Mind Full of Everything

Ecofeminism as a solution to the climate crisis

As the environmental movement has evolved over the years, concerns have been raised about the intersectionality of environmentalism, especially since decision making for environmental policies has been led by white middle and upper class men. Whilst extensive work has been, and is being, done for the intersections of race and class with environmental issues, not enough research has been done on the gendered impacts of climate change.

Despite the fact women and girls are disproportionately affected by the changing climate, women, particularly women of colour and Indigenous women, are constantly left out of decision making for the management/protection of their land. In this episode, Agrita argues that ecofeminism poses as not just a lens for the effects of the climate crisis on women (as well as transgender and non-binary people) but also challenges the role of patriarchy and toxic masculinity in exacerbating anthropogenic climate change by bringing women to the centre of modern environmentalism.

Silk: ethics, sustainability and culture

Culture is a part of history that holds great importance to those who are part of the communities that have carried forward ancient traditions. The feeling of embracing your culture through practicing ancient customs is what keeps community members attached to their cultural heritage. However, as time calls for change in perspectives and actions, the fear of losing even the smallest part of your culture with our evolving world can feel daunting and confusing.

For Agrita, becoming a vegan meant that she had to give up dairy, honey and other animal products (except meat) that hold great cultural and religious significance but were also substances that she didn't feel comfortable in consuming/using anymore because of the reality of their production. Similarly, silk, a material that is still revered in India, was a natural fibre that Agrita had to move away from because of the abuses of human rights and silk moth rights that occur to produce conventional, and even ahinsa/ahimsa (peace), silk.

Despite not using silk herself, Agrita knew that just like dairy and honey, silk would also need to be omitted from the list of potential natural materials she could use because the production of silk went against the morals that were given to her by her Indian culture and Hinduism. In this episode, Agrita explores the origins of silk from China and India, the unsustainable and unethical practices of producing the luxury material and how allowing cultures to evolve over time to meet the needs of contemporary society is not only important for community members but also for the rest of the living world.

Reflection: The concept of forgiveness

TW: This episode mentions (doesn't go into detail) pedophilia, attempted rape/sexual molestation, murder and emotional/physical traumas (particularly childhood traumas).

In this self-reflectance episode, Agrita discusses the nuances in the concept of forgiveness, the need for the definition of the concept to be unique and shaped by the experiences of each individual and the importance of self-forgiveness as the first step to long-term healing. Whilst this episode reflects the personal choices of Agrita, the listener is encouraged to replicate and/or adapt her thought processes to the definition of forgiveness they are most comfortable and happy with.

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.