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Learn what I’m about in 5 minutes or less
Hi, I’m Elana Miller, MD.
I’m a psychiatrist passionate about integrating Western medicine, Eastern wisdom, and holistic approaches to help people live fuller and happier lives.
I’m also a 2x cancer survivor who teaches the resilience of the human spirit and the power of love.
What is Zen Psychiatry?
Zen Psychiatry is the practice of integrating the best that Western medicine has to offer with whole-body alternative and complementary interventions.
I believe in combining the judicious use of prescription medications with holistic approaches like nutritional supplementation, herbal and plant-based medicine, meditation and mindfulness practices, and optimizing health habits like sleep, diet, and exercise.
Zen Psychiatry is about honoring the relationship between doctor and patient as healing in and of itself. I believe that prescribing the right treatment plan is only 20% of what a good physician does—the remaining 80% is treating patients with care, compassion, and genuine respect.
What I Believe
I believe that love is a healing force. Love alone won’t save us—but science alone won’t save us, either. Medicine = Science + Heart.
I believe our most difficult struggles are our greatest opportunities for wisdom and growth. I don’t believe everything happens for a reason—but I believe we can find meaning in the things that happen.
I believe in not taking life too seriously. Reading about me so far might have given you the mistaken impression otherwise. I’m only serious 95% of the time. The rest of the time I’m throwing shade at medical school via ukulele songs, or canceling cancer with my mad rapping skills, or directing kitten battle videos to post on YouTube.
← Elana Miller, serious since age 3 (95% of the time, at least).
My Practice Philosophy in 3 1/2 Minutes
How I Can Help You
When it comes to the stress and complexity of our lives, we may forget our deepest intentions. But when people come to the end of their lives and look back, the questions that they most often ask are not usually, “How much is in my bank account?” or “How many books did I write?” or “What did I build? or the like.
If you have the privilege of being with a person who is aware at the time of his or her death, you find the questions such a person asks are very simple: “Did I love well?” “Did I live fully?” “Did I learn to let go?”
— Jack Kornfield in A Path With Heart
I believe in following a path with heart. The central question I explore through my work is, “How can we stay present through all life experiences—the beautiful and the painful—with an equally open heart?”
I am here to teach and inspire you as I try to live in a way consistent with this value, and I will share with you my raw and honest process along the way.
My writing focuses on topics like:
- Anxiety & Depression
- Trauma & PTSD
- Surviving Cancer
- Eastern Wisdom
- My Personal Cancer Journey
- Psychiatry as a Career
- Random & Fun Stuff (for that 5% of the time that I’m not serious :-))
Where to Find My Best Content
Head over to my blog, where I’ll take you through a guided journey of my cancer survivorship story and the most significant essays I’ve written and shared, along with some other stuff thrown in just for fun.
Your Next Steps
1. Sign up for my newsletter
If you like what you see so far, the first thing you’ll want to do is sign up for my free email newsletter. You’ll get immediate access to my toolkit of free resources, including:
- 2 Video Lessons on coping with anxiety & trauma
- My 10-minute guided meditation audio
- My 66-page Cancer Quick-Start Guide: Holy Shit, You Have Cancer (with over 50k downloads)
You’ll also get my bi-weekly newsletter sent out every other Friday, where I share my best wisdom, resources and advice to help you walk a path with heart.
2. Follow me on social media
Get inspirational messages, helpful videos, and the occasional cute kitty pic by following me on social media, where I share stuff I don’t put on my blog:
Subscribe to my channel on YouTube
Thank you for joining me here, and I look forward to helping (or at least entertaining) you along on your journey.
