United Bodies
United Bodies is a podcast about the lived experience of health. Join health and disability writer, producer, and activist Kendall Ciesemier and her guests as they explore how different components of our health – mental, physical, social, and spiritual – interplay with one another and intersect with the whole of our identity. When we understand these forces in our lives, we can meet both ourselves and others with more empathy and maybe even realize our fights for equity, justice, freedom, and accessibility are united.
Episodes
12 episodes
What Makes an Enjoyable Life With Andrea Gibson
As the first season of United Bodies comes to a close, here’s a conversation that will buoy us all by proving what’s possible.We’ve been talking about building the world we need -- be that through destigmatizing the hard stuff...
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48:24
Pleasure Is For All of Us with adrienne maree brown
Today we’re talking about pleasure. I can already tell that some of you are wincing. Pleasure is experienced in our bodies and keeps us full of aliveness—whether that’s the pleasure that comes from feeling sun on our backs, tasting our favorite...
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39:35
Reclaiming Spirituality After It Was Weaponized Against Us with Phillip Picardi
For many of us, spiritual health is a facet of our health that we consider less, perhaps even give less weight to or spend less time cultivating. There are many reasons for this. Spirituality can feel elusive, confusing, scary, and unknown. It ...
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43:55
The Liberating Power of Movement With Morgan Dixon and Aj Williams
Moving your body, in any way you can, can be a liberating experience—to feel your power, your strength, your security and resiliency through a step forward, a dance, a roll or stroll through nature. Studies support this—movement has...
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44:53
Writing A New Story with Stephanie Foo
Content warning: child abuseTrauma is everywhere we look. Most prominently, trauma is marked by a sense of powerlessness and loss of control. This is one of most overwhelming parts of experiencing trauma. It’s terrifying to lose...
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37:08
Laughter is the Best Medicine with Samantha Irby
Welcome to the second half of United Bodies, where we’re focused on building the world we need. A huge part of building a better world is about imbuing our world with joy and there’s nothing that makes me feel more joy than laughter. I love to ...
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37:43
The Power and Potential of Grief With Wanda Irving
We are living in a time of collective mourning. Millions of people are mourning loved ones lost to COVID, others are mourning those lost to rampant gun violence or police brutality, and still others are mourning the smaller or slower losses: th...
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38:11
The Criminalization of Mental Illness With Krista Cezair and Brittany Packnett Cunningham
Content Warnings: This episode includes discussions of suicidality, psychosis, violence, and police brutality.Over the last number of years, we’ve made significant progress in destigmatizing mental health care -- many of us openly talk a...
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40:56
If Our Pain Were Believed With Samantha Reid
There is a huge gender gap in those that experience pain and how pain is treated. More than 51 million people in the United States – more than 20 percent of adults – live with chronic pain, but 70 percent of pain sufferers are women.<...
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49:16
How America Took the Healing out of Wellness with Fariha Róisín
Content Warning: Child Sexual AbuseIf you listen to a podcast, scroll through Instagram, read your favorite news site, chances are that you’ll run into an ad for a new wellness product that you likely do not need. Preying on our innate f...
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45:28
Our United Fight for Bodily Autonomy With Imani Barbarin
Together, throughout United Bodies, we’ll explore how different components of our health—mental, physical, social, and spiritual—interplay with one another and intersect with the whole of our identity. When we understand these forces in our liv...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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38:50
