Revisiting one of our most popular episodes from the early days of the podcast - an oldie but a goodie with Kunal Nayyar! Kunal and Mayim had a little Big Bang Theory reunion. Kunal shares the dangers of overidentifying with anxiety, including his own experiences with debilitating panic attacks while driving on the highway and eventually riding in elevators, and how that led him to therapy and a modern day path of self-discovery. He also explains the importance of spirituality as it ties to mindfulness, encourages us to rethink the power we give our minds, and gives us practical ways to turn inward and stay present. Enjoy the best moments of Kunal Nayyar, and tune in on Tuesday for a brand new full episode of MAYIM BIALIK’S BREAKDOWN.
https://youtu.be/BYBDuEof7Zc
Revisiting one of our most popular episodes from the early days of the podcast - an oldie but a goodie with Kunal Nayyar! Kunal and Mayim had a little Big Bang Theory reunion. Kunal shares the dangers of overidentifying with anxiety, including his own experiences with debilitating panic attacks while driving on the highway and eventually riding in elevators, and how that led him to therapy and a modern day path of self-discovery. He also explains the importance of spirituality as it ties to mindfulness, encourages us to rethink the power we give our minds, and gives us practical ways to turn inward and stay present. Enjoy the best moments of Kunal Nayyar, and tune in on Tuesday for a brand new full episode of MAYIM BIALIK’S BREAKDOWN.
Reduction and elimination of pain has been an enduring feature in the zeitgeist of neurological research. Our understanding of pain changed...
This decoding of pain signals is different for every individual. Since the conscious experience of pain requires both sensory and emotional...
The term “mindful” gets thrown around an awful lot, but what exactly does it mean? Well, mindfulness refers to the act of...
Today, we use the term hypnosis to refer to the process by which an individual is placed under a sleep-like trance, where they experience altered memory, perception, and voluntary control...
Ben Stiller joins us in the studio to discuss his parents’ influence, his mental health journey as a child, how the pandemic brought him and his wife Christine Taylor back together again, his workaholic tendencies, and what’s next for his career. He and Mayim share the nightmares they had the night prior, Ben shares his favorite Yiddish words and Mayim teaches him a new one during an impromptu Yiddish Word of the Day segment! Ben opens up about what it’s been like to make a documentary about his parents, how his marriage echoes his parents’ relationship, and his mother’s struggles with alcoholism. He recounts his feelings of separation anxiety as a child, the interesting forms of therapies his family tried, and his experience with transcendental meditation. Mayim details her digital detox and inspires Ben to consider giving it a try, and they discuss how creativity can add something incredible to or get in the way of a romantic relationship.
Vanessa Bayer (SNL, I Love That for You) joins us in the MBB studio to discuss using humor to cope with her cancer diagnosis as a teenager, her tenure as one of longest-running female cast members of Saturday Night Live, and her transcendental meditation practice. She opens up about her Make-A-Wish experience, landing SNL, and the resiliency working on the show entails. Vanessa’s brother Jonah Bayer (writer, podcaster, musician) joins in virtually to discuss his current studies in a Clinical Mental Health Counseling program, what inspired him to enter into the mental health field, and why he’s interested in the mental health of creatives in particular. He opens up about his experience navigating Vanessa’s illness, his own battle with leukemia, and how he uses yoga to maintain his mental wellness. Vanessa and Jonah profess their deep love of Blossom, explain their working relationship as siblings, and consider the difficulties around getting started with any mental health treatment.
Dr. Richard Davidson (Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Founder & Director of the Center for Healthy Minds) shows us what it truly means to be well in your emotional self by harnessing our trauma mechanisms into well-being! He breaks down the scientific data he’s gathered on long-term meditators (including monks!) to show the efficacy of meditation, the parts of the brain most affected by meditation, and what all of that means for how we self-regulate and cope with trauma. Dr. Davidson explains how meditation can help parenting, how our expectations and narratives influence our perception of the world, and what our "emotional fingerprints" are. He and Mayim discuss how his framework of awareness, connection, insight, and purpose lead us to understand the science of well-being, the notion that love and kindness are innate and hate is learned, and the importance of teaching forms of meditation to our kids.