Soul In The Game
By Soumya Parthasarathy
This podcast has evolved to look at the world holistically. It is an experiment to implement very organic style of conversation. The host may know some of the guests very well. While with others, the host is talking to them for the first time.
Either way, the purpose of this podcast is to make sure the topic is guest's most fun topic to discuss.
Hope you have fun listening. Please review this podcast so the host receives some feedback. Thank you for checking out
Soul In The GameApr 26, 2021
Single mom by choice - Girl or Boy?
Previous episode link: Single mom by choice - Journey
We continue our conversation with Shilpa on her "single mom by choice" journey. If you have not yet heard the previous episode, I highly recommend you listen to that one first before going over this, her journey of decision making is pretty interesting.
When you want to do something in life, and it is something you really really want to be or do it, no matter what, it happens. It just happens. Is it the clarity of thought that makes it happen? Is it the determination of the intention itself? Or a supportive move from the universe to give us assurance? We may all have different theories about that, but we all can definitely relate to that experience in our life at some point.
Shilpa and I continue our conversation here to talk about her In-virto fertilization experience, and planning for almost 2 years about her strong intention to be a mother. She also shares how she cut down on her consumption, saving money for the baby before even getting pregnant.
Finally, being a woman from the Indian origin and sharing our deep roots of traditional thinking, Shilpa shares how she and her family supported her to embrace this unconventional and technological way of having a baby and be a single mother.
Single mom by choice - Choosing Donor
Previous episode link: Single mom by choice - Journey
We continue our conversation with Shilpa on her "single mom by choice" journey. If you have not yet heard the previous episode, I highly recommend you listen to that one first before going over this, her journey of decision making is pretty interesting.
In this episode Shilpa shares her journey knowing about donors and the choosing process. Little bit about sperm donor, who is always an adult male. A sperm donor is a person who donates their sperm for use in assisted reproduction, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) or artificial insemination. Sperm donation can be anonymous or known, depending on the preferences of the donor and the intended recipient(s).
Single mom by choice - Journey
We have a special guest to talk about her becoming mother journey. This is very different from normal motherhood journey that I have heard about in my life. We will hear from Shilpa Dhawan from Jersey City, USA. She is a single mother by choice. We will learn more on that soon. She is working in a high flying corporate job in the financial industry. She considers herself very fortunate to be blessed with an adorable baby girl who is currently 3 years old. Currently, Shilpa is a very busy mom answering her daughters "WHYs" :)
A single mom by choice is a woman who decides to become a mother without being in a committed relationship or without the support of a partner. This may involve using assisted reproductive technologies such as sperm donation, or adoption.
Choosing to become a single mom is a deeply personal decision and can be influenced by a variety of factors, such as a desire for motherhood, the lack of a suitable partner, or a need to take control of one's life and future.
While it may present some unique challenges, being a single mom by choice can also be rewarding. It requires a lot of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice, but it can also provide a strong sense of fulfillment and joy. It's important to have a support system of family and friends, as well as access to resources such as childcare and financial assistance, to help navigate the challenges that come with raising a child alone.
Mothers day: Dance and injury prevention
Background on the intention to create this podcast: My journey to create this specific podcast episode started when I attend a panel discussion with Rajita on Bharatanatyam and Salsa. Rajita was opened up my curious mind to learn about the relationship between Bharatanatyam or any type of dance and physical therapy. In this 3 part series we discuss about mother hood, journey with learning dance and marrying art with medical care.
Physical therapy and dance can be closely intertwined. Physical therapy involves the use of various techniques to improve movement, reduce pain, and restore function in people who have experienced injuries, illnesses, or disabilities. On the other hand, dance is a form of movement that can be used as a therapeutic tool to improve physical and mental health.
Dance can be used as a form of exercise to improve physical fitness, flexibility, balance, coordination, and endurance. It can also be used to improve mood, reduce stress, and enhance social interaction. In addition, dance therapy is a specialized form of therapy that uses dance as a way to express emotions, enhance communication, and improve body awareness.
Physical therapists can use dance as a form of therapy to help patients recover from injuries, illnesses, or disabilities. For example, dance can be used to help patients regain strength and mobility after surgery or an injury. It can also be used to improve balance and coordination in patients with neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease.
In addition, physical therapists may use specific dance techniques, such as the Alexander Technique or the Feldenkrais Method, to help patients improve their posture and body mechanics. These techniques can be especially helpful for patients with chronic pain or movement disorders.
Overall, physical therapy and dance can complement each other to help individuals improve their physical and mental well-being. Physical therapists can use dance as a tool to enhance their treatment plans, while dance therapists can work with physical therapists to develop a comprehensive plan for their patients.
Rajita also talks about taking care of our body bringing her Physical Therapy expertise in this panel discussion here
Mothers Day: Teaching journey
In this episode, Rajita and I continue our conversation about being mom, discovering our interests that aligns with our kids and feeling satisfaction with one's work which is key for happiness. We delve more into discovering teaching Bharatanatyam through her son. Now along with her son, she has more boys, girls and adults who are learning this form of art. Raji and I also talk about comparing one with others vs absorbing one's energy to go deeper inside our own learning.
A bit about Rajita - Rajitha Bharatan is a Bharatanatyam dancer and Physical Therapist by Profession.
She was introduced into the art form of Bharatanatyam under the guidance of her teacher, Smt Suganda Iyer and later with Manjula Ramamoorthy from Hyderabad, India. During her learning years in India, she performed in various dance festivals and also for national television.
Her love to learn and excel the art form, led her to complete various dance exams, take up variety of workshops and volunteer in community events to propagate the dance form.
While she pursued her career in Physical therapy in India, Canada, UK and US, she also continued to perform as a solo artist to represent her art and culture.
Rajitha lives in Phoenix, AZ with her 3 boys and husband, where she continues to actively learn, perform ,teach. Rajita also collaborates with local artists while pursuing her career as a Physical Therapist.
Rajita also talks about taking care of our body bringing her Physical Therapy expertise in this panel discussion here
Mothers Day: Mom, Dance and Physical Therapy
Rajitha Bharatan is a Bharatanatyam dancer and Physical Therapist by Profession.
She was introduced into the art form of Bharatanatyam under the guidance of her teacher, Smt Suganda Iyer and later with Manjula Ramamoorthy from hyderabad, India. During her learning years in India, she performed in various dance festivals and also for national television.
Her love to learn and excel the art form, led her to complete various dance exams, take up variety of workshops and volunteer in community events to propagate the dance form.
While she pursued her career in Physical therapy in India, Canada, UK and US, she also continued to perform as a solo artist to represent her art and culture.
Rajitha lives in Phoenix, AZ with her 3 boys and husband, where she continues to actively learn, perform ,teach. Rajita also collaborates with local artists while pursuing her career as a Physical Therapist.
Rajita also talks about taking care of our body bringing her Physical Therapy expertise in this panel discussion: https://youtu.be/7QRPKBzAH4M
Earth Week 2023 : Final
Happy earth month my dear listeners. In this season, I will take you all through a journey of the space where the policies that our dear leaders create or change in order to support our planet, discuss climate change topics, especially research area, including COP27 event that happened in 2022 with my dear friend and a climate change researcher Snighda Nautiyal.
We continue talking to Snigdha about her research today and learn about her process of applying the research on capacity building within sustainability.
Final episode, it was a great pleasure to discuss about research with Snigdha. If you have not listened to previous episodes, go back and check it out. they are less than 10 mins long. In this episode we talk about improving COP, leveraging COP as a voice for climate change leadership and the possibility of bringing changes.
Earth Week 2023 : Research
Happy earth month my dear listeners. In this season, I will take you all through a journey of the space where the policies that our dear leaders create or change in order to support our planet, discuss climate change topics, especially research area, including COP27 event that happened in 2022 with my dear friend and a climate change researcher Snighda Nautiyal.
We continue talking to Snigdha about her research today and learn about her process of applying the research on capacity building within sustainability.
Earth Week 2023 : Social angle
Happy earth month my dear listeners. In this season, I will take you all through a journey of the space where the policies that our dear leaders create or change in order to support our planet, discuss climate change topics, especially research area, including COP27 event that happened in 2022 with my dear friend and a climate change researcher Snighda Nautiyal.
In this episode, we discuss the many angles to looking at climate change. Who has the voice to bring climate change conversations? The social part of it, psychological part of it. Bringing art based form to help bring people together through, performances, story telling, visual arts.
Earth Week 2023 : Politics
Happy earth month my dear listeners.
In this season, we will go through the journey together to explore the policies that our dear leaders create or change in order to support our planet. Go deeper into climate change topics, especially research area, including COP27 event that happened in 2022 with my dear friend and a climate change researcher Snighda Nautiyal persuing her PhD at Arizona State University.
In this episode, we continue our conversation with Snigdha about politics of climate change. Discuss the influences in this space, and capacity building.
Earth Week 2023 : COP27
Happy earth month my dear listeners. In this season, I will take you all through a journey of the space where the policies that our dear leaders create or change in order to support our planet, discuss climate change topics, especially research area, including COP27 event that happened in 2022 with my dear friend and a climate change researcher Snighda Nautiyal
We will talk about what is COP 27 in detail. COP27 was the 27th conference happened in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt COP 27 covers number of agenda items such as mitigation, adaptation, capacity building, finance ,loss and damage, technology transfer. There will be negotiations that can happen in this events. Some are closed spaces and others are open where attendees are open to observe.
There are also panels, pavilions, activities going on and these are done by civil societies, NGO’s, businesses which are not part of formal negotiations or decision making area. Here they share best practices, networking.
Path to Happiness : Relationships
Path to happiness series final episode is on relationships. In this episode, we will go over relationships and the main cause how it can impact our happiness levels. For sustained happiness we need to slowly develop awareness, self-awareness and understanding of our own self. To attain that, the best feedback loop is our relationships. Our relationships gives us metrics, the variables that trigger us and how we respond with emotion.
Every interaction triggers an emotion in us. The emotion is dependent on our memory, our bias, our physical exertion levels. The interaction for me has always made me feel happier about it or not happy about it. And that emotion, becomes the driver for the judgement we make. Every-time the thoughts do NOT match our though that is seen as a threat in our mind and we feel challenged.
While the above drives judgement which directly impact our happiness, the second main driver in relationships is the expectations. Interview of Ratan Tata https://youtube.com/shorts/40xpZ8Z4b40?feature=share where he mentions he does not have to react to other peoples concerns. His entire mind is free to focus on "work" and not worry about these dependencies for happiness.
The question is, why should I expect someone else to make me feel happier? who put those thoughts in my mind to expect them from others? does it provide a sustained levels of happiness?
Path to Happiness : Self-discovery
Path to Happiness : Facts
Path to Happiness : Humbleness
You know when you are right about something?
You know the feeling of proud which can potentially slide towards arrogance?
In this episode I will share my realization about arrogance to humbleness in a very practical way and the path to happiness.
When does confidence turns to arrogance?
Listen to this episode to know more.
Path to Happiness : Compassion
Path to Happiness : Minimalism
Can adopting minimalism make you happier?
If so, how?
#72: Laziness, Consistency & Self
Happy May!! So far, one of the best months for me in 2022. Going over all the learnings that came out of laziness, consistency and self. Laziness can be blessing in disguise, I go over how it helped me to sprout a deeply burried intuitive intelligence to develop. Consistency, on the other hand feels more like "forceful action" which I am totally against. This mental model that has transformed helped me to be happy if I am inconsistent. Finally I go over the concept of : self. Self, is no more self when I realized I am just seeing reflections of myself in the world/people around me. Love it or hate this episode? LMK :)
Medium: Soumya Parthasarathy – Medium
Disclaimer: None of the things I share is any type of advice for your health/relationship, they are all based on my own experience.
#71: Sauna, Spring Fatigue, Presence
#70: Caffeine, Squats and Chaos
In this episode, I talk about my experiments with quitting caffeine, doing 100 squats for 7 days and understanding "chaos" in my life and its role in my relationships.
Return of Soul in the Game - 2022 bringing fresh perspective to this podcast. Soul in the game is life with a purpose. In this chaotic world full of social media feeds, an individual mind really only want's to keep at one thing, one that is very serious topic to learn and feel fulfilled. And that is, our own life itself. Therefore, this podcast content covers sustainable practices to keep the life joyful and fulfilled on physical fitness, mental health, relationships and sustenance. If you have any feedback, send it to soulnthegame@gmail.com
#69: Return of Soul in the Game!
Return of Soul in the Game - 2022 bringing fresh perspective to this podcast. Soul in the game is life with a purpose. In this chaotic world full of social media feeds, a individual mind really only want's to keep at one thing, one that is very serious topic to learn and feel fulfilled. And that is, life itself.
Therefore, this podcast content covers sustainable practices to keep the life joyful and fulfilled on physical fitness, mental health, relationships and sustenance. If you have any feedback, connect with me here: https://linktr.ee/soumyaparthasarathy or send it to soulnthegame@gmail.com
#68: Breasts are for? - Part V
Some resources to get breastfeeding help are below.
Website: www.bsim.org.in
India: www.facebook.com/BSIMORG/
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breastfeeding_Support_for_Indian_Mothers
#67: Overprotecting Parenting - Part IV
Continuing the discussion about parenting based on our experience and learning, Kasturi and I talk about overprotective parenting. The episode explores about things that appear as overprotective parenting, any impacts we may have experienced and how we become aware of this.
Resources to learn more about this: https://letgrow.org/
#66: Single Parenting - Part III
#65: Equal Parenting - Part II
Kasturi Karthik is a very passionate advocate of Baby Led Weaning. After becoming mom for the first time 6 years ago, she has dedicated her time to become the voice of the baby by adopting mindful and present parenting frameworks. I talk to her about all these principles and how easy/hard it is to adopt these principles living with extended family who can bring in a lot of traditional models into parenting. In this episode we discuss about equal parenting concepts.
YouTube on Casual Sexism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXn2JNRrFNc
#64: Parenting with Kasturi - Part I
Kasturi Karthik is a very passionate advocate of Baby Led Weaning. After becoming mom for the first time 6 years ago, she has dedicated her time to become the voice of the baby by adopting mindful and present parenting frameworks. I talk to her about all these principles and how easy/hard it is to adopt these principles living with extended family who can bring in a lot of traditional models into parenting. We had fun discussing, hope you have fun listening.
#63: Productivity with Forest
Forest helps AZIPL providing technical support for virtual operations. Forest travels between Kenya and Arizona working in construction, project management, and social entrepreneurship. When not working, you will find Forest hiking at the bottom of the Grand Canyon or high up a mountain cliff rock climbing. Being so productive, Soumya wanted to understand how Forest can manage so many diverse projects without getting overwhelmed. Forest also gives a starter demo of his use of "Notion" tool which he calls it as his second brain. Check out YouTube for video version of this: https://youtu.be/iMX-xmQPPeI
#62: Google Ads with Andy
Andy Black sits in Dublin, Ireland and manages to help businesses to strategically place ads online. He loves helping businesses generate leads using Google Ads and dynamic landing pages. Growing a pay-per-lead agency, courses, memberships, and newsletters. Go check him out on -> StartSellScale.com
#61: Yoga Philosphy with Denisa
Denisa who loves to learn about Eastern philosophy including Bhagavad-Gita, lives in Romania and runs a bakery. Her and I discuss fundamentals of Yoga philosophy in this episode connecting them to real life examples and small decisions we make in our daily lives.
#60: Senior care in US with Ryan
#59: Entreprenuership with Nate
Nate Kadlac is all about design. He has a Newsletter and Podcast called "Plan Your Next" where he shares his design thinking ideas every week. Nate being a minimalist entrepreneur, shares his thought process and how he started his journey. You can subscribe to his Newsletter here: https://planyournext.com/ or learn more about him here: https://www.kadlac.com/
#58: Homebirthing with Shahana
Shahana and Yaseen had their first child 3 months ago. Being first time parents, they went all in for home-birthing. In this podcast, we talk about their beautiful journey towards home-birthing, decision making, researching and having her lovely daughter Iniyaa. They also run a non-profit called PC for Refugees in Tempe, AZ: https://pcsforrefugees.com/
#57: Vegan Mom Maanasi
Maanasi Balakrishnan is one of the purest animal lovers I know of. I have known her for more than 6 years now and she has gone from exploring Veganism to all in to Vegan diet in the past 5 years. They live in China from past 3 years and Maanasi shares her journey going deeper into Veganism along with the challenges, support and discovery their family go through. Her soulful and reflective stories makes it more interesting to listen to her. You can connect with her here: https://www.facebook.com/maanasi.balakrishnan
#56: Craft of sales with Brendan
Brendan Mc Adams loves B2B sales. We can hear his energy, knowledge and soul in this art that he has nurtured from a long time in his career. Brendan just launched his own independent consulting for B2B SaaS sales on April 19th. We talk about his journey, passion and his latest launch. Go here to find him: https://b2bsalescommunity.com/ or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanmcadams
#55: Covid personal impact with Raghava
Raghava Sharma's marriage is in May 2021. His fiancée is in India going through this crisis. While she has recently tested positive for Covid-19, Raghava is anxious, worried and feels helpless for his family back in India. He agreed to talk and share about this, because talking helps and sharing will let others know we are may be feeling the same as others. We support our country, pray for this to be over soon and staying positive!
#54: Hssssnakes with Chuck
Chuck Necker is a regular volunteer at The Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary (PHS). Chuck loves snakes and enjoys taking care of them at PHS. In this episode Chuck and I talk about snakes, why they are important to our eco-system, and what to do if we encounter a snake. PHS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is a Phoenix Valley wide facility that includes a surrender facility, education program, summer camps and rescue and rehabilitation of reptiles in Arizona. Visit https://www.phoenixherp.com/ for visiting hours or event details. On YouTube this is the episode: https://youtu.be/_SjG3uQS0dknva.com/
#53: Eco-Therapy with Judy
A single-mom of 3 boys, Judy Barreto used to run "Spondeo Montessori" in Giblert AZ. She is deeply devoted to children's learning and worked very closely in structuring the school in an environmentally friendly way. Now, Judy has just started her journey in Eco-Therapy and I wanted to learn all about that. We talk to her about her journey from being the owner of a Montessori, to Mom and transitioning to Eco-Therapy.
#52: Climate Change with Snigdha
Snigdha Nautiyal is a Climate Change researcher at Arizona State University - School of Sustainability. In this episode we discuss about Climate Change, mental health and cats! This episode covers my good friend's academia perspective and research side about all the news we hear about Climate Crisis. It is not all bad news, there are some actionable items and good news too :)
#51: Our Planet with Doug
#50: Online teaching with Miss Maki
This is the final episode for Women's History Month. To recap, we had 5 episodes for March, 4 of them talking about Yoga teaching, working remotely, design thinking, and teaching online to kids.
#49: Design thinking with Soleil
In this episode, we will meet a Design Thinker, product developer who is living in Zürich, Switzerland. Soleil not only enjoys building products applying design thinking methodologies, she is a plant lady with close to 150 plans inside her home and much more. I had lot of fun chatting with her, hope you have fun listening!
#48 Do you PMDD?
#47: Remotely Working with Marissa
Listen and enjoy.
#46 : Healing sounds with Barb
Barb has transitioned from being an air-hostess to IT Project Manager to sound-healing yoga teacher. We talk about her journey from Slovenia to Canada in our podcast. You can find more about Barb and her work here: https://www.instagram.com/yogawithbarb/
This podcast is dedicated to Women's history month 2021.
#45: Yoga Philosophy with Steven
Hey listeners, in this episode we go deep into Yoga philosophy with Steven Urban. He shares his honest life experiences and how Yoga helped him to manage those difficult emotions in the process. Listen and enjoy!
#44: Yoga - My head Stand Journey
When I was focused on aasana part more before, I decided to perfectly learn headstand or sheershasaana. It is one of the intermediate to advanced aasanas. In this episode I talk about the technique I used to learn this headstand. If you have a personal story, please share with me and I will mention that in my next episode. Enjoy listening!
#43: Teaching Yoga with Tiana
In this episode we go over what it is to go through teacher training program during pandemic and online. I have conversation with ASL and English Intrepreter Tiana Boskovich. Enjoy!
#42: Warm-up for Yoga
Did you know, we need to do warmups even for gentle Yoga stretches. Over the years I have practiced Yoga, I have also injured my body when I have not done warm ups. I have realized it when I changed my practice or went to a different teacher. This episode, I share my perspective on that.
#41: Yoga journey with Praveen
#40: Yoga Journey
As I started my yoga teacher training program starting this year, I am excited to go deeper into yoga practice and share what I am learning with others. This is the first episode in this series of yoga. Enjoy!