Healing Medicine: Mindfulness, Mindset & Physician Well-Being

Епизоде

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  331. High Maintenance: You Are Worth Maintaining Meticulously 13.09.2026 35мин

  What if being called "high maintenance" is not an insult, but a sign that you are paying attention to what it takes to live and work well? In this solo episode, Dr. Jessie Mahoney explores the hidden cost of being the easy one—the physician who asks for little, absorbs the inconvenience, takes the extra shift, and tries not to make waves. For many women in medicine, labels like selfish, difficult, demanding, and high maintenance can become a reason to stop asking for what we need. Physicians do unusually demanding work. We need sleep, rest, food, movement, connection, boundaries, support, time to recover, and a functioning nervous system.  None of this is indulgent. It is maintenance. "What is worth maintaining? This episode is an invitation to stop equating self-neglect with generosity, to distinguish an unreasonable request from an inconvenient one, and to remember: you are worth maintaining. Learn more about coaching and retreats at jessiemahoneymd.com. *Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.
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  330. Getting Your Head Above the Clouds: Creating Space to Savor What Comes Next 06.09.2026 44мин

  How can you create enough space to notice what you need and trust yourself? In this warm conversation, family physician and physician leader Dr. Kelly Derbin shares how coaching, mindfulness, yoga, and two Connect in Nature retreats helped her navigate clinical burnout, leadership, caring for her aging mother, and the decision to retire from clinical practice.  She shares how these tools have helped her savor a meaningful season rather than simply survive it. In this episode, Dr. Jessie Mahoney and Dr. Kelly Derbin talk about the pause that changes everything: the small gap, a coaching conversation, an immersive retreat, or an intentional choice that helps us get our heads above the clouds long enough to hear ourselves again. Might you also be "trying to make something work because of what the vision was in my head, as opposed to being open to what could be"? Listen to learn: Why getting above the clouds can change how we see work, life, and big decisions The difference between institutional leadership development and outside coaching Why physicians need both small pauses and more immersive resets How a retreat can help regulate a nervous system that has been carrying too much Creating a microculture of intention within a large healthcare organization Letting go of the imagined plan in order to make space for what is actually possible Caring for an aging parent while carrying a full professional life Retirement as a transition into a new season, not a falling-off-a-cliff decision Using mindfulness not only to survive difficult moments, but to savor tender ones How intention changes the "landing" of conversations with colleagues and family "If you're just using your mindfulness to navigate the hard moments, you might miss the beauty of those really special moments." If you are a physician who feels successful on the surface but knows something needs to shift underneath, this conversation is an invitation to pause.  You do not have to decide everything today.  You may simply need enough space to hear yourself. About Dr. Kelly Derbin Dr. Kelly Derbin is a family physician. After early academic and community-based family medicine roles in Alabama, she returned to California and spent 17 years with Palo Alto Medical Foundation. She served as the founding medical director of a leadership development office for nearly a decade and will continue to provide leadership coaching within her organization as she retires from clinical practice. Learn more about coaching, retreats, and mindfulness offerings on www.jessiemahoneymd.com Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga Jessie's Blog: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog *Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.
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  329. Hope Is Not a Plan: Finding Agency in Chaos, Caregiving, and Change 30.08.2026 47мин

  Hope is deeply human. It can keep us going when life feels uncertain, painful, or out of our control.  But hope is not a plan. In this solocast, Dr. Jessie Mahoney shares what she is learning while caring for her aging parents through a season of medical crises, changing needs, family decisions, and more chaos than she expected. Then she widens the conversation to the endurance races many of us are living: our own health, caregiving, medicine, work, relationships, and change we did not choose. This is an episode about accepting reality without giving up, finding agency when you cannot control the outcome, caring for your nervous system, and meeting hard moments with wisdom and grace. Jessie shares practical mindfulness tools for staying steady, including letting go, trust, presence, gratitude, generosity, helpful questions, and her guiding questions: What will I wish I had done? and What would love do? In this episode, you'll hear about: Why hope can be inspiring—and still not be an action plan Acceptance as radical honesty, not resignation How to find agency without taking over someone else's agency Why chaos can become a place to learn and grow Managing your mind, nervous system, and physiology in a long endurance season Risk mitigation instead of perfectionism Helpful questions that interrupt spiraling and return you to clarity The power of pauses, rest, nourishment, and self-compassion How sibling relationships can be both hard and unexpectedly healing "Health and wealth," "brave and bold," and "the exquisite" as practical ways to navigate change Resources and invitations: Learn about one-on-one coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/physician-coaching Learn about Advanced Coaching / Deeper Connections: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/deeper-connections-advanced-coaching Explore 2027 Nicasio Creek Farm retreat dates: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/nicasio-creek-farm-coaching-immersions Connect in Nature with Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang, December 2–4: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreat-connect-in-nature 2027 Transition Well Group Coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/transition-well Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.
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  328. The Gift of Listening: Mindful Communication Beyond Fixing 23.08.2026 42мин

  What if the conversation in front of you is not asking you to fix anything? As physicians, caregivers, parents, and partners, we are trained to notice suffering and move quickly toward a solution. But even when our intention is to help, fixing can sometimes land as judgment. It can leave the other person feeling unseen, rushed, or as though they need to change. In this episode, Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang and Dr. Jessie Mahoney explore mindful communication as a practice of presence, curiosity, and generosity. They share why listening without immediately advising, correcting, rescuing, or preparing your response can be deeply healing—for the person speaking and for you. Together, they discuss practical ways to arrive more fully before an important conversation: a breath, a hand to heart, a quiet walk, a moment of noticing, or simply an intention to connect. This is not about performing perfect communication. It is an invitation to pause, listen, and remember that sometimes the most healing thing we can offer is our willingness to stay. In This Episode, We Explore Why the instinct to fix can unintentionally communicate judgment The difference between "How can I help?" and deciding what someone needs Listening as a gift of presence, not a tool for solving Why presence and monotasking can conserve emotional energy The question beneath our urge to fix: whose discomfort are we trying to relieve? Simple ways to prepare your body and mind for a difficult conversation How to practice mindful communication with patients, colleagues, children, partners, and parents Reflection Questions When someone comes to you with a problem, is your first instinct to fix or to simply listen? Where might your desire to help sometimes carry an unintended judgment? What does it feel like in your body when you are truly listening? What helps you arrive with presence before an important conversation? Who in your life might benefit from being listened to rather than being fixed? Connect in Nature Retreat Drs. Liang and Mahoney will be offering another Connect in Nature retreat in December, with CME available. Learn more and join them here: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreat-connect-in-nature If this conversation resonates, Jessie's coaching offers a place to pause, hear yourself more clearly, and make changes with more presence, self-trust, and ease. 1:1 Coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.comCME Wellness Retreats: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga Jessie's Blog: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog Podcast Page: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  327. The Art of Pacing: Trusting Yourself Through Change with Dr. Jenny Kohr 16.08.2026 1ч 14мин

  What if you did not have to earn your rest, optimize your time off, or have the next chapter all figured out before it begins? In this episode of Healing Medicine, Dr. Jessie Mahoney talks with Dr. Jenny Kohr, a breast radiologist in the space between two jobs. After leaving a role she held for nearly 14 years, Jenny took nine weeks before starting the next one. She did not travel the world. She did not reorganize her whole life. She did not turn her time off into another ambitious project. Instead, she practiced pacing. Jenny shares what she learned from leaving space in her schedule, sitting outside with coffee in the morning, moving her body, taking a meditation class, writing, and learning to sing. Together, she and Jessie explore the old patterns that can make change so tiring for women in medicine: urgency, perfectionism, striving, and the belief that we need to prove we used our time well. This is a conversation about trusting yourself enough to let things take the time they take. About noticing when your strengths are serving you—and when they are asking too much of you. And about beginning again without abandoning yourself in the process. In this episode, we explore How to navigate a career transition without recreating the same pace Why "pacing" can be more helpful than simply telling yourself to slow down The urge to fill time off with travel, achievement, and productivity How urgency and perfectionism can masquerade as responsibility Why a reasonable pace can help you do better work, not less work What singing can teach us about strain, self-trust, and finding what fits How writing your story for yourself changes the way you see your life The difference between helpful strengths and patterns that have become draining How to ask better questions when you are new, uncertain, or in transition Pearls of wisdom Things take the time they take. What if the way you spent your time off was exactly what you needed? If you feel yourself straining, try something different. You do not need to explain every decision that is right for you. We do not have to get rid of our strengths. We can be discerning about when they are helpful. You do not have to have it all figured out right now. And if you did, how boring. Reflection questions Where am I cramming something in rather than letting it take the time it takes? What is my sense of urgency asking me to prove, finish, or figure out? Where do I feel strain—and what might it look like to try something different? What if this season is giving me exactly what I need? What would it look like to trust myself a little more in the change I am navigating? If this conversation resonates, Jessie's coaching offers a place to pause, hear yourself more clearly, and make changes with more presence, self-trust, and ease. 1:1 Coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.comCME Wellness Retreats: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga Jessie's Blog: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog Podcast Page: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  326. The Weight of Guilt: Toward Guilt-Free Decision-Making with Dr. Jennifer Reid 09.08.2026 44мин

  Guilt heavily influences women physicians' decision-making. I see it day in and day out as a physician coach. Dr. Jessie Mahoney talks with psychiatrist and author Dr. Jennifer Reid about her book Guilt Free and the guilt equation she uses with patients: guilt as our expectations minus our perceived reality. They walk through the four expectations Jennifer calls "the four furies"—constant caretaking, hyper-accountability, seeking perfection, and the myth of having it all—and why these are especially expensive for women physicians. Jessie and Jennifer talk through the difference between adaptive guilt, which prompts real repair, and maladaptive guilt, which keeps us doing more. They cover disappointment as one of the most stressful things for physicians to navigate, why boundaries and delegating feel unsafe, and Jennifer's SPEAK framework for moving toward guilt-free decisions: showing up, paying attention, examining the evidence, taking action, and "keeping going," which = continuing the practice. Guilt also functions as a form of social control in medicine—training that keeps physicians giving more instead of questioning the system asking it of them. Awareness is the most important shift. In this episode:  The guilt equation: expectations minus perceived reality The four expectations that keep women physicians trapped in guilt Adaptive guilt versus maladaptive guilt Why disappointment feels so dangerous in medicine The SPEAK framework for moving toward guilt-free decisions How guilt functions as social control in medical training Pearls of Wisdom: Guilt equals our expectations minus our perceived reality—and perceived reality is rarely accurate. Guilt motivates the way junk food does: briefly, at a high cost. Adaptive guilt prompts repair; maladaptive guilt just prompts more and more. Disappointing others is often unavoidable—the litmus test that matters more is not disappointing yourself. Guilt functions as social control in medicine, keeping physicians giving more instead of questioning the system. Awareness is most of the shift. Reflection Questions Where do you notice yourself making decisions from guilt rather than desire or alignment? Which of the four expectations—caretaking, hyper-accountability, perfection, or having it all—shows up most for you? Where does disappointing someone else actually mean not disappointing yourself? What would it look like to delegate, set a boundary, or let someone be disappointed this week? More about Dr. Jennifer Reid: her book Guilt Free is available here, and she writes at her Substack, A Mind of Her Own, and at jenniferreidmd.com. Ways to Work with Jessie 1:1 Coaching: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/ CME Wellness Retreats: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga Jessie's Blog: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog Podcast Page: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  325. What Would Be Kind to Yourself This Year? Birthday Reflections with Dr. Jessie Mahoney & Dr. Erica Bove 02.08.2026 59мин

  Dr. Jessie Mahoney and Dr. Erica Bove are birthday twins. Once a year, they sit down to reflect on what they are proud of, what they have learned, and what they want for the year ahead. This year, the conversation moves through self-kindness and what it actually looks like. They also talk about surrender as a lived experience rather than a concept, the courage it takes to rest inside a life built for productivity, and what it means to choose fun and alignment over achievement and obligation.  Jessie walks through her TED talk, becoming a grandmother of twins, creative grandparenting, finishing certifications on her own timeline, and the story that changed how she thinks about legacy.  Erica shares how self-kindness led to a resignation, opened space for her mother's illness, made room for a new relationship, and reshaped her approach to rest and female friendship. Listen to Explore What it looks like when self-kindness moves from a mantra into an actual decision How surrender shows up differently in career, family, health, and relationships Why rest and non-productivity are essential to a physician's whole health, not extras Creative grandparenting and the courage to do things your own way Female friendship as a vital, non-optional part of a well-lived life The story that reframed legacy around fun, not achievement Pearls of Wisdom Coaching, career pivots, fertility, parenting, relationships: the access point differs, but the deeper work overlaps. Sometimes speaking up means standing tall, and sometimes it means letting other people be them. Patience and trust often deliver what pushing and forcing cannot. Rest is not a reward for finishing. It is what makes the next season possible. Female friendship is not optional. It is part of your whole health system. Reflection Questions What would be kind to yourself this year? Where are you pushing through something that patience or rest might serve better? What would your children or the people closest to you say about whether you are having fun? Which friendships are you letting drift that deserve an intentional reach? About Dr. Erica Bove: Dr. Erica Bove is a double board-certified OBGYN and reproductive endocrinologist who practices at the University of Vermont and runs a fertility coaching practice for female physicians.  www.loveandsciencefertility.com www.loveandsciencefertility.com/thepodcast   Ways to work with Jessie 1:1 Coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.com CME Wellness Retreats: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga Jessie's Blog: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog Podcast Page: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  324. Physicians Caring for Aging Parents: Boundaries and Buoyancy 26.07.2026 46мин

  There is a moment many of us know is coming: a parent's health changes, and our role changes with it. For physicians, caregiving can be especially complicated — our medical knowledge comes with responsibility, worry, and a powerful instinct to fix. We can know what might be medically best and still not be the person who gets to decide. Jessie and Ni-Cheng explore how mindfulness and coaching don't remove the difficulty of caregiving, but can change how we carry it and help us remain present, connected, and buoyant along the way. In This Episode: Why being "the doctor in the family" can complicate caregiving instead of easing it The difference between resilience and buoyancy Walking alongside aging parents versus managing them Letting go of overfunctioning and over-optimizing in caregiving What overwhelm, frustration, and resentment are actually telling us Pearls of Wisdom: Being "the doctor in the family" can make caregiving harder rather than easier. We may recognize every red flag and feel responsible even when the decisions are not ours to make. Buoyancy is different from resilience. Most physicians already know how to endure; buoyancy is about capacity, nervous system steadiness, repletion, and rising again when life pulls us under. Walking alongside our aging parents is different from managing them. We can offer knowledge and be helpful while still respecting their autonomy. Sustainable caregiving requires letting go of overfunctioning and over-optimizing. Doing something most efficiently doesn't automatically mean it's ours to do. Overwhelm, anger, frustration, and resentment aren't evidence that we're failing. They're information that may be asking us to rest, ask for help, regulate, or set a boundary. Reflection Questions: Where has caregiving opened us to a conversation or relationship we didn't expect? Where is caregiving difficult right now in a way that doesn't need to become a lesson? Where might our medical training be making caregiving harder rather than easier? What might change if we used mindfulness or coaching instead of our instinct to fix? Ways to work with Jessie 1:1 Coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.com CME Wellness Retreats: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga Jessie's Blog: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog Podcast Page: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  323. Why Shame Keeps Good Doctors Silent with Dr. René Roberts 19.07.2026 58мин

  Shame around failure and rejection isolates physicians and fuels burnout. Dr. Jessie Mahoney and Dr. René Roberts explore why, and what failure actually teaches us instead. Dr. René Roberts is a board-certified family medicine physician, a three-time Castle Connolly Top Doctor, and a TEDx speaker who got into medicine the hard way — rejected by every school she applied to for three years and failing her boards not once but twice. For years, she hid her story from almost everyone in her life. In this conversation, she and Jessie unpack the real cost of that hiding, why vulnerability is a skill worth practicing, and why how we receive someone else's vulnerability matters just as much as the courage it takes to share it. What We Explore Why failure and rejection are data, not evidence of inadequacy How shame fuels isolation and physician burnout Why the physicians who've struggled the most often become the most connected ones The overlooked role of the receiver — why not trying to fix someone's story is its own skill, and one that's rarely talked about Why elegant vulnerability changes culture faster than perfection does What it means to model wellness and vulnerability for the next generation of physicians Pearls of Wisdom Failure is data. It is not a personality trait or a scarlet letter to wear. The struggles that feel most disqualifying often become the equipment that makes you a better doctor. Hiding shame has a cost. It isolates us from our colleagues and from ourselves, and that isolation is part of what burns us out. Patients don't want a perfect doctor. They want a human doctor who understands what it's like to be given bad news. Sometimes the most healing thing you can do is just receive someone's story without trying to fix it. It's not what stops you. It's what you choose to do next. Reflection Questions Is there a failure or rejection you've never told anyone about? Where have you mistaken inadequacy for evidence, instead of equipment? What might shift for you and your colleagues if you were willing to show up with a bit more vulnerability? Are you someone people feel safe being vulnerable with — do you listen, or do you try to fix? What would change if leaders in your workplace modeled vulnerability instead of self-sacrifice? Ways to Work With Jessie 1:1 Coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.com CME Wellness Retreats: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Jessie's Blog: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog  Podcast Page: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  322. Is It Too Late to Change Careers as a Doctor? How Retreats and Coaching Helped Dr. Karen Fromhold Start a Fellowship at 58 12.07.2026 47мин

  Dr. Jessie Mahoney talks with family medicine physician Dr. Karen Fromhold, ten days into her hospice and palliative medicine fellowship. Karen had a good enough job. One she had loved and was a great fit for a while. She wasn't burned out. She simply had a dream she'd carried for over 20 years.  Our conversation explores what it took to voice her dream, trust it, and finally move toward it and the role retreats and coaching played at each step along the way. In This Episode: Why leaving a job you love can be harder than leaving one you don't How retreat spaces create room for clarity to surface The difference between moving away from something and moving toward something Why Karen waited for the right opportunity instead of rushing What it means to give yourself grace as a beginner again How the Retreat Space Made Room for This Decision Karen attended four retreats over four years, each one meeting her at a different point in the decision. At her first retreat, the dream was voiced out loud for the first time — in what Karen calls a "fragile, baby idea" state. Coaching conversations that followed helped the idea take shape. By her second retreat, she'd begun pursuing an alternate mid-career fellowship path. Jessie offers a framework for why this kept happening in the retreat space specifically: stepping out of daily environment and into relaxation activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is often why clarity that's been hidden or hard to access at home surfaces in that container of safety. Karen also describes going back through her retreat journals before quitting her job and noticing the same themes recur and deepen each time she returned — what Jessie calls "peeling a different layer of the same onion." Pearls of Wisdom Once you make the decision, you make it the right decision. We don't want to run away from something — we want to move towards something. A busy life makes it easy to leave a dream on the shelf. If not now, when? Reflection Questions Where have you made do with "good" instead of pursuing "great"? What dream have you left on the shelf, telling yourself it's too late? What would it look like to move toward something instead of just away from what isn't working? Ways to work with Jessie: 1:1 Coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.com CME Wellness Retreats: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga Jessie's Blog: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog Podcast Page: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  321. Feeling Restless in Medicine? One Pediatrician's Story of Leaving, Returning, and Finally Feeling Found 05.07.2026 43мин

  Many physicians reach a point where they are functioning well on the outside — delivering good care, staying credentialed, showing up — and yet something beneath the surface feels flat, restless, or not quite right. Not burned out exactly. Not unhappy exactly.  Just not fully found. Dr. Abhay Dandekar, a pediatrician who was a resident with Jessie, shares his journey of not feeling lost but also never feeling found either.  In this conversation, Abhay shares the arc of a career that has moved through clinical hospital medicine, residency program director, leaving for full-time administrative leadership in another institution, and then his journey back – to the exact clinical home he left. What changed when he returned was not the place. It was him. This is a generous conversation about navigating the pulls of medicine, the stories physicians tell themselves about staying and going, the difference between mentors and sponsors, and what it actually means to find yourself –  from the inside out.     What We Explore The specific feeling of "not yet being found" — distinct from being lost or burned out Why binary thinking narrows physician careers  What it means to return to a familiar place as a genuinely different person How to build what keeps you stable without stopping what keeps you moving The inner work of agency — and why waiting to be seen keeps you stuck How thought partners and daily reflection sustain longevity in medicine     Pearls of Wisdom The roses and the trash smell the same no matter where you are. What changes is how you show up. You can be functioning well on the outside and paying a real cost underneath. Agency does not come from the institution. It has to start from within. You can take a step without calling it a misstep. Sometimes it is a sidestep — or a diagonal forward step that puts you somewhere truer. Find thought partners, not echo chambers. The people around you carry wisdom you have not seen yet. Appreciating diastole — pausing and reflecting — is not recovery. It is practice.     Reflection Questions Where do you feel the gap between how you appear on the outside and what you are carrying underneath? Are you waiting for your institution to solve something that might need to start with you? Where is binary thinking shaping the choices in front of you right now? Who are your thought partners — and where are you in an echo chamber when you need honest conversation? What would it mean to appreciate diastole in your own career this week?     Ways to Work With Jessie 1:1 Coaching: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/ CME Wellness Retreats: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga Jessie's Blog: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog Podcast Page: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  320. When Life Blindsides You: Mindful Lessons from a Hit-and-Run 28.06.2026 52мин

  After being rear-ended at highway speed by a driver who fled the scene, I found myself navigating physical pain, emotional shock, unanswered questions, and a choice I didn't expect to face: pursue justice or let go.  This solo episode is Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang's account of what happened, what I learned, and the mindfulness lessons that emerged.  If you've ever been blindsided by something you didn't choose, this one is for you. What We Explore What happens when your sense of safety changes in an instant Why acceptance is not the same as approval How people around us can restore our faith when one person breaks it The difference between being afraid and being incapable Transmuting pain into intentional good  Pearls of Wisdom Mindfulness is not about controlling outcomes. It is about how we meet what is already here. Getting help helps. Giving yourself permission to receive support is a strength, not a weakness. We can handle hard things even when we do not want them. Our choice lies in how we handle them. Even when the person responsible leaves, others show up. And we can show up for ourselves. There are inherent inner resources we do not give ourselves enough credit for. Reflection Questions When was the last time something unexpected revealed both your vulnerabilities and your strengths? Where are you resisting asking for help because you believe you should be able to handle it on your own? What would it look like to accept something difficult without approving of it? Where might you transmute a painful experience into something intentionally good? If this episode resonated with you, here are ways to go deeper: 1:1 Coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/  CME Wellness Retreats: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats  Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga  Jessie's Blog: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog  Podcast Page: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast #PhysicianWellness #Mindfulness #Resilience Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  319. The Science-Informed Method Behind Lasting Transformation 21.06.2026 34мин

  In medicine, we are trained to trust what is hard, measurable, familiar, and structured. We question whether something spacious, nourishing, or beautiful can be meaningful, impactful, and lead to real growth and learning. Many physicians are skeptical of coaching, mindfulness, breathwork, retreats, and yoga as relevant and meaningful learning because they do not resemble traditional medical education. This episode encourages you to reconsider what medicine may have taught you to dismiss. PEARLS OF WISDOM • What medicine sometimes labels as "woo" may simply be unfamiliar, hard to measure, or outside the traditional medical framework. Mindfulness, coaching, yoga, breathwork, retreats, and nervous system regulation can still be rigorous, evidence-informed, and deeply impactful. • Suffering is not required for growth. We often equate exhaustion, discomfort, and over-effort with value, yet real learning is often more accessible when we are rested, regulated, and receptive. • Transformation is not the same as information. Physicians are excellent at consuming information, but lasting change comes from integration, practice, embodiment, and living differently in real time. • Simple practices are not shallow. A breath, a pause, a hand on the heart, a walk, a reflective question, or a meaningful conversation can interrupt old patterns and open space for a different response. • Conditions matter. Safety, spaciousness, beauty, community, nature, reflection, and skilled facilitation can make rigorous inner work more possible, not less credible. Real transformation happens when learning becomes embodied, integrated, relational, and safe.   Reflection Questions Where are we still equating suffering with value, rigor, or meaning? What kinds of learning have given us information without creating the change we were hoping for? Where are we treating something unfamiliar as not credible? What might become possible if comfort, beauty, rest, and spaciousness became part of healing and growth? Stay curious about the places where medicine has taught you to dismiss what you have not yet experienced.  Coaching, retreats, mindfulness, breathwork, yoga, reflection, and community are invitations to relate to ourselves, our work, our patients, and our lives with more presence and sustainability. www.jessiemahoneymd.com www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.  
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  318. Intentional Communication Is Energy Conservation: Mindful Communication in Medicine 14.06.2026 37мин

  Communication can energize us, deplete us, or leave us energetically neutral.  When you are tired, unclear communication is even more costly. We can learn from both communication that flows and communication that feels clogged. With mindfulness, clarity, and honest reflection, communication can become a practice of energy stewardship. PEARLS OF WISDOM With mindfulness, clarity, and honest reflection, communication can become a practice of energy stewardship. Effective communication is not about everything happening quickly or smoothly. It is about clarity, transparency, and shared understanding of what is happening next. Response time matters less when expectations are clear. Knowing what we are waiting for can reduce frustration and conserve emotional energy. Communication preferences become clearer when we notice what works. We can learn from easeful interactions and use those lessons to guide future conversations. Communication clogs are part of life and medicine. We can pause, feel what is present, get curious, and choose the next healthiest and wisest response. Staying in our own energy is a mindful communication skill. We do not have to absorb confusion, urgency, or inefficiency in order to participate with care. Reflection Questions Where are you noticing communication flow right now? Where are you noticing communication clogs, delays, or unclear expectations? What helps you conserve energy when communication feels inefficient? We hope this conversation helps you notice how much energy communication requires, especially in medicine and leadership. Clear communication is not just efficient. It is compassionate. When communication feels clogged, pause, breathe, and ask what is actually yours to do. You can also notice when communication feels easeful, transparent, and energizing, and let that teach you something. This is a great topic for a workshop or keynote talk. Reach out to either of us to discuss further. www.jessiemahoneymd.com/ www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  317. Why Almost Every Woman in Medicine Feels She Doesn't Belong 07.06.2026 41мин

  Almost every woman in medicine has, at some point, decided she doesn't belong. We were trained to do it — to scan for what's abnormal, what's different, what doesn't fit — and then we turn that same lens on ourselves. In this episode, we share our own stories of feeling alone, and the reframe that changed it for both of us: belonging is a decision, not a feeling. It's something you get to choose and practice, not something you wait to arrive — and there are simple, doable ways to start. What We Explore Why belonging is something you decide and practice, not something you wait to feel. How discomfort and unfamiliarity get mistaken for "I don't belong." The difference between deciding to belong and practicing it Why you don't have to belong everywhere — and how choosing where you don't is its own kind of freedom How vulnerability and connection become the antidote to loneliness Pearls of Wisdom We were trained to notice what doesn't belong, and we turn that same lens on ourselves. What you practice grows, and what you don't practice recedes. You don't have to belong everywhere; choosing where you don't belong is also a way of belonging to yourself. Vulnerability is valuable — it connects you, and it gives others permission. Reflection Questions Where do you keep waiting to belong, and where could you decide you already belong? Where are you spending your time, energy, and emotional currency — and are those spaces ones you've intentionally chosen? When you walk into a room where you feel different, what might happen if you started to notice what's actually the same about you? Ways to Work With Jessie 1:1 Coaching CME Wellness Retreats Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga Blog Podcast Page If this episode resonates, the most powerful next step is to practice belonging. That's exactly what 1:1 coaching, small group coaching, and the Connect in Nature and Nicasio Creek Farm Women Physicians retreats are built for — authentic, aligned spaces where you actually want to belong. Come decide you belong, and see what shifts. Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  316. How to Follow Your Inner Knowing When Logic Says Otherwise 31.05.2026 1ч 13мин

  What does following your inner knowing actually look like — not in theory, but in real life, with a mortgage, three kids, and twenty years practicing medicine inside an institution? In this solo episode, Jessie shares the long-form version of her story: how she went from Kaiser pediatrician of 20 years to leading 38 retreats, coaching hundreds of physicians, building Pause & Presence with her husband Mark, moving to Nicasio Creek Farm, and stepping onto the TEDx stage.  Every turn was an act of trust. None of it was a plan. This is not a story about leaving medicine.  It is a story about what becomes possible when you stop overriding your inner knowing — and what changes for the people around you when you do. Listen to hear: Why every turning point was an act of trust, not a plan Where the name Pause & Presence actually came from Working backward from how you want to feel The catalyst that actually moves physicians to change Why making decisions from depletion keeps you stuck What intentional healing spaces make possible The unexpected ripple effect on family, marriage, and kids Pearls of Wisdom Every turn we take toward our inner knowing is an act of trust — and trust grows by following it. What we model is far more powerful than what we say. The biggest gift of change is often the ripple effect on the people we love most. You cannot know the how until you get there — you can only set yourself up well for the process. Your best ideas come in a parasympathetic state, not when you are pushing. Without the pause, we react. Without the presence, we miss our own life. Working backward from how we want to feel is one of the most underused tools in medicine. Suffering is not required to make meaningful change. Reflection Questions Where in your life are you choosing fine over alive? How do you want to feel most days — and how do you feel now? What is one small act of trust you could make this week? What are you modeling for the people we love, whether you mean to or not? Where might support help you trust your own inner knowing more? Ways to work with Jessie Mahoney MD 1:1 Coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.com CME Wellness Retreats: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  315. Mindful Eating in Midlife and Menopause: Nourishment Not Rules with Dr. Heather Awad 24.05.2026 45мин

  Food can become one more place where we try to get it right, especially in midlife. Perimenopause and menopause add more noise, rules, and self-judgment around food.  In this conversation, Dr. Heather Awad and Dr. Jessie Mahoney explore a kinder, simpler approach to mindful eating in midlife and menopause. We talk about nourishment rather than perfection, eating real meals instead of grazing, and using protein and vegetables as a gentle anchor rather than as another rigid rule.  We reflect on emotional eating, sugar, self-compassion, and how to make supportive choices on the busiest days.  This is not about doing food perfectly. It is about building more trust, steadiness, and ease in our relationship with food and with ourselves. Jessie reflects on the approach to nourishment she and her husband, Mark, share at retreats: food as medicine, culinary medicine, family-style, farm-to-table meals, and a return to the basics. The invitation is to be thoughtful, kind, and intentional about how we nourish ourselves. What emerges instead is a return to the basics: eating like your grandma, choosing real food, and being thoughtful, kind, and caring toward our bodies. It is a mindful and intentional approach to nourishment rather than another performance project. At retreats, nourishment is not only about what is on the plate. It is also about beauty, delight, creativity, and presence. Jessie reflects on tasting with your eyes, on how beautiful food can feel nourishing before we even take a bite, and on desserts that feel special, intentional, and thoughtfully made.  In that spirit, food becomes something to savor and enjoy with attention, rather than another place to strive or follow rules. In this episode, we discuss: How food can become another arena for striving and performance The value of simple meals over grazing all day Emotional eating and the importance of pausing with awareness Protein and vegetables as a helpful foundation in midlife Backup meals and flexibility for busy real lives Why shame and self-criticism do not create lasting change How to be more intentional about sugar and dessert What nourishment can look like in retreat spaces and everyday life Pearls of Wisdom Midlife eating does not have to be a part-time job. A simpler meal structure can support awareness and steadiness. Self-compassion creates more sustainable change than striving. Food can be beautiful, creative, and deeply nourishing when approached with intention. Reflection Questions Where has food become one more place where you try to perform or get it right? What might change if you approached midlife eating with more kindness and less striving? What stories are you telling yourself about your body, and how are those stories affecting you? How might beauty, creativity, and delight become part of nourishment? Dr. Heather Awad's Links: Free Resource: vibrant-md.com/breakfast LinkedIn: /www.linkedin.com/in/heatherawadmd/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/heatherawadmd/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/heathervibrantmd YouTube:www.youtube.com/channel/UC8ksjIG1j7eIRttczBE1o2Q Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  314. There Is No One Right Way: Mindfulness, Over-Accommodation, and the Tension Between Their Way and Yours 17.05.2026 25мин

  Have you ever been asked to do something in a way that just didn't sit right with you? If you are a physician, the answer is almost certainly yes — and probably this week. We get trained to defer, to accommodate, to keep the peace, to make it work. And somewhere along the way, accommodation stops being a skill and starts being a default. A reflex. A cost. There is a quiet teaching most physicians absorb without realizing it: that there is one right way to do things, and our job is to find it, follow it, and not step out of line. The tension between that conditioning and our own inner knowing is the territory of this episode. There is no one right way. There are many. In this episode, Jessie and Ni-Cheng sit with the exact moment that conditioning gets tested — the bristle, the chest tightness, the split-second pull between complying, refusing, or saying nothing at all. Jessie shares a current dilemma where her expertise and what is being asked of her are not quite aligned. Ni-Cheng offers examples from her own practice, including the automatic bristle that comes when a patient hands her a pre-written letter to sign. Together they explore why over-accommodation is so common in medicine, what it actually costs us, and how mindfulness opens up something better than compliance or conflict. In this episode Jessie walks through the layers underneath that moment of tension — why it is rarely just about the task, and why physicians in particular are so prone to over-accommodation. The episode explores the hidden cost of defaulting to easy, good, and agreeable; the difference between an automatic reaction and a true inner knowing; the third option that becomes possible when we pause; and the four C's that change everything — curiosity, creativity, connection, and co-creation. Above all, this episode is a reminder that there is no one right way to practice medicine, lead, parent, or live. There are many. What we explore Why over-accommodation is so common — and so costly — for physicians What the moment of tension is really about: identity, safety, boundaries, belonging, self-trust How conditioning, hierarchy, and perfectionism shape our reactivity The difference between automatic reaction and true inner knowing The pause, the third option, and the four C's Why there is no one right way — there are many Pearls of Wisdom There is no one right way. There are many. Over-accommodation is a trained response, not a personality trait. It can be unlearned. The moment of tension is not just about the ask. It is about identity, safety, boundaries, belonging, and self-trust. Their urgency is not your urgency. You can choose alignment over someone else's approval — without abandoning the relationship. Not every disagreement means your inner knowing is one hundred percent right. Mindfulness helps us tell the difference. Reflection Questions When was the last time something didn't feel right, but we went along with it anyway? What did that cost us emotionally, energetically, or relationally? Where in our work or life have we confused accommodation with care? How do we recognize our inner yes versus our inner no? Where might we experiment with pausing before automatically agreeing or automatically refusing? What would it look like to trust ourselves a bit more — and stay curious about their perspective at the same time? Ways to work with Jessie 1:1 Coaching: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/ CME Wellness Retreats — Connect in Nature & Nicasio Creek Farm Women Physicians Retreat: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga Jessie's Blog: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog Podcast Page: https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.  
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  313. Charting With Ease - A Mindful Approach to Documentation - Rerelease of #49 14.05.2026 28мин

  Most charting advice for doctors focuses on efficiency tools, templates, dot phrases, AI scribes, and time-blocking. Those things help. But they don't address the real reason so many physicians chart late into the night: the nervous system state we are in when we sit down to chart. If charting is taking over your evenings, weekends, and mental space, this episode is for you. Dr. Jessie Mahoney, a board-certified pediatrician, physician coach, and former physician wellness leader at Kaiser Permanente, shares a mindful, sustainable approach to clinical documentation that doesn't require working faster, working later, or any other productivity hack. In this episode, you'll learn: Why charting feels harder than it should — even when you know what to write The mindset shift that makes notes flow instead of stalling How perfectionism, people-pleasing, and over-explaining quietly inflate every chart A presence-based practice you can use between patients to reset Why "charting with ease" is possible without sacrificing clinical quality This conversation is for physicians who are tired of pajama-time charting and want a sustainable, human approach to EHR documentation. Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast. If this resonates, go deeper with 1:1 Coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/ Connect in Nature & CME Wellness Retreats: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga Blog: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog
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  312. Mothering on Purpose: Mindful Mothering Across Every Stage 10.05.2026 50мин

  Are you tired of mothering on autopilot or reactively? Of loving your kids deeply and sometimes losing yourself in the loving?  Of the constant " Am I doing this right?" In our annual Mother's Day episode, we explore "mothering on purpose."  Between us, we have an 8-year-old, a 16-year-old, a 21-year-old, a 26-year-old, and an almost 30-year-old. Each one needs something different.  What is similar is the approach.  "Your approach determines the landing." We get into not fixing, not swooping, holding your tongue, and recognizing that your urgency is not their urgency.  We talk about reparenting yourself in real time and becoming the mother you wish you'd had.  About mothering all the way out into adult children, in-laws, and grandchildren, and Jessie walks through mindfulness tenets as a framework for intentional mothering: patience, non-judgment, trust, letting go, acceptance, curiosity, generosity, gratitude, and paying attention on purpose. Pearls of Wisdom "Your approach determines the landing." Their struggle isn't yours to absorb. Hold it, look at it, put it down. "We are raising children to become adults, not raising children to stay kids." Your urgency is not their urgency. Sometimes love is sitting in silence. You can be the mother you wish you'd had.  Mothering is a long game.  Reflection Questions What tone and energy are you mothering from? Are you absorbing things that aren't yours? Solving problems that aren't yours to solve? What energy or intention do you want to bring to your mothering? Mindful coaching is one of the most powerful ways we know to parent with presence and intention.  Whether you're navigating a teenager, an adult child, or grandchildren, or simply your own urge to fix and swoop — coaching helps you build the skills to mother on purpose. A special invitation: join us at Connect in Nature at Nicasio Creek Farm. Mindfulness and yoga in the redwoods, the yurt, and the gardens. A few spaces are left this summer. Partners welcome. 1:1 Coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/ Connect in Nature & CME Wellness Retreats: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Free Live-Stream Mindful Yoga: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/yoga Blog: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice. The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.