Therapy is always a good foundation for overcoming any emotional or mental roadblock. But sometimes it's not enough. We find ourselves still holding onto tension, frustration, anger, and anxiety in our bodies, which can leave us feeling more fatigued than ever before. As a trained dancer and the founding member of ROWDY, a unique new online dance fitness platform, JR Jones discusses the importance dance in particular plays in establishing a mind-body connection and allowing us to finally release feelings too heavy for us to carry.  She also shares how movement specifically is interconnected to allowing for deeper emotional understanding not only of ourselves but those closest to us.

"I think humans must have invented dance because they needed it. We must have needed a bigger way to celebrate our victories and mourn our losses. I believe movement helps us notice what we are feeling. ...Our body always has clues to what we are feeling. I believe movement helps us observe what we are experiencing and feeling. It builds awareness, and awareness leads to better understanding of self and others, which obviously develops better communication." --JR Jones

As humans, we're creatures of habit. We're also social beings with a deep need to be connected to one another. So, what happens when habitual social creatures fall into ruts?  Often, conversations become superficial and leave us feeling that our relationships are lacking in substance and sustainability.  It's an issue that's only been further compounded by technology--specifically social media.

Entrepreneur, creator, and the co-founder and CEO of the award-winning company BestSelf Cathryn Lavery discusses how  to reconnect to others on a human level by using prompt decks. She explains why her carefully curated set of tools allows people to break through the algorithmic version of their daily lives and into deeper, more vulnerable connections.

"I think now more than ever, we're more connected than ever, but also more disconnected as people from each other. ...we as people need to connect with other people and other things to get meanings. Well, meaning is a big part of the human experience. I think one thing with technology that we've lost almost, is creating these experiences with real people." --Cathryn Lavery 

Audio Engineered by: Blaise Douros 

We live in a world driven by technology. We've created a host of smart machines and apps that purport to better connect us to each other. In reality we've built digital walls--screens  ultimately block us from building deeper more empathetic relationships. On this episode of PeakConnection, author, speaker, and MIT professor Dr. Sherry Turkle discusses why Zoom and text will always be performative and never add up to authentic human connection, how technology is assaulting empathy on a global scale, and why we increasingly find ourselves feeling more alone than ever before.

"...what I'm arguing is really for...more time for quiet conversation. Because to end where it all begins for me, within solitude that empathy is born. It's in having a secure sense of who you are that you can then reach out and say, 'Well, who are you?' Not 'I know who you are,' but 'I don't know who you are.' And 'let me just spend a minute finding out who you are,' that's where relationships start." --Dr. Sherry Turkle 

Navigating the sometimes tumultuous New York City dating scene can be challenging, even in the best of times--now let's add a global pandemic. An actor, producer, and host of the podcast Hashtag Single, Jeanette Bonner shares her struggles and triumphs over the past year. She discusses why she continues making connections, despite the limitations of quarantine and Covid-19, how dating apps are more harmful than helpful in making a perfect match, and the resiliency to continue pursing passions regardless of the darkened New York City stage.

"For me, one of the things that really helped me cope was figuring out my why ...I had to figure out why do I do everything every day...How does it serve me? How does it fill me? That's helped me. And I think anyone who's dealing with anxiety or career struggles, everything comes back to love. What's the thing you love about it, or just love in general." --Jeanette Bonner

Ways to Connect with Jeanette: 
Production Company: https://www.instagram.com/kellyspoolhall/
#Single Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/hashtagsinglepod/

Audio Engineered by: Blaise Douros 

Adolescents have fundamental developmental needs for companionship. It's the desire to build relationships outside their familial unit that eventually leads to adulthood. However, in an effort to keep themselves and others safe during COVID-19, many teens have been prevented from engaging in normal developmental activities. Parents, educators, and researchers are seeing a steady increase in depression and anxiety, which may be contributing to a rise in teen suicide.  Dr. David Frankel, a respected clinical child and adolescent psychologist from the Bay Area, discusses the growing mental health crisis among adolescents, what signs to look for, solutions, and how to start a conversation with the teens in your life. 

"...it's okay to talk honestly and frankly about your worries with your kids, about how they're doing and stuff like that. I think the other thing is if objectively you're struggling and they're struggling, to name that, to talk about it. I mean, the kids can already observe what's going on, so not to pretend it's otherwise or be afraid that they're going to somehow be unnerved by you acknowledging the reality that's in front of all of you and to try to talk about how things are going." --Dr. David Frankel

*Due to the sensitive subject matter on this episode, we do not recommend listening where small children may be present. 

As a culture, we've grown into a mindset of every person for themselves.  And while we've been busy focusing on ourselves, there are millions of people every day suffering right in front of us, yet we largely choose to ignore them. In this episode, clinical psychologist, writer, and producer Dr. Leslie Silver shares about her documentary film, No Home Here, which focuses on the growing homeless crisis in California and the myths surrounding it. As a culture we've been conditioned to ignore homelessness, so how do we start breaking down the myths surrounding it and start rebuilding empathy? 

"...we need to start by listening to the people that are actually homeless...And I think when we can listen to them, we are going to find out that they're more relatable to us than you might imagine. Can we make a psychological shift as a society to just stop turning away from these people that are struggling? That are desperate for food, for housing, right in front of us in this rich state that we lived in. Can we stop turning away from them? And can we simply just start looking at them?" --Dr. Leslie Silver 

Audio Engineered by: Blaise Douros 

We all have ideals which shape us into the friends, partners, workers, and parents we aspire to be. However, what happens when our expectations for the person we want to become are set so high they're impossible to reach? Especially when those impossible standards are further perpetuated by our society and a global pandemic? On this second part of our two-part conversation with Dr. Margaret Lamar and Dr. Lisa Forbes, they discuss their research around how the highly individual and usually unrealistic standards women have for the “ideal mother,” and how these expectations have been particularly damaging during Covid-19.

"...we have adapted to our current environment... I think it speaks highly to how quickly women adapt, that doing all of that stuff didn't feel as challenging as it did at the beginning of the pandemic, that it didn't feel as intrusive into our lives. I think it speaks very much to the resiliency of mothers in that way, but I think it's concerning for the future that we may have adapted to our current environment." --Margaret Lamar

"We saw that a mother who is depressed and stressed and anxious has a harder time being a mom, obviously, but it's paradoxical in that, our culture prescribes motherhood in a way that leads to depression and anxiety and stress. That then makes you not as good of a mom. It's this trap." --Lisa Forbes

Ways to connect with the Mothering Project:

https://www.instagram.com/themotheringproject/

https://www.facebook.com/themotheringproject/

https://twitter.com/Mothering_Drs

Audio Engineered by: Blaise Douros

It goes without saying that parenting is one of the most difficult jobs a person will ever have. The pandemic has taken away many of the healthy coping mechanisms parents once relied on in order to survive. The stability and security of having a daily set of routine activities and interactions  with caretakers, friends, and family has stopped and parents everywhere are feeling overwhelmed with little help in sight. Sadly, without access to their normal coping mechanisms, many parents are turning to substance abuse, which in turn is contributing to a rise in mental disorders like depression and anxiety. On this episode, Dr. Margaret Lamar and Dr. Lisa Forbes discuss their research around this second pandemic and what we can do about it.

"...there's a lot of concern in the mental health community about there being what they would call a, 'second pandemic', of mental health and substance alcohol use problems. There's evidence that in past crises like this, that alcohol use goes up. And then from that alcohol and substance use, mental illnesses result as of that." -Margaret Lamar

"I think what the pandemic did, was it took away a lot of people's sense of safety and security...And just coping with living in a pandemic, our whole schedule is different. Our whole world is different. We can't do the same routines we used to do. Drinking and substances is a coping mechanism. It's not a positive one but it's a way to cope." -Lisa Forbes 


Ways to connect with the Mothering Project:

https://www.instagram.com/themotheringproject/

https://www.facebook.com/themotheringproject/

https://twitter.com/Mothering_Drs

Audio Engineered by: Blaise Douros

It's a New Year and with that comes New Year's Resolutions. But what happens when our best intentions to become healthier versions of ourselves turn toxic? On this episode of PeakConnection, Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and founder of Best Feeling Forever Kailey Mann discusses the toxicity of diet culture and the importance of maintaining a healthy relationship with ourselves both mentally and physically.

"What helped me overcome my own personal issues with food within my eating disorder was learning how to build trust within myself again. And that's trust in me as a person, but trust in my body as well. The connection from mind to body was completely detached for a long time. And it was really about rebuilding that connection and rebuilding that trust." --Kailey Mann

Ways to connect with Kailey: 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourbestfeelingforever/ 
Website: https://www.bestfeelingforever.com/about
Blog: http://www.snack-face.com/

People are very aware of what foods are good and nourishing for a body. However, while we're preoccupied with reading labels, what most of us are not thinking about is the diet of our minds. All of us have seen or felt the effects of chronic stress. And when we take in an unhealthy diet mentally, it affects us physically. On this episode of PeakConnection, Certified Nutrition and Digestive Health Coach Katie Duda discusses the importance of taking care of ourselves mentally first, if we want to heal our bodies physically.

“You're responsible for your life…. living in incongruity where you're doing one thing but feeling another is the surest way to ruin your health. And you'll start reaching for things that you know aren't good for you, that make you feel good temporarily, because you feel off and you don't feel your authentic self. And then it starts to manifest in the physical form with actually giving you chronic disease.” --Katie Duda

Ways to Connect with Katie:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ditchthescale/
Website: https://www.therealrawyou.com/about
Podcast: https://therealrawyou.buzzsprout.com/