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You deserve a moment to pause and press play, and so do your kiddos! Welcome to the second episode of our series on mindfulness and going back to school. Our kids experience stress just as much as we do, and a lot of the time they are ill-equipped to handle it. Today, you’ll learn a new technique that you can introduce to your little ones to help them manage any anxiety they may be feeling about going back to school. This technique is called the Silent Sigh and helps us to release any excess emotion and reset our body and breath. Join us today to hear the simple steps you can follow to release your own stress and help your kiddos to do the same. 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Why we are hosting a series on mindfulness and going back to school.
• The reality that our kids experience stress just as much as we do.
• How they are often less equipped to manage it.
• Today’s technique that you can teach your kiddos to help them manage anxiety.
• How the Silent Sigh helps us to release any excess emotion and reset our body and breath.
• Why this method is perfect for you if you need to reset during times of transition.
• What it consists of: taking a deep breath in, and letting out a sigh as silently as you can.
• Repeating this process and practicing it with your kids.
• Assessing how you feel afterwards, and whether you need to repeat it a few more times.
• Jessica guides us as we practice a Silent Sigh together.
• Where to subscribe to the newsletter for more tips like these: thezenmommy.com

Tweetables:

“This practice of the Silent Sigh helps us to let out any excess emotion and reset our body and breath.” — Jessica Gershman [0:0:57]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

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You don’t have to consider yourself a spiritual person to benefit from today’s episode. Whether or not you have found a connection to god, it is clear to see that our unique perception creates our reality. Today’s guest is Joanna Crowder, the CEO and founder of Quantam Entanglement, which she uses as a platform to teach, mentor, help and encourage others to believe in themselves enough to chase their dreams and love their life. Joanna is a doctor of philosophy specializing in metaphysical counseling, an ordained minister, speaker, and author, joining us today to share how her story has led her to work with others. You’ll hear what she learned from doing her thesis on meditation, and how the metaphysical world opened up to her when she was trying to understand her own relationship dynamics. Joanna weighs in on the current state of spirituality in our world, and shares insights on going deeper that will help you map out your own next steps. Thanks for listening! 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Meet today’s guest, Joanna Crowder, CEO and founder of Quantum Entanglement.
• Her definition for spirituality: peeling away the layers to get to the innermost part of ourselves.
• What she learned from doing her thesis on meditation.
• Her experience of meeting the love of her life which she put into the book Summer Love.
• How the metaphysical world opened up to her when she was trying to understand her relationship dynamics.
• Meeting her husband at the age of 16, breaking up, and finding one another again. 
• Our macro experience going from the age of Pisces to the age of Aquarius.
• The collective experience of the Dark Night of the Soul that we have all experienced. 
• How she suggests you start meditating by taking extra time to sit in silence when you go to the bathroom.
• The role of a guide in helping you to decondition and how Quantum Academy offers this.
• Her belief that when you learn to truly love yourself, love will materialize in your ideal partner.
• What she hopes people will get out of reading Spring Equinox which she wrote in 2019 and 2020.
• The three universal fears everyone has: trust, abandonment, and self-worth.
• The ripple effect of changing yourself to change the world and how Joanna tries to enact this.

Tweetables:

“Everybody thinks that to meditate, there are no thoughts. Because that is the end goal. But when we start, there is nothing but thoughts and that’s the part where people struggle.” — Joanna Crowder [0:04:50]

“When you hit rock bottom and there’s nowhere else to go, you’re at the bottom of the pit. That’s when you want that connection, that deep love, to feel better than you feel, and we do whatever it takes to find that light.” — Joanna Crowder [0:07:23]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Discount Code: ZEN10

Joanna Crowder on Instagram
Spring Manifestation on Amazon
Summer Love on Amazon
Quantum Entanglement

QE Academy

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Raising the Next Generation of ‘Kindful’ Human Beings with Kaajal Agnani

Episode S4E2: Show Notes.

 Studies suggest that mindfulness affects many aspects of our psychological well being; improving our mood, increasing positive emotions, and decreasing our anxiety, emotional reactivity, and job burnout. From their earliest moments, mindfulness can help kids to experience less anxiety, and feel happier. Today’s guest, Kaajal Agnani, is all about equipping parents to teach and model mindfulness behavior with their kids. She uses the term ‘kindful’ to encompass the emotional intelligence and thoughtful behavior that mindfulness cultivates in kids. Her thoughts on mindfulness changed once she had become a parent and noticed her child’s natural inclination towards presence and curiosity. During our conversation, she shares how she empowers parents to nurture this in their children while unlearning the patterns which prevent them from staying mindful as adults. Learn how Kaajal prioritizes mindfulness with her own family, and find out what’s next for her business, with the goal to create, inspire and uplift others at its heart. Kaajal also walks us through two mindfulness practices to give us a taste of what she teaches. Stay tuned all the way to the end to receive a special gift from Kaajal today! 

Key Points From This Episode:

• An introduction to today’s guest, Kaajal Agnani, and her work teaching parents mindfulness.
• Her focus on raising the next generation of ‘kindful’ human beings who are kind and mindful.
• Kaajal’s observation that kids are inherently curious and full of wonder.
• How life’s many distractions prevent us from nurturing the ability to stay present.
• Benefits mindfulness gives us: improving emotional intelligence, connection, and regulation.
• Kaajal’s journey with mindfulness and what prevented her from nurturing these skills.
• The skill of mindfulness and why it needs to be practiced regularly to reap results.
• Why teaching mindfulness is also showing kids that they have the opportunity to learn.
• Integrating mindfulness practices into your day as a family.
• Small ways to use your senses and be in the present moment with your children.
• Bringing childlike wonder to every situation to incorporate mindfulness into your daily life.
• Why mindfulness is extremely broad and always comes down to being present.
• What is on the horizon for Boundful Blooms: the Good Morning and Good Evening books, Spanish translations, and to continue creating products that inspire and uplift.
• Why mindfulness is especially necessary after the pandemic.
• Kaajal walks us through the Hoppy Bunny mindfulness practice. 
• Why everything in the stack has been designed to be customized.
• Kaajal walks us through The Rays of Sunshine exercise for bedtime.
• A discount code for all listeners: slowdown.
• Kaajal invites listeners to engage with her on social media.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

 Kaajal Agnani on LinkedIn
Kaajal Agnani on Instagram
Boundless Blooms

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Back to School Mindfulness: Breathing

Welcome to the Zen(ish) Mommy’s Back to School Mindfulness series, where we discover tools to help your kiddo to manage the stress and anxiety that comes with going to school. Moms, remember that you can use these techniques too! Today, we’re talking about breathing, more specifically, the Seven to Eleven breath technique, an easy-to-remember practice to down regulate, shift your nervous system, and stabilize your energy. During today’s mini episode, you’ll learn a tool you can immediately implement to communicate to the body that it is safe and can release some of the stress that it is holding. Join us today to add this technique to your mindfulness toolkit!

Key Points From This Episode:

• An introduction to our series on mindfulness in schools.
• What it aims to do: equip you with tips and tricks to help your kiddo manage stress.
• A reminder that you can use these techniques in your own life as a mom too.
• The method we will be discussing today: the Seven to Eleven breath technique.
• What it aims to do: down regulate, shift our nervous system, and stabilize our energy.
• How to do it: inhale for a breath of seven, and exhale for a count of 11.
• How this method communicates to the body that it is safe and can release stress.
• Jessica encourages listeners to reach out and let her know how this method worked.

Tweetables:

“This counting forces the kids—and the moms—to focus more on slowing their breathing down, to really down regulate their nervous system, to tell their body it’s safe, and that we can really let go of some of that stress.” — The Zen Mommy [0:01:01]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

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Dr. Arunima Agarwal Back To School 

Episode S4E1: Show Notes. 

This start of the school year leaves us with many questions. Will children be masking, or not masking? Whether to vaccinate, or not? With no clear end in sight, it seems that the onslaught of new variants, plus the annual flu season, leaves us with few answers as to what to do. Today, we welcome Dr. Arunima Agarwal, a New York-based pediatrician who is here to answer some of the questions you might have as your kids start school this Fall. Tune in to hear Dr. Agarwal’s recommendations on vaccinations, masks, sanitizer, and navigating side effects for your child over two, over five, and over 12 years old. She points us in the direction of reliable, objective resources and recommends how we can limit our go-to information sources to avoid confusion and overwhelm. Dr. Agarwal reminds us that our most important resource for all things vaccination is our medical practitioner, and explains the science behind why a surgical mask is superior to a cloth one, before leaving us with some great advice to implement immediately. Thanks for tuning in! 

Key Points From This Episode: 

• Welcome to today’s guest, Dr. Arunima Agarwal. 
• Dr. Agarwal’s recommendation that kids are double vaccinated before school starts. 
• Why parents should not be alarmed if vaccines become mandated. 
• Why it is understandable that parents have felt anxious about vaccinating their kids. 
• Dr. Agarwal’s opinion on government communication around the vaccine. 
• The evolution of vaccination for children over 12, over five, and under five. 
• The best way to prepare for flu season as a parent: get your flu vaccine closer to October, 
• consult with your practitioner about timing, 
• Good habits kids have picked up on during the pandemic that will protect them from flu. 
• Why MRNA is a better system than previous vaccines. 
• Mutations, boosters, and vaccine variations. 
• Why there has been such a wide variety of information on the vaccine. 
• Where to find the most objective information: the CDC, John Hopkins. 
• Navigating side effects, with the most common one being arm pain for 18 and up. 
• The slight uptick in Myocarditis as a side effect in older teenage males. 
• Choosing to spread the dosage out over more than 21 days to combat the risk. 
• Why your pediatrician is the best possible resource on any vaccine. 
• Wearing the cloth mask and why the surgical mask or M95 is superior. 
• Why nobody should be wearing a mask 24/7 and why there is no danger to masking kids 
• ages 2 and up. 
• Why it is important to explain to kids why they need to wear masks. 
• Hand sanitizer, supervision, sensitive skin, and over-sanitizing. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Dr. Arunima Agarwal 

Dr. Arunima Agarwal on Twitter

Dr. Arunima Agarwal on LinkedIn

John Hopkins

The CDC

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Today we speak with Dawn Fable, a busy mom whose history with generalized anxiety lead her to incorporate a daily CBD regimen into her life, and later start a project to deliver a range of female-focused CBD projects to women in the same boat. You’ll hear why CBD has become so popular, and the science of how it works to optimize your health, reduce anxiety and soothe pain. Dawn offers some practical advice on being consistent in your daily cycle, and shares how she used CBD to reduce the symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, before telling us about Press Pause’s aim to provide quality CBD products and educate women on the benefits of CBD. She discusses how she learned that we are all having an internal struggle, and how our vulnerability and openness can empower others, and reveals how ‘pressing pause’ has allowed her to feel present and enjoy the simple things. We look at the issues that Dawn has identified that women disproportionately struggle with and Press Pause’s lifestyle and ritualistic product range that caters towards women. Dawn highlights that each woman is different and CBD products can be a preferred treatment method or a complement to pharmaceuticals, and tells us which of the products in her range she uses herself: the healing balm, tea, the sleep range, and the tincture. Next, she gives listeners some helpful tips on how to vet their CBD products and touches on the government and larger bodies’ involvement in the CBD industry before exploring the government’s regulation of CBD for over 18s only. Dawn predicts that there will be a greater normalization of natural ingredients in the world of health products, and offers a starting point for new users: topicals for tension, bath bombs for self care, and tinctures for the full benefits. We hope you tune in for an inspiring episode today. 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Why CBD has become so popular: people are desperate for natural solutions to feel better.
• Why CBD reduces anxiety and soothes pain. 
• Why, in order to get the full benefits of CBD, it needs to be consistent in your daily cycle.
• How Dawn used CBD to resolve the symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
• Press Pause’s aim to provide quality CBD products and educate women on its benefits.
• How ‘pressing pause’ has allowed Dawn to feel present and enjoy the simple things.
• How CBD has helped to take the edge off the little things that would become inflated.
• Issues that women disproportionately struggle with: anxiety, inflammation, stress, tension, inability to sleep, lack of sex drive.
• Press Pause’s lifestyle and ritualistic product range that caters towards women.
• How each woman is different and CBD is a choice or a complement to pharmaceuticals.
• Hear from Dawn about the intimate range and how it supports women’s sex lives.
• The products Dawn benefits from: healing balm, tea, the sleep range, and the tincture.
• How her family experiences a better version of her when she is using CBD.
• How to vet your CBD products: check for a COA on their website, check the ingredients.
• The government and larger bodies’ involvement in the CBD industry.
• Dawn’s mission to normalize mental health and help women not to feel alone.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

The Zen ish Mommy Podcast
The Zen Mommy on Instagram
Dawn Fable on LinkedI

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Fix Yourself First: Building Sexual Self-Esteem with Dr. Kristie Overstreet

We don’t often talk about our sex lives, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that we, as moms, are not enjoying sex as much as we could be. What greater pleasure is there in life than having an intimate and satisfying connection with your partner? Today, we welcome Dr. Kristie Overstreet, clinical sexologist, psychotherapist, host of the Fix Yourself First Podcast, and author of Fix Yourself First: 25 Tips to Stop Ruining Your Relationship. She focuses on helping you build strong relationships through focusing first on the most important relationship you have: the one you have with yourself, to give you the power to create the life you deserve. You’ll hear all about her journey to becoming a clinical sexologist and psychotherapist after studying medicine for a year, before meeting a therapist for the first time, and how failing helped her to get to where she is today. She shares some of her own tumultuous story of relationships and sex, before finding her partner of 14 years, Rob. Dr. Overstreet tells us how the importance of sex in your relationship depends entirely on how much each partner values it, and introduces us to the concept of opening up a sexual buffet. She assures us that you can still have a healthy relationship even if you value sex differently from one another, provided there is no judgment and a willingness to meet one another’s needs. We hope you join us  to hear this and loads more pearls of wisdom from Dr. Overstreet today! 

Key Points From This Episode:

• How the importance of sex in your relationship depends on how each partner values it.
• How we define sex, and why you have to open up a sexual buffet.
• Why you can still have a healthy relationship even if you value sex differently.
• Why she tells everyone in relationships to stop assuming their partners are going to change.
• What she means by sexual self-esteem: how you feel about your sexual self.
• Sexual trauma as an emotional energy that enters into every sexual encounter.
• The first step: giving yourself permission to go there without expectation.
• The twelve different types of intimacy that go beyond sexual encounters.
• Why it is important to frame the conversation about sex by talking about yourself.
• The myth of men needing loads of sex, and how they need quality sex instead.
• How, in most couples, the issue with the relationship is not sex, but the connection.
• Why it is necessary to feel emotional safety and non-judgment to have a good sex life.
• How doing the things that you are passionate about as an individual serves your relationship.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Dr. Kristie Overstreet
Dr. Kristie Overstreet on Facebook
Dr. Kristie Overstreet on Instagram
Dr. Kristie Overstreet on Pinterest
Fix Yourself First
Fix Yourself First
How to Get Emotional and Physical Intimacy Without Sacrificing Your Needs

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Many of us understand the importance of yoga and mindfulness. But when you do not have basic necessities like food, shelter, and visibility, you will have difficulty accessing your consciousness. Over the past summer, with growing food lines, police brutality, and a political divide that rocked the country to its core, we saw the struggles that Black and brown communities face being played out time and again. Katara Mccarty has made it her life’s mission to reach out to Black, indigenous, and women of color through her speaking, writing, and philanthropic work. 2020 gave her the fuel to redirect her focus, bringing mindfulness techniques to Black and brown communities through her app, EXHALE. In this conversation, Katara opens up about how being adopted by a Black mother and accepted into the community led her to philanthropic work. We talk about her experience of running a truly inclusive church, given that a lot of organized religion is not accepting of everyone. Our conversation then moves onto systemic racism, where we touch on how we, as individuals, can work to dismantle it, and the power that comes with being open to learning. As we wrap up, we touch on the wellness space and how, through its whiteness, it excludes and can even harm marginalized communities. Taking apart systemic racism is not easy, and we might feel as though we have no part to play. Our actions do not have to be perfect. However, if we approach change with vulnerability and humility, we can make a difference.  

Key Points From This Episode:

•  Why Katara struggled with a sense of belonging despite having a supportive community.

•  The story of Katara’s spiritual journey and how she met her husband.

•  The importance of acknowledging the systemic racism that we are upholding.

•  Why sitting in neutral and saying you are not racist does not create change.

•  It's not that systemic racism does not benefit Black and brown people; it literally kills them.

•  Why Katara believes that anti-racism is a practice rather than an endpoint. 

•  We have to be willing to change and evolve and accept that it will be messy.

•  The work that the yoga and mindfulness spaces have to do to be more inclusive.

•  Difficulties that Black and brown women have in predominantly white wellness spaces.

•  When we think about antiracism, it’s about Black and brown liberation.

•  We need to move past an all-or-nothing mentality; there is a full spectrum in between.

•  Katara’s impetus for starting the EXHALE app and the feedback she has received.

•  How Katara believes we can educate our children about racism; we can learn with them.

•  We need brave spaces, not safe spaces for Black and brown people.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

The Zen ish Mommy Podcast

The Zen Mommy on Instagram

Katara McCarty

Katara McCarty on Instagram

‎Red Lips & Eye Rolls Podcast

'EXHALE App Supports Emotional Wellbeing Of Black Women'

Fannie Lou Hamer

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Did you know that cider is actually classified as a wine? And that you can find a cider flavor that can be paired with almost any type of food? Cider has not yet experienced the same level of popularity as traditional wine and beer, but Andrea Homoya is on a mission to change this. Through her company, Ash and Elm Cider, Andrea is putting cider on the map! Andrea, a self-proclaimed risk taker, runs Ash and Elm Cider alongside her husband, who is the ideas man behind the brand. In today’s episode Andre candidly shares the upsides and downsides of combining her work life and her personal life in this way. She also opens up about her journey to motherhood, which has not been without its own challenges. Ash and Elm has experienced a lot of growth over the years, and Andrea and her husband have some exciting plans for the future expansion of the company. If you haven’t tried an Ash and Elm Cider yet, do yourself a favor! 

Key Points From This Episode:

•    Complementary characteristics that allowed Andrea and her husband to get their business off the ground.

•    The holiday that sparked the creation of Ash and Elm Cider. 

•    Alcohol content in Ash and Elm Ciders, and the type of alcohol that cider is classified as. 

•    Andrea explains the process that they go through to create their ciders.

•    Statistics on consumption of beer versus cider by gender. 

•    Observations that Andrea had around traditional branding of beer, and how this has informed their own branding. 

•    What Andrea’s day-to-day work involves.

•    Growth that the company is experiencing, and how they are dealing with it.

•    Challenges of running a business with your life partner, and how Andrea and her husband try to maintain a balance.

•    Parallels between Andrea and Jessica’s marriages.

•    Andrea shares her journey of becoming, and being, a working mom. 

•    The seasonality of ciders.

•    A new project that Andrea and her husband are working on at the moment. 

•    Variation that is possible with ciders, and examples of how these can be paired with different foods.

•    The most difficult experience that Andrea and her husband have had while running their business.

•    Future goals that Andrea and her husband have for Ash and Elm. 

•    How the Ash and Elm subscription service has helped put the company on the cider map.

 Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Andrea Homoya on LinkedIn

Ash and Elm Cider

Ash and Elm Cider on Facebook

Ash and Elm Cider on Twitter 

Ash and Elm Cider on Instagram

The Zen Mommy

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Liberating Your Life Force Energy through Orgasm with Kim Anami

Welcome back Moms to this thrilling episode with the Vaginal Kungfu Master, Kim Anami. Join us today to learn why Kim's mantra is, "If I can do it, you can do it", and how she is fighting the status quo about sexuality and motherhood in Western cultures. From her wealth of knowledge, Kim educates us about how sex can be used to rebirth and recharge us, and how when you feel you don’t have the time for it is when you need it most! She takes us through what we should expect from our partners and how we can teach them to respect female sexuality (and more!). From the traumatic birth process to how mainstream medicine doesn't address the underlying cause, this episode has it all. We learn about Kim's journey to realizing that sexuality and God are not mutually exclusive concepts, and how she has learned to liberate her life force through orgasm. She takes us through her teachings and the courses available to listeners and gives personal advice on when you should demand more from your partner. Tune in to find out how self-realization equates to the Well-fucked woman, and why it is your right as a mother to embrace your sexuality.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Welcome to holistic sex and relationship coach, writer, and vaginal Kungfu master, Kim Anami. 
• What “Anami” means in Sanskrit and how Kim identifies with it. 
• How women are impacted by God and sexuality not meeting in western cultures.
• Why you should see sex as rebirth and a chance to recharge. 
• How the current birth process takes the power away from women and is a traumatic situation.
• Defining the Well-fucked woman: what you don’t know you don’t know. 
• Hear some of the highlights of Kim’s sexual savant salons.
• Kim’s mantra: “If I can do it, you can do it”.
• How Kim created her life through her vagina.
• Why people latch onto the victim mentality and push back against the Anami Guarantee. 
• Find out about the four orgasms for women-centered around the vulva and vagina: clitoral, G-spot, cervical and ejaculatory.
• Liberating the life force energy through orgasm.
• How bad sex takes women’s power away and what you can do to educate your man.
• Resources to overcome the overarching narrative of women having sex to placate the man.
• Find out how you can use sex to feel uplifted. 
• The five courses Kim offers: Vaginal Kungfu; Coming Together for Couples; How to be a Well-fucked Woman; Sexual Mastery for Men; and Sexual Mama. 
• What Kim’s courses can teach you about yourself and your partner. 
• How Kim became the Vaginal Kungfu Master.
• One take-away Kim wants you to remember from this episode. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Kim Anami's Website

Kim Anami on YouTube

Kim Anami on Instagram

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The Zen ish Mommy Podcast
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