Mental Matters Hosted By Asekho Toto

Shruti Sethi is a holistic health coach, cancer survivor, and founder of Awana Health.At 34, Shruti was a fashion designer living what looked like a healthy life - vegetarian diet, regular gym sessions, an active lifestyle. Then came a cancer diagnosis that shattered everything she thought she knew about health. Here's the thing - when she traced back her steps, she discovered something most doctors never ask about: chronic stress, suppressed emotions, and a body constantly running in fight-or-flight mode. The illness wasn't random. Her immune system had been sending warning signs for a year before the diagnosis.Expect to learn why stress can trigger cancer cells and how the mind-body connection works, what happens when you live in denial about your mental health, how nutrition directly affects your brain function and emotional resilience, why changing your diet can transform your energy and mental clarity in just two weeks, the crucial role of early childhood in forming mental health patterns, why parents need to model vulnerability for their children, what schools are getting wrong about mental health support, practical daily habits for calming your nervous system including nature exposure and grounding, and much more.This conversation will challenge how you think about the connection between physical illness and emotional wellbeing.Follow Shruti:Instagram: @shruti_sethi_Website: https://awaanahealth.com/

Angelo Valenti is a psychologist, leadership coach, and author of "You're Making This Way Too Hard: Find Your Easy Way to Enjoy Life."Most people are grinding toward a version of success that isn't even theirs. Here's the thing - they're following scripts written by society, parents, or peers, and wondering why achievement feels hollow. Angelo spent decades coaching leaders and realized the same pattern kept emerging: high performers chasing external validation while ignoring what actually brings them joy. The breakthrough? You can't lead others effectively until you've stopped betraying yourself.Expect to learn the key difference between therapy and coaching and why one looks backward while the other moves you forward, why Angelo abandoned a family legacy in dentistry to pursue psychology, what the "Sunday night test" reveals about your workplace culture, the two questions every hiring manager should ask before bringing someone onto their team, why you can't truly love others until you love yourself first, how to create an environment where honest feedback flows without fear, why a learning mindset is the difference between growth and intellectual death, practical strategies for self-care that go beyond the physical, and much more.This conversation will challenge how you think about success, self-worth, and what it actually takes to lead a fulfilling life.Follow Angelo Valenti:Website: https://thecompanypsychologist.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelovalentiphd/

Allan Misner is a NASM certified personal trainer, Precision Nutrition Level 2 Master Health Coach, host of the 40+ Fitness Podcast, and author of the award-winning book The Wellness Roadmap.Most people think weight loss is about finding the right diet or workout program. Here's the thing - Allan spent eight years trapped in an endless cycle of losing weight, gaining it back, and gaining more. Over and over again. The wake-up call came on a beach in Mexico at 39 when he couldn't get through a single game of volleyball. But it took another eight years and a conversation with his daughter before he finally cracked the code. The problem wasn't willpower - it was the lies we tell ourselves about food, hunger, and what it actually takes to change.Expect to learn why most people who think they're doing 80/20 are actually doing 53/47, how processed foods are engineered specifically to make you overeat, the simple photo accountability trick that stops emotional eating in its tracks, why your brain confuses cravings with real hunger and what to do about it, the evolutionary reason our bodies are wired to feast on sugar and how to work with your biology instead of against it, why whole foods automatically regulate your appetite while processed foods don't, what separates people who lose weight and keep it off from chronic yo-yo dieters, and much more.This conversation will challenge how you think about nutrition, willpower, and what it really takes to transform your health after 40.Follow Allan Misner:Website: 40plusfitness.comPodcast: 40+ Fitness PodcastInstagram: @coachallanm

Daniel is an engineer turned anxiety researcher, founder of Full Liberation Technology, and former stand-up comedian who spent 8 years and over $1 million developing a results-based approach to eliminating anxiety permanently.Here's the thing most people don't realize about anxiety: it doesn't start in your mind. You never say "I think anxious" - you say "I feel anxious." And you feel it in your throat, your chest, your stomach. The entire mental health industry has been sending people to the wrong location for decades. Daniel spent 10 years and $100,000 trying every traditional approach - therapy, coaching, meditation, self-help - and stayed stuck. As an engineer, he finally asked a different question: what if anxiety isn't a mind problem at all, but a nervous system malfunction?Expect to learn why the trillion-dollar "improvement industrial complex" keeps people stuck managing symptoms instead of eliminating them, how Daniel's research with monks in India showed meditation time could drop from 2 hours to 15 minutes by addressing root causes, why his work with addicts in South Africa through SANCA revealed something profound about healing, the mechanical reason your body feels fear first and your mind spins second, what the "spin cycle" is and why you can't think your way out of it, why therapists typically help only a third of their clients while his program has a 90% success rate, how feeling safe from the inside out transforms your relationships, work, and energy levels, what his decade as a stand-up comedian taught him about innovating solutions, and much more.This conversation will challenge everything you've been told about where anxiety comes from and what it takes to actually be free of it.aniel is an engineer turned anxiety researcher, founder of Full Liberation Technology, and former stand-up comedian who spent 8 years and over $1 million developing a results-based approach to eliminating anxiety permanently.Here's the thing most people don't realize about anxiety: it doesn't start in your mind. You never say "I think anxious" - you say "I feel anxious." And you feel it in your throat, your chest, your stomach. The entire mental health industry has been sending people to the wrong location for decades. Daniel spent 10 years and $100,000 trying every traditional approach - therapy, coaching, meditation, self-help - and stayed stuck. As an engineer, he finally asked a different question: what if anxiety isn't a mind problem at all, but a nervous system malfunction?Expect to learn why the trillion-dollar "improvement industrial complex" keeps people stuck managing symptoms instead of eliminating them, how Daniel's research with monks in India showed meditation time could drop from 2 hours to 15 minutes by addressing root causes, why his work with addicts in South Africa through SANCA revealed something profound about healing, the mechanical reason your body feels fear first and your mind spins second, what the "spin cycle" is and why you can't think your way out of it, why therapists typically help only a third of their clients while his program has a 90% success rate, how feeling safe from the inside out transforms your relationships, work, and energy levels, what his decade as a stand-up comedian taught him about innovating solutions, and much more.This conversation will challenge everything you've been told about where anxiety comes from and what it takes to actually be free of it.

Victoria Minch is a burnout recovery specialist, former Silicon Valley executive, and founder of Silicon Valley Executive Academy.Burnout has become an epidemic, especially among high achievers. But here's the thing - most people think the solution is to quit their job, move to a tropical island, or make some other radical external change. The problem? You take yourself with you. Victoria spent 25 years in Silicon Valley management before discovering that the key to lasting change isn't external, it's internal.Expect to learn why psychology PhDs end up working in high-tech startups, the difference between stress and burnout that most people miss, why changing jobs won't fix burnout if you don't change yourself first, the physiological reasons why your body gets stuck in chronic stress mode, practical techniques to actually complete your stress cycle instead of letting it accumulate, how to build self-care practices that aren't just Instagram wellness culture BS, why relinquishing control is one of the most powerful moves a leader can make, what work-life harmony actually means and why balance is the wrong goal, and much more.This conversation will challenge how you think about success, achievement, and what it actually takes to build a sustainable, fulfilling career.Follow Victoria:LinkedIn: Victoria MinchWebsite: SVexecutive.academy