Yoga Solutions Podcast for Mindfulness & Transformation

Dealing with Anxiety

Overview:

It is estimated that almost 20% of adults in America suffer from some form of anxiety.  While this disorder can be treated, many people are suffering in silence. Your hosts Susanna Barkataki and Dr. Neelam Pathikonda take this week’s episode of Radical Resilience to discuss the interworks of anxiety in their own lives and on a systemic level, and offer tips on conquering it. 

Anxiety manifests in every one of us differently, says Dr. Neelam. It can cause one person to isolate themselves and another to fear being alone.  While everyone may experience different symptoms of anxiety, the treatment is pretty much the same. Dr. Neelam suggests treatment options such as: doing things that are good for your body, obtaining professional help when necessary, finding a community of support and ultimately seeking out joy. And Susanna suggests focusing on both movement and stillness.

Susanna and Dr. Neelam  want listeners to know how important it is to take care of your anxiety. Our bodies are so interconnected and while it seems easy to skate by, untreated anxiety can play a role  in much more serious health conditions. 

Tune in to this episode of Radical Resilience for a safe conversation surrounding the most common mental health disorder. Susanna and Dr. Neelam will break anxiety down on a scientific level to help you understand what’s going on inside your own body. The  hosts want you to be able to come to a place where you can see your anxiety, honor it, and love yourself without judgement. 

Quotes:

“The Mayo Clinic says occasional anxiety is a normal part of life, however people with anxiety disorders frequently have intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations.”  (01:42- 01:52) 

“The Anxiety and Depression Association of America estimates that 40 million adults in the U.S 18 and older has anxiety, making it the most common mental health disorder.”(04:52- 05:10)

“It’s very difficult to make good decisions. People with a lot of anxiety are more prone to making bad nutrition decisions for instance, or getting into conflict with people, or worrying what other people are doing,, because they can’t see that big picture.” (24:10-24:25) 

“Find the stillness in your movement, and the movement in your stillness.” (31:18- 31:22)

Links:

For more information about anxiety please check out our resources at healthline and The Mayo Clinic 

Click here for Stress Reducing Meditation and Tips for Radical Resilience in #COVIDLIFE. Please review and subscribe. To your radical Resilience! 

Podcast production and show notes provided by FIRESIDE Marketing

Journal Prompts: 

1. In what ways does anxiety show up in your body?
2. Does your anxiety have a color? A face? A shape? What does your anxiety say to you?
3. What situations bring on anxiety for you? What is your game plan when those situations arise?
4. How do you manage your anxiety? What ways work best for you? What are some other methods you could try to help deal with anxiety?

(Medical Disclaimer: We want to remind you that any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.)

 

Processing Grief

Overview:

Over the last year, the United States has seen the largest number of deaths since the Spanish Flu. The pandemic has come through and taken the lives of over 500,000 Americans, leaving the country in a devastating state of grief. Hosts Susanna Barkataki and Dr. Neelam Pathikonda welcome writer, activist, and dear friend Malkia Devich-Cyril to this episode of Radical Resilience for an open conversation about processing grief.

Malkia understands the concept of grief better than most. After many devastating losses in her life, the most recent one being her wife and the love of her life, Malkia has had to learn how to adjust to life during the grieving process.  

Currently, we are experiencing mass grief, not collective grief, says Malkia. She explains that the two types of grief are separated by the actions of reparation and reconciliation. For our country to truly metabolize grief in a collective way, we need to hold those responsible accountable. She suggests that we will continue the cycle of generational grief as long as nothing has been reconciled.

Grief is a part of life and it carries a negative connotation, but it does not always have to be that way. In this episode of Radical Resilience, guest speaker Malkia will share many of the ways that she has learned to cope with grief from a place of joy and celebration.

Quotes:

“It would take a wall almost 9x the length of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. to list the name of every person in the US who died of COVID. (01-29-01:38)

“We are talking about generational grief. Not only the loss of individuals in a natural order, but deeply unnatural and traumatic loss. Which scars generations of people, scars people on a collective level, as well as on an individual level.” (09:43-10:01)

“When there is no reconciliation, when there is no reparation, then grief remains lodged in the body. Whether it be the individual body or the collective body.” (12:12-12:22).

“Without action, mass grief turns to apathy…it turns to alienation…it turns to amnesia.” (12:34-12:38)

“Grief is one face of love. Grief is not inherently sorrow, it’s also joy.” (20:06-20:12)  

 Journal Prompts for this Episode:

In what ways does grief show up in your body?

What are some of your most beneficial resilience strategies to help process the pain of grief?

What would you like your loved ones to know about how you grieve and what ways to best support you?

Medical Disclaimer:

We want to remind you that any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.

Links:

Check out Malkia Devich-Cyril on her website  

The Relentlessness of Black Grief

For more information about the Stages of Grief and the Process of Grief

Click here for Stress Reducing Meditation and Tips for Radical Resilience in #COVIDLIFE. Please review and subscribe. To your radical resilience!

Podcast production and show notes provided by FIRESIDE Marketing

Wellness to White Supremacy

Overview:

In this episode of Radical Resilience, Susanna Barkataki and Dr. Neelam Pathikonda, challenge the conspiracies rooted in white supremacy that are circling within the wellness community while offering solutions that bring intellectual data-driven thought, and wellness together.

Openness is a common theme among the wellness community. The idea of being open to thoughts, ideas, and others can bring out the best in people. However, Susanna notes that too much openness can also be paired with thoughts and ideas that make us anti-critical thinking and anti-science. It allows space for group thinking, which elevates prejudice and racial disparities within our communities.  We have come to a collective place where we acknowledge that our choices and beliefs affect the lives of others for a long time to come. It is possible to make decisions that decrease suffering not only for ourselves, but those around us.

Tune in for a 10-step breakdown of wellness to conspiritual white supremacy. By the end of the episode, your hosts Susanna and Dr. Neelam will have you searching for the middle path.

Quotes:

“How we know what we know often comes from what our friends say, or an article on a blog, one we haven’t researched.” (06:47-06:58)

“According to the Global Wellness Institute, the wellness industry is a 4.2 trillion global industry. And most of its growth has been in the last couple years. It’s 3x the growth of the global pharmaceutical industry.  (07:07-07:23)  

“This idea that we are in control is really harmful because it sets all of us up for failure when we live in such an unpredictable world and where we are dealing with unpredictable natural phenomena. (10:56-11:16)

“This loss of purpose and meaning makes that desire for control so high.” (13:07- 13:14)

“At the heart of anti-science is an anti-intellectualism” NEELAM (17:24- 17:29)

Journal Prompts for this Episode: 

How have you fallen prey to white supremacist colonialist thinking in they ways you have conceived of self care?

What does community care look like for your community? How can you participate more fully in the health of your community?

Medical Disclaimer: 

We want to remind you that any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.

Links: 

I’m immensely grateful for the work of Sanity Sanctuary, Anusha Wijeyakumar, Seane Corn, Hala Khouri, Conspirituality Pod, Jules Evans and others for their research and work on these topics - and all places to look for further information on this important issue. 

https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/26/public-health-officials-bullying-by-antivaxxers-endangers-us/

Resources on Anti-Vaccination Conspiracies: 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/qanon-anti-vax-covid-vaccine-conspiracy-theory-1125197/amp/

Click here for Stress Reducing Meditation and Tips for Radical Resilience in #COVIDLIFE. Please review and subscribe. To your radical resilience!

Podcast production and show notes provided by FIRESIDE Marketing

Should I Get the COVID Vaccine?

Overview: 

Confused or worried about whether the COVID vaccine is for you? Look no further! Welcome to episode 2 of Radical Resilience. Hosts Susanna Barkataki and Dr. Neelam Pathikonda discuss all things COVID vaccine. In a 30-minute roleplay episode, Dr. Neelam Pathikonda will answer all her patient’s (Susanna Barkataki) questions and concerns facing the newly released vaccine. She will then explain the importance of the vaccine for our communities, and together, the hosts will discuss racism and health disparities in western medicine.

Listeners can find answers to these commonly asked questions:

• Is the vaccine rushed?
• But I am healthy so why do I need the vaccine?
• Are there harmful substances in the vaccine?
•   Is the government trying to control us?
• Will it impact my fertility?
•  How effective is it?

Please tune into episode 2 of Radical Resilience: Should I get the COVID Vaccine? For an educational and safe conversation regarding one of today’s most controversial topics. It is important now more than ever that we spread education throughout our communities because we are all in this together. 

Medical Disclaimer:

We want to remind you that any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional always seek competent medical care.

Quotes: 

“We don’t need chips in the vaccine when we all have our phones” (9:55-10:00).

“There is a risk of doing nothing” (10:44-10:46)  

“Human history has been a history of infectious disease” (16:46-16:49)

“White folks are being vaccinated at a rate that is 3x higher than communities of color” (21:53-21:58)

Click here for Stress Reducing Meditation and Tips for Radical Resilience in #COVIDLIFE. Please review and subscribe. To your radical resilience!

Podcast production and show notes provided by FIRESIDE Marketing

Uncertainty

Overview: 

“Uncertainty only has one certainty, and that is this too shall change”, says Susanna Barkataki to co-host Neelam Pathikonda regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. In their debut episode of Radical Resilience, the duo dives deep into an all too familiar topic: uncertainty during a global pandemic. 

While the episode was originally recorded at the start of the pandemic and much has changed, one thing remains certain: uncertainty. With the distribution of vaccines and a rise of new variants, we are still so uncertain of how life will move forward. Fear and anxiety have been the emotions driving thoughts and decisions regarding everyday life. They are universal emotions that everyone has been feeling, including the hosts.

Susanna and Neelam use their expertise in health and wellness to offer encouraging tips and tricks on how to emotionally thrive, even in the most uncertain of times. Throughout all the panic, doubt, and anxiety, the hosts graciously suggest using this time to embrace the natural world and find freedom in the present moments. Taking time doing things that make us feel grounded, censoring what media we engage with, and allowing ourselves to feel through our emotions are essential to maintaining emotional balance. They remind those of us with privilege, to leverage it and band together to support our communities. After all, “what we are consuming is a worldwide panic, it is not just ours, it is everybody’s.”

Tune in to episode one of Radical Resilience to learn how to find acceptance in uncertainty and replace those feelings of anxiety, doubt and isolation with “joy, peace, and connection.”

Quotes: 

• “When we can just surrender to the situation as it is, we no longer have to suffer” (06:45-06:50)
• “Our minds run to the past and they run to the future, but the freedom is only available in the present moment” (8:10-8:17)
• “What we are consuming is a worldwide panic, it is not just ours, it is everybody’s” (33:22-33:28) 
• “Uncertainty only has one certainty, and that is this too shall change” (12:49-12:55) 

Default Links:

Click here for  Stress Reducing Meditation and Tips for Radical Resilience in #COVIDLIFE

Podcast production and show notes provided by FIRESIDE Marketing

Journal prompts:

1. How do you react to feeling uncertainty?
2. How do you know it is there?
3. What practices support you in dealing with uncertainty?
4. What does it look like for our society which has been quite coddled, to shift to dealing with this level of uncertainty?
5. Coping mechanisms?

(Medical Disclaimer: We want to remind you that any yoga wellness or health advice presented is not meant to replace the advice of your personal physician or other healthcare professional.  Please always seek competent medical care.)

Welcome to Radical Resilience: How to Live Well in a Sick World

It’s hard to know how to find personal wellbeing in the fast paced world we live in - especially during a global pandemic. Join Susanna Barkataki, bestselling author and yoga therapist, and Neelam Pathikonda, DO, Lifestyle Medicine Doctor as they interview guests and share East & West tools for better living - so you can thrive in an uncertain world.