Episodes

Niraj Naik has a highly effective prescription to optimize the health of your mind, body, and soul. He is a certified UK pharmacist, turned holistic wellness, brain training and breath work expert who launched SOMA Breath. Through SOMA, Niraj has trained thousands of coaches in the powerful, scientifically-backed benefits of breathwork, music, dance, and community. Niraj developed a course called Breathwork for Life that is among the most popular on Mindvalley, a personal transformation platfor...

Bipolar disorder is at its core a global issue: although the systems for managing the disease vary from country to country, it impacts more than 45 million people worldwide. With this, it is always enlightening to speak with individuals around the globe who have found strategies for effectively managing the disorder. Oliver Seligman, today's guest, is a prime example: mental wellness coach, advocate, meditation teacher, and author of Befriending Bipolar and The Broker Who Broke Free. Based in E...

One of the most rewarding aspects of the Untether Your Life journey has been collaborating with organizations such as the South Asian American Policy and Research Institute (SAAPRI). SAAPRI is a non-profit nonpartisan organization established in 2001 with the mission to serve South Asian Americans in the Chicago area by using research to formulate equitable and socially responsible policy. Nikhil appeared as a panelist on the SAAPRI Health Equity Project “Movember” panel held on IG Live. The to...

The crux of the Untether Your Life platform lies in "owning your health," through healing practices beyond surgery, medication, cognitive therapy, and other traditional modalities. Additionally, it is all about untethering ourselves from conventional career paths and "templates" handed down over generations - especially as South Asian immigrants. As such, we were very excited to speak with Rahul Kay, Founder and CEO of Sukhi, a company that seeks to reduce corporate burnout and promote wellness...

Paris Prynkiewicz was diagnosed with depression at age 16, while her suspicion of having bipolar disorder was ignored by doctors because her productive life didn’t “fit the mold”. A few years later, she was hospitalized and court-ordered into treatment, leading to a life-changing journey of healing. Podcaster and author of the incredible memoir, Crooked Illness: Lessons From Inside & Outside Hospital Walls, Paris Prynkiewicz is joining host Nikhil to discuss her mental health and how the shame ...

With the publication of her book Saaya Unveiled, Mrinal Gokhale is trying to help break the stigma surrounding mental health, especially in her community. She joins host Nikhil on The Shelly Story this week to discuss the harmful model minority myth, and how it can lead to intense pressures and lack of focus on mental health issues. Host Nikhil of The Shelly Story, and today’s guest, Mrinal Gokhale, reflect on shared similar experiences of being from an immigrant family. Mrinal and Nikhil have ...

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” This quote attributed to Albert Einstein describes our collective misunderstanding of the relationship between the conscious and subconscious mind. For those who have experienced trauma, the learned act to rationalize our experiences can mean missing sometimes life-changing information from our subconscious. By tapping into her own intu...

Do personal growth books and podcasts make you roll your eyes? Are you tired of hearing the same story of “infinite inspiration” rehashed again and again? Then the guest on this episode of The Shelly Story may be the perfect alternative solution to the dry and heavy content that you’re used to. On today’s episode we speak with an award-winning entrepreneur, TEDx Speaker, bacon-atarian (that's a vegetarian who still eats bacon), funky sock lover, a former rapper (who opened for the Wu-Tang Clan ...

Being “gifted” doesn’t only refer to intelligence; people can be highly skilled in other areas, such as emotionality, leadership, and interpersonal skills. Neurodiversity captures the broad range of unique strengths of individuals who don’t neatly fit the typical molds that society creates. But who is serving this population of gifted adults? Dr. Tracy Winter, aka the “Nerd Coach,” is on the show to discuss her experience coaching gifted adults and why their quirky brains are so important. She ...

One of the key themes of the Untether Your Life platform is owning your health. Although doctors, nurses, and medical professionals play an important role, we are the ones who are ultimately responsible for optimizing the health of our mind, body and soul. Cain is a prime example of the benefits of owning your health. He transformed his life by going against the one-size-fits-alfl treatment model prevalent in today's healthcare system. After suffering a traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a teenag...

South Asian immigrants face a number of mental health challenges associated with the pressures of straddling two different worlds. The stress that comes with acculturation, trauma, and discrimination has been linked with depression, anxiety, and more, and getting help isn’t always as easy as it seems. Most traditional psychotherapy has been modeled on Western families, which is why today’s guest takes a more collaborative and multicultural approach. Today, we sit down with Dr. Ammara Khalid, a ...

Are you looking to improve your mental health and overall sense of wellbeing? Focusing on deep breathing and gentle poses through the practice of yoga may help! On this podcast, we speak to people from a variety of backgrounds about diverse issues, most notably mental health, but we also love to dive into topics that might be considered outside the mainstream when it comes to managing mental wellness. Today we will be discussing yoga as a mental health management tool. To help educate us and o...

The need for mental health advocacy is at an all time high right now. Having gone through two years of a devastating pandemic, with mental health services unable to keep up with the demand, we need to speak out on behalf of those who are suffering before it is too late. Our guests on today’s episode are two people that know how precarious mental health can be, as they watched their brother and son fall victim to mental illness, and experienced how help was not so readily available. Joining us ...

Some of the most successful people of our age have experienced issues with mental health. From the outside it seems as if things couldn’t be better, but the inner world can be insidious in its ability to show the world one thing but experience the inner turmoil in another way. This rings true for our guest on today’s episode. Chris Brogan, co-author of Trust Agents, chief of staff at AppFire, executive level strategist, CEO advisor working with companies at the $100 million revenue and up range...

Owning your own health is one of the key precepts of the Untether Your Life platform. As our lived experience showed us, it's important to look beyond "tried and true" methods for managing your body, mind and soul health. Eastern medicine offers many insights that may prove elusive with solely relying on surgery or medication. With this in mind, Nikhil speaks with William J. Kaplanidis, Acupuncturist, Therapist, Teacher, Author and Founder of Acudragon Wellness. For over 30 years, William has h...

"ENTJ." "ISFP." You've likely heard these abbreviations, but what do they mean exactly? These are two of the 16 types in the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) - a framework for analyzing individuals' personality types, strengths, and preferences based on a self-assessment. Every day the test is used by hundreds of universities, almost 90% of Fortune 500 companies, and more recently even on dating apps such as So Syncd. A few years ago Joe Arrigo, author of the recently published Marble and Sc...

“Trauma” means many things to many people. Mytrae Meliana is innately familiar with its myriad implications, having endured an indescribably abusive marriage, being subject to exile and house arrest in India by her own parents, and fighting against cultural and societal patriarchy to find her own voice. She captured her harrowing, and ultimately redemptive story in a memoir entitled Brown Skin Girl: An Indian American Woman’s Magical Journey from Broken to Beautiful. Nikhil and Shelly spoke wit...

Rick Clemons is a globally recognized professional speaker, a published author (Frankly My Dear I'm Gay - A Late Bloomers Guide To Coming Out), successful podcaster (Life (UN)CLoseted and 40 Plus: Gay Men, Gay Talk), and highly regarded public speaking coach. Like more than 15 million other Americas, he also contends with the challenges of depression on a daily basis. In this episode, Rick speaks with Nikhil about his struggles with mental health, and what it means to live an unapologetic, uncl...

Alexa James is the CEO of NAMI Chicago, the Chicagoland chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness - the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. Since assuming the role in 2020, she's played an integral role in influencing mental health policies and initiatives in the nation's 3rd largest city. We were fortunate to speak with Alexa on a broad variety of topics, including: What le...

Mental health is not a one-size-fits-all concept. It's important to find the a therapist that understands your individual situation, and can help you manage your treatment plan accordingly. In this episode, Nikhil speaks with Dr. Monica Kathuria, PsyD, CEO and Founder of Encircle Wellness, an established private practice located in Chicago’s West Loop which focuses on mental health and wellbeing. They touch on numerous topics, including the importance of the "five basic food groups" of mental h...

Jeff Brown is an app strategist and patented inventor by trade, and bipolar and neurodiversity activist by passion and lived experience. He has lived with bipolar disorder for nearly two decades and shares his story and discoveries of his neurodivergence online as The Bipolarist. In this discussion, he speaks with host Nikhil Torsekar about how bipolar disorder impacts his career; offers guidance for folks with the disorder to navigate professional pathways; and his future plans for his Bipolar...

Pinaki Saha is a creative missionary, digital explorer, and CEO / Co-Founder of Anshar Labs, a global engineering powerhouse delivering outstanding user experiences to Fortune 500 firms, mid-level organizations, and fledgling startups. After graduating from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, he moved to the US in 1996 and launched a flourishing information technology career. This culminated in the launch of Anshar Labs. In this episode, Nikhil speaks with Pinaki about his journey a...

The Untether Your Life platform explores various methods for optimizing one's health beyond surgery, medication, and other "tried and true" modalities. One of these is Ayurveda, which originated in India thousands of years ago, and has shown great promise in managing numerous health conditions. We were fortunate to speak with Neelam Singh, who offered serveral valuable insights on this fascinating, yet sometimes misunderstood approach to health. Neelam is a certified Ayurvedic Health Counselor...

Saadia Khan is the host of The Immigrantly Podcast, a weekly program that aims to deconstruct stereotypical narratives of immigrants, their second-generation kids, people of color, and change-makers with cross-cultural, nuanced conversations. Nikhil and Shelly spoke with Saadia on a range of topics, including their journey of healing, the struggles of being a first generation immigrant, how their experience shaped their parenting philosophies, and the priceless gifts of abundance, awareness, an...