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What if healing isn't just about treating our symptoms, but about changing the way we relate to our bodies, our pain, and ourselves?

In this episode of Delightfully Dharmic, Keilani sits down with her dear friend Dr. Erin Kelly, PhD, a clinical psychologist, pain psychology specialist, and researcher at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, for a heartfelt and illuminating conversation about the intricate relationship between our minds, bodies, and emotional well-being.

Together, they explore why chronic pain is so often misunderstood, how trauma and emotional experiences shape our physical realities, and why being truly seen, heard, and believed can be an essential part of healing.

Drawing from her clinical experience and research, Dr. Kelly shares insights into integrative approaches to pain management, including ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, mindfulness, clinical hypnosis, and Internal Family Systems (IFS). She also opens up about her own journey as a therapist, the challenges of balancing compassion with boundaries, and the importance of remembering that healing isn't always about fixing something that's broken.

In this conversation, we explore:

• 🧠 The mind-body connection: Why physical pain and emotional experiences are inseparable.
• 💔 Medical gaslighting and invisible illness: The profound impact of having your pain dismissed or misunderstood.
• 🌿 Beyond conventional treatment: How mindfulness, hypnosis, IFS, and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy can support healing.
• ✨ Trauma, shame, and self-compassion: Understanding the emotional layers that often accompany chronic illness.
• 💛 The wounded healer: Why therapists need their own healing practices, too.
• 🌸 Everyday mindfulness: Simple ways to reconnect with ourselves through gratitude, journaling, and intentional awareness.

At its heart, this conversation is a reminder that our bodies aren't problems to be solved, and our worth isn't determined by how well we function.

Whether you're navigating chronic pain, supporting someone who is, working in the healing professions, or simply curious about the relationship between psychology and the human experience, this episode offers a compassionate invitation to rethink what healing can look like.

Because sometimes, the most powerful thing we can offer ourselves or someone else isn't another solution. It's the willingness to listen, to believe, and to simply be present.

Connect with us:

🌙 Explore the Delightfully Dharmic community: https://delightfullydharmic.com

💛 Connect with Keilani: https://keilanimason.com

✨ Learn more about Dr. Erin Kelly: https://www.erinkellyphd.com

If this conversation resonates with you, we'd love for you to follow the podcast, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who might need to hear it.

Stay curious. Stay connected. Stay delightfully dharmic. ✨

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Why are so many of us lonely, even when we're surrounded by people? Therapist Lara Maurino Donahue MSW, LCSW , joins me to talk about the medicine of community, living in alignment, and slowing down in a world that never stops.

Lara shares how becoming a mom of three during lockdown left her drowning, and how finding a circle of women changed everything. We talk about why family and friends alone often aren't enough, why rest is a form of resistance, what it was like growing up with two therapist parents, and why you shouldn't keep your love hidden.

In this episode:

• How to tell when you're out of alignment, and how to find your way back
• What a community gives you that individual relationships can't (plus the carrot-in-the-soup analogy you won't forget)
• Making space for rest and a weekly Sabbath as a busy, working parent
• Meditation for beginners: what to do when sitting still feels hard
• Radical acceptance when you know something needs to change but you're not ready yet
• Holding both grief and joy, and why you can't have one without the other

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
• Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
• A Course in Miracles
• Thich Nhat Hanh: "The next Buddha may very well be a community" (paraphrased)
• Blaise Pascal: "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone"

Connect with Lara: https://laradonahue.com

If this conversation filled your cup, please follow Delightfully Dysfunctional, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone you love.

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Welcome to a new chapter of Delightfully Dharmic! Keilani Mason welcomes her dear friend, fellow therapist, and new co-host, Tania Beaudoin, for a conversation about belonging, starting fresh, and finding people who make you feel more alive.

From navigating marriage after military retirement to making friends as an adult, Keilani and Tania explore the courage it takes to reach for connection. They share how small rituals can anchor us through change, why play deserves a place in everyday life, and what they love about watching their clients grow.

Along the way: enthusiastic sports-mom confessions, a little Bob’s Burgers energy, and a preview of their upcoming MDMA-assisted therapy training in an Italian castle—plus early hints at future men’s and couples retreats.

Two therapists, two messy humans, and a friendship at the heart of it all. Come laugh, reflect, and get to know your new co-host.

Stay kind. Stay curious.