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Healing Medicine: Mindfulness, Mindset & Physician Well-Being

Healing Medicine: Mindfulness, Mindset & Physician Well-Being

By: Dr. Jessie Mahoney and Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang
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 Mindfulness, mindset, and sustainable well-being—not as another task to add to your plate, but as a way to experience life, love, medicine, and leadership differently. Each episode offers practical strategies, coaching tools, and real conversations to help you feel more present, fulfilled, and in control. When physicians are healthy and well, we become powerful agents of change. Healing medicine starts with healing ourselves. Hosted by Dr. Jessie Mahoney and Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang two physicians who bring decades of experience in physician wellness and leadership development to the health and wellness conversation. Healing medicine is here to help physicians reclaim balance, leadership, and a love for medicine—one mindful step at a time. When we heal ourselves, we become part of the solution to shaping a healthier, more sustainable culture of medicine for our patients and ourselves.©2020 The Mindful Healers Podcast Hygiene & Healthy Living Personal Development Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health
Episodes
  • 289. How to Take Intentional Action Without Burning Out

    289. How to Take Intentional Action Without Burning Out
    Dec 21 2025
    As we celebrate five years of the Healing Medicine podcast, this episode is a reflection on what has truly sustained us—intention, alignment, and choosing with awareness. Together, we explore how consistency rooted in love, not obligation, leads to energy, creativity, and sustainability. We share personal stories about letting go, taking pauses, and returning to what feels alive. This conversation is also a joyful announcement: our Connect in Nature Retreat is returning July 30–August 2, 2026. It's a decision made not out of expectation, but because we missed it, and because we chose it again. Whether you're feeling weary from "pushing through" or simply curious about a gentler way to stay committed, this episode offers a new lens and a powerful invitation to rechoose, realign, and return to yourself. Pearls of Wisdom: Sustainability isn't about willpower, it's about choosing with presence and letting alignment lead. Feelings of resistance or resentment are gentle cues to pause, reevaluate, and possibly release. Healing happens when we release the pressure to perform and give ourselves permission to rest and evolve. Fun, ease, and joy aren't frivolous, they are wise signals of what's truly aligned. Spaciousness, non-judgment, and collaboration support the longevity of meaningful work. Reflection Questions: Where in your life are you being consistent by force, rather than by choice? What would it feel like to choose instead of push? Which commitments feel alive and which might be asking for a pause, a shift, or a graduation? Where could more lightness or joy gently be welcomed in? Why Connect in Nature is a Different Kind of Retreat Connect in Nature is unlike any other retreat I offer. It is the only opportunity to work in person with both Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang and Dr. Jessie Mahoney. It's intentionally designed for healers, physicians, and wellness professionals who crave a reset rooted in nature, mindfulness, and joy. Held at the Green Gulch Zen Center just north of San Francisco, you'll be surrounded by eucalyptus groves, redwoods, gardens, and the quiet beauty of the California coast. Here's what makes it special: Nature as co-teacher: Forest bathing, beach meditation, and fog hikes support nervous system healing. Freedom to choose: All practices are optional and guided with non-judgment—you participate in what serves you. Spaciousness: Core retreat hours are 10:30–3:30, with optional morning offerings and space for rest, reflection, or local exploration. Inclusive and welcoming: Open to all genders and professions—bring a partner, a colleague, a friend, or come solo. Choose your own lodging at local inns, allowing for private rest and personal integration. This retreat isn't about pushing yourself. It's about letting nature and mindfulness gently bring you home. Join us July 30–August 2, 2026 at Green Gulch Zen Center. And yes—it's over my birthday weekend, and there's no better way to celebrate than in community, in nature, and in joy. Retreat details + registration: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats Our Birthday Wish is to Help More Healers Find This Work As part of celebrating five years of the Healing Medicine podcast, we'd love to ask for your help in spreading this healing ripple even further: If this podcast has supported you... Please leave us a written review and a 5-star rating on your favorite listening platform. It helps others find the show and tells the algorithms to share this with more people who need it. Recommend it to a friend or colleague. Send them your favorite episode. Share it in your Facebook group, department, or residency class. Let someone know how it's helped you—that personal sharing is how this work continues to grow. This podcast was born out of love, and continues because of you. We are so grateful you are here. If you're longing for more intention and joy in your life and career, I invite you to explore mindful coaching with me: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching To bring this kind of healing to your institution, department, or medical team, learn more about my speaking offerings: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang also offers powerful keynotes, workshops, and wellness sessions through www.awakenbreath.org We would love to meet you this summer in the redwoods, and help you reconnect to what's truly meaningful. Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine podcast is medical advice.
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    47 mins
  • 288. Inhale, Exhale, Shoot - Teaching Kids to Breathe Through Big Feelings

    288. Inhale, Exhale, Shoot - Teaching Kids to Breathe Through Big Feelings
    Dec 16 2025

    How a Teen and Her Mom Turned Breathwork Into a Book for Kids.

    This episode shares the story of how a teen and her mom turned breathwork into a book for kids.

    Inhale, Exhale, Shoot is a beautifully illustrated children's book born from a mindful mother-daughter collaboration. Co-written by integrative psychiatrist Dr. Holly MacKenna and her 13-year-old daughter, Maeve Graffanini, the book is a gentle guide to teaching kids mindfulness through the language of basketball, breath, and big emotions.

    Whether you're a parent, teacher, or someone passionate about helping children regulate emotions, this conversation offers a fresh, creative way to connect. It's a powerful reminder that when we pause to breathe, we open the door to presence, empathy, and resilience for children and ourselves.

    We also explore how creative projects, especially ones shared across generations, can become meaningful tools for healing, growth, and impact.

    Pearls of Wisdom:

    • Teaching kids to breathe through big feelings is one of the most powerful lifelong gifts we can offer.

    • What looks like anger in children is often something deeper like fear, anxiety, or overwhelm. Mindfulness helps us meet the root emotion.

    • Creative metaphors, like basketball, can make mindfulness more accessible, relatable, and fun for kids.

    • Co-creating a book strengthened Holly and Maeve's relationship and helped them navigate life's significant transitions together.

    • Mindfulness isn't just a solo practice but something we can model, share, and co-create with those we love.

    Reflection Questions:

    • When a child in your life has a big emotion, how do you usually respond? Could a breath shift the interaction?

    • What projects or practices bring you closer to your children or your inner child?

    • How might you integrate creative mindfulness practices into your family or classroom?

    Stay for the mindful moment at the end, where you'll be invited to enjoy a few breaths with us.

    If you would like to donate a copy of Inhale, Exhale, Shoot to a child who needs it, you can do so this month for just $15 at susanschadtpress.com. Maeve and her school's service club are hand-delivering these books to shelters in New Orleans—mindfulness in action.

    If you would like to order a copy as a holiday gift, the book is available on Amazon or at susanschadtpress.com.

    For those craving a reset and deeper embodiment of these practices, join me for a retreat where mindfulness, rest, and healing come alive in community. Upcoming dates are at www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats.

    To bring these kinds of mindful, compassionate conversation to your organization, team, or conference, Dr. Mahoney offers keynote talks and workshops on emotional awareness, leadership, and well-being. Visit www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking.

    Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang also offers breath-centered workshops and speaks on mindfulness and medicine. Learn more about her work at www.awakenbreath.org.

    Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.
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    44 mins
  • 287. When Your Medical Expertise Meets Family Choice: Holding Space with Love

    287. When Your Medical Expertise Meets Family Choice: Holding Space with Love
    Dec 14 2025

    It's complicated when love and medical expertise collide.

    In this deeply personal and heartfelt episode, I share the story of becoming a grandmother—twice over—to beautiful twin girls born at home. As a pediatrician, this choice was outside the guidance I was trained to give. Yet, it was fully aligned with my son and daughter-in-law's values. This experience, and others like it, have invited me into profound reflection on what it means to love fully while letting go of control.

    We explore how to navigate the emotional terrain of being a doctor when family members, adult children, aging parents, and siblings make health decisions that differ from our training or advice.

    This episode is a powerful guide for healthcare professionals who find themselves caught between the desire to protect and the practice of presence.

    Whether your expertise is welcomed or dismissed, this conversation is about staying connected, grounded, and compassionate, even when it's complicated.

    Pearls of Wisdom:

    • Medical advice and love are not the same and withholding advice can sometimes be the most loving choice.

    • Connection is medicine. Staying in a relationship often matters more than being "right."

    • Your role in your family isn't to be "the doctor," AND it's hard for our minds to step out of being "a doctor."

    • When your medical expertise isn't invited or followed, your role is to love, connect, and stay present simply.

    • Offering guidance is not always loving and sometimes withholding advice is the greater gift of compassion and trust.

    • Mindfulness allows us to notice our urges to control, advise, or correct and choose connection instead.

    • Letting go of being "right" opens space for peace, gratitude, and trust in both the medical process and our loved ones' autonomy.

    • Cultural, generational, and spiritual influences often shape health decisions and awareness of these differences can invite compassion and curiosity.
      Practicing mindful boundaries in families allows for more ease, trust, and authenticity.

    Reflection Questions:

    • Where do you feel the urge to protect, control, or advise and what is that urge trying to offer you?

    • What might shift when you ask yourself: What would love do?

    • What would trusting your loved one, or yourself, look like in this moment?

    If this episode speaks to you, and/or you find yourself exhausted from being the expert in your family or navigating strained medical dynamics with those you love, I invite you to explore coaching or join me on retreat. Together, we can untangle the emotional weight of "doctoring" your loved ones and find a more easeful way forward:


    www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching
    www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats

    If you'd like to bring this conversation to your institution, team, or medical conference, I offer speaking and workshop opportunities that bring the themes of this episode—mindful connection, autonomy, and healing—into the workplace:
    www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking


    To invite Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang to speak or lead mindfulness offerings, visit:
    www.awakenbreath.org

    Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.
    Show More Show Less
    42 mins
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