Mind Full of Everything

Spiritual animal wisdom with Dr Linda Bender

Mind Full of Everything is back from hiatus with this conversation on lessons learned from animal spirituality with Dr Linda Bender, an advocate and educator of animal rights protection and reconnecting conventional science to spiritualism. In this episode, Agrita and Linda discuss prominent issues associated to animal rights violations but also emphasise on the need for humans to reconnect to their spiritual selves in order to begin to value their connections to every being and entity on this planet. By unlearning colonial teachings of human dominion over nature, we can actively relearn indigenous teachings on interconnectivity of all beings to help create a safer space for everyone.

Visit https://mindfullofeverything.com for additional resources for this episode, including Linda's book and website. All other resources for previous episodes can also be accessed on the website. 

The importance of sex positivity with Leah Carey

NB: This is the final episode before Mind Full of Everything goes on hiatus until 12th May due to the host's education commitments. 

In light of the outcry of women on their safety and issues around sexual exploitation of women across the world, this episode emphasises on the importance of establishing a sex positive culture, where women's sexual rights and freedoms are celebrated, not oppressed. Leah is a sex and intimacy coach, and also the host of the Good Girls Talk About Sex podcast, where women anonymously share their sexual journeys and experiences in an effort to encourage other women to embrace their sexualities and denounce misogyny around women's sexual exploration.

In this episode, Leah and Agrita discuss a wide array of prominent sex issues and topics that directly affect the sexual happiness of women including: stigma around sexual exploration as a woman, birth control/abortion rights, validity of asexuality, motherhood and sexuality and shifting away from zero-sum relationships. Although this conversation is revolved around sex issues that most heterosexual women experience, as the misogyny often found in heterosexual relationships needs to be urgently addressed, issues/topics discussed here are applicable to all women in all sexual/romantic relationships. 

Breaking trauma cycles as South Asian women with Aparna Sagaram

To celebrate International Women's Day, Agrita explores trauma cycles and patterns within South Asian communities with Aparna Sagaram, a licenced marriage and family therapist who has worked with many South Asian individuals, couples and families to help normalise trauma therapy within the community.

Being of Indian origin themselves, both Agrita and Aparna discuss some of the toxic cultural patterns in South Asian households that result in traumatic events, the ways in which immigration can exacerbate or trigger trauma and the ways in which South Asian women can try to break out of trauma cycles and unhealthy mindsets in order to prioritise their mental health alongside supporting their loved ones.

Head over to www.mindfullofeverything.com to find out more about Aparna's work and access additional resources. 

Indian Farmers and the Sikh Community

TW: mentions of genocide, suicide, abuse and rape. 

This episode is in response to the ongoing farmer protest in India where farmers, and everyone in support, are protesting against the new agricultural bills proposed by the Indian government which seeks to privatise the sector in a bid to boost income from agriculture. The protests are important because they depict two issues: 1) the economy and profits constantly being put before farmer livelihoods and 2) the usage of undemocratic measures by the Indian government in response to public backlash, highly ironic to India's title of being the "largest democracy in the world".

However, these series of events are not just about farmers and the Indian agrarian crisis, these events have shone a light on the prolonged oppression and marginalisation of the Sikh community, particularly because Sikhs have been leading the protests that are now becoming nationwide. It's evident that the Indian government is still bigoted to the Sikh community, despite the dark history of Sikh genocide that the Indian government fails to be held accountable to.

Therefore, it's crucial that every Indian and non-Indian helps support Indian farmers, particularly Sikh farmers, by raising awareness, supporting farmer/Sikh organisations and doing their own research to understand the history of conflict between people and bodies of power in India. 

The Zero Waste Movement

Sustainability is multifaceted, and Zero Waste makes up one of these facets, gaining rapid popularity within the past decade. Whilst achieving zero waste in our highly urbanised and (generally) wasteful society may seem like a great achievement, we should really be worried over how we could abandoned such an environmentally and socially just ancient practice in the first place.

This episode discusses the importance of Zero Waste, the need for us to decolonise the concept to decarbonise our economies and the key ways in which we can shift to a circular economy, with real life examples of how Zero Waste is carried out successfully. 

Dear Angry Women

Anger is an emotion that is as important as any other, yet the negative connotations associated to it, coupled with the masculine attributes assigned to the emotion, has exacerbated female inequalities further.

This episode emphasises on the urgency to destigmatise and demasculinise anger so that women are able to practice health portrayal of their anger and work towards creating a more just and safe environment for themselves and other women. Most importantly however, this episode celebrates the legacy of all courageous women that taught the rest of us how to break out of gender stereotypes and start living the life of the woman they wish to be, not what society wants them to be. 

Holistic Approaches to Health and Sustainability

The need for health frameworks to be holistic to better solve health crises has become increasingly important, especially now that we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impacts on vulnerable populations are extremely severe. This episode explores the three key approaches used within the scientific community to solve health issues in a holistic manner for the environment, humans and non-human species in order to achieve sustainability on all levels. 

Reflection: Reconnecting With Yourself

This episode is the final one for 2020, where I have an honest conversation with myself about the way in which I have gone about self-discovery/love and how I learn to have a healthy relationship with myself. Although this episode is all about my personal experiences and journey to acceptance of who I am, this episode is tailored for those willing to embark on a journey of self-discovery and are seeking for strategic ways to do so. 

Going Beyond Ethical Consumerism

As we become more aware of our collective negative impact on the environment, wide scale emphasis on purchasing locally and from ethical/sustainable brands through the political belief of ethical consumerism has risen. However, many ethical consumers are now starting to question the success of the belief and whether it has resulted in change in the corporate world or whether the problem of unethical and unsustainable production continues to persist but just behind closed doors.

Listen to this episode where I discuss the problems of ethical consumerism, my personal journey with the belief and how we need to find a middle ground between purchasing ethical/sustainable goods whilst also challenging firms/industries to take responsibility for reducing their impact on the planet through consumer activism.

Men's Mental Health Matters Too with Gretchen Hernandez

When a woman joins a department at work that's full of men, she's celebrated as diversity. When a woman prioritises her career over starting a family, or when she juggles family life with work, she's considered strong. When a woman embraces her flaws and is comfortable in her own body, she's looked up to as an example of self-love. But as soon as a man tries to step away from gender roles and redefine his masculinity for himself, people dismiss his efforts because of the notion that men are collectively "too privileged" to be celebrated.

Whilst it's true that patriarchy dominates throughout, very few of us take out the time to understand that toxic masculinity shapes society and that men who don't conform to the traditional masculine image have been suppressed as long as their female counterparts have been. Gretchen Hernandez, a men's mindset coach and host of the My Freedom Grove podcast, works towards changing that narrative through giving a platform to men willing to break out from gender norms, as well as providing a space where men can share their journey with other men. Gretchen is a strong believer that gender equality can only be established when everyone is included and gender stereotypes are abandoned to ensure those that weren't being heard are able to amplify their voices when they are ready.