91: Nikhil Torsekar Gets Happy, Human, and Untethered

To comemorate the 90(ish)th episode of Untether Your Life, I'm rebroadcasting my appearance on the Happy and Human podcast.

I always walk away from my exchanges with the hosts - my friends Dinesh Melwani and Dr. Seema Desai - with some new insight, an expansion of my network, and at the very least, a good chuckle. This conversation was no exception. It's full of light-hearted banter, mixed with discussion of weightier topics such as breathwork, epigenetics, and the triumphs and tribulations of life in the South Asian diaspora.

In this far ranging conversation, we touch on the following:

• The implication of Bruce Lipton's conceptualization of our body as a community of 50 trillion cells. How this mindset can improve our decision making skills and sense of agency and empowerment.
• The power of Thich Nhat Hanh's mindful breathing techniques (i.e., "In / out, deep / slow") in enabling us to better navigate turbulent times, and help humanity "one breath at a time."
• What it truly means, as members of the South Asian diaspora, to have "made it" vis-à-vis the American dream. The impact on this pivotal success juncture of the Buddhist notion of impermanence, and the concept of asymptotes (pro tip: you may need to dust off your high school math textbook for this episode).
• The true meaning of the practice of "clean living," and how positive self-talk and gratitude factors into this
• How breathwork and humming can stimulate the vagus nerve, and activate our parasympathetic nervous system and the "rest and digest" response, widen our lens and help us move from scarcity to abundance mindset
• The perils of the "if / then fallacy" that many children of immigrants face in prioritizing success over true happiness, fulfillment, and physical and mental health
• Reflections on cold plunges and other practices covered in the Netflix Limitless series with Chris Hemsworth

Interested in checking out other episodes of the Happy and Human podcast? Visit the Instagram page or check them out on Buzzsprout. I highly recommend following these dynamic changemakers on Instagram as well (@dineshmelwani / @dr.seemadesai).

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