Surabhi Veitch and Joanne Ukposidolo have a dynamic conversation on how to become a better and more successful pelvic floor physiotherapist, while respecting shared decision making, cultural humility and embracing your own identity.

We discuss:

1. Creating a space where you and your Type A clients can release the pressure and stress of the day

2. The role of the physiotherapy as a partnership and creating an environment where clients want to participate in their rehab

3. Empowering clients as the custodian of their own care

4. Getting better at understanding client’s goals, identity and culture in order to better treat them

5. The importance of hearing people out and validating their concerns as a pelvic health physiotherapist

6. Cultural competence vs cultural humility

7. Understanding body shame and body confidence as a woman treading across multiple cultures

8. The hypervisibility and hyperinvisibility of being a visible minority (terms by Stephanie Lurch)

9. Embracing your culture, identity and parts that “stand out”

10. The importance of knowing yourself and respecting your own boundaries - “once you understand why something is important to you, nothing can touch you at that point”

11. The importance of critical thinking as a healthcare professional

12. Understanding how race and technology/AI can impact pain management and birth outcomes

13. Why it is crucial for healthcare professionals to take care of themselves in order to provide better client care

Parenting as a brown woman in the west, dealing with racial triggers and intergenerational healing.

Surabhi Veitch chats with Divya Kumar, an Asian-American licensed psychotherapist. Divya specializes in perinatal mental health, trauma, and the life transitions related to pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. Surabhi and Divya discuss parenting and the challenges of being a South Asian parent within Western society. Join the conversation as Divya explains how to manage your triggers when it comes to parenting and explores how race and culture impacts parenting.

We discuss:

1. Forming Identity as an Immigrant

2. Sacrifice as a Parent

3. Intergenerational Healing

4. Strategies for Self Awareness

5. Dealing With Your Own Trauma & Triggers

6. Living in a White World

7. Cultural Appropriation

8. South Asian Food

9. The Namesake

Join Surabhi Veitch as she sits down with Dr Nidhi Sharma. Nidhi is a pelvic physiotherapist in NYC with 15 years of experience, and is a board-certified women’s health and orthopaedic specialist in New York. Tune in as they discuss the journey into motherhood, Nidhi’s identity crisis as an immigrant and find out what Nidhi says is the most important thing to do before becoming a parent.

We discuss:

1. Nidhi's Journey into Pelvic Physiotherapy

2. Transitioning from Pregnancy to Motherhood

3. Moving to the USA from India

4. Finding Community Away From Home

5. Maternity Benefits & Support in the US

6. Postpartum Depression & High Maternal Death Rates in the US

7. Mat Leave in India

8. How Motherhood Changes a Person

9. Patient Advocacy

Surabhi interviews Jesal Parikh on the yoga, compassion, couples therapy, parenting and ways to unlearn cultural appropriation prevalent in the yoga industry.

We discuss cultural appropriation of yoga and South Asian culture, spirituality in yoga, racism, power imbalance and pregnancy and gestational diabetes. Learn about Jesal co-hosting the Yoga is Dead podcast.

Surabhi Veitch discusses the topic of shame surrounding pleasure and sex. The shame people feel when discussing sex is not uncommon and is often a result of societal taboos and cultural upbringings. I share my own experiences growing up in an Indian household where the topic of sex was never discussed and how I was shamed by one of my first boyfriends.

Join me to Reclaim your Pleasure on Feb 23/23 for 60-minutes of breathwork, visualization and movement to unleash the pleasure within you! https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca/reclaim-your-pleasure-workshop

Key points:
—The topic of sex and pleasure is still considered taboo and awkward in many households around the world.
—The shame that people feel when talking about sex and pleasure is not uncommon and is often a result of upbringing and cultural values.
—Many people struggle to comfortably use the proper names for body parts related to sex and pleasure.
—The lack of open and appropriate education about sex and pleasure contributes to the shame and discomfort people feel.
—The first step in dismantling shame around sex and pleasure is to educate ourselves and our children about the proper names for body parts and to talk about sex and pleasure openly.

I’m offering a workshop on February 23rd, 2023 at 8:30 PM Eastern Time to help you reclaim your pleasure. Early bird registration is open now and there is a replay available.

Come and join this conversation where Anika Dhalla shares her passion for advocating for clients to find their freedom with food and ditch diet mentality. Anika and I discuss her experience with diet culture growing up as the only Indian family within a rural Canadian community, how diet culture impacts various communities around the world, how fat or weight doesn’t give you the whole picture, why decolonizing your food is important, and why genetics needs to be considered in chronic conditions like diabetes.

Come join this conversation with Chana Henche Ross as we discuss:

pressures to bounceback, as healthcare professionals working with pregnant and postpartum people

being a huge supporter of women and elevating others around her

running a business as a mom of 4

stepping into the name that you are given and the importance of pronouncing your name properly

the overwhelm of being a mother and taking up time for self-care, even when you know it’s so important to you

thinking about our thinking and where our beliefs come from

Come join this conversation with Melissa Venturuzzo as we discuss how to navigate postpartum when your labour and birth didn’t go the way you planned, breastfeeding struggles, getting the wrong advice, dealing with prolapse postpartum, and the difficulty in getting a pessary. We also talk about the importance of carving out time for self-care as a mother.

Aliya Dhalla and Surabhi Veitch discuss the #1 tip to overcoming prolapse, the mental and psychosocial components of prolapse, and shame around prolapse.

We also have a great discussion on martyrdom in motherhood in South Asian and many other communities, people-pleasing behaviours, defining our own identities as mothers, ditching mom guilt, and the journey to practicing self-care.

Come join this conversation with Reena Parekh as we discuss fitness, mental health, and navigating returning to training and lifting after prolapse. We discuss the importance of cultivating community and cultural considerations that can impact returning to exercise, including diet culture.