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[Originally published in Vp issue 6 by Kelly McCartney and photos by Matteo Trisolini (2004)]

At this point, Heather Juergensen is best known as half of the writer/producer/actor team that created Kissing Jessica Stein. With a simple premise, some sharp wit, and a lot of heart, she and Jennifer Westfeldt brought lesbian themes into mainstream cinema. They were greeted by a big old belly laugh courtesy of the masses (at least those out of North Carolina).

Having gained Hollywood's stamp of approval, this triple threat turns her gaze inward and forward as she chats with Velvetpark about post-Jessica life. 

Congratulations on getting married recently. How's it feeling?

It feels good. It feels very sturdy, like investing in a really good dresser that you know will last forever.

You're a busy kid—is it your meditation practice that keeps you balanced?

I find meditation to be a lot like working out in terms of giving you more energy and more time, even though it's time that you take to do it. I do my regular meditation every night. I just feel so much stronger. I guess everyone has their own root need or reason they meditate. I really think for me it's to help eradicate a feeling of fear. And I think that would be the case of whatever business I was in. But I do happen to work in a business that runs on a lot of fear. You feel it, espeically in L.A. This is going to sound like a bizarre reference, but I was watching Queer Eye [for the Straight Guy] the other night and I think it was Kyan who said, "Make every rep count. When you're working out, donnt' just rush through it. If you do the reps real slow, your muscle are going to look better than if you do ten quickies." And I feel like meditation is about doing thirty minutes slow or doing sixty minutes slow. Just coming back to that central point where there is no time, no space, no speed, no desire, no worry, no fear. I think the challenge for so many of us, and certainly for me, is to bring that meditative state into every moment of waking life.

Even though it's coming out as fear of not succeeding, don't you think it's ultimately about wanting love? However people chase it, it's that constant craving to be accepted and loved which is the