Bowing To Elephants Podcast: 030 - The Writer and Her Hammock

030 - The Writer and Her Hammock

Dec 28, 2021

An author, a poet, and phenomenal woman, Bella Mahaya Carter is a writing teacher and coach who promotes self-awareness and mindfulness. Bella believes in the power of writing to heal and transform lives. She sees publishing one’s work as an opportunity to deepen self-awareness, nourish meaningful connections, and delight in peak experiences while being of service.

Her latest book, Where Do You Hang Your Hammock? is a delightful, funny, and deadly serious book that reminds the reader over and over how far self-awareness can take you. She’s also the author of her memoir, Raw: My Journey From Anxiety to Joy, and a book of poetry, Secrets of My Sex.

What You Hear/Learn/Discover

[2:47] Bella explains how her blog inspired her latest book.

[05:13] Bella answers the question, “What’s the key takeaway you want readers to get from your book?”

[9:33] Bella talks about her memoir.

[12:07] Bella shares how she didn’t even realize she struggled with anxiety, not until it was a full-blown problem.

[15:02] Discover why Bella sees a snow globe as a metaphor for anxiety and disordered thinking.

[18:06] Mag and Bella discuss their childhoods.

[22:48] Bella talks about how Pablo Neruda and Jon Kabat-Zinn have influenced her.

[27:08] Bella explains how a back injury ended her professional dancing career, but she still loves dancing and moving her body.

[29:24] Mag and Bella discuss the difference between “knowing in the mind and knowing in the body.”

Quotes

“Of course, the only reason to read a memoir…is that we're looking for our own experience, right? We're looking to see our own lives reflected so that we get a sense of how to navigate our own lives.”

“I started creating choreography. I loved that because I was interested in telling stories, and it didn't really matter the form that my storytelling took. I was telling stories through dance.”