Tree-Huggers, Secret Mantras, and the God-in-Your-Gut Debate

Sisters Kimberly and Michelle finally pick a fight (lovingly) about spirituality. It’s hard, because they agree on almost everything else. They start with childhood: basically raised at a mainstream Protestant church, like it was a second address.

Then: 1970s Bay Area spiritual weirdness (said with affection). They were surrounded by new age books, including Dianetics, which they later realize could’ve gone very sideways. They remember learning Transcendental Meditation before age 10. Secret mantra drama. Spoiler: the “secret” was "Ing."

They reminisce about dad-led guided meditations: sinking through a rainbow, building lifelong “safe places,” and a waterfall visualization for poison oak misery. Dad also trained as a hypnotherapist and used it for allergies and more, and... even more!

They revisit ESP tests, aura lore, scrying crystals, kitchen rainbow prisms, “pyramid power” banana experiments, and literal tree-hugging.

They cap it with a bigger clash: science-proof vs divinity-within. Do we see better with our eyes or our intuition? What is the soul? Michelle acknowledges neuroscience can’t yet bind together brain activity and what Kimberly calls "soul."