At SXSW 2024, Mayim Bialik and Jonathan Cohen discuss how the metaphysical can impact the mind-body connection and emotional wellness. Credit: Allison Teegardin

By Allison Teegardin 

In 2020, Jewish actor, writer, producer, neuroscientist Mayim Bialik and Jonathan Cohen, co-founder of Lotic AI, launched a mental health and emotional well-being podcast titled, “Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown.” On Sunday, March 10, in front of a packed SXSW conference room, Bialik and Cohen brought their podcast to SXSW to discuss how the metaphysical can impact the mind-body connection and emotional wellness. By the end of the session, attendees left feeling a bit wiser and most certainly more curious than before they entered the room.  

The idea for the podcast started shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic brought life as many knew it to an abrupt disruption. “It felt like every day was an opportunity to have some sort of a break down,” Bialik said. “Three years ago, we were in a very different place than we are now about the conversation about mental health,” Cohen added. “There is a lot of misinformation and myths about mental health,” Bialik says in the recorded podcast introduction. “There’s a tremendous amount of stigma surrounding mental health and the point of joining me for my breakdown is to learn together how to heal and how to start understanding how all these things are our mind, our body and our mental health.” 

As the podcast progressed, Bialik and Cohen recognized a common theme with many guests in the early days of their podcast; no matter how successful, rich or famous each participant was, some part of them still clung to mistakes, misperceptions or hurts from their childhood proving no one can escape the human experience. No one escapes the human experience,” Cohen said. “Everyone, no matter who they are is going through something.” 

The live SXSW podcast session centered around the three components of human existence that Bialik and Cohen say come up in nearly every interview on the podcast– mind, body and spirit. For those who needed to see the data to believe, or as Bialik joked, “be shown a double-blind study,” there was no shortage of scientific facts woven into the discussion. 

Starting with the mind, Bialik and Cohen used scientific data to describe the functions of the human nervous system, its various components, and then discussed how it’s connected to the next component, the body. One example of the mind-body connection is breathwork. Evidence shows that breathwork can impact physiological processes of the autonomic nervous system by altering heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and even impact gut health; but there’s even more. 

“The intersection between science and spirituality is not about religion,” Bialik said. Spirituality can be described in many ways, one being belief that humans are all connected to something greater than themselves. Practices such as daily gratitude and meditation are examples of spiritual practices that also have an impact on the brain. The conversation continued with topics including near death experiences, fascia, meridians, and more, all illustrating how the mind, body and spirit are connected.  

As the session wrapped up, Bialik and Cohen began to scratch the surface of where this conversation could be headed next. From holotropic breathwork, to EMDR therapy, intergenerational trauma, electromagnetic fields and even the elusive akashic records, it’s clear there is still so much more to discuss and learn and ponder such as, “What does it mean to seek out a life of meaning and a sense of wonder and a connection to something greater than ourselves?”  

Signing off as they do on air, Bialik said, “From our breakdown to the one waiting to be pulled from the collective consciousness, we’ll see you next time.”