Heal Others With Your Story

Discover the power of your unique journey and inspire countless others towards healing.

With Dr. Lissa Rankin, MD

Live on Zoom. Saturday, December 9, 2023 
9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. PST
12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m EST
17:00 - 22:00 CET

“When you’ve been to hell and made it back, everything hard that’s ever happened to you is medicine for someone still in hell.”  - Dr. Lissa Rankin

A transformational online Saturday workshop with 
Mind Over Medicine New York Times bestselling author Dr. Lissa Rankin

Dear Friends,

Have you been working on telling your story or writing your memoir or  in some other way for self-healing purposes, and now you’re starting to feel ready to share it with others who might benefit from it?

Do you feel a strong sense of purpose arising, as if it’s bubbling to the surface and about to burst through like a beach ball held underwater, to tell your story so you can help others like you heal?

Are you ready to start feeling calm, clear, confident, creative, and connected from privately grappling with your story in your inner world, and instead of feeling terrified to take the risk of public disclosure?

Are you thinking of finally publishing your book, posting your story online, performing your play, or recording your album about your story

Have you put your story into writing or art or music, and now you need a jump start to help you facilitate your next steps?

...then you might be ready for this transformative live, one-day online Zoom workshop.

Special LIVE Guest Emma Jarrett

POET | WRITER | PERFORMER

Emma Jarrett was a mentoring client of Lissa’s when she stepped into the world with her vulnerable story of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. 

This took the form of a phenomenal one-woman play “Breastless”, which transformed her personal “hell and back” story into phoenix-process art.

Lissa invited Emma to join this class to share with us how writing and performing her story unearthed trauma but also unspoken talents, both necessary to her recovery from cancer and to her unfolding purpose as a voice for others. Emma is now serializing Breastless on her Substack, Scars of Gold.

WHY?

Imagine what the world would be like if we didn’t have Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Liz Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, Richard Wright’s Black Boy, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, Glennon Doyle’s Untamed, Tarana Burke’s Unbound, and every book Anne Lamott and Mary Carr have ever written? All of these books are stories of traumas turned into art that heals not only those who tell the stories but also those who read, listen, and feel.

Think of all the cult survivors comforted by the memoirs of other cult survivors, the refugees healed by other refugee memoirs, or the memoirs of those who have lost a loved one that provide refuge for those who are grieving. Think of the stories of marginalized people who help heal racism, homophobia, sexism, or xenophobia by telling their stories and enlightening us all. Think of sick people who help heal and offer hope to other sick people or survivors of narcissistic abuse who validate that others like them are not crazy or foolish. 

Even if a thousand people have told stories about something similar to what you went through, nobody has ever told your story your way. Plus, nobody else will ever be beautiful, wise, awakening YOU.

Creating art from your story in whatever form it flows out is the first step to letting your storytelling be medicine for your therapeutic process. When we exercise agency and take control of our story, transforming it into a work of beauty and grace, even if it’s also painful, we help solidify the neurological process of “memory reconsolidation,” not only rewriting our story into one of transformation but also rewiring our neural pathways to prepare for the neurophysiology of healing, rather than trauma.

It’s a brave moment when your story becomes your power and your power become your purpose- to help others heal the way you have at least started to heal, whether you’re preparing to tell your story via memoir writing, fiction writing, art-making, playwriting, songwriting, public speaking, blogging, social media, a podcast, a YouTube channel, or some other creative outlet,

  • You don’t have to be enlightened and zen to tell your story (in fact, it’s usually a better story if you’re not.),
  • You don’t have to be all the way healed to tell your story,
  • You don’t have to have a happy ending yet,
  • You don’t have to be good or perfect or done being a hot mess to help others who are still in hell when you’re further along on your “hell and back” journey,
  • You don’t have to be much further along in your healing journey than those a few steps behind you in order to be helpful. In fact, you might just be so close to those a few steps behind you that you know exactly what the “you” of a year ago needed but didn’t get.
  • Yes, it’s good to be “healed enough” so you don’t harm others with the way you put your story out there,
  • Yes, it’s good to contain yourself so you don’t take on responsibilities that are outside your scope of practice, overstepping with interventions you’re not qualified to handle such that you could harm those you intend to help heal,
  • Yes, it’s wise to have good boundaries so you can tell your story as a tool of justice but not a weapon of revenge.

But all things considered, sometimes you help others the most when you show them the grit, the spills, the moxie, and the mess all rolled into your story. That way, they can recognize their own grit, spills, moxie, and mess and feel less alone and more empowered, so they big up their BRAVE and rise like the phoenix from the ashes.

Telling Your Story The Right Way Can Help Your Parts Heal

Not all storytelling heals the one telling the story. Sometimes it can be retraumatizing if you’re not prepared for the aftermath of telling your story publicly.

But if your storytelling journey is nurtured and your story is received safely enough, it can be wildly liberating to get your story out of your body and out into the world where it can work its magic and impact others. It can also help you heal to see your story inspiring, validating, and guiding others, giving meaning to the suffering and creating community around shared wounds and collective recovery paths.

However, your story comes out, telling your story of trauma to transformation can be a potent medicine for the healing process. It gives your parts a chance to be witnessed, mirrored, and validated by others, something many trauma survivors fail to get from those who have hurt them and those who enable their abusers. You get to feel the love, care, compassion, and empathy of others who can cheer you on along your healing journey and feel inspired to take the next steps in their own recovery journeys.

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." 
-Maya Angelou

Working With Your “Parts” That Do & Don’t Want You To Tell Your Story

For ten years, Lissa has facilitated her Visionary Mentoring Program. Many of those clients were preparing to tell their stories publicly and wanted support for that vulnerable hero’s/ heroine’s journey. Some of the mentoring was logistical support, business planning, practical advice, or accountability partnering.

But much of the mentoring revolved around working with the parts of people who want to tell their story to those who might benefit from hearing it- and those other adorable parts that didn’t want to do so and tended to sabotage the great efforts other parts made towards achieving a goal.

In this workshop, we will do what other writing workshops and publishing program typically fail to do. We will do some Internal Family Systems (IFS) work with the parts that do and don’t want you to tell your story- to help you get to the 8 C’s of Self that make any storytelling adventure better: clarity, calmness, confidence, courage, connectedness, creativity, curiosity, and compassion.

"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect." - Anaïs Nin

Publish Your Story

This workshop will also offer practical support, advice from Lissa, Lissa’s literary agent Michele Martin, and former Sounds True editor and memoirist Jennifer Brown, and Q&A around the book publishing process. We’ll discuss traditional book publishing versus self-publishing, how to get the right literary agent, what acquisitions editors look for in a memoir, and some tips for structuring your memoir.

Pre-Recorded Video

The Literary Agent's Perspective

MICHELE MARTIN

Literary agent at MDM Management

Pre-Recorded Video

What Serves The Reader

JENNIFER YVETTE BROWN

Writer and former executive editor at Sounds True

"Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open." Natalie Goldberg

You’ll Benefit If You Are...

Feeling a strong sense of purpose, even a calling, to tell your story in order to help others like you heal;

Curious about the different ways you might tell your story;

Thinking about publishing your memoir or loosely fictionalized book;

Interested in exploring some light Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts work on the parts that can’t wait to tell your story and the ones who might feel scared, hesitant, or resistant to putting your story out there;

Considering telling your story and you’re wanting to get the lay of the land to gain clarity on where you might want to go with your storytelling journey;

Desiring connections with other like-minded, open-hearted souls who are preparing to tell their “hell and back” stories;

Wanting to meet a creative partner from the workshop community who might be willing to trade off receiving your story and giving feedback about however you’re telling your story (totally optional, of course).

    In this workshop, you will learn...

    Different ways you might tell your story- from very small to very big;

    The difference between telling your story for therapeutic purposes and a story you tell to help other learn, heal and grow;

    Some basic nuts and bolts about publishing a book, like how to find a literary agent, whether to publish traditionally, self-publish, or publish your story online, how to get an acquisition editor’s attention with your story, and what it takes to score a big book deal;

    Tips for getting a start towards becoming an inspirational speaker, giving a TED talk, or other verbal ways of telling your story;

    Simple Internal Family System tools to help you with parts are super excited to tell your story and parts that really don’t want you to tell it;

    Basic ethical boundaries about what is your story to tell and what isn’t.

      "If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." - Toni Morrison

      Bonus 1

      Join Dr. Frank Anderson, psychiatrist, author, and vice chair of the Foundation for Self Leadership and Dr. Lissa Rankin for this exclusive exploration. 

      In this 60-minute pre-recorded interview on using Internal Family Systems with our memoir writing experience, we’ll talk about how to write about our most vulnerable parts safely, making sure we get permission from the parts of us that are afraid to get in touch with our most wounded parts, even in our writing.

      Bonus 2

      Whole Health Meditation CD
      Use these recordings to tune into your self with eleven guided meditations, relaxing music and topics to take you deep into an inspirational space.

      "The container of this course, the class content, the break-outs and the written connection here in the group have been hugely helpful to me. It has definitely given me the confidence to move forward in my projects. — Emma Jarrett." Memoir as Medicine 2022

      Heal Others With Your Story
      Only $147
      USD
      Includes All Bonuses
      If the cost of this workshop presents a financial hardship, we hope you will contact us for a sliding scale option. Please write to support@lissarankin.com 

      All sessions will be recorded and made available to participants and can be downloaded to your computer or device.

      Unfortunately, we will not be able to offer CEUs for this course.

      Lissa Rankin, MD

      Dr. Lissa Rankin is a best-selling author, holistic physician, and sought-after speaker who has dedicated her life to helping individuals heal and thrive by connecting with their authentic selves and embracing spirituality without bypassing. As a pioneering thought leader, she has inspired countless people to cultivate a more mindful, compassionate, and balanced approach to life, rooted in self-awareness and emotional healing.

      With a unique blend of expertise in both conventional medicine and alternative healing modalities, Dr. Rankin brings a holistic perspective to personal growth and well-being. Her passion for empowering others to nurture their inner wisdom and innate healing capacities has led her to explore the transformative power of Internal Family Systems (IFS) as a spiritual path.
      Because her blog and Daily Flame emails quickly garnered a large readership, she was able to publish her first book in 2010 and has been blessed to have her last 7 books published. Her third book, the New York Times bestseller Mind Over Medicine, has sold over 300,000 copies in 28 languages. Her latest book Sacred Medicine was published in 2022.

      In addition to putting in her 100,000 hours and writing every day, in 2012, Lissa founded the Whole Health Medicine Institute, where she and a team of luminary faculty train physicians and other health care providers about “Whole Health” and the “6 Steps to Healing Yourself.” 

      Lissa has starred in two National Public Television specials, her TEDx talks have been viewed over 5 million times, and she leads workshops, both online and at retreat centers like Esalen, 1440, Omega, and Kripalu. 

      Her latest health equity project is non-profit work committed to democratizing trauma healing and spiritual healing while eliminating the public health epidemic of loneliness, bringing Sacred Medicine out of its current status as a luxury good to anyone who needs it and is open to it, regardless of socioeconomic status, race, or gender identity. 

      During the pandemic, Lissa played a public role in debunking “Conspirituality,” the Covid denialism, anti-vaccination propaganda, and conspiracy theories promoted by many wellness, yoga, mind-body medicine, alternative medicine, and spirituality influencers who got “red-pilled” during 2020. This shakeout anchored her platform as a physician influencer to trust who is grounded in science, open to the mystical, spiritually aware, and trauma-informed. 

      Lissa lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her daughter Mira, who is also a writer, and her puppy Gaia, who would tell great stories if only she knew how.

      EMMA JARRETT

      I believe in the power of story and story-telling.

      We live in accordance with the stories we tell ourselves and we surround ourselves with people who validate that story, telling themselves a similar one. We find meaning and comfort in that perspective. But then life happens in ways that conflict with our ideas of ‘how it should be’. We feel on shaky ground as our ideas and stories get challenged. We might get humbled that our stories are most certainly not the only one and might actually be mistaken. Here’s our opportunity to listen and learn: first and foremost to ourselves, then also to each other.

      This has happened to me on countless occasions, starting with a health crisis at age 22 which literally had me flat on my back for days, questioning what I was capable of. 
      A variety of iterations of that throughout my life have brought cause for self-reflection and consideration of the mind-body dynamic, how trauma affects us, how creativity can save us, but the biggest shake-up came as I crossed into my second half century, happily a mother of two and a life of plenty. I glibly imagined decades to come when I was hit with a breast cancer diagnosis. “This can’t be right, I live so healthily!”, I found myself saying: another story which was holding me falsely secure.

      After 2 years of external care and cure, I completed my own healing with writing. Poetry at first, some journaling as I emerged from the mind-numbing shock and treatments and then I wrote and performed on stage, Breastless, - “a poetic but unflinching account of one woman’s diagnosis and treatment for Breast Cancer”. Voicing this for myself, and discovering that I was giving voice to an all-too-common experience for many other women, brought purpose and meaning - a new story about my value emerged.

      My hope is that together here we can bring light to all of our stories. To our humanity — our similarities and our differences — and to the scars that inevitably come with life. Much can be mined from our losses, disappointments, plot-twists.

      Some of you are seasoned writers, some of you journal for your own consideration only, some I know are keen to share what is pouring out of you like heated gold into the salty ocean where it is cooling into shape as words. Gathered together in order, these words make new meaning for you - and potentially for those who read them.

      A story shared is a powerful force. Perhaps the ONLY force that can truly change our world; our inner and our outer experience. I am keen to find out whether we can heal our experience of community as we share our creative ideas, our experiences and our desires for our future. As we enter, via story, into an embrace larger than we think is humanly possible. 

      About Richard Schwartz

      Dick Schwartz, Ph.D., is a trailblazing psychologist, celebrated author, and compassionate visionary who has devoted his life to unraveling the mysteries of the human psyche. As the genius behind the game-changing Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy model, he has breathed new life into the world of psychotherapy, offering a loving, non-judgmental approach to personal growth and emotional healing.

      A true pioneer in his field, Dr. Schwartz fuses psychology with spirituality, creating a holistic approach to personal development that honors the wholeness of the human experience. His deep understanding of the intricate dance of our inner parts allows him to help people tap into the power of self-awareness, self-compassion, and inner harmony without bypassing the very emotions and experiences that make us human.

      With a rich background in family therapy, systems theory, and spiritual exploration, Dr. Schwartz has a unique ability to see the interconnectedness of our inner parts and the vital role they play in our overall well-being. His revolutionary IFS model is now embraced worldwide as a versatile and inclusive method for personal growth, offering invaluable tools for addressing unresolved emotional pain, inner conflicts, and relationship challenges.

      About Kelly Turner, Ph.D

      Kelly Turner, Ph.D. is the New York Times bestselling author of Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds, now in 22 languages, which summarizes her research into the radical remission of cancer – when someone heals from cancer in a statistically unlikely way without conventional medicine, or after conventional medicine has failed. Her highly anticipated follow-up book, Radical Hope: 10 Key Healing Factors from Exceptional Survivors of Cancer & Other Diseases, became an instant #1 Amazon bestseller.

      Over the past decade, she has conducted research in 10 different countries and analyzed over 1,500 cases of radical remission. She is a frequent guest on national TV talk and news shows and holds a B.A. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

      A trained screenwriter, Kelly has also adapted her bestselling book into a fictional, feature-length screenplay entitled OPEN-ENDED TICKET, which was a finalist for the 2019 Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab. This script tells the story of a cancer patient who takes her best friend on an around-the-world journey to try to find her estranged father before it’s too late. In their race against time, a string of unexpected events makes them question everything they thought they knew about life, death, and healing. Kelly is currently working with Hollywood producers to package the film. Her other scripts include SOUL MATES, NEWPORT OF THE WEST, THE HOUSEWIFE, and CRYSTAL SINGER. Kelly is also a trained actor based in NYC, having appeared in numerous TV shows and films. 

      Kelly also created, co-produced, and directed a 10-part docuseries that explores the 10 healing factors from her research and which features many of the Radical Remission survivors from her books. This docuseries had a test screening in March 2020 and will be released exclusively on HayHouse.com in October 2022.

      Finally, Kelly is also the founder of the Radical Remission Project, a website and online community that continues to collect new cases of Radical Remission and which offers online courses, in-person workshops, and one-on-one health coaching by 40+ Certified Radical Remission Health Coaches from around the globe.

      ABOUT Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D

      Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained and published neuroanatomist whose research specialized in understanding how our brain creates our perception of reality. She was interested in this subject because she has a brother who is diagnosed with the brain disorder schizophrenia.

      As irony would have it, in 1996 at the age of 37, Dr. Jill experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain. On the afternoon of this rare form of stroke (AVM), she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. It took eight years for Dr. Jill to completely rebuild her brain to recover all physical, emotional, and thinking abilities.

      Dr. Jill is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey (published in 2008 by Viking Penguin), which is still often the #1 book about STROKE sold in the Amazon marketplace. In addition, her second book WHOLE BRAIN LIVING: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life was published in May of 2021 by Hay House and is now readily available.

      In 2008, Dr. Jill gave a presentation about her experience with stroke at the TED Conference in Monterey, CA, which was the first TED talk to ever go viral through the internet. TED and Dr. Jill became world-famous instantaneously and that TED talk has now been viewed well over 27.5 million times. This 18-minute presentation catapulted Dr. Jill into the public eye, and within six weeks of presenting that TED talk, she was chosen as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, she was the premiere guest on Oprah’s Soul Series webcast, and her book My Stroke of Insight became a New York Times bestseller and remained on the list for 63 weeks.

      Dr. Jill is passionate about educating the public about the beauty of our human brain, and she is committed to not only helping others find their way back from neurological trauma but is eager to help everyone better understand their brain so they can live their best life. Her Foundation Jill Bolte Taylor BRAINS is dedicated to providing educational services and promoting programs that are related to the advancement of brain awareness, appreciation, exploration, education, injury prevention, neurological recovery, and the value of movement on mental and physical health, as well as other activities that support this purpose.
      FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
      Screenshot of Lissa Rankin teaching in a video
      How do I contact customer service?
      Please contact us by sending an email to support@lissarankin.com
      What kind of technology will I need in order to participate?
      In order to participate in this course, you will need to Access our learning platform through a web browser like Chrome or Safari. Teachable is a platform that hosts all the material for the course. 

      You will need a good connection to the internet. You can use a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone.
      Do you offer stipends or adjustments?
      We believe that money should not be an obstacle to healing. If you currently do not have the means please write to support@lissarankin.com
      Where can I access the recorded calls?
      Once you have signed up you will log in to our learning platform where you will find all recordings and material. You will have access to everything for the indefinite future.
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      We are not resourced to make calls to individuals. You can reach us by email at support@lissarankin.com.
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      If there is an associated private Facebook group, we recommend you join. It is optional but not critical for the course so don't worry if you don't have Facebook.
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      Once you make a payment it triggers a series of events and expenses on our side from payment processing costs to adding you to lists and platforms. If you cancel, we cannot recoup those costs and will have to pass them on to you. Please read our terms carefully before you make a purchase. Terms
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      If  the cost of this program presents a financial hardship then we hope you will contact us for a sliding scale option. Please write to support@lissarankin.com