S2EP4 - The Power of the Pause: Talking to Dr Pooja Lakshmin About Real Self-Care, Boundaries, Postpartum, Creativity and the Patriarchy
“I think of the boundary as in the pause. So your boundary is in the space between when someone asks you for something or offers something and you take your pause and then you can say yes, you can say no, or you can negotiate. So the boundary isn't the no, the boundary actually is the space. And then you decide how you're going to move. It's not a brick wall.”
~ Dr Pooja Lakshmin
We’re really excited to talk to Dr Pooja Lakshmin, a psychiatrist specializing in women's mental health, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the George Washington University School of Medicine, founder of Gemma, the digital community focused on women's mental health & equity, and a contributor to the New York Times.
Pooja works with women struggling with burnout, despair, depression and anxiety in her clinical practice and has a wider focus on the intersection of mental health and gender.
In this episode, Kaitlin and Pooja dug more deeply into how and why she helps women and marginalized groups heal from the tyranny of faux self-care while exposing the systems that have gotten us here.
Pooja and Kaitlin talk about:
How Pooja came to the conclusion that the personal relates to all the systems in which we live, and thus revolutionizing the work we do in terms of self-care.
Using ‘boundaries’ or ‘taking a pause’ as a tool for real self-care; a healthy ecosystem where a mother or carer considers their needs as part of the equation when asking for or accepting help.
Several ways in which faux self-care can be conceptualized as a coping mechanism, the capitalistic view of productivity or efficiency being one example.
How Pooja’s work as a psychiatrist and her expertise in the “deeply personal space of the individual” is creating ripples of societal/systems change.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts| Spotify | Amazon Music|Stitcher |Google Podcasts| RSS
More about Dr Pooja Lakshmin:
Website: https://www.poojalakshmin.com
Gemma: https://www.gemmawomen.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/poojalakshmin/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pooja-lakshmin-md-a0343a129/
Twitter:https://twitter.com/poojalakshmin
Get your own copy of Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included): https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9780593489727
Related resources:
Find Jenny Odell's new book here - Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock
A Vox review of Jenny Odell’s Saving Time and Pooja’s Real Self-Care: Time Doesn’t Have to be Money
More about Ross Gay and his work on Joy: https://www.rossgay.net/about
Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and give us a rating. This will help us reach more listeners like you who are navigating the joys and pitfalls of artistic and parenting identities.
For regular updates:
Visit our website: postpartumproduction.com
Follow us on Instagram: @postpartumproductionpodcast
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter on Substack: https://postpartumproduction.substack.com
