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Zen Psychiatry

By Elana Miller, MD

My Favorite Things

The stuff I’m digging right now

Books

Here are some of my favorite books that have taught and influenced me the most over my life:

Non-Fiction:

Fiction:

Meditation & Mindfulness

Here are some of my favorite meditation and mindfulness resources:

Health & Wellness

Here are some my favorite things that I use to stay healthy & feeling good:

  • Pure Encapsulations CurcumaSorb (absorbable curcumin) — Helps with inflammation and body pain since my stem cell transplant.
  • Carlson’s Fish Oil — Helps me with neuropathy and pain caused by chemotherapy
  • D-Ribose (energy supplement) — Seriously the most important thing I’ve taken since dealing with chronic fatigue after my first bout with cancer.
  • My Spin Bike — A much cheaper version of the Pelaton (this link is the exact bike I bought on Amazon) that helps me get little spurts of exercise in when I have the energy.

Learning & Online Courses

I love being in a constant process of learning and growth. Here are a few of my favorite sources for learning online:

  • UCLA Extension Writing Program — Because of COVID-19 UCLA is now offering all of their extension school writing courses online. I’m currently pursuing the Certificate in Creative Writing.
  • Typing Club (free online touch typing program) — This sounds silly, but I never learned how to touch type in school, and when I finally learned in my adult life it brought my writing to a whole other level because my fingers weren’t getting in the way of my brain.
  • Masterclass — I have taken several of their writing classes before (including by Aaron Sorkin and James Patterson) and now have an annual subscription.

Food, Tea & Coffee

My favorite things to eat and drink:

  • Genmaicha Green Tea (Davidson’s Bulk Teas) — My favorite type of green tea that has the tasty burnt rice in it.
  • Freshly Meal Subscription — Getting enough to eat has been a big problem for both times I had cancer, because I just didn’t have enough energy to shop or prepare food. I’ve used Freshly on and off for years, and it’s kept me well-fed during cancer treatments, and also was very helpful when my husband broke both of his wrists at a CrossFit workout gone awry (don’t ask) and I was too preoccupied taking care of him to do the cooking.
  • Huel — A healthy meal-replacement shake/powder that’s been my main source of nutrition post-transplant, (I’m more of an “eat to live” kind of person, so a meal-replacement shake that’s healthy and doesn’t require cooking or food prep is hugely appealing to me). My typical food intake these days is 1) fruit/veggie smoothie for breakfast, 2) Huel for lunch, and 3) Freshly for dinner, with some oyster crackers and chocolate thrown in between 🙂
  • MUD / WTR — A lower-caffeine coffee alternative (with curcumin, black tea, cinnamon, and health-benefiting mushrooms) that I go to when I feel too spazzed out from coffee.

Possessions

Life isn’t about amassing possessions, but here are a few of the things I own that make me happy :-):

  • My BioMat Mini — A heating pad using far infrared rays that helps relieve pain and improve circulation. At most times of the day (including right now, as I type this) I’m sitting on this thing.
  • My Yamaha Digital Piano — I have the P115, which I don’t think is made anymore, and the version that I link to (P125) is even better than mine. There’s also a cheaper one called the P71 that’s available only on Amazon.
  • My Vitamix Blender — I use this to make my morning smoothies. My go-to smoothie: frozen mixed berries, frozen pineapple, kale, agave or honey, and a scoop of Green Vibrance powder.
  • My Macbook Pro — I know it’s cliche to say you love your Apple products, but I really love this computer, and having a computer I love makes it so much easier for me to sit down and work at it.

Websites, Blogs & Podcasts

Here’s where I go when I want to be entertained and informed: