Forest Bathing, Cortisol, and NASDAQ: How a Space Strategist Rebuilt Her Life — and a Green Tech Company — by Letting Nature Lead — Sheryl Barbosa

Forest Bathing, Cortisol, and NASDAQ: How a Space Strategist Rebuilt Her Life — and a Green Tech Company — by Letting Nature Lead — Sheryl Barbosa

What if the most powerful tool for healing burnout is also the cheapest, most accessible, and most overlooked? What if your brain has a built-in off-switch — the default mode network — that activates when you simply sit near a tree? And what does it look like when one woman takes that lesson all the way from a hospital recovery to a seven-story image of herself on the NASDAQ tower in Times Square? Sheryl Barbosa is an environmental scientist, space strategist, keynote speaker, and founder of Sustain Cities Network, a green-tech platform built on a simple ecological insight: nature is an ecosystem where everything is connected, and our communities should be too. After two stress-driven cardiac arrests forced a complete rebuild of her life, nature became the medicine, the model, and ultimately the blueprint for the company she now leads. In this conversation with Dr. Mitika Kanabar, Sheryl walks through the science of how short time in nature lowers cortisol and rewires the brain, what forest bathing actually is and how to do it, and the through-line of trust, intentionality, and ecosystem thinking that connects her hospital bed to a green-tech directory now reaching small businesses, large companies, and cities across the U.S.   ✨ What you’ll learn: * The science of “10 minutes outside” — why even brief exposure to nature drops cortisol, lowers stress, rewires the brain, and activates the default mode network that the constant overthinking front of your brain is wired to override * Why being near a tree, sitting in the sun, or feeling rain on your skin counts — even in urban areas where escaping into the woods isn’t an option, and why you don’t have to “try” for the benefits to land * The slow untangle of recovery, told through the metaphor of balled-up Christmas lights — why healing from burnout doesn’t look like a leap of faith, and why intentionality grows in layers * What forest bathing actually is, step by step — touching bark, watching light through leaves, locking memory through every sense (except taste, unless you’re sure of the berry), and how some practitioners weave in guided meditation * Why Sheryl turned to nature without anyone prescribing it — the internal pull that came before the research, the doctors, and the social media algorithm caught up to what her body already knew * How the symbiosis of bumblebees and flowers became the blueprint for Sustain Cities Network — connecting small businesses, large companies, cities, and people who want to buy green but can’t find each other * Why small businesses (96–99% of all U.S. businesses) are the center of community and economy, and the searchable directory and back-end metrics platform Sheryl built to let everyone finally find each other * The NASDAQ moment — seeing herself seven stories tall in Times Square through the NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center, the validation of years of education work, and the motto that defines the company: “We make being green the easy choice” * From hospital bed to NASDAQ tower — the through-line of trust, intentionality, and time spent in nature that connects an environmental scientist’s recovery to a green-tech platform on the national stage   Resources Mentioned: Sustain Cities Network — sustaincities.org [https://sustaincities.org/] NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center —nasdaqcenter.org [https://nasdaqcenter.org/] Forest bathing (Shinrin-yoku) [https://www.musc.edu/content-hub/News/2024/07/12/Forest-Bathing] — the Japanese practice of intentional time among trees   Connect with Sheryl Barbosa: Founder of Sustain Cities Network Email: Sheryl@sustaincities.org LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherylbarbosa/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherylbarbosa/]   🔗 Listen on Podbean [https://mindsattva.podbean.com/] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1yi24zv3K9fE5JUo7A98VY] | Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mind-sattva-practical-wisdom-for-modern-life/id1825997444] Follow @MindSattva [https://www.instagram.com/mindsattva/] and @KanabarMD [https://www.instagram.com/kanabarmd/] on Instagram

An Environmental Scientist on Burnout Recovery, Cardiac Arrest, and the Quiet Power of Slowing Down - Sheryl Barbosa

What does it look like when the pressure to “have it all” actually takes everything? What happens to a high-achieving environmental scientist when the very thing she’s working to protect — the planet — gets sacrificed alongside her own body? And what does it feel like to wake up in a hospital bed knowing you flatlined twice and that the worst-case scenario you thought only happened to other people happened to you? Sheryl Barbosa is an environmental scientist, space strategist, keynote speaker, and founder of Sustain Cities Network, a green-tech venture connecting small businesses, large companies, and cities across the U.S. With over 20 years of experience in policy, innovation, and sustainability, she advises leaders across industries on how to rediscover their sense of purpose and build a planet where people and the planet can both thrive. In this conversation with Dr. Mitika Kanabar, Sheryl shares the runaway-train years that led to two stress-driven cardiac arrests in her thirties, the slow-and-not-linear recovery that followed, and the practical philosophy of trust, flow, and intentionality that has quietly built her a fuller life and a more successful career than the grind ever did.   ✨ What you’ll learn: * Why Sheryl believes the people building the commercial space industry — SpaceX, Blue Origin, the engineers behind citizen spaceflights — are the most planet-reverent group she has ever worked with, and how that paradox shapes her work as a space strategist * The cultural trap of the elder-millennial grind: why society’s pressure to “have it all” turned into a 100-mile-an-hour treadmill where keeping up with average requires running like you’re trying to be number one * The cardiac arrests Sheryl experienced twice in the hospital, what she woke up to, and the moment she realized she had nearly killed herself trying to save the very planet she was working so hard to protect * The runaway-train metaphor for burnout — why your health doesn’t ask permission before flinging you from your own momentum, and why a “tuck and roll” is the kindest landing you can hope for * Why slow is smoother and smoother is faster — and the everyday example of rushing out the door that explains why every minute we “save” by hurrying we lose three times over * The trust-and-flow framework that’s replaced productivity for Sheryl, and the coffee-shop chance encounter that built a sustainable fashion show, four friendships, a co-work venue, and a professional pipeline — all from a slower morning * The overscheduled-day problem: why Mother Nature, your intuition, and your loved ones can’t get on your calendar if every minute is already booked, and what it takes to make room for the wildly unimaginable * The Edward Scissorhands vs. precise surgeon metaphor for cutting “flail” from your work, doing less, and why intentional incision beats fast-and-shaky every time * Sheryl’s path from elder-millennial grind to environmental scientist, space strategist, and founder of Sustain Cities Network — and why she calls cardiac arrest the wake-up call she wouldn’t trade for any amount of money   Resources Mentioned: Sustain Cities Network — sustaincities.org [https://sustaincities.org/] SpaceX — spacex.com [https://www.spacex.com/] Blue Origin — blueorigin.com [https://www.blueorigin.com/]   Connect with Sheryl Barbosa: Founder of Sustain Cities Network Email: Sheryl@sustaincities.org LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherylbarbosa/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherylbarbosa/]   🔗 Listen on Podbean [https://mindsattva.podbean.com/] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1yi24zv3K9fE5JUo7A98VY] | Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mind-sattva-practical-wisdom-for-modern-life/id1825997444] Follow @MindSattva [https://www.instagram.com/mindsattva/] and @KanabarMD [https://www.instagram.com/kanabarmd/] on Instagram

Don’t Pass the Clipboard: What a Caltech PhD Learned About Service, Human Connection, and Staying Whole in the Age of AI | Dr. Liz Krider

What does it mean to stay human when AI is doing more and more of our thinking for us? Why do most people pass the clipboard instead of signing up, and what does it cost them? And how do women find their way back to themselves after years of putting everyone else first? Dr. Liz Krider is a Caltech-trained researcher and founder of Catalyst, a skills accelerator for high school and college students in Southern California, and the author of the forthcoming book Purpose and Paychecks: How to Get the Most from Your College Years. In this conversation with Dr. Mitika Kanabar, she moves beyond career advice into the deeper questions of what keeps us grounded: the value of relationships built across all walks of life, the science behind why serving others heals us, and why she believes AI poses a quiet threat to the human instincts we can’t afford to lose.   ✨ What you’ll learn: * Why Dr. Liz started talking to strangers at 14, and why she says building relationships with Nobel Prize winners and people with no societal visibility equally has been the single most enriching decision of her life * What the clipboard reveals about comfort zones: why people opt out of service, and how to design conditions where more people say yes * The neuroscience of human connection: what dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin release when we serve others, and why understanding this helps us show more compassion to people who struggle to engage * Why Dr. Liz believes we risk losing something irreplaceable when ChatGPT does our thinking for us, and why the struggle on the other side of a creative process is exactly what reminds us we’re human * The two things that keep Dr. Liz grounded: serving others to get outside yourself, and personal development as a lifelong iterative process, like upgrading software one version at a time * How Dr. Liz’s Christian faith informs the way she sees every person she works with, and why she says faith, whatever the tradition, is one of the most inspiring forces she encounters * Two practical strategies for women pivoting careers or returning to work: building a mentorship community around one thing in common, and using a five-to-nine side project to develop credibility in a new field before you need it * Why women sacrifice their dreams and what Anna Fels’ book Necessary Dreams argues about ambition, plus Charlie Munger’s inverted reasoning applied to the question of self-investment * Clayton Christensen’s question from Harvard Business School that will change how you see your extra half hour: are you choosing the immediate payoff, or investing in the relationships that define you 25 years from now?   Resources Mentioned: Jonathan Haidt — NYU Stern School of Business (The Anxious Generation) [https://jonathanhaidt.com/] FIRST Tech Challenge — https://www.firstinspires.org [https://www.firstinspires.org/] First Lego League — firstinspires.org/robotics/fll [https://www.firstinspires.org/programs/fll/]   Connect with Dr. Liz Krider: LinkedIn: Elizabeth Krider [https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-krider-ph-d/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BkQ2VPzCXS9aJX5339s9xIQ%3D%3D] Website: www.passionprojects.net [http://www.passionprojects.net/] Website: https://studentcatalyst.com [https://studentcatalyst.com/]   🔗 Listen on Podbean [https://mindsattva.podbean.com/] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1yi24zv3K9fE5JUo7A98VY] | Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mind-sattva-practical-wisdom-for-modern-life/id1825997444] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@MindSattva] Follow @MindSattva [https://www.instagram.com/mindsattva/] and @KanabarMD [https://www.instagram.com/kanabarmd/] on Instagram

Not Building Robots, Building People: Preparing Young People for Purpose and a Career in the Age of AI — Dr. Liz Krider

Is your teenager disengaged, going through the motions, or just glued to a screen? What happens when entry-level jobs disappear and college costs more than a house? And what does a Caltech PhD who coaches teens have to say about raising a purpose-driven kid in the age of AI? Dr. Liz Krider is the founder of Catalyst, a skills accelerator for high school and college students, and the author of the upcoming book Purpose and Paychecks: How to Get the Most from Your College Years. Her students have attended top-20 universities and gone on to careers with real purpose, and her mission is to equip 5,000 young people to solve meaningful problems in their worlds. In this conversation with Dr. Mitika Kanabar, Dr. Liz breaks down why today’s teens are struggling, what the AI era actually means for college graduates, and what parents and students can do right now to build purpose, skills, and confidence before the job market demands it.   ✨ What you’ll learn: * Why Jonathan Haidt’s research on the phone-based childhood explains the disengagement epidemic in classrooms today * How parents can support teen development without being ignored — and why outside mentors change everything * Why passion projects matter more than grades when it comes to college readiness and life readiness * The honest case for and against college in the AI era — what the data says and what it misses * What “underemployment” really means and why most new graduates don’t see it coming * How to use LinkedIn and informational interviews to build a real career network before you graduate * Gen Z’s $500K salary expectation — and the path that actually leads there * How robotics competitions like FIRST Tech Challenge build camaraderie, confidence, and career-ready humans * Why the best college-prep tool might not be a tutor — it’s a meaningful project   Resources Mentioned: Jonathan Haidt — NYU Stern School of Business (The Anxious Generation) [https://jonathanhaidt.com/] FIRST Tech Challenge — https://www.firstinspires.org [https://www.firstinspires.org/] First Lego League — firstinspires.org/robotics/fll [https://www.firstinspires.org/programs/fll/]   Connect with Dr. Liz Krider: LinkedIn: Elizabeth Krider [https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-krider-ph-d/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BkQ2VPzCXS9aJX5339s9xIQ%3D%3D] Website: www.passionprojects.net [http://www.passionprojects.net/] Website: https://studentcatalyst.com [https://studentcatalyst.com/]   🔗 Listen on Podbean [https://mindsattva.podbean.com/] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1yi24zv3K9fE5JUo7A98VY] | Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mind-sattva-practical-wisdom-for-modern-life/id1825997444] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@MindSattva] Follow @MindSattva [https://www.instagram.com/mindsattva/] and @KanabarMD [https://www.instagram.com/kanabarmd/] on Instagram

Title: Phone Addiction & Brain Development: A Doctor on Recovery & Family — Dr. Mitika Kanabar Interviewed by Dr. Suhani Mendonsa

Is your phone hijacking your brain? What happens when you use substances before your brain is fully developed? And what does ancient yoga philosophy have to do with modern addiction medicine? In this special role-reversal episode, Dr. Suhani Mendonsa - entrepreneur, social activist, lifestyle influencer, author of '1551: Your Story,' and trustee of the Mendoza Foundation - turns the tables and interviews Mind Sattva host Dr. Mitika Kanabar, a keynote speaker on attachment to AI chatbots and addiction to our phones. From addiction medicine and brain development to screen addiction, healthy habit formation, and the yoga philosophy behind Mind Sattva, Mitika opens up about the science and spirituality that drive her work. ✨ What you'll learn: * Why substance use before age 25 can permanently lower your IQ and disrupt brain development * The difference between substance addictions and behavioral (process) addictions like phone and gaming * Abstinence vs. harm reduction - and why relapse doesn't erase progress * How phone and screen addiction is eroding real human connection - from Devil Wears Prada workplace pressure to identity and withdrawal * The origin story of Mind Sattva - the three gunas, sattva, and bridging East and West * Building lasting habits using the Prochaska trans-theoretical model and the power of your 'why' * Yoga philosophy beyond the poses - the Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, and why only 3 sutras are about asanas * Rebuilding after life falls apart - grief, resilience, and understanding your self-worth * Advice for families dealing with a loved one's addiction - boundaries, enabling, and finding support Resources Mentioned: * Atomic Habits by James Clear [https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits] * Anna Lembke [https://www.annalembke.com/] - Stanford Addiction Medicine * Mendonsa Foundation [https://mendonsafoundation.org/] * Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) [https://www.aa.org/] & Al-Anon [https://al-anon.org/] * The Prochaska Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change) - View Model [https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-stages-of-change-model-Reproduced-from-Prochaska-Di-Clemente-The-transtheoretical_fig4_361861776] Connect with Dr. Suhani Mendonsa: * YouTube: com/c/drsuhanimendonsa [https://www.youtube.com/c/drsuhanimendonsa] * Instagram: @suhanimendonsa [https://www.instagram.com/suhanimendonsa/] * Website: com [https://suhanimendonsa.com/] * Mendonsa Foundation Website: https://mendonsafoundation.org [https://mendonsafoundation.org/] 🔗 Listen on Podbean [https://mindsattva.podbean.com/] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1yi24zv3K9fE5JUo7A98VY] | Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mind-sattva-practical-wisdom-for-modern-life/id1825997444] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@MindSattva] Follow @MindSattva [https://www.instagram.com/mindsattva/] and @KanabarMD [https://www.instagram.com/kanabarmd/] on Instagram