Embodied Podcast

An illustration of a woman standing on a yoga mat, balancing on one foot and waving her arms around as if she is off balance and about to fall. Around her are different wellness trends in boxes: a CBD drink with a thought cloud of a person mediating coming out of the can opening, several prescriptions and supplements, a symbol for a heart rate monitoring app, a mortar and pestle and fresh fruits and vegetables. The word "Commodified" is in the lower lefthand corner of the illustration.

Commodified: When 'Wellness' Makes Us Unwell (Revisited)

Kaia Findlay

Anita has fallen down her fair share of wellness rabbit holes [including a certain alliterative family's beauty and shapewear brands...]. Wellness industry insider and journalist Rina Raphael shares how this $4 trillion industry misleads all of us, and 'Dope Black Social Worker' Kim Young gives us the wellness reframes we all need.

An illustration of a South Asian woman with long brown hair and an off-the-shoulder gray-green top. She is looking off into the distance, and behind her is a mosaic patterned background. The shards of mosaic are colored white, green and red, with a red and white cross hatched background in between the shards. Text in the lower right reads: Complicated.

Complicated: Healing from Complex PTSD

Paige Miranda

What happens when trauma occurs not as a single isolated event, but millions of smaller, ongoing incidents? Guest host Anisa Khalifa talks with an artist, psychotherapist and racial trauma expert about understanding complex post-traumatic stress disorder and the path to healing.

An illustration of a young boy with short brown hair, a green shirt and gray pants who sits with his arms held around his knees. He’s smiling and looking out of the illustration. Around his head are six symbols - from left to right, the flag of Thailand, an ice cream sundae, the flag of the Philippines, a hamburger, the flag of the U.S., and a passport with plane tickets. The background is made of up rays of yellow, red and purple hues. Text at the top of the illustration reads: Traveled.

Traveled: The Lives Of Third Culture Kids

Paige Miranda

As a child of two immigrants, Anita has a tumultuous relationship with the question: "Where are you from?" So, too, do many third culture kids — people who spend a significant number of their developmental years living in places that are not their parents' homelands. She talks with two third culture kids — one 35 and one 12 — and their moms about growing up between cultures and how they’ve built identity and relationships along the way.

A person with shoulder length salt-and-pepper hair wearing a purple headset sits at a cluttered desk. Just the back of their head is visible above their desk chair, which has a purple sweatshirt draped over it. On the desk are three monitors, and various purple-hued knick knacks and notebooks. On the wall are a purple poster and purple calendar with the outlines of human characters on them. The desk and wall items are intended to be paraphernalia from the same fandom. Text in the bottom left reads:” Adored.”

Adored: How Fandoms Build Community

Kaia Findlay

Guest host Anisa Khalifa first became a fan in high school. She gets an explanation from a psychologist about how being in fandoms benefits mental health, and a journalist describes what role the internet has played in shaping fan culture. Plus, Anisa invites the co-hosts of her K-drama podcast to reflect on how fandom brought them together — and what it means to be a fan.

A light-skinned Black woman with freckles and curly brown hair holds two white masks up on either side of her face. Both masks have smiles and happy expressions. She is wearing a blue V-neck T-shirt and is looking at the mask on the right with a neutral expression. The background is light purple and the words “Masked” are above her in dark blue capital lettering.

Masked: Coming Out As Autistic In Adulthood

Gabriela Glueck

Many autistic people assigned female at birth remain undiagnosed at 18, so what's it like to get an autism diagnosis in your adulthood? Anita meets two women whose paths to a diagnosis started on the internet. Plus a non-binary photographer shares how their late autism diagnosis has informed their marriage and sense of self.

Illustration of a femme-presenting person posing in nature seen through a reflection of a camera lens. The person, who has shoulder-length dreads and medium-tone skin, is wearing lipstick, a tie crop top, arm warmers and high-waisted bottoms. Behind the lens is a close-up view of the upper right-hand portion of the photographer's face and their fingers holding the shutter of the camera. In the bottom left corner of the illustration there is the text "Posed."

Posed: Intimate Photography Goes Beyond Nudes (Revisited)

Kaia Findlay

Anita hasn't always loved getting her photo taken, but seeing herself through the artistic eye of a close friend and photographer has changed her perspective. She meets two intimate photographers who take her behind the scenes of their shoots and share their philosophies on capturing the erotic in an image. Plus, she talks with a model about her intimate work that explores disability and sexuality.

An illustration of a masculine-presenting, brown-skinned person with short brown hair, wearing a purple hoodie, sitting at a desk. He is using a laptop. On his right are a stack of books, and a vining plant. Several hallucinated figures surround him.

Seen: Living With The Schizophrenias

Kaia Findlay

When Anita first picked up “The Collected Schizophrenias" by Esmé Weijun Wang, she realized how rare it was to find a first-hand account of someone navigating periods of psychosis. She brings Esmé on to talk about the relationship between mental illness and identity. Plus, she meets an artist who explores his hallucinations through drawing and a blogger documenting her experience as a mother with schizoaffective disorder.

An illustration of two people sitting face-to-face on a purple carpet from the elbows down. One person is sitting with their legs crossed inside of the other person's legs around them, and they are holding hands. The word “Guided” is at the bottom of the illustration.

Guided: Practicing Intimacy & Sex With A Surrogate

Paige Perez

Anita first learned about surrogate partner therapy from the 2012 movie "The Sessions," and her curiosity was piqued. It's a widely misunderstood and stigmatized type of therapy work in which touch is a mechanism for healing. Two surrogate partners take her inside the day-to-day of their jobs, and a certified sex therapist shares why she hopes others in her industry will be more welcoming to the practice.

Plucked: The Calm And Chaos Of A Hair-Pulling Disorder (Revisited)

Audrey Smith

Anita agrees to a suggestion posed by a listener: Explore why the hair-pulling disorder trichotillomania is so taboo. She talks with an artist who started pulling their hair more than two decades ago but only recently told her parents…after publishing part of their story in a national news outlet. A psychologist on the front-lines of studying trich treatment talks about the importance of acceptance; and a hairstylist with trich takes us into why her salon is a safe haven for other folks with hair loss.

An illustration of a tattooed, femme-presenting, Brown person posing. She is posing with her arms above her head with her hands in her hair. Her hair is brown and shoulder-length. Her eyes are closed, and her head is angled to the right. She is wearing red eyeshadow and lipstick and has a mole below her left eye. She has several tattoos adorning her arms and chest. The tattoos consist of several red flowers, yellow flowers, and a flying bee. She is wearing a sleeveless black top. Behind her is a pink background with several pink hibiscus flowers.

Inked: Rewriting Your Body’s Story With Art

Anita Rao

Anita has no tattoos but plenty of admiration for the art form that gives us new ways to experience our bodies. She talks with a heavily-tattooed scholar who's interrogated how society treats tattooed women; a queer, Jewish tattoo artist reclaiming body art; and an artist who's pushing back on the misconceptions of tattooing melanated skin.