Ep#1: Dr. Bobby Mukkamala - Can Flint Become America's Most Mindful City?
Welcome to the podcast! In this debut episode, I have the privilege of speaking with Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, Chair of the Board of Trustees for the American Medical Association. Dr. Mukkamala is a board-certified otolaryngologist in private practice in Flint, MI. He is currently President of the Michigan State Medical Society, past President of the Genesee County Medical Society, former Chair of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, and current board member of the Foundation for Flint. While a wide range of public health issues are important to Dr. Mukkamala, no issue strikes closer to home than his own city of Flint’s nationally publicized struggles with high levels of lead leaching into the drinking water. With colleagues and community members, Dr. Mukkamala has been at the forefront of bringing mindfulness to Flint's educational, business, healthcare, and government sectors to help strengthen resilience in this community.
In this episode, we speak about Bobby's journey of growing up in Flint and returning to his hometown, why and how mindfulness was introduced to Flint, the mental health benefits of mindfulness, how mindfulness is being implemented in Flint schools, working with resistance and skepticism around mindfulness practice, the parallels between mindfulness and vaccines from a public health perspective, training Flint law enforcement and first responders in mindfulness and stress-management, the friction between mindfulness and religious/personal ideologies, starting a mindfulness initiative in one's own community or business, practicing mindfulness during the Flint water crisis and COVID pandemic, Bobby's story of pretending to be Deepak Chopra when Deepak visited Flint, and more. Plus: Bobby's tips for where to eat in Flint's burgeoning neighborhoods.
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