EP.157 - Rama Swami - "Silence & Stigma Have No Place In The Room"

In this episode of Middle Fingers Up, we sit down with Rama Swamy, a pelvic floor practitioner and physiotherapist who immigrated from India, for a necessary and overdue conversation about women’s health — the parts we were never taught to understand, name, or advocate for.Drawing from her lived experience with pregnancy, birth, and postpartum recovery, Rama shares how cultural taboos, education gaps, and the normalization of women’s pain led her to specialize in pelvic health. Together, we unpack how silence — at home, in culture, in schools, and in healthcare systems — teaches women to endure rather than investigate what’s happening in their bodies.From the isolating period stories many South Asian women grew up with, to the ongoing fear around teaching children about bodies, hormones, and autonomy, this conversation challenges the idea that symptoms like chronic stress, mood swings, poor sleep, pain, or recurring infections are “just normal.”A key part of this episode focuses on teaching body literacy early — long before puberty or “the talk.” We explore how everyday moments, starting as young as diaper changes, can lay the foundation for consent, confidence, and body awareness, and how early education helps reduce shame, stigma, and delayed care later in life.This episode reframes women’s health as head-to-toe and deeply interconnected — where hormones affect sleep, mood, brain function, stress, and pelvic health — and why ignoring early signs doesn’t make them disappear, it simply pushes them further into the body. CTA:If you grew up in the dark about your body — or you’re trying to raise children with more honesty, language, and confidence than you were given — this episode is for you. Listen, share it with someone who needs it, and help us break the cycle of silence around women’s health, one conversation at a time.Instagram: _rama.swami_www.lakeviewphysio.cawww.healwithgrit.comSupport the showIf you like what you hear please click on "subscribe" or "follow" -  It's free and you will get notified when the newest episodes are posted!  Check us out on Instagram, X, and YouTube @mfupodcast. Give feedback, middle finger recommendations as well as random thoughts to [email protected]. Thank you for listening!In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, the Métis Nation (Region 3), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.