Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD, is a Harvard trained and published neuroanatomist. In 1996, she suffered a stroke and as a result, she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. It took eight years for her to completely recover all function. In 2008, Dr. Taylor gave the first TED talk that ever went viral. Her memoir My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey spent 63 weeks on the NY Times bestseller list and is translated in over 30 languages. Dr. Taylor has written a new book that is coming out on May 11, 2021.

In this episode, Anat Baniel and Jill Bolte Taylor discuss:

• Jill’s new book Whole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life; 
•  why Jill wrote this book, which she calls her “gift to the world”;
• if you want to improve your vitality, well-being, and freedom, it is ALL about differentiation;  
• the four characters of the brain, their purpose, and how to access them to make better choices in your life; 
• the importance of sleep for a healthy brain;  
• related questions from the audience.

A Conversation with Special Guest Donna Jackson Nakazawa
Donna Jackson Nakazawa is an award-winning science journalist, an author of six books, and an internationally recognized speaker. Her work explores the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, human emotion, and new opportunities and ways for healing. She is the bestselling author of The Angel and the Assassin: The Tiny Brain Cell That Changed the Course of Medicine.

In this episode, Anat Baniel and Donna Jackson Nakazawa discuss:

• the smallest cell in the brain—microglia—how it works and its function as an immune system; 
• groundbreaking discoveries about the brain and how microglia link mental and physical health;
• how chronic stressors and trauma affect the brain and this microglia cell;  
• why safety is the number one factor for health and learning; 
• well-regulated adults can have an enormous positive impact on children with special needs;
• how writing can be used as a tool to reset the nervous system (“neural re-narrating”).

A Conversation with Special Guest Linda Graham
Linda Graham, MFT, is an experienced psychotherapist and Mindful Self-Compassion teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. Linda integrates modern neuroscience, mindfulness, and relational psychology in her international trainings. She is the author of Resilience: Powerful Practices for Bouncing Back from Disappointment, Difficulty, and Even Disaster and the award-winning Bouncing Back: Rewiring Your Brain for Maximum Resilience and Well-Being.

In this episode, Anat Baniel and Linda Graham discuss:

• resilience and how it can be used to deal with trauma and stress;
• five factors in using trauma as an opportunity for growth (post-traumatic growth);  
• mindfulness and compassion are the foundation for resilience;
• possibilities open up when upgrading the quality of the functioning of the brain;
• how Linda’s tools and NeuroMovement® can be used to develop resilience and create new possibilities.