Feel Lost? How to Find Your Feel for Life

Many of us feel a profound lack of freedom in our lives. This can be especially true for young people, who often feel forced to choose paths that are defined by outside forces and societal expectations. On this episode, Miami University associate professor of Kinesiology  Jay Kimiecik is back, along with college student and Miami senior Alexandra Leurck ‘23, to share some personal stories and experiences about how finding our “feel” can lead to more freedom and fulfillment.

To hear more about finding your feel, listen to part one of this series. Or check out the new book, Exploring the Concept of Feel for Wellbeing and Performance.

What happens when we prioritize consumerism and conformity over freedom and exploration? Or when we exploit feelings and emotions to create artificial wants and desires? On this episode, Miami University Associate Professor Jay Kimiecik discusses how we lost the inner experience of being human and how it can be found again. To learn more, check out the new book, Exploring the Concept of Feel for Wellbeing and Performance.

To say the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is mired in controversy is an understatement of global proportions. On this episode, Adam Beissel, an assistant professor of Sport Leadership and Management, tells a story of corruption and bribery, power and propaganda, death and discrimination -- and about the geopolitical machinations of those who use global sport mega events like the World Cup for their own dubious gains.

The traditional college experience is less common than ever. Today, fewer and fewer students attend a single university right out of high school and graduate 4 years later. On this episode, Miami University Dean Jason Lane and Bethany Perkins, MU director of admission, explain how streamlining the college experience -- especially for transfer students -- can help solve one of the most critical issues now facing higher education.

For more info, Dean Lane and his coauthors also discuss this issue in greater detail in the recent report, The Emerging Role of Public Higher Education Systems in Advancing Transfer Student Success.

The teacher shortage has become a national crisis. COVID has exacerbated the issue, but other factors like burnout, a lack of adequate preparation and support, increased school violence, and political divides are also at play.

We’ll speak with Dean Jason Lane from Miami University, and with experts from Cincinnati Public Schools, about how to address the issue. And we'll hear about a new initiative called TEACh Cincinnati, which aims to address the teacher shortage, while increasing diversity among educators at the same time.

For additional information, visit the following resources:

Burnout book (Nagoski & Nagoski)

The Feminist Survival Project (Nagoski & Nagoski)

The Nap Ministry (Tricia Hersey)

Unlocking Us podcast episode on relationships (Brene Brown)

We can’t stop aging. But we can start to slow and control it. Things like sudoku puzzles and gym workouts can increase longevity by exercising our brains and bodies. But what if we could simultaneously combine the benefits of both, and how powerful would the results be if we could?

On this episode, Miami alumnus Adam Ortman ’12 from Activate Brain & Body speaks with Amanda Valentine from the Pound This podcast about the new science behind the brain-centric physical workouts that can build new neuropathways and help prevent dementia, while also boosting our capacity to live longer, heathier lives.

We often think of education as something that happens in schools, and where a curriculum is nothing more than a structure for lessons and learning. But Thomas Poetter, a professor of education leadership at Miami University, would challenge this as an extremely limited view.

Education is about much, much more than schooling, and he argues that having a deeper, richer understanding of curriculum is critical for a thriving democratic society.

On this special bonus episode, we continue the conversation with Adam Beissel, Miami University assistant professor sport leadership and management.

This time we look ahead to the future of sport. We discuss how various technological, economic, and social factors will continue to shape the industry, as well as what new media and even global geopolitics will mean for the kinds sports that may dominate the U.S. in the years ahead.