Podcasts about pots

This week, David Maxwell heads to Hillsborough Castle where thousands of daffodils are in bloom. Head gardener, Claire Woods explains how this versatile spring bulb can be grown in containers, borders and lawns. Nearby, enthusiast Richard McCaw has been growing and showing daffodils since 1989. He shows David where his new varieties begin life in a little plot of land behind his home. At Laurelbank Farm in County Down, Jo Facer is bringing in the harvest. It's something she does on her market garden 52 weeks of the year. Jo reveals two crops that are well worth the effort - beetroot and kale. Ann FitzSimons will join David in studio to answer questions and provide some seasonal inspiration. Contact the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

When living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and hypermobility disorders, medications alone rarely resolve all the symptoms. In this episode of Bendy Bodies, Dr. Linda Bluestein is joined by Dr. Ina Stephens, integrative medicine specialist and Associate Medical Director of the UVA Health EDS and Hypermobility Disorders Center, for a wide-ranging conversation about how lifestyle medicine, nervous system regulation, and whole-body care can dramatically influence outcomes for people with connective tissue disorders.Dr. Stephens explains how her background in infectious disease, vaccinology, and complex care led her to recognize patterns across seemingly unrelated symptoms and why listening deeply to patients often reveals the underlying problem. The discussion explores how nutrition, gut health, vagal nerve tone, sleep quality, and gradual strength building all influence inflammation, fatigue, and autonomic dysfunction in EDS.The episode also dives into the science of the microbiome, why small lifestyle shifts can produce meaningful physiologic change, and how integrative medicine expands the treatment toolbox beyond traditional Western approaches. For patients navigating complex symptoms, and clinicians caring for them, this conversation offers a thoughtful reminder that healing often happens through steady, strategic steps rather than quick fixes. Takeaways: There is rarely a single “magic” treatment for EDS, POTS, or MCAS.  Progress usually comes from strategic sequencing. Overtreating symptoms without addressing underlying patterns can create long-term setbacks. Physical therapy must be individualized in hypermobility, with an emphasis on pacing and trust. Shared decision-making improves outcomes, especially when treatment goals align with what brings the patient meaning and quality of life. Minimally disruptive medicine matters, reducing cognitive, financial, and physical treatment burden is part of effective care. Want to learn more about the UVA EDS Center? For Appointments and Questions: RUVAEDSCenter@uvahealth.org UVA EDS: https://www.uvahealth.com/healthy-practice/advancing-care-through-ehlers-danlos-clinic UVA EDS FAQ: https://www.uvahealth.com/support/eds/faq UVA Pediatric Integrative Medicine: https://childrens.uvahealth.com/specialties/integrative-health Want more Dr. Linda Bluestein, MD? Website: https://www.hypermobilitymd.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bendybodiespodcast Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/BendyBodiesPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/BluesteinLinda⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hypermobilitymd.substack.com/ Shop my Amazon store ⁠⁠⁠ https://www.amazon.com/shop/hypermobilitymd Dr. Bluestein's Recommended Herbs, Supplements and Care Necessities: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/hypermobilitymd/store-start Thank YOU so much for tuning in. We hope you found this episode informative, inspiring, useful, validating, and enjoyable. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to level up your knowledge about hypermobility disorders and the people who have them. Join YOUR Bendy Bodies community at ⁠⁠https://www.bendybodiespodcast.com/⁠⁠. YOUR bendy body is our highest priority!⁠⁠ Learn more about Human Content at ⁠⁠⁠http://www.human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Podcast Advertising/Business Inquiries: ⁠⁠⁠sales@human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Part of the Human Content Podcast Network FTC: This video is not sponsored. Links are commissionable, meaning I may earn commission from purchases made through links Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Folks, I'm joined by the amazing Chandler Dean and Andy Our Brother. These guys asked me to have them on to promote their awesome show, ABOLISH EVERYTHING, a fantastic panel improv show that I think many of you will enjoy :) Please follow in Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abolisheverythingnyc/And watch on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/abolish(0:00) - Banter(16:24) - Andy's classic game, r/improv or r/drugs(25:37) - AITA for changing the locks after my brother's GF used my shower?(33:18) - AITA for being frustrated I can't use the dishwasher bc it's filled with pots?(44:46) - AITA for not wanting to share my username on a book app with my GF?(52:12) - AITA for being a horse? (BEST way to Submit a sitch or comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/AITApod/Email - amitheahole@gmail.com Join Patreon! https://patreon.com/aitapodWhat's on Patreon?- 250+ Bonus eps- NO ADS and accurate timestamps- Complain and comment DIRECTLY to Danny :D TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@aitapodInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/aita_pod/

Welcome to Resiliency Radio with Dr. Jill Carnahan, where today's episode revisits one of the most complex and misunderstood areas in integrative medicine: toxic mold illness and the highly sensitive patient. Dr. Jill is joined by renowned functional medicine pioneer Dr. Neil Nathan, author of Toxic: Heal Your Body and The Sensitive Patient's Healing Guide, for a powerful and deeply insightful conversation on environmental toxins, limbic dysfunction, mast cell activation, and healing chronic inflammatory illness. In this episode, Dr. Jill Carnahan and Dr. Nathan explore why many highly sensitive individuals struggle with conventional detox protocols—and how healing requires safety, precision, and a stepwise approach. This discussion offers both clinicians and patients a roadmap for navigating mold illness, nervous system overload, and sensitivity syndromes with greater clarity and compassion. ✨ Like, subscribe, and share to help more sensitive patients find safe and effective pathways to recovery.

Dr. Lisa Sanders on Diagnosis, Cognitive Bias, and Making Time to ListenChristine interviews Dr. Lisa Sanders, Yale School of Medicine professor and Medical Director of Yale's Long COVID Multidisciplinary Care Center, known for the New York Times “Diagnosis” column and consulting on House. Sanders describes switching from Emmy-winning CBS News producer to physician after seeing a sports medicine doctor perform CPR and save a drowning woman, and realizing she wanted to save lives. She discusses avoiding diagnostic cognitive bias by staying aware you can be wrong, keeping a differential diagnosis, and “trust but verify,” sharing a case where she accepted a patient's self-reported POTS diagnosis and later found hyperthyroidism. Sanders argues diagnostic errors often stem from rushed visits and urges physicians to demand more time, noting she secured hour-long new-patient visits and 30-minute follow-ups. She addresses patients not being believed, especially with post-infectious syndromes like long COVID, POTS, MECFS, and fatigue, and advises support for non-linear career paths.00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro01:00 From TV News to Medicine01:31 The CPR Moment That Changed Everything03:42 Fighting Diagnostic Bias04:45 Trust but Verify POTS Mix Up06:49 Reclaiming Time With Patients10:45 Why Patients Aren't Believed12:11 Fatigue and Post Infectious Syndromes13:45 Advice for Nonlinear Careers14:43 Final Thoughts and Farewell

Your fave is back for round two! Dr. Charlie Fagenholz is back to break down why so many people are told they're “fine” when they feel anything but. We dive into POTS, autoimmune disease, PANDAS, MCAS, histamine intolerance, anxiety, UTIs, and what glyphosate may be stripping from the body. We also get into frequency medicine—and why thousands of people are on a waitlist to see him.Thank you to our sponsors!GEVITI: Use code ALEX to get 20% off your first purchase.A'DEL NATURAL COSMETICS: Use code ALEX for 25% off first-time orders.CALIFORNIA MOBILE ACUPUNCTURE:Scottsdale location: https://californiamobileacu.com/location-scottsdale-az/JASPR: Use code ALEX to get $400 off your purchase.TECH WELLNESS: Use code ALEX for 15% off EMF-Free Air Tube Headphones.ZEBRA: Use code ALEX for 10% off any order.Our Guest:Dr. Charlie Fagenholz, DC, CPCRA, QNCP, FIAMADr. Charlie's Links:Instagram: DR. CHARLIEWebsite: DR. CHARLIEPodcast: RED PILL YOUR HEALTHCAST

Brian and Naomi Menkis are husband and wife potters who make wheel thrown, functional, and beautiful forms for daily enjoyment. Firing in both oxidation and wood/soda kilns they explore the receptivity of clay to the mark of the potter – from its ability to take the subtlest impression of a delicate flower to the way it records the path of a flame through the kiln. https://ThePottersCast.com/1209

  It's 2026, and it's time for a new cellular telephone hype cycle: 6G! Doug Dawson from CCG joins Russ and Tom to talk about why 5G is really 4.5G, the proposed changes for 6G, and the challenges higher frequency ranges and bandwidths face in the real world.   It's definitely worth following Doug's daily post about the telecom and wireless worlds over at Pots and Pans.

Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, interviewed Dayton Turner, VP of Solutions Engineering, and Chris Burgy, SVP of Corporate Development at Ooma, to discuss the accelerating transition away from legacy copper lines and the growing opportunity for partners to address the POTS replacement market. The discussion focused on the ongoing retirement of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the operational challenges organizations face as they migrate critical services from traditional analog lines to modern connectivity solutions. Turner explained that many businesses still depend on POTS lines for applications such as elevators, alarm systems, fire panels, and point-of-sale terminals—systems that were originally designed around the reliability of copper infrastructure. As telecom providers continue phasing out these legacy networks, organizations must identify alternative technologies that maintain reliability while supporting modern connectivity requirements. Burgy emphasized that the transition represents a significant opportunity for channel partners and service providers. Many enterprises and small businesses are only beginning to understand the scope of the copper shutdown and the operational impact it will have on their infrastructure. This creates demand for partners who can evaluate existing deployments, recommend migration strategies, and implement replacement solutions that ensure continuity of critical services. The conversation also highlighted how wireless and IP-based solutions are increasingly being deployed to replace traditional analog lines. These technologies enable businesses to maintain connectivity for essential systems without the limitations of legacy copper infrastructure, while also improving manageability and scalability. For partners, the key is combining technical expertise with proactive engagement to help customers navigate the transition before service disruptions occur. Ultimately, Turner and Burgy stressed that the copper sunset is not simply a network upgrade—it is a structural shift in telecommunications infrastructure. Organizations that begin planning now will be better positioned to maintain operational resilience, while partners who guide customers through the migration will play a critical role in the next phase of enterprise communications. Visit https://www.ooma.com/

Have you ever felt guilty looking at the pile of plastic containers after potting up all your annuals every spring? Do you often keep all those packages, trying to find alternative uses to give them a second life? While modern packaging has come a long way from the OG Styrofoam clamshells, the greenhouse industry is continuing to pave the way to sustainability. In this week's episode of The Helpful Gardeners, we're diving into the “Sustainability Wrap”—a movement that's changing how plants are packaged and sold. From biodegradable wraps to compostable containers, we're here for it.Mentioned in this episode: Lessons in a ‘Great Depression' Garden CONNECT WITH US Show Notes | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.goldenacre.ca/podcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thehelpfulgardenerspod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Leave us a Voice Note: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.goldenacre.ca/podcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SPONSORED BY GOLDEN ACRE HOME & GARDEN Golden Acre Home & Garden is open 362 a year for all your home and garden needs. Head online or visit us in store in Calgary, AB.  ⁠www.goldenacre.ca⁠  CREDITS Hosted by: Brandi Warren & Colin Hayles Voiceover by: Kaelan Shimp⁠⁠ Music by: Forestmusic 

There is no magic treatment for Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, POTS, or mast cell activation disorders, but there is strategy. In this episode of Bendy Bodies, Dr. Linda Bluestein is joined by Dacre Knight, MD, founding Medical Director of the UVA Health EDS and Hypermobility Disorders Center, for a practical and deeply thoughtful conversation about how complex chronic conditions should actually be treated. Rather than chasing quick fixes, Dr. Bluestein and Dr. Knight explore sequencing. What to address first when everything is flaring, how to balance short-term symptom relief with long-term sustainability, and why overtreatment can sometimes cause more harm than good. They discuss the pitfalls of siloed care, the insurance barriers that complicate physical therapy, and the importance of starting low, going slow, and minimizing treatment burden. The episode also tackles difficult but essential questions: What does “getting better” really mean in lifelong connective tissue disorders? How do clinicians avoid reactionary prescribing? And how can patients recognize the difference between a thoughtful care plan and a rushed one? Takeaways: There is rarely a single “magic” treatment for EDS, POTS, or MCAS—progress usually comes from strategic sequencing. Overtreating symptoms without addressing underlying patterns can create long-term setbacks. Physical therapy must be individualized in hypermobility, with an emphasis on pacing and trust. Shared decision-making improves outcomes, especially when treatment goals align with what brings the patient meaning and quality of life. Minimally disruptive medicine matters, reducing cognitive, financial, and physical treatment burden is part of effective care. Find the episode transcript here. Want to learn more about the UVA EDS Center? For Appointments and Questions: RUVAEDSCenter@uvahealth.org UVA EDS: https://www.uvahealth.com/healthy-practice/advancing-care-through-ehlers-danlos-clinic UVA EDS FAQ: https://www.uvahealth.com/support/eds/faq UVA Pediatric Integrative Medicine: https://childrens.uvahealth.com/specialties/integrative-health Want more Dr. Dacre Knight? https://x.com/knidac Want more Dr. Linda Bluestein, MD? Website: https://www.hypermobilitymd.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bendybodiespodcast Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/BendyBodiesPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/BluesteinLinda⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hypermobilitymd.substack.com/ Shop my Amazon store ⁠⁠⁠ https://www.amazon.com/shop/hypermobilitymd Dr. Bluestein's Recommended Herbs, Supplements and Care Necessities: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/hypermobilitymd/store-start Thank YOU so much for tuning in. We hope you found this episode informative, inspiring, useful, validating, and enjoyable. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to level up your knowledge about hypermobility disorders and the people who have them. Join YOUR Bendy Bodies community at ⁠⁠https://www.bendybodiespodcast.com/⁠⁠. YOUR bendy body is our highest priority!⁠⁠ Learn more about Human Content at ⁠⁠⁠http://www.human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Podcast Advertising/Business Inquiries: ⁠⁠⁠sales@human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Part of the Human Content Podcast Network FTC: This video is not sponsored. Links are commissionable, meaning I may earn commission from purchases made through links Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melissa Urban is the co-founder and CEO of Whole30 and a renowned authority on helping people create lifelong healthy habits. She is an eight-time New York Times bestselling author whose books have sold millions of copies worldwide. Melissa has been featured by major outlets like the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, People, Forbes, Good Morning America, and CNBC. Beyond her work in nutrition and wellness, she is a prominent keynote speaker on health, boundaries, community building, and entrepreneurship. Melissa lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is an active voice in the concussion community, sharing her personal experience to help others feel less alone.Episode SummaryIn this episode of the Concussion Coach Podcast, host Bethany Lewis sits down with Melissa Urban for an honest and in-depth conversation about her experience with a concussion and the years-long recovery journey that followed.Melissa shares the story of her injury in December 2018—a hit to the head during a seemingly-innocuous game of laser tag. She describes the confusing onset of symptoms, from irritability and vision problems to an unfamiliar anxiety that culminated in a terrifying panic attack. Melissa opens up about the isolating nature of her symptoms, the strain it put on her relationships, and the challenge of navigating work and motherhood while dealing with an invisible injury.With the help of a specialized physical therapy team that reached out to her, Melissa was able to get a proper diagnosis and targeted treatment. She discusses the various therapies she underwent, including work on primitive reflexes, vision training, and treatment for a POTS-like nervous system dysregulation. Melissa also shares the unexpected ways her injury affected her relationship with food and exercise, and how she navigated the emotional journey of redefining her self-worth when her identity as an "active person" was temporarily stripped away. She offers invaluable advice on self-advocacy, trusting your own experience, and finding hope during setbacks, emphasizing that while her journey was long, there is more help and hope available now than ever before.Resources and Contact Information MentionedThis list compiles all the resources, tools, and contacts Melissa Urban discussed during the interview.Melissa's Personal Links:Website: melissau.comInstagram: @melissauHer Concussion Story (Part 1): https://blog.melissau.com/p/my-concussion-story-part-1Melissa's podcast episodes she mentioned:The Work of Byron KatieCold Showers with Ed SheeranTreatments, Therapies, and Tools:Specialized Physical Therapy: Melissa stressed the importance of finding a physical or occupational therapist specializing in TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). Her team was affiliated with Park City Hospital in Utah and had experience working with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team.Primitive Reflex Integration: Therapy focused on re-integrating primitive reflexes that can re-emerge after a head injury.Vision Therapy: Exercises to improve eye coordination and brain-eye connection, including the use of a Brock string.Cold Exposure (Cold Showers): Melissa found cold showers to be a "magic pill" for her symptoms. She used them as a tool to train her nervous system to remain calm under stress.Irlen Screening: A vision screening that uses colored overlays to help with visual stress and perception. Melissa mentioned a translucent lilac shade was helpful for her reading.Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT): Melissa tried this at a local wellness clinic and found it helpful for acute symptom relief, though she noted it was expensive and time-consuming.Loop Earplugs: She used these to dull overwhelming auditory input in places like airports and grocery stores.Environmental Modifications: Melissa emphasized using sunglasses and blue-light-blocking glasses, and avoiding fluorescent or big overhead lights whenever possible.

On this episode of National Disability Radio, we sit down with award-winning recording artist, advocate, and author Lachi for a powerful conversation about disability pride, music, and unmasking. Lachi shares her journey, from navigating the music industry as a blind artist, to founding RAMPD, a coalition amplifying disability culture across the industry. We talk about what it means to say “I identify as blind,” move beyond the medical and social models of disability into a cultural model rooted in identity and joy, and remind listeners that no one can defeat someone who hasn't given up. From glam canes to Grammy stages, this episode is about claiming space, rejecting internalized ableism, and turning perceived flaws into flexes. Transcript: Alden Blevins: It’s Lachi? I feel very- Lachi: Lachi like Versace. Alden Blevins: Lachi like… Oh, I love that. Michelle Bishop: That is the best way to explain it. Lachi: I mean, but you know what I’m saying? Come on. Alden Blevins: Well, we’re really excited about having you today because we’re all music lovers in this group here. Michelle Bishop: Yes. Alden Blevins: We talk about music all the time. Michelle Bishop: So much. Lachi: Good, good, good, good, good, good, good. I’m in the right place. Michelle Bishop: Hi everyone. Welcome back to National Disability Radio, the official podcast of the National Disability Rights Network. I am Michelle Bishop, 1/3 of your podcast hosting team. Stephanie Flynt McEben: And I’m Stephanie Flynt McEben, public policy analyst here at NDRN. Alden Blevins: I am Alden. I am a communication specialist at NDRN and I am so excited today, like I mentioned, we’re all lovers of music, so we got a guest that I’m really excited about. Lachi is an award-winning recording artist and a recording Academy Grammy’s national trustee. She’s also a disability advocate who’s been breaking barriers in the music industry and beyond. She’s the founder of RAMPD, which by the way, is such a fun play name. I really love that. And the author of the upcoming book, I Identify as Blind. So without further ado, Michelle, you’ve got some questions to kick us off, I think. Michelle Bishop: Yes. We’re so excited to have you with us. As Alden said, we are. We’re huge music lovers. I’m pretty sure we spend most of our meetings where we allegedly plan this podcast just talking about music. So you’re absolutely in the right place today, but to get us started, I mean, you’ve been open about the fact, and I’m just really interested in this as a disability rights podcast. You’ve been really open about the fact that it took you some time to really embrace your identity as a blind and disabled woman, especially in the industry that you’re in that often really rewards conformity. Can you tell us a little bit more about that journey for you, both as an artist and as someone navigating just the world with a disability? Lachi: Okay. Yeah, for sure. Hey, everybody. Lachi here, Lachi like Versace. I am a Black woman with cornrows, chilling here in New York in my studio. I also identify as blind, I identify as neurodivergent, and I identify as an Aries. So do with that what you will. Michelle Bishop: All the important points right there. Lachi: All the important points like name, age, sign. Thank you. Okay. Yeah, but I’m really glad to be here. And thank you for that question, and thank you for having me. So music has always been a very integral part of my life of growing up. Where other babies would kick in the womb, when she was pregnant with me, I was playing the piano in the womb. I don’t know how she got a piano in there, but she’s not a liar, so I’m going to take her word for it. When I was super-duper young, I didn’t really have a lot of friends, especially because of the fact that I had differences and this and that. And so I would take to music to, I guess, understand the world better and have the world understand me better. I just knew how to express myself through song and it just said the things I needed to say. It was the prayer I needed. And because of music, I started to find confidence in how to speak and how to behave and how to act. And as I got older, when I was growing up, disability was not necessarily a thing people talked about a lot in schools and teachers didn’t know what to do. My parents didn’t really know what to do. And so I would always just turn to music. It’s actually right now I’m working on a children’s album because I think that kids need to hear music that has to do with disability and neurodivergence, as well as their parents as they grow up. When I got into college, I started wanting to do music, but I studied business and finance because when I told my parents I wanted to do music, they were like, “That’s not how you spell doctor.” because they are Nigerian immigrants and everybody else in my family went to either med school and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, “No, I want to do music.” But I did get a day job after school, after college, and didn’t love it because this girl is not going to exist behind a desk. So I ended up going to South by Southwest and I got signed actually from playing the guitar at a hole in the wall spot that nobody was at, except for this A&R apparently. So we got signed to an imprint under EMI, which was a major label back then, and we started touring and music then became my life. Now today, why wouldn’t I pay my respects back to music? I mean, it’s because of music that I was able to really lean into who I am, my disability, my confidence, et cetera. So because of that, because of how much music has given to me in my life, I’m here using music to give back to other people with disabilities. Now, your question was essentially, how do you sit here and try to bring about change for disability in an industry that is not only about conformity, but also about like, “Hey, pick me to exploit.” is essentially what the music industry is. You’re raising your hand to be exploited and that’s what kind of authenticity is that? But at the end of the day, music is some of the truest forms of storytelling. And I think to myself, just the way that hip hop has amplified Black culture and the way that country music has amplified rural culture and the way that different global musics have represented different global cultures. I want to use music to amplify disability culture. I want to use music to amplify disability stories and feelings that are difficult to put words to, that are words of the soul, which is essentially what music is. And so I started going to studios and realizing things weren’t as accessible as they should be. I started speaking with organizations and realizing things weren’t as inclusive as they should be. And the response I kept getting was like, “Oh, well, there’s nobody with a disability in the music industry, so why would we make these measures?” And so I have made it my life’s goal through RAMPD, which by the way, the best thing we ever accomplished was our acronym, not us working with the Grammys to get sign language on the red carpet, not us getting these partnerships with title, Live Nation, Spotify. I mean, we’ve done so much, not just for artists, but also for professionals. And we’ve started to realize something really interesting with the work we’ve done with RAMPD. We are getting people joining our membership who are director level folks, who are label owners, who are like the big wigs that write the checks, and they’re like, “I’m neurodivergent. I’m actually hard of hearing. I have a TBI.” And so when I originally set out, they said, “We don’t do disability inclusion because nobody’s disabled.” That was three years ago. Now I’m like, not only are there neurodivergent and disabled music professionals out here, but we all are. So really to conclude, it’s just that everyone is navigating trying to make it out in this world, but everyone’s masking. Everyone feels that they have to change some part of themselves to be as close as they can to what success looks like, be as close as they can to what “beauty” looks like, what winning looks like. But really all it is internalized ableism. And I say, as soon as we drop that internalized ableism and we really start to sit in who we truly are and we start to recognize our perceived flaws as flexes, that’s when we truly start to win. And so that’s what we’re finding out with RAMPD, that people are like, “You know what? I’m tired of navigating this difficult industry with the added layer of having to mask.” And so that’s why I do what I do. Michelle Bishop: Yes. And honestly, as ridiculous as it sounds that they say to you, “Oh, there aren’t any people with disabilities.” When I tell you, we see that in everything that we do. I do voting work at NDRN and we’ll have elections officials tell us, “This polling place isn’t accessible, but there aren’t any people with disabilities that vote here.” And it’s like, “What? You realize we’re everywhere and we do all sorts of things.” Maybe the reason they think there’s no people with disabilities here is because they’re stuck outside and they can’t get in because you didn’t make it accessible, just a thought. But I mean, it sounds like coming up against all that is really, correct me if I’m wrong, helped you to develop that identity and that disability pride in the industry. When did you first say, “I identify as blind.” and what did that mean for you? Lachi: Well, so when I first came into really doing the disability thing, really leaning in, I wanted to find out more influencers or thought leaders and such with disabilities. I didn’t really know that many people. This is pre COVID, 2018, 2019, that kind of thing. And so I came across an influencer, her name is Molly Burke, and we’re great friends now, but I didn’t know her back then. I had just seen her tagline and it had said, “I’m Molly Burke and I’m a YouTuber who happens to be blind.” And for some reason I was like, “I don’t know if I love the happens to be blind thing.” I was like, “Well, I’m proud of being blind. Blindness is part of my identity. I don’t just happen to be a woman. I don’t just happen to be a Nigerian. I don’t just happen to be all of the things I am.” And so I would go to… I was touring… We’re always touring and every time I tour and do a show, I do a comedic open where I just introduce myself, I do a quick self-description, et cetera. And in my self-description, I would say, and I don’t just happen to be blind. My blindness is part of my identity, has given me all of the opportunities I have, and it’s really made me a deeper blah, blah, blah. It was just too long. So I had punched it up to be, “My name is Lachi like Versace. She, her, I’m a Black woman with cornrows and I identify as blind.” And the interesting thing about that is people took onto it. They were like, “Oh, that’s cool, nice and punchy.” But whenever I would say it in front of a large crowd or like I’ve said it on interviews or during commercials, I would get this weird, I don’t know, pushback of like, you can’t identify as blind. Blindness is an identity. It’s a medical condition. Or they’ll be like, “Do you read braille or not?” Or they’ll be like, “We don’t want people to think trans blindness is a thing where you just have a blind identity.” And then you can be like, “Well, I’m blind today, so that’s my identity.” And I thought that was really fun. I was like, “Look, everybody’s upset. They’re talking about blindness though.” So I really leaned all the way into it. And I have to say, I am super proud of my disability identity. Was it music that brought me there? I think in a sense and in a way, like today I have a few songs, you guys are music lovers, I have a few songs out that really talk about my disability pride. I think that a lot of the times as we navigate the world, masking our disability, masking our chronic condition, our difference or whatever, we end up overcompensating. We end up building up this really, really thick problem solving muscle or this really, really thick how to get around things muscle and we overcompensate. When we’re finally accommodated, when we finally get to a place where we’re accommodated or we have the tools we need, we’re coming in like bulk as hell. We’re coming in with problem solving muscles. We’re coming in with all of these things that we had to build up because of navigating the world differently, because of every day working through this very difficult maze that is living a life unaccommodated, then when we finally are accommodated, then we are killing it and crushing it. And how could you not be proud of that? How can that not give you a sense of pride? So the songs that I would love for you guys to check out that are mine is I have a song called Life on Hard, which has gone viral several times on Instagram. I’m known as an Instagram rapper, which is like, what? Hello, I do disability advocacy. Look at that stuff. But anyway, so I have a song called Life on Hard, which is essentially about just winning the game of life, playing it on the hardest setting out here while people are still trying to consult the manual. I have another song called Professional, which is oftentimes when I walk on the stage, people see the cane and they’re like, “Aw, she’s going to do a song for us. Is this from Make a Wish Foundation?” And then I bust out these raps or I hop on the piano and I go ape on this piano and then they’re like, “Oh, snap. What? Okay.” And I’m like, “Bro, I’m a professional artist. I’m not object for pity to make you feel good because you felt weird on a Monday and you didn’t feel like getting up for work, but it’s like, she could do it. So can I.” I’m like, “No, I can do it. You most likely probably just can’t.” So that’s what that song’s about. And then there’s The Bag, and The Bag is just essentially like, I’ve been told no so much like, “No, you can’t. No, you’re not good enough. No, we don’t want you.” And I’m like, “You know what? Yes, I am good enough and I deserve everything. So I’m going to throw everything I deserve in the bag, which is everything.” I don’t know. I would not be the person I am if I didn’t love all parts of myself. And that includes my disabilities, that includes my neurodivergences and all of the other wacky, weird body jazz that I bring with me everywhere I go. Michelle Bishop: Lachi, can we maybe, do you and I just FaceTime each other every morning and hype each other up? Stephanie Flynt McEben: I was literally about to say the same thing. I would like in on a true call. Michelle Bishop: I don’t know if you know. Actually, I want to say quickly, I know some of those songs actually from social media, but they’re real. They’re so real. So people haven’t heard music, go check it out. I don’t know if you know one of our co-hosts, Stephanie is blind. You’re speaking directly to her soul right now. Stephanie Flynt McEben: I literally just texted them in our podcast group text and I was like, she’s totally speaking to my soul RN, but of course I don’t want to interrupt anything. Michelle Bishop: No, I know you’re dying to talk to her about the book, Stephanie, and take it away. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Yeah, no, absolutely, for sure. And as somebody who is blind and who also identifies as a blind person and definitely does not identify with the medical model of disability, clearly gotten to more of a social model. But yeah, in terms of going through that journey of accepting all of who you are and everything about yourself, for me, I mean, it took a minute, especially when you’re talking about your experiences as a child and I totally feel that. I was that girl playing the harmonica on the jungle gym by herself. Anyway, this is about you. This is not about me, but I’m just saying that I totally relate to you on a spiritual level. And given that, I would love to know, were there any particular moments when it came to writing the book that were particularly hard or healing? Because I mean, I think that we all know that it’s not always a linear journey. Some days are going to be harder than others. And so would love to get your perspective on that. And I think that our listeners would be interested. Lachi: Yeah, absolutely. The journey for me has been one of constantly unwrapping this amazing gift. I always try to use that as the visual, if you will, of you have this big present and you get to unwrap it and then you just keep getting something cooler inside and then you get to unwrap that and you get something cooler inside and you just keep unwrapping this beautiful gift that is yourself. But you don’t realize that when you first get the box, the amazing stuff that’s going on inside, and it takes time to get to it. So a lot of times growing up, I would kick myself in the butt of, I wish I had come to this when I was so much younger. I wish there were people out there when I was younger, role models that I could look up to when I was eight years old and pointing on the TV and saying like, “Okay, well, I mean, I understand that Ray Charles existed, but that’s not going to…” Stephanie Flynt McEben: Stevie Wonder is here, Ray Charles is here, but we need more of us. Hello. Lachi: We need more of us. Hello. Exactly. And so this time and place where I am right now is where I needed to be for this to work. So I can’t really kick myself in the butt of like, “I wish I had this. I wish I knew this so much earlier. I would’ve been so much further.” That kind of thing. You have to be where you got to be where you need to be. Even right now, this conversation we’re having right now is going to have been necessary for the next thing that is happening in our lives. And just the other day, I was hanging out with Queen Herby, who’s been one of my favorite more modern rappers. I just did a thing with Apl.de.ap. I have done some stuff with Black Caviar. Folks that I’ve looked up to, I’m having the opportunity to Snoop Dogg. I’m having the opportunity to work with these days because of the fact that I am here at the right time now. So when I was writing my book, we were peeling back all the layers. I’m a generally very positive and energetic, social butterfly type of person today. But it’s interesting, I wasn’t always this person and I had to unpack all the layers to get there. One of the biggest things that happens to me, so I’ve always been low vision. So I was born with relatively low vision and it stayed the same throughout my teens and early 20s. But one day I woke up and my sight was just gone. Boom. So the interesting thing is anybody listening would be like, “Oh my God, if I woke up and my sight was gone, I would just die or I would not know what to do. My life would be over.” Stephanie Flynt McEben: Yep. Heard that a million times. Yes. Lachi: But for me, it was weird because I was already low vision, so I was going from level one to the underwater level or whatever. So it wasn’t like that life changing of a thing. I was already using screen readers or Zoom text. I was already doing stuff of that nature. So I wake up blind and I’m just like, “Okay, I guess this is it. This is the day that they told me was coming.” What had ended up happening was my corneas had erupted. And so I went to the doctor and he was like, “You’re going to become completely blind. You’re going to go from this much worse vision than you’ve had to complete blindness over the course of time.” So here you go, here’s a coupon. Bye.” or whatever. So I’m like, all right. So I had decided at that moment that I wanted to start a bucket list. So I was like, okay, what are all the things I’ve always wanted to do before completely going completely blind? So I was like, let me go skydiving, let me go spolunking, let me go meet with people, meet with celebrities and just do all of the things I’ve always wanted to do before I lose my vision. So I went out and I did it. This is still me doing it. This is still me doing it. And so I say that because to people who say if I ever went blind, I would just die. Well, when I went blind, it made me want to live. And that’s what opened me up into being this person that I am today. Stephanie Flynt McEben: That is amazing. I genuinely love that. Lachi: We talk about charity model and propping disabled folks up as tools of pity. We talk about medical model, which is really just waiting around for cure, making the cure the hero. We talk about social model, which is a really good place to live in the sense of things are impairing if they’re not accessible. Society is impairing if it’s not inclusive. But honestly, if I have all of the things, like if I have all my tools, if I have all that I need and if folks are inclusive, then I’m still blind, but I’m not impaired. But I like to go a little step further into what is the cultural model. And so the cultural model is it’s not just a discussion of what society should and shouldn’t do. It’s actually a celebration of what you gain as a person who identifies with their disability or their neurodivergence, the things they need to overcompensate because they’re navigating the world a little differently, leaning into that. So let’s say for instance, deaf culture, sign language, and the fact that folks can have complete discussions outside of what we’re talking about, there is so much deaf pride out in these streets, that is a celebration of culture that comes out of disability. And for me, let’s say for instance, I have ADHD and it powers my one million and counting ideas. I have diagnosed OCD, which helps me carry out all those one million and counting ideas. I have diagnosed general anxiety disorder, which gives me my empathy and my excitement. And then I am blind, which when I have the tools I need, it gives me drive. It keeps me determined, it keeps me focused, and it gives me my dope ass glam canes. There was a girl and her mom, and she came up to me after a show and she was like, “Oh my God, your music was great.” I was like, thank you. She’s like, “Mommy, can I get one of those canes?” And then her mom was like, “Ugh, well, you have to be blind.” And I’m like, “Yeah, girl, you better want to be me.” Stephanie Flynt McEben: Yeah. We drive sticks. Anyway, sorry. Lachi: Yes. You know what? I speak softly and I carry a big old stick. Thank you. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Yes. Amen to that. Exactly. As somebody who considers themself a lifelong disability advocate, I never really thought about it in the sense of going beyond the social into the cultural. So thank you so, so much. We all learn something new every single day on this podcast, but I’d love to know a little bit more about, obviously you were very, very, very good at talking through these experiences in such a way that they are very relatable and easy to understand and that thing. So I’d love to pick your brain about the intended audience of your book. Who did you write it for? Other blind folks? Did you write it for, was it written for multiple audiences? Lachi: Yeah, honestly, I wrote it for the person who is masking. I wrote it for anyone who is tired of… Listen, let me put it like this. Let’s face it, disability is boring, a lot of the time it’s sad and it’s compliancy. We have to go the extra mile to make it fun because the actual truth of it is that the only reason it’s boring, sad, and compliancy is because society has kept it that way through its collective internalized ableism. And so my book is actually a humor book. It’s a pop culture book. It’s a comedy book. In fact, when we were talking to the publisher, it’s like, we should be putting this up against other comedic books, not necessarily disability books because it’s a book. I got so many jokes. I have dad jokes, they’re corny jokes, I have rap bars. I rap in a lot of the book just because I was like, “Hey, this rhymes.” I’m going to say it like a rap. We’re doing the audiobook right now, so I actually get to wrap it, which is really fun. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Oh, that is so cool. Oh my gosh. Lachi: Which is really, really fun. But really, honestly, what the book is what everything I do is it is using joy, soul, pop culture, jokes, humor, fashion, and just a really good time to celebrate disability, as well as community. So what you’ll find in this book is my story through my story, through historical deep dives, through interviews with some really, really cool popular figures and a really big deep dose of disability joy. And so a lot of folks who have disabilities, they will read this book and they’ll be energized. It’ll be like, “This is really great. I’m glad that I finally get to read a book that talks about disability in a positive way.” For blind specific folks, they might relate to a few of my stories because I talk about the day I woke up blind, I talk about when I went skydiving blind, I talk about just some of my interesting blind moments. But then I also talk about how I would go to red carpets and not know how to talk to anybody. So I’m in this amazing room with all these celebrities I can’t see and I’m just sitting on the wall. So I talk about some of the hard times too as well. But at the end of the day, really what the book is is an invitation in for somebody who feels a little different, a little awkward, has to mask, and just needed that invite in to talk about disability in a fun, joyful, celebratory way, to recognize that yes, that thing in you that’s different, that thing in you that society has told you you should view as a weakness and hide, you should be proud of. And I say this to people all the time. I say it in the industry, I say it to all my friends, I say it to anyone who will listen. I say it to my local barista and they come back and they say things like, “Oh my God, I’m so glad you said it that way. It turns out I have a titanium hip and I’ve never told anybody about that.” And that’s the vibe. The vibe is someone who was like, “I really needed this to be said to me this way, and now I am able to step all the way into my disability identity.” Alden Blevins: I love, especially what you said about joy. I feel like for me as an autistic person, my experience in the arts is that it is really a space where people who maybe don’t belong in other spaces or don’t feel like they belong in other spaces or are made to feel like they don’t belong in other spaces. I think that a lot of them really do find a safe space in music, in the arts, in theater. And I just wanted to ask, why do you think the music space is such a special one for you and why do you think it’s a place where other people with disabilities seem to flock together as well? Lachi: I mean, you hit the nail on the head. Counterculture, I mean, music often rewards counterculture. And then it eventually becomes mainstream and then we got to rebel against that. So music is a place where your soul can speak. And I think a lot of the times with disabilities, especially autism for me, I’m ADHD, OCD, a different neurodivergence situation, but a lot of the issue is communication. We don’t know how to say exactly what we need or whoever we’re talking to just doesn’t know how to hear what we’re saying. And so I think that what music does is it allows a soul to speak to a soul. A lot of the times music does this thing where you’ll be listening to a song and you’ll just be like, “That, that right there. That’s what I it me. That’s the thing I’m feeling.” type deal. Music has the ability to do that. And so for me, right now, this children’s album that I’m working on, the kids’ album, which is an album that is essentially R&B, pop, electronic, sort of the genres that I dance in for kids centered on disability and neurodivergence. Because what I want to do is be able to say, “Hey, I want you to point at that and say, that’s me.” And I think the easiest and quickest way to point at something and say, “That’s me also.” has been music. And so it’s why it’s been my strongest medium. Again, it’s not my only medium. I’m talking to folks through the book, I’m talking to folks through fashion, et cetera, et cetera. But again, music has been just the quickest, easiest point A to point B conversation easer, if you will, about disability. Another thing I also love to use is humor and comedy. So I make jokes all the time. They’re all bad. They’re all very not good jokes. I need to probably get a joke writer, but the fact that I’m having such a good time telling the jokes, I think I think is all that really matters. So I think both music and humor are just really, really great spaces for two people to get to relate to something that may be difficult to talk about. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Yo, if you need a joke writer, I’m your girl. I actually do a joke every single episode of this podcast. Michelle Bishop: Her jokes are not better than yours, Lachi. Don’t hire her. Stephanie Flynt McEben: My jokes are pretty bad. They’re worse than dad’s jokes. They’re like granddad jokes. Alden Blevins: Yeah. Stephanie is the queen of the jokes on our podcast. She always brings one through. Didn’t know that you were working on a children’s music album, and I think that’s really interesting. I actually used to be a teacher, so children’s music is something that’s near and dear to my heart. So I just wanted to ask, what would you want to tell to younger people with disabilities, younger disabled creatives about claiming space and being able to tell their own stories? Lachi: Well, one thing that I heard from someone else, I don’t remember who it was. I think it was- Michelle Bishop: Jordan? Lachi: Yes, Jordan. He’s the one that said this. Michelle Bishop: I love him. Lachi: Yeah, he’s so funny. I met him at a… What did I meet him at? The Webby Awards or something. But anyway, no one can ever defeat someone who hasn’t given up. And for some reason that hit me, and I don’t even think he was trying to say it that deep. He was just saying a joke or something. But I took that and it was like, no one can ever defeat someone who hasn’t given up. So at the end of the day, you are really the only one who can end whatever you’re trying to get. Because as long as you are still going for it, it is still still there. It’s like a Schrodinger’s cat. It’s like as long as you’re still running for it, that opportunity is still there for you to have. The opportunity is never lost as long as you’re still going for it. And people can tell you, people can take your shoulders and tell you to go right. People can take your shoulders and tell you to go left. But until you take your own shoulders and go in the direction that your heart, your soul, your passion, your fire, desires, that is when you truly begin to live. And so I say personally, lean into that. I hear from a lot of younger, especially creators with disabilities. I mentor a lot of folks, tons and tons of folks. It’s one of the things I love to do the most. But what I love to tell folks is you are going to be the best you. And that you is going to include all of the different parts of who you are, but it is especially going to include you leaning in to the things that make you different and unique as unique selling points. Earlier I talked about how people try so hard to be the “definition of beauty”, definition of success, definition of whatever. Everyone’s trying to be this reference man. Everyone’s trying to be as close as they can to the reference man. And if I’m as close as I can to the reference man, then I’ll be successful or then I’ll get this job or then I’ll get this gig. But the truth of the matter is when we look at all of the people that are doing all of the big things, they’re “eccentric”. They’re “weird”. They did some big different idea that no one was thinking about and everybody fell into their trend. The further away you are from the reference man, that is when you start to win. That is when you’ll start to see success. That is when you’ll start to feel much better about yourself. That is when you can wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say, “I am fine.” When you are able to accept all of those different freckles of yourself that are as far away from the reference man as possible, because guess what? There is room outside of the barrel for everyone to win if they are all being their unique self and running their unique purpose. That’s what I would tell to young disabled creators. Michelle Bishop: That’s amazing. Almost feel like we should stop there, but I have so many follow-up questions. Lachi: Listen, I’m here to drop as many mics as they will let me keep breaking. Michelle Bishop: I was wondering how you see the conversation around disability and inclusion and evolving these days. And a lot of our listeners are people with disabilities or people who have other even multiple intersecting identities in which they experience barriers as well. What does allyship look like to you? Lachi: This is one of my favorite questions. So yes, we have folks with disabilities and we have folks who want to work with people with disabilities, want to help a friend with a disability, want to make sure they don’t say the wrong thing to a person with a disability, neurodivergence, chronic condition, mental health condition. That’s not an ally. Wanting to help a person with a disability is not an ally. To me, wanting to support someone with a disability, that’s an ally in the very basic definition of allyship. Here’s what I think an ally is. To answer the question, I got to do two things. One, talk about the disability umbrella. So the disability umbrella encompasses so many forms of disability. It is neurodivergence, which is ADHD, dyslexia, OCD. It is mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, bipolar. It is someone who learns a little differently. It is someone who has explosive situations like anger management. It is someone who has substance abuse disorder, maybe somebody who drinks too much or uses different substances. It is chronic back pain. You know what I’m saying? It is asthma. It is EDS. It’s POTS. It is long COVID. It is different complications that you gain after pregnancy. It is different complications that you gain as you age. It is different complications you gain through menopause. It is temporary. It is breaking your arm and wearing a cast. It is seasonal depression. There is nobody on this earth that is not within the disability umbrella. And I don’t mean that you’re going to grow into it. I don’t mean in the future. I mean right now. Whether you identify as a person with a disability or not, you have disability identity because you have experience in your body disability. And when you figure that out, then you’re an ally. Allyship is seeing yourself through the other person because you can’t look through someone else’s eyes unless you can see yourself in them. And you can’t see yourself in disability until you recognize the disability identity within yourself. All of a sudden, and I say this and people are like, “What? I say this, but I’ve seen this. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen people who did not associate themselves with any form of disability or anything and they’re just like, Oh, them. Oh, I’ll help them. We have a conversation and then we have a follow-up conversation and then we’re drinking and then all of a sudden they’re telling me all their disabilities and then they’re walking a little different when they encounter disability. It’s no longer a them thing. And so that’s what an ally is. People with disabilities are also allies. I am an ally to the deaf community because I recognize though I’m not deaf, I see the having to navigate the world differently in you of myself. So that’s how I define an ally. An ally is someone who understands their own disability identity and can see it in others. Michelle Bishop: Don’t mind me over here just taking notes. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Literally. Oh my gosh. Lachi, thank you so, so, so much for being with us and taking time. I know that your website, lachimusic.com is one of the places where folks can stay up to date on all of the latest and greatest things that you’re up to. Is there anything else in particular you would like to plug for our listeners? Lachi: Like you said, LACHI, L-A-C-H-I M-U-S-I-C. I’m on the internets everywhere. Instagram, Spotify, check out the old music. If you’re a creator, a music creator or professional with a disability, check us out at RAMPD, R-A-M-P-D.org. Or if you want to donate or if you want to partner with us over at RAMPD, please do. If you are a cane user, whether you’re a blind cane user or you use Mobility Cane, check out glamcanes.com, get your canes bejeweled. I Identify as Blind, our book is out on Penguin Random House, imprint called Tiny Reparations by Phoebe Robinson, who is also a comedian. So we’re out here all writing very funny books. So please check it out. And lastly, listen, try to find moments in your day of disability joy. And when you find that moment, take a picture of it or write it down so that you can go back to it and live for those moments. So thank you guys so much for having me on this podcast. It’s really been a blast getting to talk at you about all things I identify as blind. Alden Blevins: I love it. I was over here taking notes too because I just found so much of myself in what you were saying and so many things were poignant and empowering. I, as an autistic person, try to be an ally to other parts of the disability community myself. And that’s something where I’m always trying to put myself in the shoes of another person and what they might experience. So I think that’s really powerful. We were so grateful to be able to connect and learn more about you, Lachi. Lachi: Yes, yes, yes. So honored to be here, guys. Michelle Bishop: Before you head out, Lachi, do you want to hear one of Stephanie’s grandpa jokes? Lachi: I was going to say, I was like, “Let’s hear one of these granddad jokes.” Let me see. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Okay. This might be- Michelle Bishop: Okay, do it. Stephanie Flynt McEben: … a granddad joke. Okay. Where do spiders like to get their information? Lachi: The web? Michelle Bishop: That would be something to do with web. Stephanie Flynt McEben: But what kind of web? Lachi: Wow. Really? You are fired from being my comedy writer. You are fired to be my comedy writer. I was rooting for you too. I was like, let’s just… Please. Stephanie Flynt McEben: I wouldn’t even get to the punchline yet. Michelle Bishop: Worldwide web? Stephanie Flynt McEben: It is the worldwide web. Michelle Bishop: Oh. Stephanie Flynt McEben: It’s fine. It’s fine. My wife warned me not to tell that joke this month and I didn’t lose it. Michelle Bishop: Oh my gosh. I’m so glad you stuck around for that part. Lachi: As I live and breathe. Thank you guys so, so much. This has been so much fun and I will see who else I can tell that joke to. And go ahead and just to help you out, Stephanie, I’ll go ahead and embarrass myself by telling that joke to others. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Not my best work, but that is allyship. Yes. Michelle Bishop: Oh my gosh, Lachi, thank you so much. And everyone, please lachimusic.com. Check it out. Listen to the music, read the book. Alden Blevins: Speaking of the worldwide web, this has been National Disability Radio. We celebrate stories, leadership, and talent of people with disabilities. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, share, and continue the conversation with us on that worldwide web at ndrn.org or anywhere you get your favorite podcasts. Thanks for listening and until next time. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Bye.

On this episode of National Disability Radio, we sit down with award-winning recording artist, advocate, and author Lachi for a powerful conversation about disability pride, music, and unmasking. Lachi shares her journey, from navigating the music industry as a blind artist, to founding RAMPD, a coalition amplifying disability culture across the industry. We talk about what it means to say “I identify as blind,” move beyond the medical and social models of disability into a cultural model rooted in identity and joy, and remind listeners that no one can defeat someone who hasn't given up. From glam canes to Grammy stages, this episode is about claiming space, rejecting internalized ableism, and turning perceived flaws into flexes. Transcript: Alden Blevins: It’s Lachi? I feel very- Lachi: Lachi like Versace. Alden Blevins: Lachi like… Oh, I love that. Michelle Bishop: That is the best way to explain it. Lachi: I mean, but you know what I’m saying? Come on. Alden Blevins: Well, we’re really excited about having you today because we’re all music lovers in this group here. Michelle Bishop: Yes. Alden Blevins: We talk about music all the time. Michelle Bishop: So much. Lachi: Good, good, good, good, good, good, good. I’m in the right place. Michelle Bishop: Hi everyone. Welcome back to National Disability Radio, the official podcast of the National Disability Rights Network. I am Michelle Bishop, 1/3 of your podcast hosting team. Stephanie Flynt McEben: And I’m Stephanie Flynt McEben, public policy analyst here at NDRN. Alden Blevins: I am Alden. I am a communication specialist at NDRN and I am so excited today, like I mentioned, we’re all lovers of music, so we got a guest that I’m really excited about. Lachi is an award-winning recording artist and a recording Academy Grammy’s national trustee. She’s also a disability advocate who’s been breaking barriers in the music industry and beyond. She’s the founder of RAMPD, which by the way, is such a fun play name. I really love that. And the author of the upcoming book, I Identify as Blind. So without further ado, Michelle, you’ve got some questions to kick us off, I think. Michelle Bishop: Yes. We’re so excited to have you with us. As Alden said, we are. We’re huge music lovers. I’m pretty sure we spend most of our meetings where we allegedly plan this podcast just talking about music. So you’re absolutely in the right place today, but to get us started, I mean, you’ve been open about the fact, and I’m just really interested in this as a disability rights podcast. You’ve been really open about the fact that it took you some time to really embrace your identity as a blind and disabled woman, especially in the industry that you’re in that often really rewards conformity. Can you tell us a little bit more about that journey for you, both as an artist and as someone navigating just the world with a disability? Lachi: Okay. Yeah, for sure. Hey, everybody. Lachi here, Lachi like Versace. I am a Black woman with cornrows, chilling here in New York in my studio. I also identify as blind, I identify as neurodivergent, and I identify as an Aries. So do with that what you will. Michelle Bishop: All the important points right there. Lachi: All the important points like name, age, sign. Thank you. Okay. Yeah, but I’m really glad to be here. And thank you for that question, and thank you for having me. So music has always been a very integral part of my life of growing up. Where other babies would kick in the womb, when she was pregnant with me, I was playing the piano in the womb. I don’t know how she got a piano in there, but she’s not a liar, so I’m going to take her word for it. When I was super-duper young, I didn’t really have a lot of friends, especially because of the fact that I had differences and this and that. And so I would take to music to, I guess, understand the world better and have the world understand me better. I just knew how to express myself through song and it just said the things I needed to say. It was the prayer I needed. And because of music, I started to find confidence in how to speak and how to behave and how to act. And as I got older, when I was growing up, disability was not necessarily a thing people talked about a lot in schools and teachers didn’t know what to do. My parents didn’t really know what to do. And so I would always just turn to music. It’s actually right now I’m working on a children’s album because I think that kids need to hear music that has to do with disability and neurodivergence, as well as their parents as they grow up. When I got into college, I started wanting to do music, but I studied business and finance because when I told my parents I wanted to do music, they were like, “That’s not how you spell doctor.” because they are Nigerian immigrants and everybody else in my family went to either med school and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, “No, I want to do music.” But I did get a day job after school, after college, and didn’t love it because this girl is not going to exist behind a desk. So I ended up going to South by Southwest and I got signed actually from playing the guitar at a hole in the wall spot that nobody was at, except for this A&R apparently. So we got signed to an imprint under EMI, which was a major label back then, and we started touring and music then became my life. Now today, why wouldn’t I pay my respects back to music? I mean, it’s because of music that I was able to really lean into who I am, my disability, my confidence, et cetera. So because of that, because of how much music has given to me in my life, I’m here using music to give back to other people with disabilities. Now, your question was essentially, how do you sit here and try to bring about change for disability in an industry that is not only about conformity, but also about like, “Hey, pick me to exploit.” is essentially what the music industry is. You’re raising your hand to be exploited and that’s what kind of authenticity is that? But at the end of the day, music is some of the truest forms of storytelling. And I think to myself, just the way that hip hop has amplified Black culture and the way that country music has amplified rural culture and the way that different global musics have represented different global cultures. I want to use music to amplify disability culture. I want to use music to amplify disability stories and feelings that are difficult to put words to, that are words of the soul, which is essentially what music is. And so I started going to studios and realizing things weren’t as accessible as they should be. I started speaking with organizations and realizing things weren’t as inclusive as they should be. And the response I kept getting was like, “Oh, well, there’s nobody with a disability in the music industry, so why would we make these measures?” And so I have made it my life’s goal through RAMPD, which by the way, the best thing we ever accomplished was our acronym, not us working with the Grammys to get sign language on the red carpet, not us getting these partnerships with title, Live Nation, Spotify. I mean, we’ve done so much, not just for artists, but also for professionals. And we’ve started to realize something really interesting with the work we’ve done with RAMPD. We are getting people joining our membership who are director level folks, who are label owners, who are like the big wigs that write the checks, and they’re like, “I’m neurodivergent. I’m actually hard of hearing. I have a TBI.” And so when I originally set out, they said, “We don’t do disability inclusion because nobody’s disabled.” That was three years ago. Now I’m like, not only are there neurodivergent and disabled music professionals out here, but we all are. So really to conclude, it’s just that everyone is navigating trying to make it out in this world, but everyone’s masking. Everyone feels that they have to change some part of themselves to be as close as they can to what success looks like, be as close as they can to what “beauty” looks like, what winning looks like. But really all it is internalized ableism. And I say, as soon as we drop that internalized ableism and we really start to sit in who we truly are and we start to recognize our perceived flaws as flexes, that’s when we truly start to win. And so that’s what we’re finding out with RAMPD, that people are like, “You know what? I’m tired of navigating this difficult industry with the added layer of having to mask.” And so that’s why I do what I do. Michelle Bishop: Yes. And honestly, as ridiculous as it sounds that they say to you, “Oh, there aren’t any people with disabilities.” When I tell you, we see that in everything that we do. I do voting work at NDRN and we’ll have elections officials tell us, “This polling place isn’t accessible, but there aren’t any people with disabilities that vote here.” And it’s like, “What? You realize we’re everywhere and we do all sorts of things.” Maybe the reason they think there’s no people with disabilities here is because they’re stuck outside and they can’t get in because you didn’t make it accessible, just a thought. But I mean, it sounds like coming up against all that is really, correct me if I’m wrong, helped you to develop that identity and that disability pride in the industry. When did you first say, “I identify as blind.” and what did that mean for you? Lachi: Well, so when I first came into really doing the disability thing, really leaning in, I wanted to find out more influencers or thought leaders and such with disabilities. I didn’t really know that many people. This is pre COVID, 2018, 2019, that kind of thing. And so I came across an influencer, her name is Molly Burke, and we’re great friends now, but I didn’t know her back then. I had just seen her tagline and it had said, “I’m Molly Burke and I’m a YouTuber who happens to be blind.” And for some reason I was like, “I don’t know if I love the happens to be blind thing.” I was like, “Well, I’m proud of being blind. Blindness is part of my identity. I don’t just happen to be a woman. I don’t just happen to be a Nigerian. I don’t just happen to be all of the things I am.” And so I would go to… I was touring… We’re always touring and every time I tour and do a show, I do a comedic open where I just introduce myself, I do a quick self-description, et cetera. And in my self-description, I would say, and I don’t just happen to be blind. My blindness is part of my identity, has given me all of the opportunities I have, and it’s really made me a deeper blah, blah, blah. It was just too long. So I had punched it up to be, “My name is Lachi like Versace. She, her, I’m a Black woman with cornrows and I identify as blind.” And the interesting thing about that is people took onto it. They were like, “Oh, that’s cool, nice and punchy.” But whenever I would say it in front of a large crowd or like I’ve said it on interviews or during commercials, I would get this weird, I don’t know, pushback of like, you can’t identify as blind. Blindness is an identity. It’s a medical condition. Or they’ll be like, “Do you read braille or not?” Or they’ll be like, “We don’t want people to think trans blindness is a thing where you just have a blind identity.” And then you can be like, “Well, I’m blind today, so that’s my identity.” And I thought that was really fun. I was like, “Look, everybody’s upset. They’re talking about blindness though.” So I really leaned all the way into it. And I have to say, I am super proud of my disability identity. Was it music that brought me there? I think in a sense and in a way, like today I have a few songs, you guys are music lovers, I have a few songs out that really talk about my disability pride. I think that a lot of the times as we navigate the world, masking our disability, masking our chronic condition, our difference or whatever, we end up overcompensating. We end up building up this really, really thick problem solving muscle or this really, really thick how to get around things muscle and we overcompensate. When we’re finally accommodated, when we finally get to a place where we’re accommodated or we have the tools we need, we’re coming in like bulk as hell. We’re coming in with problem solving muscles. We’re coming in with all of these things that we had to build up because of navigating the world differently, because of every day working through this very difficult maze that is living a life unaccommodated, then when we finally are accommodated, then we are killing it and crushing it. And how could you not be proud of that? How can that not give you a sense of pride? So the songs that I would love for you guys to check out that are mine is I have a song called Life on Hard, which has gone viral several times on Instagram. I’m known as an Instagram rapper, which is like, what? Hello, I do disability advocacy. Look at that stuff. But anyway, so I have a song called Life on Hard, which is essentially about just winning the game of life, playing it on the hardest setting out here while people are still trying to consult the manual. I have another song called Professional, which is oftentimes when I walk on the stage, people see the cane and they’re like, “Aw, she’s going to do a song for us. Is this from Make a Wish Foundation?” And then I bust out these raps or I hop on the piano and I go ape on this piano and then they’re like, “Oh, snap. What? Okay.” And I’m like, “Bro, I’m a professional artist. I’m not object for pity to make you feel good because you felt weird on a Monday and you didn’t feel like getting up for work, but it’s like, she could do it. So can I.” I’m like, “No, I can do it. You most likely probably just can’t.” So that’s what that song’s about. And then there’s The Bag, and The Bag is just essentially like, I’ve been told no so much like, “No, you can’t. No, you’re not good enough. No, we don’t want you.” And I’m like, “You know what? Yes, I am good enough and I deserve everything. So I’m going to throw everything I deserve in the bag, which is everything.” I don’t know. I would not be the person I am if I didn’t love all parts of myself. And that includes my disabilities, that includes my neurodivergences and all of the other wacky, weird body jazz that I bring with me everywhere I go. Michelle Bishop: Lachi, can we maybe, do you and I just FaceTime each other every morning and hype each other up? Stephanie Flynt McEben: I was literally about to say the same thing. I would like in on a true call. Michelle Bishop: I don’t know if you know. Actually, I want to say quickly, I know some of those songs actually from social media, but they’re real. They’re so real. So people haven’t heard music, go check it out. I don’t know if you know one of our co-hosts, Stephanie is blind. You’re speaking directly to her soul right now. Stephanie Flynt McEben: I literally just texted them in our podcast group text and I was like, she’s totally speaking to my soul RN, but of course I don’t want to interrupt anything. Michelle Bishop: No, I know you’re dying to talk to her about the book, Stephanie, and take it away. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Yeah, no, absolutely, for sure. And as somebody who is blind and who also identifies as a blind person and definitely does not identify with the medical model of disability, clearly gotten to more of a social model. But yeah, in terms of going through that journey of accepting all of who you are and everything about yourself, for me, I mean, it took a minute, especially when you’re talking about your experiences as a child and I totally feel that. I was that girl playing the harmonica on the jungle gym by herself. Anyway, this is about you. This is not about me, but I’m just saying that I totally relate to you on a spiritual level. And given that, I would love to know, were there any particular moments when it came to writing the book that were particularly hard or healing? Because I mean, I think that we all know that it’s not always a linear journey. Some days are going to be harder than others. And so would love to get your perspective on that. And I think that our listeners would be interested. Lachi: Yeah, absolutely. The journey for me has been one of constantly unwrapping this amazing gift. I always try to use that as the visual, if you will, of you have this big present and you get to unwrap it and then you just keep getting something cooler inside and then you get to unwrap that and you get something cooler inside and you just keep unwrapping this beautiful gift that is yourself. But you don’t realize that when you first get the box, the amazing stuff that’s going on inside, and it takes time to get to it. So a lot of times growing up, I would kick myself in the butt of, I wish I had come to this when I was so much younger. I wish there were people out there when I was younger, role models that I could look up to when I was eight years old and pointing on the TV and saying like, “Okay, well, I mean, I understand that Ray Charles existed, but that’s not going to…” Stephanie Flynt McEben: Stevie Wonder is here, Ray Charles is here, but we need more of us. Hello. Lachi: We need more of us. Hello. Exactly. And so this time and place where I am right now is where I needed to be for this to work. So I can’t really kick myself in the butt of like, “I wish I had this. I wish I knew this so much earlier. I would’ve been so much further.” That kind of thing. You have to be where you got to be where you need to be. Even right now, this conversation we’re having right now is going to have been necessary for the next thing that is happening in our lives. And just the other day, I was hanging out with Queen Herby, who’s been one of my favorite more modern rappers. I just did a thing with Apl.de.ap. I have done some stuff with Black Caviar. Folks that I’ve looked up to, I’m having the opportunity to Snoop Dogg. I’m having the opportunity to work with these days because of the fact that I am here at the right time now. So when I was writing my book, we were peeling back all the layers. I’m a generally very positive and energetic, social butterfly type of person today. But it’s interesting, I wasn’t always this person and I had to unpack all the layers to get there. One of the biggest things that happens to me, so I’ve always been low vision. So I was born with relatively low vision and it stayed the same throughout my teens and early 20s. But one day I woke up and my sight was just gone. Boom. So the interesting thing is anybody listening would be like, “Oh my God, if I woke up and my sight was gone, I would just die or I would not know what to do. My life would be over.” Stephanie Flynt McEben: Yep. Heard that a million times. Yes. Lachi: But for me, it was weird because I was already low vision, so I was going from level one to the underwater level or whatever. So it wasn’t like that life changing of a thing. I was already using screen readers or Zoom text. I was already doing stuff of that nature. So I wake up blind and I’m just like, “Okay, I guess this is it. This is the day that they told me was coming.” What had ended up happening was my corneas had erupted. And so I went to the doctor and he was like, “You’re going to become completely blind. You’re going to go from this much worse vision than you’ve had to complete blindness over the course of time.” So here you go, here’s a coupon. Bye.” or whatever. So I’m like, all right. So I had decided at that moment that I wanted to start a bucket list. So I was like, okay, what are all the things I’ve always wanted to do before completely going completely blind? So I was like, let me go skydiving, let me go spolunking, let me go meet with people, meet with celebrities and just do all of the things I’ve always wanted to do before I lose my vision. So I went out and I did it. This is still me doing it. This is still me doing it. And so I say that because to people who say if I ever went blind, I would just die. Well, when I went blind, it made me want to live. And that’s what opened me up into being this person that I am today. Stephanie Flynt McEben: That is amazing. I genuinely love that. Lachi: We talk about charity model and propping disabled folks up as tools of pity. We talk about medical model, which is really just waiting around for cure, making the cure the hero. We talk about social model, which is a really good place to live in the sense of things are impairing if they’re not accessible. Society is impairing if it’s not inclusive. But honestly, if I have all of the things, like if I have all my tools, if I have all that I need and if folks are inclusive, then I’m still blind, but I’m not impaired. But I like to go a little step further into what is the cultural model. And so the cultural model is it’s not just a discussion of what society should and shouldn’t do. It’s actually a celebration of what you gain as a person who identifies with their disability or their neurodivergence, the things they need to overcompensate because they’re navigating the world a little differently, leaning into that. So let’s say for instance, deaf culture, sign language, and the fact that folks can have complete discussions outside of what we’re talking about, there is so much deaf pride out in these streets, that is a celebration of culture that comes out of disability. And for me, let’s say for instance, I have ADHD and it powers my one million and counting ideas. I have diagnosed OCD, which helps me carry out all those one million and counting ideas. I have diagnosed general anxiety disorder, which gives me my empathy and my excitement. And then I am blind, which when I have the tools I need, it gives me drive. It keeps me determined, it keeps me focused, and it gives me my dope ass glam canes. There was a girl and her mom, and she came up to me after a show and she was like, “Oh my God, your music was great.” I was like, thank you. She’s like, “Mommy, can I get one of those canes?” And then her mom was like, “Ugh, well, you have to be blind.” And I’m like, “Yeah, girl, you better want to be me.” Stephanie Flynt McEben: Yeah. We drive sticks. Anyway, sorry. Lachi: Yes. You know what? I speak softly and I carry a big old stick. Thank you. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Yes. Amen to that. Exactly. As somebody who considers themself a lifelong disability advocate, I never really thought about it in the sense of going beyond the social into the cultural. So thank you so, so much. We all learn something new every single day on this podcast, but I’d love to know a little bit more about, obviously you were very, very, very good at talking through these experiences in such a way that they are very relatable and easy to understand and that thing. So I’d love to pick your brain about the intended audience of your book. Who did you write it for? Other blind folks? Did you write it for, was it written for multiple audiences? Lachi: Yeah, honestly, I wrote it for the person who is masking. I wrote it for anyone who is tired of… Listen, let me put it like this. Let’s face it, disability is boring, a lot of the time it’s sad and it’s compliancy. We have to go the extra mile to make it fun because the actual truth of it is that the only reason it’s boring, sad, and compliancy is because society has kept it that way through its collective internalized ableism. And so my book is actually a humor book. It’s a pop culture book. It’s a comedy book. In fact, when we were talking to the publisher, it’s like, we should be putting this up against other comedic books, not necessarily disability books because it’s a book. I got so many jokes. I have dad jokes, they’re corny jokes, I have rap bars. I rap in a lot of the book just because I was like, “Hey, this rhymes.” I’m going to say it like a rap. We’re doing the audiobook right now, so I actually get to wrap it, which is really fun. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Oh, that is so cool. Oh my gosh. Lachi: Which is really, really fun. But really, honestly, what the book is what everything I do is it is using joy, soul, pop culture, jokes, humor, fashion, and just a really good time to celebrate disability, as well as community. So what you’ll find in this book is my story through my story, through historical deep dives, through interviews with some really, really cool popular figures and a really big deep dose of disability joy. And so a lot of folks who have disabilities, they will read this book and they’ll be energized. It’ll be like, “This is really great. I’m glad that I finally get to read a book that talks about disability in a positive way.” For blind specific folks, they might relate to a few of my stories because I talk about the day I woke up blind, I talk about when I went skydiving blind, I talk about just some of my interesting blind moments. But then I also talk about how I would go to red carpets and not know how to talk to anybody. So I’m in this amazing room with all these celebrities I can’t see and I’m just sitting on the wall. So I talk about some of the hard times too as well. But at the end of the day, really what the book is is an invitation in for somebody who feels a little different, a little awkward, has to mask, and just needed that invite in to talk about disability in a fun, joyful, celebratory way, to recognize that yes, that thing in you that’s different, that thing in you that society has told you you should view as a weakness and hide, you should be proud of. And I say this to people all the time. I say it in the industry, I say it to all my friends, I say it to anyone who will listen. I say it to my local barista and they come back and they say things like, “Oh my God, I’m so glad you said it that way. It turns out I have a titanium hip and I’ve never told anybody about that.” And that’s the vibe. The vibe is someone who was like, “I really needed this to be said to me this way, and now I am able to step all the way into my disability identity.” Alden Blevins: I love, especially what you said about joy. I feel like for me as an autistic person, my experience in the arts is that it is really a space where people who maybe don’t belong in other spaces or don’t feel like they belong in other spaces or are made to feel like they don’t belong in other spaces. I think that a lot of them really do find a safe space in music, in the arts, in theater. And I just wanted to ask, why do you think the music space is such a special one for you and why do you think it’s a place where other people with disabilities seem to flock together as well? Lachi: I mean, you hit the nail on the head. Counterculture, I mean, music often rewards counterculture. And then it eventually becomes mainstream and then we got to rebel against that. So music is a place where your soul can speak. And I think a lot of the times with disabilities, especially autism for me, I’m ADHD, OCD, a different neurodivergence situation, but a lot of the issue is communication. We don’t know how to say exactly what we need or whoever we’re talking to just doesn’t know how to hear what we’re saying. And so I think that what music does is it allows a soul to speak to a soul. A lot of the times music does this thing where you’ll be listening to a song and you’ll just be like, “That, that right there. That’s what I it me. That’s the thing I’m feeling.” type deal. Music has the ability to do that. And so for me, right now, this children’s album that I’m working on, the kids’ album, which is an album that is essentially R&B, pop, electronic, sort of the genres that I dance in for kids centered on disability and neurodivergence. Because what I want to do is be able to say, “Hey, I want you to point at that and say, that’s me.” And I think the easiest and quickest way to point at something and say, “That’s me also.” has been music. And so it’s why it’s been my strongest medium. Again, it’s not my only medium. I’m talking to folks through the book, I’m talking to folks through fashion, et cetera, et cetera. But again, music has been just the quickest, easiest point A to point B conversation easer, if you will, about disability. Another thing I also love to use is humor and comedy. So I make jokes all the time. They’re all bad. They’re all very not good jokes. I need to probably get a joke writer, but the fact that I’m having such a good time telling the jokes, I think I think is all that really matters. So I think both music and humor are just really, really great spaces for two people to get to relate to something that may be difficult to talk about. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Yo, if you need a joke writer, I’m your girl. I actually do a joke every single episode of this podcast. Michelle Bishop: Her jokes are not better than yours, Lachi. Don’t hire her. Stephanie Flynt McEben: My jokes are pretty bad. They’re worse than dad’s jokes. They’re like granddad jokes. Alden Blevins: Yeah. Stephanie is the queen of the jokes on our podcast. She always brings one through. Didn’t know that you were working on a children’s music album, and I think that’s really interesting. I actually used to be a teacher, so children’s music is something that’s near and dear to my heart. So I just wanted to ask, what would you want to tell to younger people with disabilities, younger disabled creatives about claiming space and being able to tell their own stories? Lachi: Well, one thing that I heard from someone else, I don’t remember who it was. I think it was- Michelle Bishop: Jordan? Lachi: Yes, Jordan. He’s the one that said this. Michelle Bishop: I love him. Lachi: Yeah, he’s so funny. I met him at a… What did I meet him at? The Webby Awards or something. But anyway, no one can ever defeat someone who hasn’t given up. And for some reason that hit me, and I don’t even think he was trying to say it that deep. He was just saying a joke or something. But I took that and it was like, no one can ever defeat someone who hasn’t given up. So at the end of the day, you are really the only one who can end whatever you’re trying to get. Because as long as you are still going for it, it is still still there. It’s like a Schrodinger’s cat. It’s like as long as you’re still running for it, that opportunity is still there for you to have. The opportunity is never lost as long as you’re still going for it. And people can tell you, people can take your shoulders and tell you to go right. People can take your shoulders and tell you to go left. But until you take your own shoulders and go in the direction that your heart, your soul, your passion, your fire, desires, that is when you truly begin to live. And so I say personally, lean into that. I hear from a lot of younger, especially creators with disabilities. I mentor a lot of folks, tons and tons of folks. It’s one of the things I love to do the most. But what I love to tell folks is you are going to be the best you. And that you is going to include all of the different parts of who you are, but it is especially going to include you leaning in to the things that make you different and unique as unique selling points. Earlier I talked about how people try so hard to be the “definition of beauty”, definition of success, definition of whatever. Everyone’s trying to be this reference man. Everyone’s trying to be as close as they can to the reference man. And if I’m as close as I can to the reference man, then I’ll be successful or then I’ll get this job or then I’ll get this gig. But the truth of the matter is when we look at all of the people that are doing all of the big things, they’re “eccentric”. They’re “weird”. They did some big different idea that no one was thinking about and everybody fell into their trend. The further away you are from the reference man, that is when you start to win. That is when you’ll start to see success. That is when you’ll start to feel much better about yourself. That is when you can wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say, “I am fine.” When you are able to accept all of those different freckles of yourself that are as far away from the reference man as possible, because guess what? There is room outside of the barrel for everyone to win if they are all being their unique self and running their unique purpose. That’s what I would tell to young disabled creators. Michelle Bishop: That’s amazing. Almost feel like we should stop there, but I have so many follow-up questions. Lachi: Listen, I’m here to drop as many mics as they will let me keep breaking. Michelle Bishop: I was wondering how you see the conversation around disability and inclusion and evolving these days. And a lot of our listeners are people with disabilities or people who have other even multiple intersecting identities in which they experience barriers as well. What does allyship look like to you? Lachi: This is one of my favorite questions. So yes, we have folks with disabilities and we have folks who want to work with people with disabilities, want to help a friend with a disability, want to make sure they don’t say the wrong thing to a person with a disability, neurodivergence, chronic condition, mental health condition. That’s not an ally. Wanting to help a person with a disability is not an ally. To me, wanting to support someone with a disability, that’s an ally in the very basic definition of allyship. Here’s what I think an ally is. To answer the question, I got to do two things. One, talk about the disability umbrella. So the disability umbrella encompasses so many forms of disability. It is neurodivergence, which is ADHD, dyslexia, OCD. It is mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, bipolar. It is someone who learns a little differently. It is someone who has explosive situations like anger management. It is someone who has substance abuse disorder, maybe somebody who drinks too much or uses different substances. It is chronic back pain. You know what I’m saying? It is asthma. It is EDS. It’s POTS. It is long COVID. It is different complications that you gain after pregnancy. It is different complications that you gain as you age. It is different complications you gain through menopause. It is temporary. It is breaking your arm and wearing a cast. It is seasonal depression. There is nobody on this earth that is not within the disability umbrella. And I don’t mean that you’re going to grow into it. I don’t mean in the future. I mean right now. Whether you identify as a person with a disability or not, you have disability identity because you have experience in your body disability. And when you figure that out, then you’re an ally. Allyship is seeing yourself through the other person because you can’t look through someone else’s eyes unless you can see yourself in them. And you can’t see yourself in disability until you recognize the disability identity within yourself. All of a sudden, and I say this and people are like, “What? I say this, but I’ve seen this. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen people who did not associate themselves with any form of disability or anything and they’re just like, Oh, them. Oh, I’ll help them. We have a conversation and then we have a follow-up conversation and then we’re drinking and then all of a sudden they’re telling me all their disabilities and then they’re walking a little different when they encounter disability. It’s no longer a them thing. And so that’s what an ally is. People with disabilities are also allies. I am an ally to the deaf community because I recognize though I’m not deaf, I see the having to navigate the world differently in you of myself. So that’s how I define an ally. An ally is someone who understands their own disability identity and can see it in others. Michelle Bishop: Don’t mind me over here just taking notes. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Literally. Oh my gosh. Lachi, thank you so, so, so much for being with us and taking time. I know that your website, lachimusic.com is one of the places where folks can stay up to date on all of the latest and greatest things that you’re up to. Is there anything else in particular you would like to plug for our listeners? Lachi: Like you said, LACHI, L-A-C-H-I M-U-S-I-C. I’m on the internets everywhere. Instagram, Spotify, check out the old music. If you’re a creator, a music creator or professional with a disability, check us out at RAMPD, R-A-M-P-D.org. Or if you want to donate or if you want to partner with us over at RAMPD, please do. If you are a cane user, whether you’re a blind cane user or you use Mobility Cane, check out glamcanes.com, get your canes bejeweled. I Identify as Blind, our book is out on Penguin Random House, imprint called Tiny Reparations by Phoebe Robinson, who is also a comedian. So we’re out here all writing very funny books. So please check it out. And lastly, listen, try to find moments in your day of disability joy. And when you find that moment, take a picture of it or write it down so that you can go back to it and live for those moments. So thank you guys so much for having me on this podcast. It’s really been a blast getting to talk at you about all things I identify as blind. Alden Blevins: I love it. I was over here taking notes too because I just found so much of myself in what you were saying and so many things were poignant and empowering. I, as an autistic person, try to be an ally to other parts of the disability community myself. And that’s something where I’m always trying to put myself in the shoes of another person and what they might experience. So I think that’s really powerful. We were so grateful to be able to connect and learn more about you, Lachi. Lachi: Yes, yes, yes. So honored to be here, guys. Michelle Bishop: Before you head out, Lachi, do you want to hear one of Stephanie’s grandpa jokes? Lachi: I was going to say, I was like, “Let’s hear one of these granddad jokes.” Let me see. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Okay. This might be- Michelle Bishop: Okay, do it. Stephanie Flynt McEben: … a granddad joke. Okay. Where do spiders like to get their information? Lachi: The web? Michelle Bishop: That would be something to do with web. Stephanie Flynt McEben: But what kind of web? Lachi: Wow. Really? You are fired from being my comedy writer. You are fired to be my comedy writer. I was rooting for you too. I was like, let’s just… Please. Stephanie Flynt McEben: I wouldn’t even get to the punchline yet. Michelle Bishop: Worldwide web? Stephanie Flynt McEben: It is the worldwide web. Michelle Bishop: Oh. Stephanie Flynt McEben: It’s fine. It’s fine. My wife warned me not to tell that joke this month and I didn’t lose it. Michelle Bishop: Oh my gosh. I’m so glad you stuck around for that part. Lachi: As I live and breathe. Thank you guys so, so much. This has been so much fun and I will see who else I can tell that joke to. And go ahead and just to help you out, Stephanie, I’ll go ahead and embarrass myself by telling that joke to others. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Not my best work, but that is allyship. Yes. Michelle Bishop: Oh my gosh, Lachi, thank you so much. And everyone, please lachimusic.com. Check it out. Listen to the music, read the book. Alden Blevins: Speaking of the worldwide web, this has been National Disability Radio. We celebrate stories, leadership, and talent of people with disabilities. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, share, and continue the conversation with us on that worldwide web at ndrn.org or anywhere you get your favorite podcasts. Thanks for listening and until next time. Stephanie Flynt McEben: Bye.

“When you're dealing with life-safety systems, power failure simply isn't an option,” says Jake Jacoby, CEO of TELCLOUD. In the latest episode of the TELCLOUD POTS and Shots Podcast Series, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, speaks with Jacoby about one of the most important but sometimes overlooked elements of modern POTS replacement deployments: reliable backup power. As legacy copper networks disappear, organizations are replacing traditional POTS lines used by elevators, fire alarms, emergency phones, and security systems with modern IP and wireless solutions. While the new technologies provide flexibility and cost savings, Jacoby emphasizes that power resilience must be engineered into every deployment. Historically, copper lines delivered their own power from the central office, allowing analog phones and emergency systems to continue operating during local power outages. Modern replacements must replicate that reliability through battery backup systems and redundant power strategies. Jacoby explains that a properly designed POTS replacement solution must ensure that critical communications remain operational even when a building loses electricity. Backup batteries, remote monitoring, and system alerts are all part of the architecture needed to meet regulatory requirements and maintain life-safety compliance. The discussion also highlights the role of channel partners and MSPs in helping customers navigate this transition. As copper lines are retired worldwide, partners have an opportunity to modernize infrastructure while ensuring that the essential communication path for safety systems remains intact. For organizations deploying POTS replacement, Jacoby advises that reliability should always come first. “You're not just replacing a phone line,” he explains. “You're protecting the communication path for systems people rely on in emergencies.” The episode concludes with the series' signature Shots segment, where Jacoby continues the podcast's tradition of highlighting exceptional sipping tequilas—pairing conversations about mission-critical telecom infrastructure with a lighter moment for listeners. For more information, visit https://www.telcloud.com/ or call 844-900-2270.

There is no magic treatment for Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, POTS, or mast cell activation disorders, but there is strategy. In this episode of Bendy Bodies, Dr. Linda Bluestein is joined by Dacre Knight, MD, founding Medical Director of the UVA Health EDS and Hypermobility Disorders Center, for a practical and deeply thoughtful conversation about how complex chronic conditions should actually be treated. Rather than chasing quick fixes, Dr. Bluestein and Dr. Knight explore sequencing. What to address first when everything is flaring, how to balance short-term symptom relief with long-term sustainability, and why overtreatment can sometimes cause more harm than good. They discuss the pitfalls of siloed care, the insurance barriers that complicate physical therapy, and the importance of starting low, going slow, and minimizing treatment burden. The episode also tackles difficult but essential questions: What does “getting better” really mean in lifelong connective tissue disorders? How do clinicians avoid reactionary prescribing? And how can patients recognize the difference between a thoughtful care plan and a rushed one? Takeaways: There is rarely a single “magic” treatment for EDS, POTS, or MCAS—progress usually comes from strategic sequencing. Overtreating symptoms without addressing underlying patterns can create long-term setbacks. Physical therapy must be individualized in hypermobility, with an emphasis on pacing and trust. Shared decision-making improves outcomes, especially when treatment goals align with what brings the patient meaning and quality of life. Minimally disruptive medicine matters, reducing cognitive, financial, and physical treatment burden is part of effective care. Want to learn more about the UVA EDS Center? For Appointments and Questions: RUVAEDSCenter@uvahealth.org UVA EDS: https://www.uvahealth.com/healthy-practice/advancing-care-through-ehlers-danlos-clinic UVA EDS FAQ: https://www.uvahealth.com/support/eds/faq UVA Pediatric Integrative Medicine: https://childrens.uvahealth.com/specialties/integrative-health Want more Dr. Dacre Knight? https://x.com/knidac Want more Dr. Linda Bluestein, MD? Website: https://www.hypermobilitymd.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bendybodiespodcast Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/BendyBodiesPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/BluesteinLinda⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hypermobilitymd.substack.com/ Shop my Amazon store ⁠⁠⁠ https://www.amazon.com/shop/hypermobilitymd Dr. Bluestein's Recommended Herbs, Supplements and Care Necessities: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/hypermobilitymd/store-start Thank YOU so much for tuning in. We hope you found this episode informative, inspiring, useful, validating, and enjoyable. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to level up your knowledge about hypermobility disorders and the people who have them. Join YOUR Bendy Bodies community at ⁠⁠https://www.bendybodiespodcast.com/⁠⁠. YOUR bendy body is our highest priority!⁠⁠ Learn more about Human Content at ⁠⁠⁠http://www.human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Podcast Advertising/Business Inquiries: ⁠⁠⁠sales@human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Part of the Human Content Podcast Network FTC: This video is not sponsored. Links are commissionable, meaning I may earn commission from purchases made through links Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS:

You've been told perfect form prevents injury and rounding your back will ruin your spine. But what if the real problem isn't the movement? What if it's fear, outdated advice, and expecting your body to heal like it's Amazon Prime two-day shipping?  We dive deeper into this in the latest episode of the Broads Podcast with strength coach Dr. Susie Spirlock.  We also chat about why “perfect form” doesn't exist, how to return to lifting after injury or chronic conditions like POTS and hypermobility, and why strength training is non-negotiable for women heading into perimenopause and beyond.  Dr. Susie Spirlock is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and strength coach with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science. She is Barbell Rehab Method certified, Precision Nutrition Level 1 certified, and a Pain Free Performance Specialist. She provides online rehab and fitness coaching and serves as an instructor for the Barbell Rehab Method. What's Discussed: (08:44) Why “perfect form” doesn't exist and how anatomy shapes technique  (10:15) Gradual exposure to load and why rounding your back isn't automatically bad  (12:08) Fear of lifting heavy and how graded exposure reduces injury anxiety  (14:00) Why fear predicts pain more than tissue damage after injury  (18:25) Junk volume, overprogramming, and how smarter structure drives results  (25:03) Why lifting advice from doctors lags 10-15 years behind research  (32:26) Strength training, menopause, and what happens to bone density if you don't lift  (48:43) Clickbait rehab content and how to spot black-and-white misinformation Check out more from Broads: Website: https://www.broads.app Instagram: @broads.podcast @broads.app Head to https://www.broads.app/broadscoach and apply for BroadsCOACH. Check out more from Tara LaFerrara: Website: http://taralaferrara.com Instagram: @taralaferrara Youtube: @TaraLaferrara Tiktok: @taralaferrara Check out more from Dr. Susie Spirlock: Instagram: @dr.susie.squats Tiktok: @dr.susie.squats Youtube: @dr.susie.squats Facebook: @dr.susie.squats

In episode 350, Steve talks about the symptoms that most doctors miss when it comes to toxic mold exposure. We don't expect our doctors to be perfect but we'd hope they'd understand what toxic mold exposure can do to people. Here are the top 5 symptoms that are missed: brain fog and cognitive slowdown, unrelenting fatigue and nonrestorative sleep, dizziness and POTS like symptoms, chronic sinus irritation, and gut issues. You don't have to have all five symptoms for toxic mold exposure, you could have only one or two. Steve talks about building your team when it comes to mold concerns and how he can do a consultation to help you understand what your next steps should be. We appreciate all of you and hope you're doing well!

In Hour 4, Willard and Dibs chat with Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, react to Kerr telling them that Kristaps Porzingis does not have POTS, and more.

Willard and Dibs' full show from Friday, February 27th. In Hour 1, Willard and Dibs react to what Marc Spears told them yesterday about the Warriors being an "iconic" franchise even after Steph Curry retires, celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Curry's double "bang" 3-pointer vs. the Thunder, and more. In Hour 2, Willard and Dibs wonder why so many of us fans care deeply about how much money the players on our favorite teams make, debate if there are any contracts that are sinking Bay Area sports teams right now, and more.   In Hour 3, Willard and Dibs congratulate the latest Knockout Tournament qualifier, play Higher or Lower -- NFL season edition, celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Steph Curry's double "bang" game winner in OKC, and more.   In Hour 4, Willard and Dibs chat with Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, react to Kerr telling them that Kristaps Porzingis does not have POTS, and more.

In this episode of GardenDC: The Podcast about Mid-Atlantic Gardening, we talk with illustrator and author Halsey Berryman, all about her new book, Pests & Other Friends*. The plant profile is on Wallflowers and we share what's going on in the garden as well as some upcoming local gardening events in the What's New segment. We close out with the Last Word on "Growing Kale in Pots" from Christy Page of GreenPrints.*You can order Halsey's book, Pests & Other Friends, at https://amzn.to/4r0m1hF This link is to our Amazon affiliate accounts and we may earn a few pennies from their sales, but this does not impact your purchase price.BTW, YOU can become a listener supporter for as little as $0.99 per month! See how at: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/subscribeIf you liked this episode, you may also enjoy listening to:~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 198: Rats and Other Destructive Crittershttps://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2024/06/gardendc-podcast-episode-198-rats-and.html~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 174: Wildscapinghttps://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2023/11/gardendc-podcast-episode-174-wildscaping.html~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 50: Deer-Resistant Native Plantshttps://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2021/03/gardendc-podcast-episode-50-deer.htmlShow Notes will be posted after 3/10/2026.We welcome your questions and comments! You can leave a voice mail message for us at: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/message Note that we may use these messages on a future episode.And be sure to leave us a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform plus share us on social media with #GardenDC, so other gardeners can find us too!Episode Credits:Host and Producer: Kathy JentzMusic: Let the Sunshine by James MulvanyRecorded on 2-28-26.

MCAS. POTS. Hypermobility. GI symptoms that don't quite fit the usual boxes.   On this episode of The Gut Show, Dr. Alexis Cutchins joins us to unpack what cardiology has to do with GI—and why these systems are far more connected than most people realize.   We dive into the emerging overlap between cardiology, gastroenterology, and immune-driven conditions, exploring why these patterns so often show up together, what red flags clinicians should be watching for, and why GI symptoms may actually start far beyond the gut—especially when dysautonomia, heart palpitations, dizziness, and persistent fatigue are part of the picture.   Mentioned in this episode:  MASTER Method Membership FREE IBS Warrior Summit Take the quiz: What's your poop personality? MCAS episode   About our guest:  Dr. Alexis Cutchins is a board-certified Cardiologist and founder of Cutchins Cardiovascular Medicine. I began this work after years of caring for patients with POTS, MCAS, hypermobility, and other conditions that many doctors were not prepared to manage. My dedication to this patient community is what led me to build a practice centered on their needs. I wanted to create something different for people who are often under-recognized and left without answers. At Cutchins Cardiovascular Medicine, we provide inclusive, high quality support for those living with complex chronic illness. Follow on Instagram   Thank you to our partners:   @imodifyhealth is the leader in evidence-based, medically-tailored meal delivery offering Monash Certified low FODMAP, Gluten free, and Mediterranean meals - expertly crafted to help you achieve better symptom control AND improve overall health.    The best part? They make it easy by doing all prep work for you. Simply choose the meals you want, stock your fridge or freezer when meals arrive at your door, then heat and enjoy when you're ready. Delicious meals. Less stress. Complete peace of mind.   Check out modifyhealth.com and save 35% off your first order plus free shipping across the US with code: THEGUTSHOW.     @fodzyme is the world's first enzyme supplement specialized to target FODMAPs.   When sprinkled on or mixed with high-FODMAP meals, FODZYME's novel patent-pending enzyme blend breaks down fructan, GOS and lactose before they can trigger bloating, gas and other digestive issues.    With FODZYME, enjoy garlic, onion, wheat, brussels sprouts, beans, dairy and more — worry free! Discover the power of FODZYME's digestive enzyme blend and eat the foods you love and miss.   Visit fodzyme.com and save 20% off your first order with code THEGUTSHOW. One use per customer.   @mbiotaelemental is the next generation of the elemental diet. Developed with leading gastroenterologists and food scientists, it's the first formula that's both clinically effective AND genuinely easy to drink.   If you're looking for an option to support SIBO or your gut, mBIOTA Elemental may be one to consider. Learn more at mbiota.com and save 20% on their two-week protocol with code GUTIVATE.    

Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell unpack insights from Brad Walsh, founder of the Empowerography Podcast. In this recap, they reflect on the transformative power of boudoir photography and how seeing yourself in a new light can change how you think, feel, and show up. This conversation digs into resilience, authenticity, and why sharing your story might be the very thing that helps someone else keep going. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Boudoir photography helps women see themselves differently.Why resilience is the courage to keep rising.The importance of sharing experiences to inspire others.Why true authenticity requires dropping the mask of perfection.How trusting your path frees you from fear of missing out.Episode References/Links:Agency MINI Waitlist - https://prfit.biz/miniPoland Contrology Pilates Conference - xxll.co/polandVintage Friends & Contrology Brussels - xxll.co/brusselsPilates On Tour® London - https://xxll.co/potOPC Spring Training - How to Get Overhead - https://opc.me/eventsEmpowerography Podcast - https://empowerographypodcast.comEmpowerography Podcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/empowerographypodcastBrad Walsh LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradwalsh70Brad Walsh Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brad.walsh.56Empowerography Live Conference 2026 - https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1D7QAc3hFx If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  He said when they see who they truly are and how they're captured, they leave a completely different woman. And there's not enough words, he said, to encapsulate the power in that as a photographer. Lesley Logan 0:09  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.  Lesley Logan 0:53  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the powerful convo I have with another Brad. Brad Walsh. Brad Crowell 0:55  Another Brad. Lesley Logan 0:55  In our last episode. If you haven't yet listened to that interview, then actually listen to this one. You should go back and listen that one. It's pretty good. I liked it. Brad Crowell 1:05  That's a great interview. It was, I'm not gonna lie you, you spoke my thoughts out loud. Lesley Logan 1:10  I did? Brad Crowell 1:11  Yes. Like. Lesley Logan 1:12  Did I say that I have to say Brad's thoughts? Brad Crowell 1:14  No, but two. There's another comment I can't remember. It'll come back to me. But you know when, when I heard you introduce Brad Walsh as someone who is entirely devoted to platforming and empowering women, I was like, a man is doing that? Okay, okay. I was like, I guess, I guess I'm I didn't even know. I was dubious and a little curious and then encouraged and excited at by the end. So, yes, it's great.Lesley Logan 1:45  Turns out you can be really successful if you platform women. Turns out. Brad Crowell 1:50  How about that? Lesley Logan 1:51  Yeah, it turns out there's, there's things like, there's like, good things that happen when you do that.Brad Crowell 1:55  You did mention that you had similar thoughts to him, and I was laughing, because I was like, okay, I'm not alone. Lesley Logan 1:59  Yeah. I'm intrigued. Well, we'll get into that in just a second. But first today is February 26th 2026 and it's Black Lives Matter Day. Black Lives Matter Day is celebrated annually on February 26th in remembrance of Trayvon Martin, an African American teen who was killed by a white American out of hatred. The acquittal of the killer, George Zimmerman, from the murder charge and is roaming free, caused a wave of widespread anger, which led to nationwide campaigns centered around fairness and justice for black people. Black Lives Matter is a chant against systemic racial discrimination which has shaped and increased the risk of violence towards black people. Join in the movement to end discrimination, declare equality for all.Brad Crowell 2:39  Yeah. So one of the things that I wanted to address is we're obviously not black. However, we have heard a lot of people who are not black say, well, what about white people? Or what about other, you know, people as well? Shouldn't we be focusing on them as much as we are focusing on black people? And ultimately, I would say Black Lives Matter does not say other lives don't matter. But what Black Lives Matter is saying is that there is a historical, documented like systematic approach against that has not given the same opportunities in our society, in our in the United States of America, to black people, whereas it has favored, white people. Lesley Logan 3:37  Oh one thing and I heard that I heard this in 2020 and I'll share it here. It doesn't mean you didn't have to swim uphill, it just meant that you had a paddle, it just means that, like, you could have had a hard life but there, the research is there, even if your family came here like mine did in the 1912 all this stuff, the research is, is, is very much there, the status are there that because after slavery, we didn't, we did not treat black people the same as white people, the wealth that their families could pass down, which whether or not you got any money, because I didn't either whether doesn't matter. It doesn't mean that you that there was less opportunity for their generations of families to have options. And there's actually a black family, a guy who was able to buy slaves, the black man who was able to buy his family as slaves. And so then when when slavery ended, there was this whole, basically reparations for the slave owners. And so he was given money for the slaves that he lost, and you can see his family and the generations that came from his family, and how different their lives were compared to other black people and so especially as we're watching this right now where brown people are being targeted in an insane way, black and brown people, but we're seeing a lot of it with brown people because of ICE. I'm just gonna say who it is, because of that. The reality is, is because.Brad Crowell 5:02  Because of ICE directed it by, you know, Stephen Miller and our president.Lesley Logan 5:06  And our president and his vice president, we're gonna add in there. Because some people think if we just got rid of Trump at life would be better. No, you'll still have a shit sandwich. So the reality is, because we've never had Black Lives Matter, we are all being affected. All every other color is going to have a hard time. And by the way, white people, you are too, your life is not going to get easier because they got rid of some brown people, or they only pull over black people. You're this is a community.Brad Crowell 5:32  But I want to go back to this. I agree with the things that you're saying, but I want to go back to this by saying let white lives matter too. We're actually sidestepping the issue. And that's the problem. The problem is not that white lives don't matter. That's not what we're saying, and that's not what you know, that's not what, when someone says Black Lives Matter, they're not saying white lives don't matter too. But what they but when we say white lives matter too, we're we're just derailing the conversation away from the fact that there has been systemic oppression of people in our society for 400 years, right?Lesley Logan 6:05  And also, by the way, if you vote for the people of color who are different than you, you benefit too. By the way, if you've not, I'm not saying vote for people of color. I'm saying if you vote for the people who will represent the people of the least of these, you will benefit. You'll benefit in so many different ways.Brad Crowell 6:20  But here's the thing, that, yes, that you will absolutely benefit when there is, like, cultural and systemic racism against a particular group, it almost empowers violence towards that group, and that is where the that's where everyone got really, really frustrated with this murderer who was literally set free, you know, and, and I couldn't agree more, you know, it's, it's, it's wrong.Lesley Logan 6:50  It's just fucked up. I mean, to be honest, the whole thing that he stood on, that law that he stood on, is stupid, and it's in several different states, and people and like kids have been killed since then because they knocked on the wrong door. A black kid last year knocked on the wrong door looking to pick up his brothers, and they shot him because he's a black kid at their door. Like, what the, I'm sorry, that is infuriating. And we, we are not done. And I think, like, we got past 2020. Brad Crowell 7:18  It's like a mix of fear and racism and the fact that they're ever like. Lesley Logan 7:21  But they're, I won't even give them warrant over fear they're fucked up. Like, come on, I'm sorry.Brad Crowell 7:26  Like their bread fear is like, spued into their life.Lesley Logan 7:31  Right, I guess. But also like, we live in a world where you can curate your own algorithm and and these people are not taking the time to even, like, think about somebody else's experience at all, just their own, and they're so self-centered, and then they vote for people who lie to them and use them and use fear to use them. And now look where we're at. People are dying, and they're like, but my life still sucks. Yeah, it does. You voted for people who made sure it fucking sucked. And I am just like, the guns are the fucking problem. And then we have to. We voted we got rid of Trump the first time. We're like, oh, good. All this stuff is better. No, it's not. The Democrats didn't work fucking fast enough. And now we're here in this place of shit where black people still don't have the rights that white people do, and now brown people are being attacked in crazy ways. And by the way, like, if you're so concerned with, like, immigrants and crime. Like last year, immigrants killed three people, and ISIS killed 33 people from the stats that I just looked at. So like, I just think that, like, there's things that we could be taking into perspective, and it requires us to be more considerate of people who look different than us, and also fighting for their rights, because it will help yours. Anyways, end of rant. And by the way, that's a long conversation that we were like trying to get out. So if we like, that's something a little weird forgiveness, because we're all growing. We're all learning. You get amped up. Lesley Logan 8:50  So anyways, I want to get into what's going on. We just wrapped up Agency Mini last week, and so you missed it. Brad Crowell 9:02  Congratulations, it's over. Lesley Logan 8:57  Congratulations. You can't get on the waitlist, but you can get on the waitlist for the next one. We will do one more this year, prfit.biz/mini prfit.biz/mini that's profit without the O and it is for Pilates instructors and studio owners who work for themselves or want to so highly recommend it. Now we're getting up and we're gearing. We're gearing. We're gearing up and getting ready because we will be gone for an entire month in Europe. Brad and I, we're not taking Bayon on this trip. On this trip, and so we'll be first in Poland at the Controlology Conference to Contrology Pilates Conference in Wroclaw with Karen Frischmann, xxll.co/poland you can come from anywhere to go to that. Karen and I speak in English, and it will be translated into Polish. So if you can do either of those languages, that conference is for you. And then after that, Brad, Karen and I are going to go to the Contrology. We're going to Brussels to Pilatels like Vintage Pilates and friends. Ignacio is going to be there. El is the owner. She's going to be there. The four of us are gonna be teaching workshops and classes. It's gonna be a long, fun filled days. I promise these are something you don't wanna miss. Els really throws a party with these xxll.co/brussels, and I guess we're gonna be like in Bruges. So that's really cool. Don't quote me. It's all on the site. Just go there. Brad Crowell 9:02  Sounds fun. Lesley Logan 9:02  We have a lot of eLevate and other people that we know are going to that one. So it's gonna be a really fun party. And then after our second honeymoon, which your recommendations for things to do between Brussels and Paris that get us to London are welcomed, because we're going to take that train. I think, hopefully we can. That's the plan. We clearly haven't looked up anything. I just heard you can go from Paris to London, so that's what we're going to do. But you can join us at POT London. My Saturday workshop is filled, but there is a few spots left in the Sunday workshop that I'm teaching, but you should come to any of the workshops, because there's some excellent presenters at the POT in London, xxll.co/pot. By the way, that link will take you to all the POTs that Balanced Body is doing right now. Right now the only one on that schedule that I'm going to be at is POT London. We will have a booth at a couple others, but if you want to take workshop from me in Europe, you've got three weekend options, and that is it for at least a year, maybe two. So check it out xxll.co/pot, and then we come home, we're gonna get ready for spring training. Brad Crowell 11:16  Yeah, really looking forward to it. This year we're gonna change it up. Lesley Logan 11:19  How to get overhead. Brad Crowell 11:20  How to get overhead. So last year's spring training was so fun. We had people join us from all over the world. We had teachers join us from all over the globe, all the OPC teachers, and it was a big party. And we were digging into, well, each year we're digging into a different topic. So this year's topic is how to get overhead. And I know we kind of said this last week on the pod. But you don't have to be able to get overhead right to come learn. Lesley Logan 11:46  I don't like that. It's not have to get overhead, it's a how to. It's really finding your own version of overhead exercises. It's really just, you're here to find your own and that's what Pilates is making your own personal practice practice. It's called Contrology, the study of control. Not controlled.Brad Crowell 12:02  Yeah, not controlled. So come join us. Go to opc.me/events opc.me/events to grab a spot on the waitlist so that you're gonna be the first one to know when we do that in May. Before we get into this great interview with Brad, let's dig into this question. So on YouTube, @wanderlustonwheels asks, I would love to see recommendations for us perimenopausal ladies on the Cadillac. I am also hyper mobile, so I can't really do any mat work without fabricating and crunching my joints and pinching my nerves. I always end up with neck cranks that keep me from sleeping when I do mat work. So this is like multiple things rolled up into one. Lesley Logan 12:45  Yeah, I'm gonna keep it tight, because I appreciate your question about perimenopausal exercises on the Cadillac. And unfortunately, the way that Pilates has been changed, in some ways, is that people think I need to know this type of exercise for this piece of equipment, but really it's a system. And actually all Pilates is available to any perimenopausal woman on any piece of equipment. So what's cool about Pilates is it actually is a low cortisol producing workout, or it should be. And if yours is not, then you're probably not doing Pilates. It's a mind body connective work, and you're not moving super slow or super fast. There's some moments with zest and there's some moment with rhythm. But in in all honesty, most Pilates exercise classes session should actually be low cortisol producing really great for building strength and for getting that mind body connection, which will bring down that cortisol levels. And you should be able to sleep really, really well. So I'm not gonna say which exercises are great for perimenopause, because they all are, but depends on which ones your body needs right now. And that actually has nothing. That has very little to do with perimenopause, and more to do with like, what's going on with your body, the fact that you're hyper mobile, you didn't mention that you have EDS. So if you had EDS, this was a it's a different story, and you should definitely be working. You should really make sure to find an EDS teacher near you, trained teacher near you or online. Because the fact that when you do mat work your nerves are pinched and you have neck cranks makes me actually nervous that you're not doing actual Pilates exercises, and somebody is using the popularity of Pilates to entice you in, because if you're doing Pilates from your center on the mat as a hyper mobile person, the worst case scenario you're going to have is that it's easy. I'm a hyper mobile body, and so it would just feel easy to me because I was just locking my joints out and over stretching things and kind of hanging off of things. But the fact that you're actually having pinched nerves and neck cranks tells me that there's some sort of pressure that's being pulled to you in these exercises.Brad Crowell 14:46  Well, I think, I think, like, okay, so also hypermobile here. And did you know in like, super intense yoga for like, a long time before moving to Vegas and so now I do yoga differently, but before it was like, you know, 3, 4, 5 days a week doing yoga. And I definitely understand the idea of, like, crunching joints and pinching nerves, or I don't understand fabricating. That doesn't mean anything to me. But, you know, just because you can force your body into a shape doesn't mean you're doing it correctly. Lesley Logan 15:18  Well and also, I think that, like, something that you had to learn was that not every cue is for you. And I think sometimes in a class we hear them say something, so we do it in a hyper mobile people, we can keep going like, our end range isn't there, whereas a tighter person would be like, get stuck on something.Brad Crowell 15:35  I mean, look, I you know, I could put my head, my foot behind my head on the first day of class, the very first day, like, and they were like, your yoga practice is amazing. I was like, I'm brand new. What are you talking about? Right? So.Lesley Logan 15:46  And that teacher should have been like, oh, even though you can do that, you should not do that, because you don't know what you're doing.Brad Crowell 15:51  Right. You don't know how to engage your muscles, to protect your body. And that's what, to me, that's what it sounds like here, when you have crunching joints or pinching nerves, like in Pilates, we talk about the five spine shapes. And the spine shape that that you should focus on as a hyper mobile body is tall.Lesley Logan 16:07  Yeah, look at you, Brad. Brad Crowell 16:09  Oh yeah. Lesley Logan 16:10  Look at you. So so @wanderlustonwheels, like, here's the thing, if you were an OPC member and I was you sent in a video of you doing a couple of the mat exercises, just a couple reps, I don't want you to hurt anything, I could actually see what's going on. Without being able to see it just based off what I'm reading, it sounds to me that the person who's teaching the class is not teaching your body. They are teaching a class, and that is hard because it's more accessible for you to go to a class or to watch a YouTube video, but not everything is going to be for you. And so actually learning how to move from your center is going to be key, and that might mean investing in some time or some money to get either an OBC membership or a studio near you, where a teacher can actually look at you and go, oh, that's too high. Oh, that's too much. Or here are these exercises, because the mat work, like I said, as a hypermobile, it should just feel easy, and the fact you're getting hurt, really, like alarm bells are going off for me. Brad Crowell 17:03  There's a second thing I wanted to say on this, and I'm not a physical therapist, but also being a hypermobile body, the best thing that has that I've done for my body in the past five years is lifting weights.Lesley Logan 17:16  Well and, for perimenopausal women, you should be so people who actually do Pilates say I should lift weights. It's not an or it's an and I do both. I lift heavy weights and I do Pilates.Brad Crowell 17:27  Because, because the strength, here's here's where this has been weird for me, because I am, like, super competitive, the guy who wants to be the guy who can, you know, bend over backwards and and, like, you know, touch my toes backwards. I want to be that guy, because if they can do it, so can I. That's how my mentality has always been, and I could do a lot more flexibility things, maybe not properly, but with my hypermobility before I started becoming more strong, but with the strength added, which, you know, has been like, a process over multiple years. My body hurts way less, way less. I can still jack myself up, and I can still be like, oh man, I'm in my lower back right now. I can feel it, you know. But because my, because I've been like, my shoulders don't hurt anymore. They used to. My knees are hurting less they, you know, my back especially has been hurting less, and then, you know, I haven't had neck issues the way that you're describing them. But like, you know, if you strengthen your neck, imagine.Lesley Logan 18:31  Well, that's the thing that people, especially while we're doing that, going back to that spring training with overhead, I ask you, like, what they're nervous about and everyone's afraid of their neck. And I'm like, one, you should be on your neck. And two, your neck should be strong. Most people, like, are so afraid of hurting their neck that they're not actually strengthening their neck anymore, and their necks getting weaker. And so guess what? It's actually gonna you're gonna hurt it just sitting around. So I, I really, like, I feel for people because, like, what if? So what if @wanderlustonwheels, like, can't go to any place, right? What if she, like, doesn't have money or the time, and she like, I get that it's about listening to your body. And really true, like, sometimes you have to film yourself, because if you're looking at someone do something, and then you're trying to make yourself look like them. But then when you actually film yourself, you go, oh, wow, look at how hyperextended or look where my chin is like that could help you or if you can invest in even just some privates, going hey, I need to know these foundational exercises for my body. I need to know these foundational weight training exercises for my body. I'm hyper mobile, then you can I truly believe you can do Pilates on your own once you have those foundations. And that's I wouldn't have created OPC if I didn't think so, and you can train on your own. That's why gyms exist. So at any rate, like also, I just really wonder if the person teaching that mat class is actually teaching real mat Pilates or doing lots of extra reps or something. They might be doing Pilates exercises, but doing a ton of reps, or doing it too fast, or adding heavier weights. I say, like, what? I was like, oh, I want lightweights for a class, right? And I showed up and they're like, the lightest one's worth five pounds each. And I'm like, that's not Pilates. That like that should be in a gym, because Pilates is a one pound weight. So like, sometimes, you know, people want to fill the burn and so, and then studios lean towards that, because that's what I think, is there gonna be money, and what we're not doing is educating people, you know? (inaudible)Brad Crowell 20:12  Thanks for writing in that question. There's a lot there, but, but. Lesley Logan 20:17  We have a great workshop on OPC that Mindy Westfall did about Pilates for hypermobility, so I highly recommend taking a look at that.Brad Crowell 20:24  Yeah, that's a great point and and sorry for interrupting you there. But yes, if you have a question, we want to hear it, so text us 310-905-5534, or you can submit it through beitpod.com/questions beitpod.com/questions where you can leave either a win or a question. So send us some wins, people, we want to celebrate with you. Stick around. We'll be right back. We're going to talk about Brad Walsh. Brad Crowell 20:49  All right, let's talk about Brad Walsh. Brad is the host and founder of the Empower Podcast, a Toronto based platform dedicated to amplifying women's stories and strengthening their voices. A lifelong photographer. He discovered his passion in high school, and later transitioned from a 12 and a half year career as corporate audiovisual technician to full time photography, eventually specializing in boudoir work that helps women see their own strength and beauty. His commitment to women's empowerment is rooted in the example set by his mother and grandmother, whose courage shaped the values behind his work today. Lesley Logan 21:23  Yeah, and some cool women in his life. And we've had one photographer on before, and so I was, I was excited to talk a little bit about boudoir photography with him, because I grew up where a lot of women changed their bodies because of what they thought men would like, and then him being a male boudoir photographer who's like, literally loving everybody as it is and showing them how beautiful they are in their own bodies with these photos. And then then they can see how beautiful they are in those photos. It's fucking cool. I think it's great. Thanks, Brad, for not being a dick, you know, like there are some good men out there. Brad Crowell 21:56  If you haven't listened to his episode just yet, his you know, he shared his story a little bit. His dad left, or his mom left his dad, who was, you know, off cheating on her, basically, when he was 10, and they went through it like they were broke. They got an apartment. Mom slept on the couch, because he also has a brother, and he said, you know, her strength and courage to stand back up after 15 years of marriage and say, I'm done with this abuse. She left with nothing but the clothes on her back. And, you know, and then when she got a job because she needed to, after being out of the workforce for over a decade, grandma helped in, you know, stepped in to help. So, you know, very inspirational story there. And also, like, definitely lays the foundation for why he would be encouraging, you know, women and empowering women. So I appreciated hearing a little bit of that. But what are the what is one of the things that he talked about that you really loved?Lesley Logan 22:54  Well, he said, the gift of her seeing herself for the first time a light she's not used to seeing herself in. He said, like, it's so powerful to be able to give that to another human being and.Brad Crowell 23:03  You're specifically talking about his photography, yeah, boudoir photography.Lesley Logan 23:06  Yeah. He said when they see who they truly are and how they're captured, they leave a completely different woman. And there's not enough words, he said, to encapsulate the power in that as a photographer. I mean, I.Brad Crowell 23:19  His conviction, like, was, was so. Lesley Logan 23:21  Oh yeah, you have to hear it. Brad Crowell 23:22  Yeah, it was. It was very compelling. Because he's like, I don't, I don't have the words to say how much that has impacted me. Lesley Logan 23:28  Yeah. Well, I think, like, first of all, ladies, if you're like, I hate being on camera. I don't have (inaudible) you're the one who fucking needs to have your picture taken. Because, like, I was like, oh my God, we have a photo shoot tomorrow, and I love our photographer, and I love our makeup artist, and so I'm like, it's, I know it's going to be a great time, and it's a long day, like we talked about Brooks Tyler's book last week, and it's like, to be on an eight-hour shoot, you you have to have stamina, endurance, and I really think Adderall would have helped, like, just, just to stay focused right for that many hours. But when you see the photos at the end of the day, you're like, oh my God, I'm fucking stunning. And then you like, wake up the next day without hair and makeup, like, I'm fucking stunning. Like, it just keeps going. So, like, I highly recommend doing it, because it does change how you think about yourself. And when you change how you think about yourself, you change how you act, you change how you act, you change how you be it till you see it. I mean, there's no other way to say it. So what did you love?Brad Crowell 24:25  So I really dug when he was talking about resilience, right? And it stemmed from a conversation about being tired of the word resilient. You know, like, I've been told so many times you're so resilient. Well, I don't want to be resilient anymore. Why do I have to keep being resilient?Lesley Logan 24:37  My friends are like, you're the most resilient person, I know I'm like, over it pretty done.Brad Crowell 24:42  And he took a step back and paused, and he's like, well, this is how I see what resilience is. It's, it's courage and inner strength, specifically, when you you keep getting back up after being knocked down time after time, right? And he said, he said it's really important that women be resilient so they can share their experience, and inspire other women by being vulnerable, by sharing their experience. It's a permission slip for others. It shows them what is possible, right? And I thought that's totally relevant and important. And he said, while it can certainly be tiring, it serves a greater purpose, right? And it makes your efforts bigger than just you. You know, it makes your efforts towards whatever it is that you're working on. When you share those things and you continue to get back up, you know, you're giving permission for others to keep going on their journey, which we don't know what exactly what it is, but there's clearly going to be something relatable. He said, even if you're only influencing one person, right? It's worth it. He said, think about that impact, and how you know that you can have and how you can help. Maybe, you know, maybe by sharing your story, your struggles, it will prevent someone from having to go through something similar that you experience, because you know you're sharing how you got through it. So, I mean, that's honestly, like half the reason we do this podcast is hearing, you know, how did they get from A to B? How are they being it till they see, how they get to where they are today and, you know, it's inspirational. I hope you found it as well.Lesley Logan 26:08  I did. I really did. And I couldn't agree more. I mean, like, you're, you know, it's not a podcast I used to listen to before I was ever like when the first they just ended their first season, which is like, more like an ending of a show. I think they call the end of a season one, because they could always come back. But it was like 968, episodes. And I know. And I was just like, interesting. I wonder what it'd be like, like, well, how do you, how do you think about ending it? I read, like, their statement, which is, like, everything that we did worked, and like, look, we've inspired people. And I was like, there must have been a point where they, like, thought it wasn't adding anymore, you know, and but, and every time I'm like, is this podcast like helping anybody out? And then we go on tour, and someone's like, I loved this. And I'm like, well, fuck, we got to keep going because it's fucking hard work podcasting. But I know every stupid bro makes it look like it's the easiest thing you ever did in your life. This is a fucking hard thing that we do every week.Brad Crowell 27:00  Yeah, we're surrounded by a whole team to set us up to be able to even do this.Lesley Logan 27:03  Yes, and you just get to, like, vent or rant or like, I don't know what the fuck they think they're doing, but like, you actually have to, like, have structure and, like, think about these things and think about the people you're platforming. You know, I know that dickhead CEO podcast is like, I'm not platforming these people. I'm having a conversation. No, you're fucking platforming them, right? So, like, sometimes I'm like, oh, do I should I be platforming this person? Because I want to change lives for the better, right? So, and it's difficult because you're like, how do I know this person? How am I going to there's so many things to think about, but I do agree. It's like, if you can change one's person's life with it, like, then it's worth doing, worth all the effort. Brad Crowell 27:33  Yeah, well, stick around. We'll be right back. We're going to dig into those Be It Action Items that we got from your conversation with Brad Walsh. Brad Crowell 27:42  All right, welcome back. So finally, let's talk about those Be It Action Items. What bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted action items can we take away from your conversation with Brad Walsh? He said, you just have to be authentic. Don't try to be something that you're not. And the two of you went back and forth about we need to take back the word authentic, it's overused and overplayed, but there's still something to it. You know? He said, look, when we only show the happy, shiny, beautiful part of the thing that we went through, we're not being honest, and that's not being authentic, because there was definitely some shit we had to go through to get there too, right? And so I think it's fair to say that you can still be selective about all of the shit. You don't have to share everything. We're not airing our dirty laundry, but it's important to show that there's a struggle as well, and that that like contributes to that authenticity. It makes it actually authentic, right? So drill down, you know, be selective, but take that mask off and actually like, be genuine. So what about you?Lesley Logan 28:42  Oh, well, you know, I love this his father's wisdom, who said, what's meant for you will never go by you. And the mantra that I say, which means the same thing, is, like, what is for you will not pass you, or you will not pass you. And I think that that's a really important thing, because it's really easy to, like, hang on to something because we're afraid that something else won't come along. But like, if it's meant for you, will not go by you. And it's something that, like, as our career has taken off, as our business continues to grow, I have to say no to a lot of things, and that means worrying. Oh my god, am I letting something go? Am I saying no to something that could have, like, changed the trajectory? And it's like, I have to trust that what is meant for me will never go by you. What is for me will not pass me. So I hope that gives you something to think about, because it's not going to be all fucking rainbows and glitter, especially right now. Like, it's really hard right now. And I want to recognize every single one of you are listening like, you open up the news and it's fucked, and then you have to go to work and go, how are you? Well, all things considered, not shitty, but, like, it's hard, especially especially as people who have empathy and feelings and and caring. And so you have to keep getting up, doing the best you can. If you live somewhere where you can call someone who represents you and yell at them for what they need to step up, do that, it's part of a great day, and then keep going because if you can affect one person's life to make it better, it does matter. I love that. Brad Crowell 30:04  Yeah, me too. Lesley Logan 30:04  I'm Lesley Logan.Brad Crowell 30:06  Well, before we do that, we just wanted to shout out. Brad has an upcoming conference that's called Empowerography. It's a live conference for 2026 It is Friday, April 24th, through Sunday, April 26th, and I'm pretty sure it's a virtual. Lesley Logan 30:21  It's virtual so you can go. Brad Crowell 30:22  So you can find tickets and information about it on Facebook. Search for Empowerography. That's E-M power ography. You know, Empowerography Live Conference. Just search for Brad Walsh. Lesley Logan 30:33  We'll put the link in the show notes as well. That might be easier. Okay, go do that. And I'm Lesley Logan. Brad Crowell 30:38  And I'm Brad Crowell. Lesley Logan 30:39  Thanks so much for listening. Thanks for being you. Thanks for calling your congressman and your senators and laying on the peppy if you're American and if you are European or somewhere from anywhere else you there's ways to lay on our shit too. So you can, you can help make change in this world. I believe it. I believe you and you. And if you don't want to do any of that, then leave me a review, please. Thanks so much. Until next time, Be It Till You See It.Brad Crowell 31:01  Bye for now. Lesley Logan 31:03  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 31:45  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 31:50  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 31:54  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 32:01  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 32:04  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

POTS is a real diagnosis, but it isn't always the whole story. In this episode of Bendy Bodies, Dr. Linda Bluestein takes a deep dive into POTS imitators: conditions that can mimic, worsen, or coexist with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and quietly derail treatment progress. Inspired by listener questions and real-world clinical patterns, the episode explores why some people do “everything right” for POTS and still don't improve.The conversation breaks down overlooked contributors like nutrient deficiencies (including pernicious anemia and thiamine deficiency), endocrine and hormonal conditions, mast cell activation, medication effects, sleep disorders, post-infectious syndromes, and neurologic or autoimmune drivers. Dr. Bluestein explains how normal labs can be misleading, why symptoms often appear before classic test abnormalities, and how multiple factors can converge on the same autonomic pathway.Rather than encouraging self-diagnosis, this episode offers a framework for asking better questions, helping listeners recognize red flags, avoid medical ping-pong, and advocate thoughtfully without overwhelming themselves or their clinicians. For anyone living with POTS symptoms that don't fully respond to treatment, this episode provides clarity, context, and a more nuanced way forward. Takeaways: POTS is a pattern, not always a root cause, and multiple conditions can drive the same autonomic symptoms. Normal routine labs do not rule out nutrient deficiencies, including B12 or thiamine deficiency. Hormonal, endocrine, mast cell, and neurologic factors frequently overlap, complicating diagnosis and treatment. Symptoms that persist despite appropriate POTS care are a signal to look deeper, not push harder. Thoughtful pacing and prioritization matter, helping patients avoid burnout while still advocating effectively. Want more Dr. Linda Bluestein, MD? Website: https://www.hypermobilitymd.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bendybodiespodcast Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/BendyBodiesPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/BluesteinLinda⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hypermobilitymd.substack.com/ Shop my Amazon store ⁠⁠⁠ https://www.amazon.com/shop/hypermobilitymd Dr. Bluestein's Recommended Herbs, Supplements and Care Necessities: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/hypermobilitymd/store-start Want to learn more about the UVA EDS Center? For Appointments and Questions: RUVAEDSCenter@uvahealth.org UVA EDS: https://www.uvahealth.com/healthy-practice/advancing-care-through-ehlers-danlos-clinic UVA EDS FAQ: https://www.uvahealth.com/support/eds/faq UVA Pediatric Integrative Medicine: https://childrens.uvahealth.com/specialties/integrative-health Thank YOU so much for tuning in. We hope you found this episode informative, inspiring, useful, validating, and enjoyable. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to level up your knowledge about hypermobility disorders and the people who have them. Join YOUR Bendy Bodies community at ⁠⁠https://www.bendybodiespodcast.com/⁠⁠. YOUR bendy body is our highest priority!⁠⁠ Learn more about Human Content at ⁠⁠⁠http://www.human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Podcast Advertising/Business Inquiries: ⁠⁠⁠sales@human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Part of the Human Content Podcast Network FTC: This video is not sponsored. Links are commissionable, meaning I may earn commission from purchases made through links Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

POTS is a real diagnosis, but it isn't always the whole story. In this episode of Bendy Bodies, Dr. Linda Bluestein takes a deep dive into POTS imitators: conditions that can mimic, worsen, or coexist with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and quietly derail treatment progress. Inspired by listener questions and real-world clinical patterns, the episode explores why some people do “everything right” for POTS and still don't improve.The conversation breaks down overlooked contributors like nutrient deficiencies (including pernicious anemia and thiamine deficiency), endocrine and hormonal conditions, mast cell activation, medication effects, sleep disorders, post-infectious syndromes, and neurologic or autoimmune drivers. Dr. Bluestein explains how normal labs can be misleading, why symptoms often appear before classic test abnormalities, and how multiple factors can converge on the same autonomic pathway.Rather than encouraging self-diagnosis, this episode offers a framework for asking better questions, helping listeners recognize red flags, avoid medical ping-pong, and advocate thoughtfully without overwhelming themselves or their clinicians. For anyone living with POTS symptoms that don't fully respond to treatment, this episode provides clarity, context, and a more nuanced way forward. Takeaways: POTS is a pattern, not always a root cause, and multiple conditions can drive the same autonomic symptoms. Normal routine labs do not rule out nutrient deficiencies, including B12 or thiamine deficiency. Hormonal, endocrine, mast cell, and neurologic factors frequently overlap, complicating diagnosis and treatment. Symptoms that persist despite appropriate POTS care are a signal to look deeper, not push harder. Thoughtful pacing and prioritization matter, helping patients avoid burnout while still advocating effectively. Want more Dr. Linda Bluestein, MD? Website: https://www.hypermobilitymd.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bendybodiespodcast Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/BendyBodiesPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/BluesteinLinda⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hypermobilitymd.substack.com/ Shop my Amazon store ⁠⁠⁠ https://www.amazon.com/shop/hypermobilitymd Dr. Bluestein's Recommended Herbs, Supplements and Care Necessities: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/hypermobilitymd/store-start Want to learn more about the UVA EDS Center? For Appointments and Questions: RUVAEDSCenter@uvahealth.org UVA EDS: https://www.uvahealth.com/healthy-practice/advancing-care-through-ehlers-danlos-clinic UVA EDS FAQ: https://www.uvahealth.com/support/eds/faq UVA Pediatric Integrative Medicine: https://childrens.uvahealth.com/specialties/integrative-health Thank YOU so much for tuning in. We hope you found this episode informative, inspiring, useful, validating, and enjoyable. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to level up your knowledge about hypermobility disorders and the people who have them. Join YOUR Bendy Bodies community at ⁠⁠https://www.bendybodiespodcast.com/⁠⁠. YOUR bendy body is our highest priority!⁠⁠ Learn more about Human Content at ⁠⁠⁠http://www.human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Podcast Advertising/Business Inquiries: ⁠⁠⁠sales@human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Part of the Human Content Podcast Network FTC: This video is not sponsored. Links are commissionable, meaning I may earn commission from purchases made through links Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pippa Hudson speaks to gardening guru Tanya Visser, the editor of The Gardener and Die Tuinier magazines, about growing herbs and specifically about doing so in small spaces, using pots if you don’t have garden beds. Lunch with Pippa Hudson is CapeTalk’s mid-afternoon show. This 2-hour respite from hard news encourages the audience to take the time to explore, taste, read and reflect. The show - presented by former journalist, baker and water sports enthusiast Pippa Hudson - is unashamedly lifestyle driven. Popular features include a daily profile interview #OnTheCouch at 1:10pm. Consumer issues are in the spotlight every Wednesday while the team also unpacks all things related to health, wealth & the environment. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Lunch with Pippa Hudson Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays between 13:00 and 15:00 (SA Time) to Lunch with Pippa Hudson broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/MdSlWEs or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/fDJWe69 Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sweet Lou, Comrade Cody, and Ol Gregg Chiggins run down the storylines they're watching at spring training, including roster battles and darkhorses. Gregg recounts his embarrassing interaction with a former MVP. Lou loves sunburn, and Cody poured out his drinks. Pots and pans for all!

What makes Lyme disease resolve quickly in some people but turn into a life-altering chronic illness in others? In this episode, world-leading immunologist Dr. Michal “Mikki” Tal, Principal Scientist at MIT, explains what her team is discovering through the MAESTRO Study — the largest clinical research project in MIT's history and the first of its kind to include real Lyme patients in a multi-system biological analysis. Dr. Tal's work sits at the intersection of immunology, bioengineering, and women's health, uncovering how infections like Lyme and COVID can cause persistent inflammation, immune miscommunication, and hormonal imbalance. Through MAESTRO, she's mapping how recovery breaks down — and what can be done to predict, prevent, and ultimately reverse chronic illness.

Chatting about the different types & presentations of POTS and how to navigate training if you have this condition.Connect with Dr. Emily:Website - see courses for instructor course info.Instagram

Why are people with Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, POTS, and mast cell disorders so frequently misdiagnosed, or dismissed entirely? In this episode of Bendy Bodies, Dr. Linda Bluestein is joined by Dr. Dacre Knight, Medical Director of the UVA Health EDS and Hypermobility Disorders Center, for a wide-ranging conversation about why complex, multisystem conditions continue to fall through the cracks of modern medicine. Together, they explore how siloed healthcare systems, time-limited visits, and overreliance on “normal” labs and imaging contribute to years of delayed diagnosis and unnecessary suffering. The discussion unpacks why patients are often labeled as anxious, functional, or “too complex,” how pattern recognition breaks down when symptoms span multiple systems, and why early diagnosis could prevent much of the downstream complexity clinicians later struggle to manage. Dr. Knight also explains how diagnostic frameworks like the EDS–POTS–MCAS triad can be helpful and where they risk oversimplifying reality. This episode offers a candid look at the gaps in current diagnostic thinking and a more thoughtful, patient-centered approach to evaluating complex chronic illness, one that prioritizes listening, curiosity, and clinical humility. Takeaways: When diagnosis is delayed, complexity isn't inevitable — it's created. “Normal” tests don't mean normal lives. Pain, fatigue, and dysfunction can exist long before labs catch up. Many patients aren't anxious until they're repeatedly dismissed. Mislabeling symptoms often becomes the real diagnosis delay. Multisystem conditions don't reveal themselves through checklists — they emerge through patterns clinicians are trained to overlook. Sometimes the most powerful intervention isn't a test or a treatment — it's listening earlier, longer, and with curiosity. Want to learn more about the UVA EDS Center? For Appointments and Questions: RUVAEDSCenter@uvahealth.org UVA EDS: https://www.uvahealth.com/healthy-practice/advancing-care-through-ehlers-danlos-clinic UVA EDS FAQ: https://www.uvahealth.com/support/eds/faq UVA Pediatric Integrative Medicine: https://childrens.uvahealth.com/specialties/integrative-health Want more Dr. Dacre Knight? https://x.com/knidac Want more Dr. Linda Bluestein, MD? Website: https://www.hypermobilitymd.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bendybodiespodcast Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/BendyBodiesPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/BluesteinLinda⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hypermobilitymd.substack.com/ Shop my Amazon store ⁠⁠⁠ https://www.amazon.com/shop/hypermobilitymd Dr. Bluestein's Recommended Herbs, Supplements and Care Necessities: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/hypermobilitymd/store-start Thank YOU so much for tuning in. We hope you found this episode informative, inspiring, useful, validating, and enjoyable. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to level up your knowledge about hypermobility disorders and the people who have them. Join YOUR Bendy Bodies community at ⁠⁠https://www.bendybodiespodcast.com/⁠⁠. YOUR bendy body is our highest priority!⁠⁠ Learn more about Human Content at ⁠⁠⁠http://www.human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Podcast Advertising/Business Inquiries: ⁠⁠⁠sales@human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Part of the Human Content Podcast Network FTC: This video is not sponsored. Links are commissionable, meaning I may earn commission from purchases made through links Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are people with Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, POTS, and mast cell disorders so frequently misdiagnosed, or dismissed entirely? In this episode of Bendy Bodies, Dr. Linda Bluestein is joined by Dr. Dacre Knight, Medical Director of the UVA Health EDS and Hypermobility Disorders Center, for a wide-ranging conversation about why complex, multisystem conditions continue to fall through the cracks of modern medicine. Together, they explore how siloed healthcare systems, time-limited visits, and overreliance on “normal” labs and imaging contribute to years of delayed diagnosis and unnecessary suffering. The discussion unpacks why patients are often labeled as anxious, functional, or “too complex,” how pattern recognition breaks down when symptoms span multiple systems, and why early diagnosis could prevent much of the downstream complexity clinicians later struggle to manage. Dr. Knight also explains how diagnostic frameworks like the EDS–POTS–MCAS triad can be helpful and where they risk oversimplifying reality. This episode offers a candid look at the gaps in current diagnostic thinking and a more thoughtful, patient-centered approach to evaluating complex chronic illness, one that prioritizes listening, curiosity, and clinical humility. Takeaways: When diagnosis is delayed, complexity isn't inevitable — it's created. “Normal” tests don't mean normal lives. Pain, fatigue, and dysfunction can exist long before labs catch up. Many patients aren't anxious until they're repeatedly dismissed. Mislabeling symptoms often becomes the real diagnosis delay. Multisystem conditions don't reveal themselves through checklists — they emerge through patterns clinicians are trained to overlook. Sometimes the most powerful intervention isn't a test or a treatment — it's listening earlier, longer, and with curiosity. Find the episode transcript here. Want to learn more about the UVA EDS Center? For Appointments and Questions: RUVAEDSCenter@uvahealth.org UVA EDS: https://www.uvahealth.com/healthy-practice/advancing-care-through-ehlers-danlos-clinic UVA EDS FAQ: https://www.uvahealth.com/support/eds/faq UVA Pediatric Integrative Medicine: https://childrens.uvahealth.com/specialties/integrative-health Want more Dr. Dacre Knight? https://x.com/knidac Want more Dr. Linda Bluestein, MD? Website: https://www.hypermobilitymd.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bendybodiespodcast Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/BendyBodiesPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/BluesteinLinda⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypermobilitymd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hypermobilitymd.substack.com/ Shop my Amazon store ⁠⁠⁠ https://www.amazon.com/shop/hypermobilitymd Dr. Bluestein's Recommended Herbs, Supplements and Care Necessities: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/hypermobilitymd/store-start Thank YOU so much for tuning in. We hope you found this episode informative, inspiring, useful, validating, and enjoyable. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to level up your knowledge about hypermobility disorders and the people who have them. Join YOUR Bendy Bodies community at ⁠⁠https://www.bendybodiespodcast.com/⁠⁠. YOUR bendy body is our highest priority!⁠⁠ Learn more about Human Content at ⁠⁠⁠http://www.human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Podcast Advertising/Business Inquiries: ⁠⁠⁠sales@human-content.com⁠⁠⁠ Part of the Human Content Podcast Network FTC: This video is not sponsored. Links are commissionable, meaning I may earn commission from purchases made through links Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dizziness, fatigue, brain fog, and a racing heart are often brushed off as anxiety or stress. But sometimes there's a real reason behind these symptoms: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). Dr. Wendy talks with pediatric autonomic specialist Dr. Jeff Boris about POTS, an often-missed nervous system condition. We explain what POTS looks like, how it's diagnosed, why it can show up after viral infections like COVID, and treatments that help kids feel better.    Find Jeffrey Boris, MD and learn more about POTS  Download the POTS Exercise program at dysautonomiainternational.org    Send your questions to hello@pediatriciannextdoorpodcast.com or message me online here.  Find products from the show on the shop page.   *As an Amazon Associate, I earn commission from qualifying purchases.    More from The Pediatrician Next Door:    Website: Pediatrician Next Door Podcast  Instagram: @the_pediatrician_next_door  Facebook: facebook.com/wendy.l.hunter.75  TikTok: @drwendyhunter  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drwendyhunter    This is a Redd Rock Music Podcast  IG: @reddrockmusic  www.reddrockmusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fluent Fiction - Catalan: Laia's Enchanting Tale: A Day of Wit at the Sagrada Família Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/ca/episode/2026-02-18-08-38-20-ca Story Transcript:Ca: Laia es va embolicar la bufanda al voltant del coll quan va entrar en el món encantador de la Sagrada Família.En: Laia wrapped the scarf around her neck as she entered the enchanting world of the Sagrada Família.Ca: Era el Dia de Sant Valentí, i l'hivern de Barcelona feia el temps fresc i assolellat.En: It was Valentine's Day, and Barcelona's winter brought cool, sunny weather.Ca: Laia admirava les torres, els vitralls i les escultures amb una passió que només algú que estima l'arquitectura podria sentir.En: Laia admired the towers, stained glass windows, and sculptures with a passion only someone who loves architecture could feel.Ca: Es va perdre en els detalls fins que va notar un grup de turistes rient i fent fotos.En: She got lost in the details until she noticed a group of tourists laughing and taking photos.Ca: "Laia!En: "Laia!Ca: ", va cridar el seu amic Pau, apropant-se amb un somriure ample.En: ", her friend Pau called out, approaching with a wide smile.Ca: "Mira això, Martí només va perdre el tour!En: "Look at this, Martí just missed the tour!"Ca: " Laia va veure en Martí, que mirava al voltant amb el telèfon enlaire.En: Laia saw Martí, who was looking around with his phone held high.Ca: De sobte, a Laia se li va ocórrer una idea divertida.En: Suddenly, Laia had a funny idea.Ca: Amb un gir juganer, va passar davant del grup i va parlar amb una veu teatral: "Benvinguts, amics, al tour més peculiar de la Sagrada Família!En: With a playful twist, she stepped in front of the group and spoke in a theatrical voice: "Welcome, friends, to the most peculiar tour of the Sagrada Família!"Ca: "El grup de turistes va riure, pensant que tot era una part del pla.En: The group of tourists laughed, thinking it was all part of the plan.Ca: Laia va començar a explicar històries creatives sobre les escultures de les façanes, barrejant realitat amb inventiva.En: Laia began to tell creative stories about the sculptures on the facades, mixing reality with invention.Ca: El grup estava enganxat.En: The group was hooked.Ca: Martí i Pau la miraven amb cara divertida, seguint el seu joc.En: Martí and Pau looked at her with amused faces, playing along with her game.Ca: Però un home a la part de darrere semblava interessat de veritat, prenent notes constantment.En: But a man at the back seemed genuinely interested, constantly taking notes.Ca: Era el guia real, observant des de la distància amb una cara intrigada.En: He was the real guide, watching from a distance with an intrigued face.Ca: Laia va decidir seguir endavant, pensant que podria aprofitar la situació.En: Laia decided to carry on, thinking she could make the most of the situation.Ca: Un dels turistes va alçar el braç i va preguntar: "Pots explicar per què aquesta torre és més curta que les altres?En: One of the tourists raised their hand and asked, "Can you explain why this tower is shorter than the others?"Ca: " Laia va fer una pausa, buscant una resposta que combinés enginy amb realitat.En: Laia paused, searching for an answer that combined wit with reality.Ca: "Ah, això és perquè Gaudí volia que les cigonyes poguessin fer-hi el niu durant l'hivern!En: "Ah, that's because Gaudí wanted storks to be able to nest there during the winter!"Ca: ", va dir amb un somriure encantador.En: she said with a charming smile.Ca: El grup va esclatar a riure, inclòs el guia.En: The group burst into laughter, including the guide.Ca: L'home, ara rient, va avançar i li va dir: "Fas un bon treball.En: The man, now laughing, stepped forward and said, "You're doing a great job.Ca: Gaudí estaria orgullós del teu enginy.En: Gaudí would be proud of your wit."Ca: " Li va fer una ullada intencionada, deixant que continués el seu espectacle.En: He gave her an intentional look, allowing her to continue her show.Ca: Martí, Pau i el grup de turistes van seguir gaudint del peculiar tour de Laia fins al final, on van aplaudir amb entusiasme.En: Martí, Pau, and the group of tourists kept enjoying Laia's peculiar tour until the end, where they applauded enthusiastically.Ca: Quan Laia va sortir de la basílica, amb el sol de tarda banyant els carrers de Barcelona, va adonar-se que amb poc, havia alegrat el dia dels altres.En: When Laia left the basilica, with the afternoon sun bathing the streets of Barcelona, she realized that with little, she had brightened others' day.Ca: Era el començament d'una nova passió per compartir el seu humor amb tothom.En: It was the beginning of a new passion for sharing her humor with everyone.Ca: I així, la Sagrada Família no només va ser un lloc de visita turística, sinó un escenari improvisat per moments de riure i connexió humana.En: And so, the Sagrada Família was not just a tourist spot but an impromptu stage for moments of laughter and human connection.Ca: Laia, Martí i Pau van marxar amb el record d'un Dia de Sant Valentí inoblidable.En: Laia, Martí, and Pau left with the memory of an unforgettable Valentine's Day. Vocabulary Words:the scarf: la bufandathe basilica: la basílicaenchanting: encantadorthe winter: l'hivernto admire: admirarthe stained glass: els vitrallsto get lost: perdre'sthe details: els detallsto laugh: riurea funny idea: una idea divertidaplayful: juganerpeculiar: peculiarthe facade: la façanathe wit: l'enginyto burst into laughter: esclatar a riurethe tower: la torreshorter: més curtathe stork: la cigonyato nest: fer el niua charming smile: un somriure encantadorthe guide: el guiaintentionally: intencionadamentto applaud: aplaudirenthusiastically: amb entusiasmethe humor: l'humorto brighten: alegrarimpromptu: improvisatthe memory: el recordunforgettable: inoblidable

Send a textPostural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) is more than “just dizziness.” In this episode, Selin break down POTS from both a Western medical and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective, connecting autonomic nervous system dysfunction and mitochondrial stress with your symptoms.If you're navigating POTS, chronic fatigue, dysautonomia, or unexplained lightheadedness, this episode gives you a clear, integrative roadmap...bridging science and ancient medicine to stabilize energy, strengthen resilience, and reclaim your vitality from the inside out.Keywords: POTS, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, dysautonomia, TCM for POTS, acupuncture for POTS, nervous system regulation, mitochondrial health, hormone balance, chronic fatigue recovery.Support the showDive Deeper On Your Journey: ☆ Book your complimentary first acupuncture session. ☆ Let's connect on Instagram ☆ Explore The Painless Period Guide ☆ Discover the Goddess Affirmation Colouring Book

Confused about GAPS? Here's what it is, who should do it, and why it works.

The city of Portland has recently uncovered several piles of money no one knew was there. At the same time, the city is looking at a pot of money that some say should be off limits to keep the Portland Trail Blazers in town.   We are living in a time of meager public budgets. Look pretty much anywhere in Oregon these days, and you find school districts preparing cuts, state budget writers figuring out what has to go, and cities looking at tough choices. So it’s been notable in recent months to see the city of Portland stumbling over piles of money that no one knew was there. At the same time, the city is scrambling to make sure it keeps the Portland Trail Blazers in town, and to do so it’s looking at a pot of money that some say should be off limits. We are diving into the city’s bank accounts today – with a side of sports talk.  

You can listen wherever you get your podcasts or check out the fully edited transcript of our interview at the bottom of this post.In this episode of The Peaceful Parenting Podcast, I interview Jessica Slice, a disability activist and the author of Unfit Parent, a Disabled Mother Challenges an Inaccessible World. We discuss the effect of Jessica's disability on her life and parenting, and what non-disabled parents can learn from her about parenting.Know someone who might appreciate this episode? Share it with them!

What if anorexia is being missed simply because of body size? In this powerful and deeply validating conversation, I sit down with eating disorder physician Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, MD @gaudianiclinic to explore why the term “atypical anorexia” can obscure real medical risk, delay diagnosis, and reinforce weight stigma across healthcare systems. We discuss what has changed since the first edition of Sick Enough, why weight stigma remains foundational to eating disorder harm, and how current research is reshaping clinical understanding of restrictive eating, ARFID in adults, digestive illness, neurodivergence, chronic medical conditions, and long-term eating disorder recovery. At the center of this episode is an urgent truth for 2026: severe eating disorder suffering does not require being underweight. What We Discuss in This Episode Throughout this conversation, we examine why most people with anorexia are not underweight and how weight stigma continues to shape who gets believed, diagnosed, and treated. Dr. Gaudiani shares what is new and expanded in the second edition of Sick Enough, including updated medical research on binge eating disorder, ARFID across the lifespan, atypical anorexia, and the broader restrictive eating spectrum. We also explore the critical role of gastrointestinal pain, mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), and complex chronic illness in both driving and worsening restrictive eating patterns. This discussion highlights why many adults with ARFID remain misdiagnosed for years, how neurodivergence such as autism and ADHD intersects with eating disorders, and why neurodivergent-affirming, weight-inclusive, trauma-informed care is essential for meaningful recovery. Key Themes for Eating Disorder Recovery in 2026 We further discuss harm reduction, autonomy, and realistic pathways for people living with long-term or chronic eating disorders, including how rebuilding trust after medical trauma can reopen the possibility of healing. Rather than framing recovery as “full recovery or nothing,” this episode explores how supporting quality of life, medical stability, and patient-directed goals can actually improve outcomes. These themes reflect major shifts happening in eating disorder treatment in 2026, including movement toward weight-inclusive medicine, trauma-informed care, recognition of ARFID in adults, support for chronic eating disorders, and clinical models that affirm neurodivergent lived experience. About the Guest Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, MD @gaudianiclinic is a board-certified internal medicine physician and one of the leading medical experts in eating disorder care. She is the founder and medical director of the Gaudiani Clinic, a weight-inclusive outpatient medical practice providing specialized treatment for eating disorders, undernourishment related to complex medical conditions, and trauma-informed primary care across the United States via telemedicine. Dr. Gaudiani previously served as medical director at the ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders and is the author of Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders, a widely respected clinical and patient resource now released in a fully updated second edition. Her work centers compassion, autonomy, and dignity for people in all body sizes seeking eating disorder recovery. Resources Mentioned Resources referenced in this episode include Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders (Second Edition) and the Gaudiani Clinic, which offers weight-inclusive outpatient medical care for eating disorders throughout the United States. Content Caution This episode includes discussion of eating disorders, restrictive eating, ARFID, medical complications, gastrointestinal illness, weight stigma, and medical trauma. Please listen in the way that feels most supportive for you and take pauses as needed. Work With Dr. Marianne If this conversation resonated, you are not alone. I provide neurodivergent-affirming, trauma-informed, weight-inclusive eating disorder therapy for adults in California, Texas, and Washington, D.C., along with worldwide coaching support. You can learn more or schedule a consultation at drmariannemiller.com. Listen Next If you found this episode meaningful, you may also connect with conversations on ARFID in adults, medical trauma in eating disorder care, chronic eating disorders and harm reduction, neurodivergence and restrictive eating, and complex medical complications such as low heart rate, gastrointestinal illness, MCAS, and recovery in higher-weight bodies. Here are some episodes to listen next: Atypical Anorexia Explained: Why Restriction Happens at Every Body Size on Apple or Spotify. Atypical Anorexia: Mental & Physical Health Risks, Plus How the Term is Controversial on Apple or Spotify. Chronic Eating Disorders in 2026: What Hope Can Actually Look Like on Apple and Spotify. Why Some Eating Disorders Don't Resolve: Understanding Chronic Patterns & What Actually Supports Change on Apple and Spotify. When PDA Drives ARFID: Understanding Food Refusal, Control, & Safety on Apple & Spotify. ARFID Explained: What It Feels Like, Why It's Misunderstood, & What Helps on Apple & Spotify.

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Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) is often misunderstood... but it's real, common, AND treatable. In this episode of Talk Dizzy To Me, vestibular physical therapists Dr. Abbie Ross, PT, NCS and Dr. Carly Lochala, PT, NCS sit down with Dr. Julie Hershberg, PT, NCS to explain what FND is, why it's been minimized in healthcare, and how it overlaps with dizziness, migraine, dysautonomia/POTS, hypermobility/EDS, and vestibular disorders.They break down brain networks like the default mode network and salience network, discuss common clinical clues (variability, attention-related shifts), and explain how treatment often starts with nervous system regulation, trust-building, and whole-person care—not just exercises.If you've been told your symptoms are “all in your head,” this episode is for you.Guest: Dr. Julie Hershberg / Reactive PT Instagram: @reactiveptResources: FND resources hub, reactivept.com/FNDresourcesHosted by:

Allie Chandler once couldn't get out of bed. Living with Lyme disease and POTS, her nervous system was in a constant state of survival—leaving her exhausted, dysregulated, and disconnected from the life she wanted. Traditional approaches focused on symptoms, but nothing truly addressed the root of what was keeping her body stuck. In this episode, Allie shares how nervous system regulation became the missing piece in her healing journey—and how it helped her go from bedbound to 98% cured. Today, Allie runs multiple successful businesses, travels freely, and lives a full, vibrant life she once thought was impossible. We talk about: Why chronic illness is often a nervous system issue, not just a physical one How Lyme and POTS keep the body trapped in fight-or-flight The turning point that allowed her body to finally feel safe enough to heal What nervous system regulation actually looks like in real life Hope for anyone who feels stuck, exhausted, or "too far gone" to heal If you're dealing with chronic illness, fatigue, dysautonomia, or feel like your body is constantly on edge—this conversation will change how you think about healing. Allie Chandler is a strategist specializing in functional medicine and wellness brands. After her own healing journey from chronic Lyme disease, mold toxicity, and parasites transformed her from bedbound to thriving, she discovered her passion for helping practitioners share their healing gifts with the world. With over 11 years of experience, Allie has held executive positions at industry giants including CellCore Biosciences, Microbiome Labs, and Novozymes OneHealth. She's scaled supplement companies to $60-100M in revenue, launched 21+ products, and generated $1.3M/month in Amazon sales. Holding a Master's in Writing from California College of the Arts and certification as a Lyme Specialist from Trinity College of Natural Health, Allie bridges the gap between scientific expertise and compelling storytelling. Her Practitioner Archetype Framework (http://upsellhealth.com/archetype) and Wellness Marketing Playbook help practitioners market authentically while building thriving, sustainable practices. Visit http://upsellhealth.com/brain to get your free report and check out how to find the right doctor for your needs. Schedule a 1 hour pick my brain session to get personalized help and resources. https://tidycal.com/annalaurabrown/coaching-session My youtube channel with videos of this podcast and more. https://youtube.com/c/annalaurabrownhealthcoach Check out my essential oils membership and coaching and schedule a free consultation. http://essentialwellnesscircle.com Request a free foundations of wellness kit: https://forms.gle/jBoGuUSNJebET77B6 Watch my free 3 steps to an autoimmune energy reset: https://annalaurabrown.com/autoimmune-energy-webinar/  

Just sharing some of my favorite things that have helped with endometriosis, PCOS, POTS, Gerd, IBS, EDS, IBD, Celiac, Gastroparesis, Lyme disease, mold toxicity and more! BUOY LMNT- http://elementallabs.refr.cc/cameronfradd

Etiquette, manners, and beyond! In this episode, Nick and Leah tackle El Colacho, asking callers to announce themselves, giving plants without pots, and much more. Please follow us! (We'd send you a hand-written thank you note if we could.)Have a question for us? Call or text (267) CALL-RBW or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ask.wyrbw.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠EPISODE CONTENTSAMUSE-BOUCHE: El Colacho (Baby-Jumping Festival)A QUESTION OF ETIQUETTE: Using new call screening technologyQUESTIONS FROM THE WILDERNESS: How do we avoid inviting our friend's new girlfriend to our private yoga group? When gifting houseplants, should they be given with their pots?VENT OR REPENT: Shopping for grandchildren, Pretending to schedule an interviewCORDIALS OF KINDNESS: Thanks to Tamron HallTHINGS MENTIONED DURING THE SHOWEl ColachoMing dynasty cloisonnéErin JacksonYOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO...⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support our show through Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe and rate us 5 stars on Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Call, text, or email us your questions⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Visit our official website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy some fabulous official merchandise⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CREDITSHosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nick Leighton⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Leah Bonnema⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Producer & Editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nick Leighton⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Theme Music: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rob Paravonian⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ADVERTISE ON OUR SHOW⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here for details⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TRANSCRIPT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Episode 294See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of 'Why Not Me?', hosted by Tony Mantor from Nashville, Tennessee, special guest Dr. Diana Driscoll shares her powerful journey of overcoming Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). An accomplished optometrist and patient advocate, Dr. Driscoll discusses her decade-long battle with chronic illness, the evolution of her research, and her groundbreaking insights into the systemic nature of POTS and related conditions. She delves into the impact of inflammation on the autonomic nervous system, the challenges of obtaining proper diagnoses, and the development of her patented supplement blends designed to mitigate these health issues. Dr. Driscoll also touches upon the intersections of POTS, autism, and mental health, offering hope and innovative solutions to those navigating similar struggles. 00:00 Introduction to Why Not Me Meet Dr. Diana Driscoll Dr. Driscoll's Personal Journey with POTS Understanding POTS and Its Challenges Innovative Approaches and Discoveries Autism and Broader Implications Future Goals and Proactive Health Conclusion and Final Thoughts IINTRO/OUTRO Music: T. Wild Mantor Music BMI The content on Why Not Me: Embracing Autism amd Mental Health Worldwide, including discussions on mental health, autism, and related topics, is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not reflect those of the podcast, its hosts, or affiliates.Why Not Me is not a medical or mental health professional and does not endorse or verify the accuracy, efficacy, safety of any treatments, programs, or advice discussed.Listeners should consult qualified healthcare professionals, such as licensed therapists, psychologists, or physicians, before making decisions about mental health or autism- related care.Reliance on this podcast's contents is at the listener's own risk. Why Not Me is not liable for any outcomes, financial or otherwise, resulting from actions taken based on the information provided. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.