I’m excited to share with you this special episode featuring bite-sized messages from past podcast guests with practices to help us stay grounded, find calm, and regulate our nervous systems in these final days leading up to the 2024 U.S. election! The inspiration for it… A few weeks ago, amid some election anxiety and inspired by my friend Katie Hanus, I committed to just 10 minutes of meditation. Lying on my back, I looked up at the wind moving through a beautiful redwood tree in my backyard. As I watched, I listened to the sound of a nearby wind chime. My breath began to slow, my racing thoughts calmed, and I could think and feel more clearly again. If you want a little taste of this moment, you can watch the video I shared on Instagram @mothersquestpod

These are wild, heartbreaking, hopeful, and scary times, and the stakes are high. There is tragedy abroad and in our own communities, and it often feels like democracy itself is on the line. Mothers in my circle, especially, are trying to figure out how to show up for our children, contribute to this election, care for ourselves, and weave together a stronger community.

That moment under the redwood tree reminded me of the importance of finding calm and clarity within the storm. So, I reached out to a few of my amazing podcast guests for some perspectives and practices we can use during this time. I invite you to listen, try some of the practices in real-time as you do, and consider adding one or more of these to your daily routine. I’m grateful to Valarie Kaur, Dr. Elisa Song, Jamie Greenwood, Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh and Jenjii Hysten for saying “yes ” to my invitation when I reached out in need and sharing these thoughtful contributions with us. I encourage you to follow them and tune into my past podcast episodes with them for more wisdom. After listening, I felt more calm, clear and ready to contribute. If you listened to this episode and try any of the practices they recommend, I’d love to know how they are supporting you. Share in the Mother’s Quest Facebook Group or on instagram and tag me @mothersquestpod. I’d also love to hear any of your own practices or those you’ve learned from others that are helping you. Ending with a reminder that we do not have to do this alone and some words I wrote in a Medium post I referenced from 2016. After getting support then, much like I just did now, I shared… “I feel like I am breathing now for the first time in over a week, and though moments of fear, sadness and outrage still come, instead of pushing them down, I am breathing them in, mixing them with equal parts hopefulness and love, and a commitment to do my part to take action.” Topics Discussed:

Valerie Kaur guides us through a powerful meditation to connect with our full range of emotions, including grief and anger
Dr Elisa Song shares a simple yet effective mindfulness practice called "Stop, Look, and Listen" that both kids and adults can use
Jamie Greenwood offers invitations for self-compassion, finding joy during chaotic times and catching our breath
Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh teaches us how to use breathwork to gain clarity when focusing on the inhale and calm by focusing on the exhale
Jenjii Hysten shares three profound life lessons birthed from grief and challenge

About Valarie Kaur:

VALARIE KAUR is a renowned civil rights leader, lawyer, award-winning filmmaker, educator, innovator, author of the #1 LA Times Bestseller SEE NO STRANGER, and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project. Valarie burst into global consciousness when her 2016 Watch Night Service address went viral with 40 million views worldwide. Her question “Is this the darkness of the tomb – or the darkness of the womb?” reframes the historical moment and is now a mantra for people fighting for change.

Valarie became an activist when a Sikh father and family friend Balbir Singh Sodhi was the first person murdered in hate violence in the aftermath of 9/11. For two decades, in his memory, Valarie led visionary campaigns to tell untold stories and change policy on issues ranging from hate crimes to digital freedom. Her work ignited a national movement to reclaim love as a force for justice. In 2021, she led the People’s Inauguration, inspiring millions of Americans to renew their role in building a healthy, multiracial democracy.

Today, the Revolutionary Love Project is seeding networked communities of practice across the country, equipping people with the practical tools to build beloved community and transform the nation from inside out. In the last two decades, Valarie has won policy change on multiple fronts – hate crimes, racial profiling, immigration detention, solitary confinement, Internet freedom, and more. She founded Groundswell Movement, Faithful Internet, and the Yale Visual Law Project to equip advocates at the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and justice.

Valarie has been a regular TV commentator on MSNBC and contributor to CNN, NPR, PBS, the Hill, Huffington Post, and the Washington Post. She is a celebrated prophetic voice and has spoken widely, including at President Biden’s Inaugural Prayer Service. Valarie earned degrees at Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School, and Yale Law School, and holds several honorary doctorates. In Fall 2022, President Biden honored Valarie at the White House in the first-ever Uniters Ceremony, naming her as one of 16 leaders whose work is healing America.

A daughter of Punjabi farmers, Valarie grew up on the farmlands of California, where her family has lived for more than a century. Her grandfather gave her Sikh wisdom through stories and songs that showed the way of the sant-sipahi, sage-warrior. The sage loves; the warrior fights — it is a path of revolutionary love.

Connect with Valarie:

Website | valariekaur.com
Facebook | www.facebook.com/valarie.kaur.page
Instagram | @valariekaur
World of Wonder by Valerie Kaur

About Dr. Elisa Song, MD

Dr. Elisa Song, MD is an integrative pediatrician, pediatric functional medicine expert, and mom to 2 thriving children. In her integrative pediatric practice, Whole Family Wellness, she’s helped 1000s of kids get to the root causes of their health concerns and helped their parents understand how to help their children thrive – body, mind, and spirit – by integrating conventional pediatrics with functional medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and essential oils. Dr. Song created Healthy Kids Happy Kids as an online holistic pediatric resource to help practitioners and parents bridge the gap between conventional and integrative pediatrics with an evidence-based, pediatrician-backed approach.

Her new book, Healthy Kids, Happy Kids released on May 14, 2024 teaches parents and children how to create Microbiome Magic for a lifetime of resilient bodies, brains, and immune systems.

Connect with Dr. Elisa

X (Twitter) @ElisaSongMD
Facebook | Healthy Kids Happy Kids
Instagram | @healthykids_happykids
Website | healthykidshappykids.com
Healthy Kids, Happy Kids: An Integrative Pediatrician's Guide to Whole Child Resilience by Dr. Elisa Song

About Jamie Greenwood:

Jamie Greenwood is a self care and leadership coach and the founder of Homecoming, a 6 month group coaching program that teaches big-dreaming, high-achieving women how to set boundaries and find home in themselves, without an ounce of guilt. With over 15 years experience, Jamie specializes in helping women get really clear on who they are, how they want to live and then actually doing it on their own terms.

Jamie is also the host of The Path Home, a podcast that explores the many facets of home, how we find home in ourselves and how we create a sense of home in our work, our relationships, our communities and in the future we want to see.

When Jamie’s not coaching, speaking, or podcasting, you can find her running after her 14 year old, 6 year old and 4 year old daughters and wondering what’s for dinner.

Connect with Jamie:

Website | https://jamiegreenwood.co/
Podcast | https://jamiegreenwood.co/the-path-home-podcast
Facebook | www.facebook.com/jamie.m.greenwood
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jamiegreenwoodcoaching/
The Path Home Podcast | Jamie Greenwood

About Avanti Kumar-Singh

Avanti Kumar-Singh is a physician who, after medical training in emergency medicine, began a journey to find her joy again- and to help people truly heal. Realizing that you can “quit your job but you can’t quit your calling”, Avanti set out to discover what really makes people healthy and what predisposes them to illness.She is now on a mission to evolve the conversation and to create a movement in which medical professionals reclaim the “art” of medicine and become heart-centered, healing catalysts that practice true medicine and support self-healing in their patients.

Over the 20 years of her training, study and research, Avanti has shared her expertise with Fortune 500 companies, elite undergraduate and graduate institutions and at prestigious industry and medical conferences. She has also been featured in the Huffington Post and was a member of upwave.com’s review board—Turner media’s former health and wellness entertainment brand. Avanti is currently the co-lead facilitator of the Faculty Scholars Program in Integrative Healthcare at the OSHER Center for Integrative Medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago.

Avanti holds a BA in Art History from the University of Chicago and an MD from Rush University College of Medicine. She is also a certified plant-based professional and a certified yoga therapist (C-IAYT). Avanti lives in Chicago with her husband and two children. Her first book, Ayurveda for Everyone, will be published in late 2019.

Connect with Avanti

About Jenjii Hysten

Jenjii Hysten is an advocate, teacher, lifelong learner, facilitator, author, and a visionary with over 20 years of experience in the education and human services arenas. She is devoted to creating dynamic and engaging learning opportunities through coaching and technical assistance to build the capacity of educational and youth development organizations throughout the Bay Area. In addition to leading Blaze Consulting Group, she provides intensive training and facilitation to support resident service divisions of major public housing developers throughout the state of California. Utilizing her Bachelor of Art, Interdisciplinary Studies degree from UC Berkeley with a focus on Urban Economic Development, Jenjii quickly assesses complex organizational issues and needs to develop creative solutions to help solve problems.

Jenjii is a poignant speaker and storyteller with a gift for making people feel loved right where they are. Beloved for her ability to bring diverse groups of people together, Jenjii inspires leaders to have honest, heart opening conversations that lead to action. She shows audiences how to turn trauma into a catalyst for transformation for one’s self and the larger world.

Jenjii’s background at the intersections of: executive coaching, anti-racist training, innovative design, curriculum development, women entrepreneurship, education & youth development, make her a go-to keynote speaker, coach and consultant for organizations, associations, and conferences across industries and sectors. Prior to launching Blaze Consulting Group, Jenjii was the founding Executive Director of Saving Our Sisters, Saving Our Selves, a charter school Dean of Students. Jenjii is also the author of Beyond the Hashtag: The Spirit, Heart and Love of Black Men.

Connect with Jenjii

Website | blazeconsulting.group
Instagram | @jenjiifaith
LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/jenjii-hysten-407aa045

Listen to These Full Episodes:

For More Election Wisdom:

MOM THE VOTE: Election Impact Advice To Light Your Way

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