Boys Cry with Kessonga and Dora

(mouse clicking) (soft music) Headspace Studios. (gentle music) (birds chirping) Hi, my name is Dora. And I am Kessonga. And welcome to a very special episode of "Radio Headspace". So today, I wanted to do something a little different, and as someone with a guy best friend and an older brother, I've been thinking a lot about men's mental health, and I thought it made sense to bring Kessonga on to talk more about it. Well, thank you for turning to me for some guidance. I'm always happy to help. Well, I wanted to talk to you today about crying. Okay. Specifically men crying. And this was actually inspired by some time I spent teaching at a resort in Arizona during the holidays. And crying amongst men came up. Yeah. Okay and this resort, it was in Arizona, like in a desert? Yeah. We were out in the desert. And it was so fascinating. As I was teaching, I was noticing that all the men that attended my classes were quite emotional and tearing up. And you know, when I think about us being in a room full of strangers, the fact that men felt more vulnerable to cry amongst strangers than with their family or friends. And it left me thinking about, "How can we create more space for men in our lives to cry?" What does that look like? How can we do it? How can we support them? How can we support you? (Kessonga laughs) And how can men feel like they can be their true, authentic self? I think that would be really, really powerful, because as men, we all experience these strong emotions. And I can only speak for myself. Yeah. You said something really important that I want to touch on for people that are listening and tuning in, but we're speaking from our own experience. So when we talk about men or me as a woman, like I'm really talking from a black woman's experience as well as you, Kess, you're talking from your black male experience, and everyone's experience is different. Absolutely. But I think that whatever you identify as, that healthy expression is what makes the world a healthier and happier place. Spot on, Dora. Spot on. So, Kess, I know that you haven't been enlightened all these years. (pair laughing) I don't know if I'm enlightened now, Dora. (pair laughing) But tell me about pre-mindfulness meditation Kess. How was it expressing your emotions or feeling your feelings? Yeah, it was, as many of you may or may not know, I'm from New York City. I grew up in the Bronx, a place called Castle Hill. And my entire family is originally from the Caribbean. And all the men in my family are very, how can I say, macho, or they had that machismo thing about them, you know? And I've never really seen any of them cry except at funerals. But the most influential man out of all of them was my...