LIFEFORCE

Founder and Executive Director of Climate Healers, Dr. Sailesh Rao, shows us how - through the study of ancient texts - we can transform ourselves from the voracious consumers we’ve evolved to as homo sapiens into our next evolution as “homo ahimsa,” catalysts and caretakers of a sustainable planet.

"At what cost are you going to keep going with these old ways of thinking?" Licensed Professional Counselor Sandhya Sharma speaks about mental health and recovery of the self. As South Asians in America and in other communities in the West, how do systemic inequalities, racism, micro-aggressions, and white idealism impact our perceptions of ourselves, our mental health, our families and their values, and ultimately how we define our worth? This episode features special guest Devi Kumar, who shares her own powerful story of overcoming anxiety and depression to reclaim her authentic self. 

This episode of LIFEFORCE is brought to you by TSB Victory, not affiliated with any candidate or candidate's committee. TSB stands for They See Blue, a grassroots organization that mobilizes and engages Americans of South Asian origin in the democratic process. Make sure to check out theyseeblue.com.

Canadian filmmaker and television personality Asis Sethi and Canadian Crown Prosecutor and writer/producer Armin Sethi speak about the often-hushed issues of menstruation, stillbirth, and postpartum depression. Their live-action short film on menstruation titled ‘A Bloody Mess’ won a REMI Award at the 53rd WorldFest – Houston International Film Festival and is being screened at over 24 film festivals worldwide. 

International speaker, mentor, author, healer, and creator of the Healing Parents Knowledge, Hannah Pilnick shares the Ten Pillars of Healing and the Seven Secrets of Healing: deep knowledge and practical tools you can take into your life today to heal yourself and those you love. “The solution for children’s suffering is hidden in their parents,” Hannah says, meaning that we hold the key to our children’s healing as well as to our own. Join me for a lesson in unlocking your human powers.

TV producer, founder of South Asian Women in Entertainment, co-founder of South Asians in Entertainment, Bhavani Rao spills the tea on the importance of creating family and on building community amongst a global network of artists, activists, and industry leaders. "Run with the pack that you vibrate with; run with the pack that you want to vibrate with." 

Singer-songwriter-actress-poet Monica Dogra has been labeled one of the “50 most influential Women” by Elle Magazine for her work in defining the independent music scene in India and her power as a woman, creator, and truth-teller. She has toured the world with her band Shaa’ir and Func, and now as a solo artist, she is charting a bold, new path. She speaks about embracing life with a "secret sauce" -  the title of Monica's latest hit song and also what she describes as “someone whose blood courses through their veins with the pursuit of finding vibrant lifeforce in everyday, all the time.”

Internationally-award-winning humanitarian and recording artist Emmanuel Jal was recruited as a child soldier at age 8 to fight a war in Sudan. He  now speaks and performs around the world, spreading a message of peace, reconciliation, and self-empowerment through his program My Life Is Art. “I turn my eyes into me,” Emmanuel Jal says of his journey to wholeness, joy, and life of miracles. Turn your eyes into you, and find your way too.

Tony-winning Broadway financier/producer of Mel Brooks' The Producers, A Raisin in the Sun, The Addams Family, Green Day's American Idiot, and currently a production based on Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill, and also NYT’s bestselling author of “The Fifth Beatle,” Vivek Tiwary talks about finding a passion, working for yourself, and reframing the idea of failure. "No dream is too impossible, and no person too unlikely to realize that dream."

Musician Vijay Iyer was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album in 2010 for his album, Historicity. His 2017 album, Far From Over, was cited by Rolling Stone as “2017’s jazz album to beat.” He is a MacArthur Fellow and professor at Harvard University. Iyer, however, does not call himself a jazz musician but a creative musician, a term he says that, “has been in circulation for more than fifty years” and was “made up by Black musicians...[who] have resisted the racial tag in their music because they want to assert that their music can mean something to anyone, and they want to define the terms in which that happens. That’s the history and the legacy that I’m the beneficiary of.”

Twenty years ago, Urmi Basu walked into the red-light district of Kolkata, India, witnessing the plight of the most vulnerable members of our society, the children of women trapped in the sex industry, the transgendered community, and the children of the Dalit community. Starting with nothing but $200 in her pocket and a desire to change the injustices she saw, she has brought her courageous light to an entire community. This is her story, and the story of New Light in India.

"What I told them was my life would have been exactly like yours if I did not have the opportunities and the education so that is going to be the pivotal point that can create a completely different trajectory for your children."