Tune in for some relatable surprises!
• Hear how real dialog and intentional communication turn conflict from a “minefield” into a playground for growth.
• Learn how dialog therapy helped two people navigate their unique quirks and build a strong relationship.
• Get inspired to see everyday conflicts—in family, work, or love—not as threats, but as opportunities for discovery and self-improvement.

Links:

Episode 1 of Being Different Together: www.nyssahanger.com/podcast/ep1

Ani DiFranco’s song “IQ”: Ani DiFranco - My IQYouTube · HybridFalconOct 21, 2013

Cafe Hey (in Tampa): www.cafehey.com

Center For Real Dialogue: https://www.realdialogue.org/

Stay in Touch:

Nyssa Hanger: www.nyssahanger.com | IG: @nyssahanger

Kelly Brady: www.kellybrady.me | IG: @drkellybrady