You Are What You Listen To: How Podcast Listening Nourishes Me
Last updated on June 28th, 2021
We’ve all heard the saying “you are what you eat.” Can this same idea be extended to podcasts? Listening to podcasts has touched me, changed me in ways that no other medium has. As children, we used to joke about hearing ourselves grow during a growth spurt. Well, if I’m honest, after a great podcast episode, I feel a similar internal growth just as fast and strong as this. Sometimes I finish listening to an episode different than when I started it. I wanted to explore exactly how podcasts did this.
So I collected a list of some of my favorite podcasts and analyzed how they nourish me. Just as food has, they do appear to provide me with nourishment in the form of grounding, reflecting and connecting.
Tara Brach
During the past year I’ve started to use a lot of audio content to help with the inevitable stress and anxiety that comes with changes as big as we’ve all had to deal with. One of the most helpful of these finds is Brach’s podcast. Her advice, stories and humor are so soothing that I find myself calm after just 1 or 2 minutes into an episode. Brach is a Buddhist meditation teacher that balances Eastern and Western spiritual practices and ideas. But honestly, I find her storytelling method to be like listening to a friend. She is funny, grounded, insightful and practical. The episodes vary from just stories to help us handle life’s challenges to guided meditations and sometimes a combination of these two. It’s usually rare for me to relisten to a podcast episode but find her podcast breaks this rule for me.
Listen: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify
Real Ass Affirmations
Chisa Pennix-Brown is humorous in her attempt to calm and soothe her audience but with more of a punch. As you can guess from the title of this podcast, there is cursing involved in her rants and affirmations sometimes. But it’s not crude or offensive. And that rawness is what I love about these short bursts of reality check episodes. Pennix-Brown does not sugar coat anything. Instead, she guides us through one difficult situation at a time with quick, hilarious and biting honesty. But somehow she does this with a gentleness that’s super comforting. Pennix-Brown is the kind of friend that you’d want to reach out to when you wanted blunt, honest feedback that would cut hours and maybe even days off of your self torturous thoughts. It’s one of the most refreshing podcasts that I’ve heard in a long time.
Read more: The 71 Best Podcasts of 2020
Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
I Like The Sound
I am a huge fan of curiosity driven podcasts and this is one of my favorites. It is also in my grounding podcast toolbox because of the atmospheric nature of the episodes. Frank Burton of Ragbag Podcast carefully crafts this sound oriented podcast in the most delightful way. There is a bit of narration but the sounds in every episode are the main characters. For example, in episode 15, “Falling Snow”, the sounds of the snow are internationally the focus. He walks us through the sounds that he captures so we not only hear but see where they are happening. He’s honest that this podcast is a sound experiment. He does not delete the sounds that are not, well, audibly impressive. Instead, he comments on how he can change the sound characteristics, when possible, to make “a more pleasing sound” next time. Unlike all spoken word podcasts, these types of episodes really make me focus on every sound, every moment, and it slows me down. It grounds me. And I appreciate it so much.
The next set of podcasts are reflection focused.
Bag Ladiez
In a year where I’m consciously ignoring a large part of the news cycle, I’m intrigued by what Estephanie & Lina are doing in their podcast. They are 2 Bronx Afro-Latinas who are balancing the staying informed and staying calm thing far better than I am. They talk about current events in their episodes but it does not at all increase my anxiety at all. Instead, I’m inspired by how they are able to tackle topics like income disparity, masks resistance, anti-blackness and more. But they are not just helping me to stay informed as I block out sensationalistic major “news” sources. They provide perspectives on these issues that I’m not used to hearing. And they do so while being playful, informed, connected and angry. Because to insight change sometimes you have to show your anger. And I’m glad that they are showing us how to channel our anger into making change. We need change and we need Estephanie and Lina.
Listen: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify
Wǒ Men podcast: Modern China from the Inside
Yajun Zhang and Jingjing Zhang are two Chinese women who examine modern Chinese culture with a global mindset. The podcast name itself shows you how culturally playful and inquisitive they are: “wǒ men” in Mandarin Chinese means “we” in English but it also looks like the English word “women.” This is intentional. The podcast dives into women’s lives in the fast paced, rapidly changing China. Yajun and Jingjing explore intimate details of modern day Chinese culture that include their LGBTQ+ community, sexual assault, online dating, plastic surgery and so much more. They don’t shy away from topics, they dive into them head first. Even while asking their guests difficult questions, they are always light hearted and respectful. This is a strong podcast from two people who want to share aspects of their culture with the English speaking audience.
Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Brown Girls Read
Daman Tiwana and Khyati Thakur are my kind of bookworms. They read across genres, are not shy about their opinions, and openly share content connections to their Indian backgrounds. Because their personal connection to reading and to each other is so strong, I find myself listening to them talk about books that I normally would not consider reading. For example, I’d been successfully ignoring a certain productivity book for years. But when they reviewed it and applied it to their daily lives last July, I could not resist. The points in the book that they highlighted sounded really useful so I decided to read it. Not surprisingly, I found immediate and needed improvements in my life. Because Daman, Khyati and I seem to value similar things in life, I know I can trust their blunt and detailed reviews of books.
Listen: Apple Podcasts |Spotify
Faster Than Normal
I have not been officially diagnosed with ADD or ADHD but after reading Peter Shankman’s book by the same name podcast last year, I knew I didn’t need to. I’ve always processed things faster and very differently than others. I didn’t realize how much I internalized a certain shame with my neurodiversity until finding FTN. The beauty of both the book and the podcast is that Peter exudes such a positive, zero shame energy about his own faster than normal brain that it’s hard to stay self critical. Throughout the episodes I’ve realized that he’s right, we are not weird or wrong, we are different. And our differences can be used to our advantage. The tips that his guests share of accepting their FTN brain give examples on how to do this. In this podcast he’s really doing an amazing job helping to reframe the negative stigma around ADD/ADHD and to move us to the point of accepting ourselves. Myself. Yourself. Ourselves. It’s truly a beautiful thing.
Listen: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify
Finally, here are some podcasts that help me connect to the larger world around me. Spoiler, they also teach me quite a bit in the process.
Seen and Not Heard
I followed this podcast because of what Caroline Mincks, the Creator, was doing in the podcasting space to educate people about making podcasts more accessible to deaf, Deaf and hearing impaired folks.I was prepared for an audio drama that was informed, educational and useful. What I wasn’t fully ready for the soft and addictive nature of this story. Bet, the lead character, is vulnerably lost and honest, making her way through the world after a life changing illness affected her hearing greatly. As she struggles with her own place in this new world, I find myself comparing our parallel emotional lives. But I’m also gaining insights into deaf and Deaf environments, communities and norms. This is a gorgeous story of loss, gain and the human connection and I am a more connected person for having listened to it. You will be too! (Disclosure: Caroline Mincks has contributed to Discover Pods.)
Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
AfroQueer
The stories in this podcast are brutally honest and sometimes it’s hard to keep going. So far I’ve learned about controversial films like Rafiki, a gay wedding in Nigeria that went viral online, African gay fiction Writers, and so much more. The episode “Choices,” for example, is a powerful telling of a roller coaster ride of a queer African love story that started out online. I kid you not, while listening to this episode I shouted at my phone “walk away, she’s lying to you.” That’s how delicately they craft these stories for the podcast. There are so many layers of emotions and complications to these stories. These stories that need to be heard: in and outside of the African continent.
Listen: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify
Hit Parade
Even though music has personally inspired and defined entire segments of my life, I rarely take the time to sit down and contextualize all of the factors that go into making it. And that’s why I love listening to Hit Parade. Pop-Chart Analyst Chris Molanphy takes deep dives into many different genres of music such as yacht rock, heavy metal, country, rap and more. With incredible research acumen he creates a web of interconnectivity between music and history.
And this is why I’m still mad at Chris for last year’s Billy Joel episode. In painstaking detail he described how Mr. Joel may have etched out a music career by riding trends instead of honing his own craft. It was a painful realization for a musical landscape that my childhood was built on. But then again, it was a geniusly crafted argument. And he might be right. But I won’t ever admit that. I’m keeping the faith.
Listen: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify
After pondering the effects of these podcasts I think it’s safe to say that yes, we are what we listen to. Or at least, I am what I listen to. I want to be at least. I want to be grounded, reflective and connected and I feel like podcasts help me reach these goals, even on iffy days. What podcasts do you eat–I mean, listen to–for nourishment?
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