This week Cat chats with Zaina Budayr (she/her), the founder of Electric Culture and a New York City-based meditation and yoga teacher. Her passion is helping people in major cityscapes learn nurturing practices that can become tools to manage the stressors of every day life. She is driven to help local communities find tangible tools to use in the processing of trauma and grief. By merging her background in the fashion and branding industries alongside her current work in the mental health field, Zaina brings Electric Culture to life by amplifying the voices of women everywhere that have suffered in silence with their experience of digital abuse.

Digital Abuse is the use of technologies such as texting and social networking to bully, harass, stalk or intimidate a partner. Often this behavior is a form of verbal or emotional abuse perpetrated online.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What is digital abuse?

• Zaina’s personal experience with digital abuse 

• The mental affects of digital abuse/relationship abuse 

• The limited resources and protections for those who are victim to this form of verbal/emotional abuse

Important Note:

If you or someone you know is experiencing any form of relationship abuse there are resources like loveisrespect.org. Offering confidential support for teens, young adults, and their loved ones seeking help, resources, or information related to healthy relationships and dating abuse in the US. They are available 24/7 by text (“LOVEIS” to 22522), call (866.331.9474), or live chat online.

You can find Zaina here: @_yogaplant | @electric__culture | electric-culture.com

Please support Zaina’s foundation of choice: Mauj is a foundation developed by a group of Arab women who wanted to break free from misinformation, shame, and stigma surrounding the female body. Mauj is a resource for education and a judgement-free space for women to learn about, explore, and discuss their sexual and reproductive health, wherever they are on their journey.