Back in August, we had the amazing opportunity to speak with Dr. Meera Shah (@mjshah8) on IGTV. She's a family medicine physician, abortion provider, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic (@pphphealth), and the author of "You're the Only One I've Told: The Stories Behind Abortion." One of our takeaways from this episode is: you can be a doctor like your parents want, and still speak up for injustices.

Make sure to buy her book on @bookshop_org! Also support @sakhinyc, @sistersong_woc, @wwhalliance, and @prhdocs.

In this episode, we speak with Prince Bhojwani from ASANA Voices (@asanavoices). We dive into a topic that's a little out of left field for this podcast: heart health! But as Prince walks us through, South Asians have a big problem with hearth health, and relevant legislation to increase research in this area has unfortunately been stymied in Congress (the South Asian Heart Health Awareness and Research Act). What's the big deal, and what does it say about minority communities and health?

Find ASANA voices at asanavoices.org or at @asanavoices

Call your local congresspeople in the US about the South Asian Heart Health Awareness and Research Act! www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative and https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

Intro and Outro Music adapted from: "DJ" by Jazzhar, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License.

In this episode, we have the privilege of speaking with Meenakshi Krishna, Founder and CEO of My Mantra Wellness (mymantrawellness.com), on the topic of grief. We dive into Meenakshi's own personal story, as well as how she navigated the grief process as a Desi-American. We dive into cultural competency (or lack thereof) in therapy, where she was able to find help for herself, and how her journey led to her founding My Mantra Wellness to help get people culturally-sensitive and community-based therapy and support.

• • Find My Mantra Wellness at @mymantrawellness or mymantrawellness.com

• • Fill out our community survey! This will help us get you more relevant content and help us serve the community better: bit.ly/SASMHAsurvey

• • Intro and Outro Music adapted from: "DJ" by Jazzhar, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License.

We welcome our friend and the amazing dancer, choreographer, and teacher Amit Patel to this week's episode! We discuss Amit's journey towards creating the groundbreaking Bollywood Heels class in LA, what their experiences are teaching dance classes in a Desi space, how we met back at the SAAN conference in 2019, and about the impact that queer Desi art and art spaces in general have on the community.

Find Amit Patel at @_amitdances on IG and at his website, Amitpateldanceproject.com

CW: Drinking!

Intro and Outro Music adapted from: "DJ" by Jazzhar, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License.

In this week's episode, we react and discuss the tragic shootings that occurred on 3/16 at Asian-American businesses in the Atlanta metro area. We get into what solidarity means, why intersectionality matters, and the reaction from within our community.

Check out the book mentioned by Sriya in this episode called "Things I’ve Been Silent About” by Azar Nafisi.

Find the amazing org Red Canary Song at redcanarysong.net

If you're interested in donating, head over to https://linktr.ee/sasmha to see a few options.

We recently asked our followers about questions they had, and we got a lot of traction on a question about how to go about dating in your 30s. We answer the question from our personal experiences and our professional knowledge about relationship building.

Intro and Outro Music adapted from: "DJ" by Jazzhar, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License.

Join us to talk with Kirpa Singh (@writtenbykirpasingh), who reached out to us to share her experiences living with schizoaffective disorder. We touch upon her whole journey from elementary school to adulthood learning about and getting care for her severe mental illness, and how her experience has been informed by culturally-incompetent medical professionals, Desi parents, friends, co-workers and more! CONTENT WARNING: In this episode, we discuss suicidality and experiences with severe mental illness including paranoia and depression.

Kirpa Singh can be found at writtenbykirpasingh.com, and is in the process of writing her first book, Reality Check!

In this episode, we also mention the book "The Center Cannot Hold" by Elyn Saks. Check it out!

If you or someone you know is in danger of suicide, please call the suicide prevention hotline in the US: 1-800-273-8255, or find international hotlines here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines.

Intro and Outro Music adapted from: "DJ" by Jazzhar, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License.

February 21st is International Mother Language Day, inaugurated by UNESCO to follow Bangladesh's Language Martyr's Day or Language Movement Day (ভাষা আন্দোলন দিবস). In this bonus episode, we wanted to shoutout the history of this day and have an informal chat about what this day means for us as Bengali diaspora.

Intro and Outro Music adapted from: "DJ" by Jazzhar, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License.

Are you plugged into the Farmers' Protests? Some of us here at SASMHA have been following closely, and some of us not so much (till now!). In this episode, we learn from each other about what the farmers' protests are about, what the politics around it are, and dive into how we as diaspora are reacting to and consuming this news!

To check out the same resources that we used to inform ourselves this episode, head over to bit.ly/BTP-FarmersProtestsSources.

Intro and Outro Music adapted from: "DJ" by Jazzhar, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License. • •

We welcome our first guest of the season, Dr. Nisha Gupta (nishagupta.org), to discuss a huge gamut of topics around erotic power and liberation psychology. We dive into Nisha's topic of expertise and research: erotic power among South Asians, the history of sexuality in terms of religion and colonialism, and (sexual) healing through empowered art and religion. Nisha is an assistant professor at the University of West Georgia who focuses on healing and power in a traumatic world through liberation psychology. She has done many arts-based research projects such as Desi Eros, which aims to reclaim the erotic power of South Asian Diaspora women.

Content Warning: We do mention trauma, PTSD, and societal oppressions in this episode, including sexual assault, slut-shaming, gender roles, religiosity, and more.

Explore Nisha's website, the Desi Eros Project, and buy some dope ass art by South Asian women here:

• https://nishagupta.org

• https://desieros.com/

• https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtbyNishaStore?ref=search_shop_redirect

Also mentioned is MaryAnneMohanraj (@mamohanraj)!

Intro and Outro Music adapted from: "DJ" by Jazzhar, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License.

In this episode, we kick off Season 3 with some quick updates of what we've been doing at SASMHA in the past year and how we’ve navigated the sh*tshow that was 2020. Tune in to hear some exciting updates we have as an org, our thoughts on bellybutton humor, and how we personally have gotten through the pandemic so far!

Intro and Outro Music adapted from: "DJ" by Jazzhar, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License.

Domestic Violence and Domestic Abuse reports have shot up during COVID-19 overall, and individual organizations are trying to adjust their work to fit the constraints of the pandemic. We spoke with Navneet Bhalla and Razia Meer from Manavi, an organization dedicated towards ending violence against women with a South Asian focus based in NJ.

Manavi speaks over 20 languages, and has services to support victims like a 24-hour hotline (+1 (732) 435-1414) and a safe house (Project Ashiana). If you are in immediate danger, please call 911. Visit them at manavi.org or on social media for more information!

COVID-19 has impacted certain communities in particular quite harshly, including the Bangladeshi immigrant community in New York City. We sat down to speak with Riya and Tazin from Bengali Mental Health Movement to discuss the emotional toll on the community, the difficulties of translating mental health resources into Bengali, the experiences of being a brown therapist, and how economics affects care. If you'd like to learn more, check out their Insta (@bengalimentalhealthmvmt), Twitter (@bengalimentalhm), or website. Access their directory of culturally-competent therapists from all over the US at bengalimentalhealth.org/directory.

Quarantine has really thrown our intimate lives for a loop: our needs have shifted one way or another, we're discovering new things about their loved ones, and people are breaking quarantine for less-than-ideal hookups (even though COVID might be spread via... fluids). In this episode, we talk about our thoughts and quarantine experiences with sexual health, intimacy, and relationships with Vanessa Geffrard, sexual health educator and founder of the workshop series + podcast VagEsteem.

VagEsteem is a workshop series created in 2014, and a podcast as well since 2016. Vanessa says, "I  created VagEsteem  because I realized that once folks hit a certain age, they don't keep up with sex education. Folks leave high school and never learn a new thing about sex... and that's not good." Follow her or send her a message at @VagEsteem on social media and visit her at www.vagesteem.com/!

Need some recs for some TV shows, books, and content to get you through this time? In our final episode of the season, we're discussing some pop culture content that we've been enjoying recently. Thanks for joining us this season!

Our recs are below:

• TV: "Made in Heaven" on Amazon Prime

• TV: "The Family Man" on Amazon Prime

• TV: "Sense8" on Netflix

• MINISERIES: "Insomnia" on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg2okJmEdVs)

• PODCAST: Queering Desi, on any podcast Platform

• NOVEL: "Freshwater" by Akwaeke Emezi

• NOVEL: "The Kaunteyas" by Madhavi S. Mahadevan

• ANTHOLOGY: "Out! Stories from the New Queer India" edited by Manal Hajratwala

• INSTA: @wordsinurdu and @wordsinbangla

• IMPROV SHOW: Sriya's improve team is Kennedy's Mistress (at The Pit in NYC, stay tuned for their schedule here: pit-nyc.com)

Let’s face the music: humans are sexual beings, and whether we like to admit it or not, sexuality can (and often is) a huge part of our mental, emotional, and spiritual lives. How can we give ourselves space to understand our relationships with our bodies and other people? In this episode, we talk about two of our favorite things (mental health and sexuality) together with healer, licensed psychotherapist, and sexuality expert Tara Abrol!

Food is identity. Food is culture. Food is... cultural appropriation? In this episode, we welcome Rachel Gurjar, a professional chef currently based in NYC about Desi food! We touch on memories, recipes, how our food is received by others, and Rachel's own experiences with Desi food and other cultures' food. Grab a snack and tune in now!

Rachel Gurjar is a professional chef, who loves sharing her culture through recipes and delicious food with people. She moved to NYC from India 4 years ago to attend culinary school. While working in restaurant kitchens gave her real-life experience behind the “line,” she found herself searching for different outlets to explore her creativity. She started experimenting with food photography/styling and soon realized how much she loves it and made the switch to food media. She is currently the Test Kitchen Manager and Food Editor at The Feed Feed. In her spare time, you will find her exploring street food in different parts of the city!

No doubt about it: the world is going to shit. And no, not just because of the pandemic going around! In this episode, we talk about the environment and the ways that South Asians are or aren’t more sustainable than their peers across the globe and in the West. How can be learn to be sustainable from our roots, and how can we think critically about the impact of our practices? Tune in to find out!

In this episode, we talk about some really cool practice and even mention some South Asian-American activists that are doing some good for the environment and for progressive politics, including Varshini Prakash (Executive Director of the Sunrise Movement), Pramila Jayapal (Congressmember and activist from WA-07), Ro Khanna (Congressmember, CA-17), and Kshama Sawant (Socialist Seattle City Councilmember).

We've all gotten those comments: too big, too small, too tall, too short, too dark, too hairy, too bald, too slutty, too modest... We could go on and on. In this episode, we dive deep into South Asian beauty standards and share stories about how they affect our personal lives, our sex lives, our perceptions of self, and more!

This episode includes shoutouts to some awesome activists like Alok Vaid-Menon (@alokvmenon) and Harnaam Kaur (@Harnaam Kaur)!

View the transcript of the episode.

Starting off this season, we dive into a topic that’s touched us all: Desi-American pop culture! Listen in to learn more about the kinds of things that we were listening to, reading, and watching as we grew up that explored South Asian-American identity in whatever way it might be. Among our recommendations name dropped in this episode, we have:

• Bend it like Beckham (2002 Movie)

• Born Confused, by Tanuja Desai Hidier (novel)

• A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray (novel)

• The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri (novel and 2006 movie)

• Deepica Mutyala, CEO of Live Tinted (@deepica)

• Hari Kondabolu (Comedian, @harikondabolu)

• 2 Step Bhangra by Kashif & The Bilz (record)

• Penn Masala (artist)

Others we discussed in this episode include: Aziz Ansari, Jus Reign, Mindy Kaling, Lilly Singh (Superwoman), Russell Peters, and the ever infamous Apu.