Reba, L. Rebecca Connell, is a Certified Mental Health Integrative Medicine Professional and Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCS 19814) who specializes in anxiety and chronic pain, incorporating mental health nutrition and the practice of eating meditation to support stressed-out people in balancing their mood and investigating the connection between mood and food with curiosity and self-compassion.

In this episode we discuss:

• What it means to ‘Eat with the Brain in Mind’
• The foundational concepts of Nourishing your Mood
• Connecting with your Self as a guide and teacher
• Body acceptance, self-love & permission to stop denying ourselves
• The value of noticing neutral as well as positive or negative moods
• Being present to our physical and emotional state to notice the impact of foods we eat
• Caring about others as well as ourselves, and how to be a part of social impact without overwhelm

And Reba guides us through a Self Compassion break!

More resources for our listeners:

• Sign up to find out about Nourish Your Mood and upcoming programs in Integrative Health for Anxiety and Depression and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction:  https://www.centerforstressreduction.com/foodmoodrequest.html
• The “7 Ways Food Can Be Your Mood’s Best Friend” mini-ebook draws on the latest science about the microbiome and the gut-brain connection with gentle humor, illustrating the ways food can be an essential support for anxiety and depression. https://www.centerforstressreduction.com/foodmoodrequest.html
• Reba’s gift for Happified listeners, access to Energy Medicine videos along with her guided self-compassion meditation: https://www.centerforstressreduction.com/3xlessstress.html
• Connect with Reba: https://www.centerforstressreduction.com/consult.html

Reba deeply cares about food justice and hopes we’ll envision and collaborate  to create a world where nourishing food is available to all. She lives and works in Huchiun, the traditional homeland of the Chochenyo-speaking Lisjan Ohlone people, the past, present, and future stewards of this land, now also known as Oakland. Learn more here: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/lisjan-history-and-territory/

Susi Vine: Welcome back. I am so happy to have you with us this week for my conversation with Reba L Rebecca Connell is a certified mental health integrative medicine, professional and licensed clinical social worker teaches, nourish your mood meditation and eating with the brain in mind. And mindfulness-based stress reduction.

Reba specializes in anxiety and chronic pain drawing on the latest evidence-based approaches, including mental health, nutrition, and eating meditation. She teaches therapists, healthcare providers, and stressed out people to balance their mood and investigates the connection between mood and food with curiosity.

And self-compassion. Reba has studied with Dr. Leslie corn and many of the leaders in mental health, nutrition, and functional medicine. She’s completed professional training in teaching mindfulness based stress reduction under the direction of Jon Kabat Zinn and Dr. Saki Santa rally and the training and teaching mindful eating through UCS de reboot.

Enjoy studying energy psychology, emotional freedom techniques. Tapping she gong and yoga. She’s a member of the association for size diversity and health Reba lives and works in who chin the traditional Homeland of the Chenier speaking LaShaun alone, people, the past present and future stewards of the land.

Now also known as. Reba deeply cares about food, justice and hopes will envision and collaborate to create a world where nourishing food is available to us all. Just reading this information, Reba, I’m just so touched by the depth and breadth of your work and the focus of heritage and inclusion. Thank you so much for joining me today.

I’m excited about this 

Reba Connell: conversation. Thanks for having me Suzy 

Susi Vine: and I love the focus that you have brought in not only on a lot of cultural focuses and practices like Xi gong and the power of breath work, but also your focus in functional. Functional health and integrative health, new education. And what inspired you to bring this focus into your practice?

Reba Connell: Thanks for asking. I always knew that I wanted to do some kind of mind body health, even before I chose my graduate school. So that was always on my mind somehow. When I first graduated from undergrad, my, my undergrad degree. A degree that I created myself, I designed my own major, which at brown is called a concentration.

And that was called voices in history, a study of writings by blacks and women in the America. And then I was invited to help plan a conference on Jewish women and the body when I first moved out here to the bay. And so I was very interested in mind, body approaches. And then my very first job out of undergrad, I got repetitive strain, which is really you know, epidemic in our time.

You know, that computer injury, so many people are getting. And even at that time when I was so young, I remember saying, but I already knew the mind and body are connected. Why did I have to suffer to, you know, have more understanding of that. But, so there’s been so many times that my own difficulties have led to.

The absolute necessity to learn more. And then I got so excited by that. I want to share that with others. So it was going through the repetitive strain was one aspect. And then also going through digestive issues led to more, which I can tell you about later. But, so that was some of the early inspiration and yeah, that was some of the beginning is just my own, you know, that was when I started doing more meditation or yoga more Tai-Chi yeah.

Susi Vine: I love it. And I find that to be the case too. The more that I learn, the more I see in the experience, but also through hindsight, how the lessons of had. Relearn or, or revisit the information. So to really integrate it and to learn the value of it and to live it, instead of just knowing the information, which I think sometimes is a bit of a disconnect, we might receive information, but putting it into practice and integrating it as is the next.

Reba Connell: Yeah, that’s really true. And that’s why, what I teach is really not strong on forwarding information first, but more about getting in touch with our own knowing. And the information is part of it. I’ll get to that a little bit later, but in terms of inspiration, you know, my teacher, Leslie corn she went to to Mexico and she also got a digestive illness and as a young person, when she was living there and she lives there still, and the healers, the traditional indigenous healers healed her there.

And that’s really what started her on her journey. And so many of the different people that I follow are people who maybe got trained in some kind of. What’s called, you know, traditional, but it’s really quite new, like just in the last a hundred or 200 years type of approach to medicine. And then when they got their own difficulty with mental health, they realize that they’ve come to the limits of their paradigm and they needed to learn more.

And so that’s been my experience as well. So the, after doing a lot in my own healing around, around pain, it turned out that food. Was the next step of that. And I did not want to, I did not want to, I did not want to remove anything. I was already eating or put in anything else new. And it was just this kind of thing where you put your fingers in your ears.

When people talk to you about like limit, are you talking to me? And then I found it to be so profoundly helpful for my key and for my sleep and for anxiety that I got really lit up about learning more. And that’s what I love to teach. 

Susi Vine: And I think that’s what really makes the message powerful is because you can empathize with your patients and clients at a level that perhaps they haven’t found in other spaces.

And so that can really facilitate healing. And so you mentioned how it can work to support anxiety and depression. And how does that integrative health aspect do you consider yourself kind of a translator to help people work with perhaps what they’ve been led to follow? You know, these plans that they might’ve received from other practitioners and you really have.

Education or introduction work to kind of bring this comprehensive approach to people. 

Reba Connell: Interesting. I think translation might be part of what I do. It’s not usually about what people have received from other practitioners as much as not, not exactly about like implement, you know, the way that a health health coach might do that as working with a functional medicine doctor to help people, you know, move that forward and make it more realistic and break it down into steps.

Not really as much with that. I’m often challenging in a gentle way, some of the things that people have already received actually. So it’s more of a, of a counter-cultural experience of helping us find different paths. Yeah. 

Susi Vine: Yeah. And I think that that broadening of outlook can be really powerful to let people know that yes.

They have that opportunity to find solutions, you know, but they might have limited themselves to before. So I’m curious about nourishing the mood and, and what are the foundations of that practice or that you’re sharing with your clients. Thank you so 

Reba Connell: much. So so nourish mode is based on three. Foundations that are really important.

And one of them is mindfulness. And when I say the word mindfulness, I’m really talking about. Mindfulness that is profoundly respecting each person as their own teacher and guide, and is open to being surprised by, by what we find. So sometimes words like this start to get used so much that they can get a little bit diluted and what they mean diluted or diluted both.

And so it’s not about trying to achieve any particular reason. And it’s also so important to remember that. Is not about requiring focus so often. And this happened just yesterday. I will talk to students and they will say I wasn’t able to achieve a blank mind. And so being with a teacher is one way to bring a lot more compassion to our experience.

And there’s no need to have a blank mind and many, many very experienced teachers do not have a blank mind. So it’s about this presence and curiosity. And so that’s a way we can start to know. Oh, if I get more subtle and nuanced about noticing things that I can start to notice like what are the things that I’m doing that feels supportive, that feel helpful and noticing what works, including noticing what are the foods and the ways of eating that are supportive.

So that’s the first time. 

Susi Vine: Yes. And I appreciate what you’re saying about words like mindfulness kind of being given other meanings and, and departing from their original, more simple intention and being in proximity to, but not having participated in the programs here in the center for mindfulness based stress reduction.

I think. Heard and understand that they’ve been able to demonstrate such powerful support from the practice, which doesn’t necessarily need all the trappings or, you know, perceptions that people then attach and say, I can’t. Right. I can’t empty my mind. So I’m not good at meditation, mindfulness isn’t for me.

And I love that you speak to the curiosity. That is part of that, because I think that’s so powerful. Allow ourselves to be curious and ask questions and be aware of answers or what comes up. There’s a lot of wisdom we can find from ourselves. 

Reba Connell: Yeah. If you’re listening to this podcast and you have had those thoughts, like I can’t do it, or my mind is not blank or, you know, I mindfulness isn’t for me though.

I was interested in it. If you’ve been practicing alone or practicing with an app, I invite you to get in contact with the teacher. And there’s so many opportunities these days, whether it’s online or live to. Or live online. But also in person, some in some ways now to be able to get in touch with a teacher who will often be able to invite you to bring in more kindness to your practice.

And that’s a lot of what I do. 

Susi Vine: Beautiful. Thank you for that. And then are there in addition to mindfulness, other aspects of the program nourishing your mood? 

Reba Connell: Yeah. So as I said, there’s three foundations and that’s. The second foundation is one of body liberation and that is really important because when I started talking about, oh, it’s so exciting that it’s possible to take care more of your mood by attending to what you’re eating.

Then the mind in our cultures goes to that idea about body. And so. I’m doing a lot to really say, all bodies are welcome here, and it’s not at all about changing anything about the body. So fat bodies, all bodies are welcome. I also work a lot with transgender and non-binary people. All bodies and all body experiences are, are welcome.

And so that ends up being a really repeated theme of the course and people who are coming from those communities who have felt. Not included in other spaces end up feeling a lot more acceptance. And so that’s another really important step. And so again, if you’re listening and you’re wanting to know more about this, you know, I encourage you to, you know, follow new teachers and leaders, whether it’s on social media or if you’re like me and you like more to, you know, read a traditional book with a cover, you know, For example, there’s a book called body of truth.

There’s health at every size. There’s the association that I’m a member of called the association for size diversity and health. There’s a lot of ways to start to follow, as I was saying, counter-cultural ways of approaching our wellness. So, so that’s another one of the, two of the three founding principles of neuroscience.

Susi Vine: Beautiful. And and I’m so grateful that you speak to that too, because I, I do believe it is important and it’s heartbreaking to me to see in some aspects how people feel excluded from practices or from groups because of preconceptions that that our society has, has adopted. And so thank you. I appreciate that you create these spaces where people can come in and re-engage and see themselves and feel included.

Reba Connell: Absolutely. And I realized, you know, that again, that I’m creating these spaces because it’s so much of the medicine that I needed to write. I think that that feeling about. Not feeling included or, you know this kind of illusion of separateness that we talked about in mindfulness is, is so common in these days.

And then of course, we’re, we’re suffering from it a lot more during this time when there was physical separation from one another. And so That, that way of affirming that we belong to each other and we belong to the earth is, is a really important healing for these times. 

Susi Vine: Mm mm. That’s really beautiful.

Absolutely. That connection to each other and to the earth is, is fundamental. And so the third foundation, 

Reba Connell: the third foundation of nourish your mood is nourishing food, and you can see how. And, you know, again, I beginning for this one it’s just to start to notice, you know, are there ways that you could nourish yourself more?

And if you’re listening, you know, sometimes people will say something different than that, which is, oh, maybe you don’t know me. Like I actually need to nourish myself less. You know, there’s so much encouragement in these cultures to Nerf ourselves less. And that is a place that really can set us.

And so many ways for, you know, that great word being hangry. Like I heard once on the radio, someone talking about being hangry in a book about being hangry. And so I went to find it online and there’s a lot of books about being hungry, including kids, books, about being hangry, because you know, kids, when they’re having.

Woo. It was a hard one for parents and caregivers. Right. So big people, small people, same thing. Right. And I work a lot with, with couples and we it’s difficult to interact with our beloved when we’re, when we’re crashing like that. So finding ways to, you know, consider like what would it be like to begin the day with really considering, you know, what are the foods that could support me?

And one of the emotions that I often use for mental health nutrition is. Like hands lifting you up from underneath. So all the other kinds of practices that we do, whether it be, you know, psychotherapy or even just pleasurable things like the beach or hanging out with a friend these things are still important, meditation, all of that, but this is giving us more biological, physical support from our being.

So that may. What feels, you know, underneath us, how low we, you know, drop is not quite so low. And there’s more, there’s more support. So getting curious about what are some things you could add in either whether it’s the time of day or how frequently, or how much, or what you eat, you know, those different kinds of things.

What is it? What I do that. That starts to feel a little more, ease, a little bit more evenness and where instead of feeling like irritable and shut down and Spacey, I feel more present, more joyful, more sexy, more alive, more connected. 

Susi Vine: I really love that image. Thank you for that, that uplifting. I think that that should be kind of a, you know, what nourishing really means.

And that really lands with me, that people that you hear people say was that I need to nourish myself less or something in that regard. Like they’re not worthy of that. And I, it breaks my heart to see that. And, and I see that in some of the people that I work with too, and that. They find their own value or worth and how much they give to other people without recognizing that without taking care of themselves, what do they have left to give to other people?

You know? And so to turn that around, I think that’s a really empowering and important part of what you’re sharing and, and healing that relationship with food. So nourishing food is a 

Reba Connell: really important exactly. And of course, you know, it’s beautiful that the people you work with want to give to others.

Right. It’s beautiful. And, and in fact, I would love for us all to give more to each other, you know the part that’s extra and unnecessary is adding the self criticism with that of like I’m giving to other people, because you said there’s some inherent way I’m not feeling worthy. Right. And so what’s it like to give to other people from a place where we’re feeling more.

Supported ourselves. And so some of, you know, what, what we’re practicing things like the self-compassion break is ways to bring compassion to ourselves in a moment. And the research, you know, that Kristin Neff has done in self-compassion is that when we are compassionate to ourselves, We are more compassionate to others.

So it’s more of a, of a win-win in, in Buddhism, there’s this idea called the near enemy. So if you think about compassion, so, you know, clearly a far enemy of compassion would be something like hate or judgment. Right. That’s that’s obvious. Right? We can tell that that’s an opposite. Right. But in near enemy, is something more like a near enemy of compassion might be something like pity, you know, like.

Oh, there’s this person sitting on the sidewalk. I’m going to put some money in their cup, but like look away. I try not to like, smell them and think like I’m so different than them. Right. You know, there’s different ways that we can, you know, separate ourselves from someone and like I’m the giver and you’re the receiver and we’re so separate.

Right. And I’m above you in some way. Right. And this can happen in our relationships too, not just with someone that we don’t know. 

Susi Vine: And I think, I think that’s an important illustration because though. Perceptions can be really damaging when we think that we’re acting out of, for example, we’re acting in compassion, but we’re using it as an emphasis of, of separation 

Reba Connell: and that distort.

And so I’m remembering of course, that where we started, this was right about self-criticism right? So even that kind of separation we can do inside of ourselves, right. That judgment of there’s some aspect of myself that’s not feeling included or that I’m trying to push away. So the invitation is to open to those parts of ourselves.

And it’s hard to do that alone. You know, Annie Lamott says my mind is a dangerous neighborhood. I try not to go there alone. So community is helpful. 

Susi Vine: Yes. Yes. And it’s really helpful to have the reflection of someone who has walked in that path and has experience and perspective to help see right. To have pulled that compassion and drop the judgment that we don’t need to be 

Reba Connell: holding against ourselves.

Susi Vine: Lovely. And what are some ways in which you’ve seen nourish your mood, help people move out of depression and anxiety. 

Reba Connell: So Some of it is through, you know, I mentioned these three streams and it’s almost like any of those ends up being a door. You see me looking away. There’s, there’s speaking of connection, there’s a squirrel right outside my window.

That’s doing some, some very endearing different kinds of acting. Looking

Susi Vine: for that squirrel. 

Reba Connell: So so yeah. You know, someone said to me recently, I used to hate cooking. And I used to wait to start cooking till I was already starving. And now I cook before I leave for work. And then when I come home, I really, you know, enjoy something that’s already, already made. Right.

So it’s like, when you’re your recent past self has done something for your recent future self, and you can thank your past self. Like thank you for making me this beautiful meal. And they said in when I’m cooking, when I’m not starving it’s actually really interesting and, and relaxing and joyful and pleasurable.

Finding a lot of ways to connect to it. So simple things like that are really not simple, you know, because again, there’s so many ideas and pressures against being able to set ourselves up for success that way, you know? But the people that I studied, whether it’s Leslie corn or the other leaders in mental health, nutrition, and functional medicine have found looking at.

Both. Really strong recent, modern research, and also looking into, you know, long standing traditional foods from all over the globe they’re foods that have really been shown to be supportive for preventing and also. Helping to heal anxiety and depression. And so we’re playing around, you know, with eating some of these foods and seeing how we feel.

There’s a lot of diversity. Among humans in so many different ways. And one of those is the way that we respond to what we eat and not everybody is the same. So the way that the program is set up is that every. Meeting. And I’ve taught this on a model of a weekly model and I’ve taught it on a model of a monthly with a touch base halfway through the month.

So at this point it’s every month in the past, and maybe in the future, again, it’s been every week, but every meeting, there’s three practices based on, you know, the ideas that we were talking about. And so one of them is some practice. Eating meditation or body gratitude or self-compassion practices around mindfulness and specifically mindfulness of food and then a color.

So we eat our way through what Leslie Korn calls the brain bow, the rainbow in the brain bow, and the color also alerts us to joy and pleasure and excitement and creativity and art. So we have a color every month and then a grouping of. Of the specific types that have been shown by research to be helpful for anxiety and depression, for some people.

So the invitation is try the meditations, try the foods, try spices foods and drinks of these colors and these types of foods. And see when you eat them, pick something to track. So for some people that’s energy. Mood sleep or pain or focus or cognitive health memory and focus, pick something, try this and over time, track it and see what you notice.

And so people are starting to know. Oh, over time. There’s these there’s these shifts and I don’t feel so on edge and I don’t feel so anxious and I feel, you know, more of these opportunities for, for joy or something, a little bit quieter and more subtle, like I might feel kind of okay. You know, it’s like a beginning of finding something that’s just neutral, which hasn’t been even accessed.

Susi Vine: Yes, and I, and I think it’s so so helpful too, to have that space to explore and to observe change as it’s able to come about. And that self-awareness, again, coming back to the fundamental, you know, of, of mindfulness is just being aware and presence. To yourself and how you’re feeling and not necessarily waiting for that joy to happen and calling that the good day.

But I feel neutral today is better than I felt yesterday. 

Reba Connell: Yeah. Yeah. And neutral. Right. And in mindfulness, we, we teach about how neutral is the part that the mind sometimes wants to see. Right. It’s like, I will notice something terrible or something amazing and neutral and like, okay, nothing see here.

Right. And neutral can actually start to be quite expansive. You know, quite interesting. I remember an in-person meditation retreat from the before times. Remember the, before times, remember other humans where I was walking and I just felt. This be that was crawling on the ground. And I just got down on the ground with her for the longest time, you know, and just hung out with this, with this B and I think she was dying, you know, and my heart just broke, you know?

And. There’s a way that when we get that aware, we can open to the suffering of many experiences, including our own and, but open to it in a way that we feel more able to be present and less overwhelmed. Hmm. 

Susi Vine: And to, and to have that space and patients with it and not try to fast forward through the process.

Reba Connell: And then if we do, we have those around us to be present witnesses for us. That’s what I love about group is that we can, again, I think the longing that so many of us have is connection. And so group is a way that we can do that for each other. 

Susi Vine: Absolutely. And, and so do you still online at this point in time have group together?

So that, that conversation is possible, even though we can’t sit in a room and hold physical space with each other? I 

Reba Connell: do. And I started teaching in-person and before the pandemic, I had moved to a hybrid model where it was. In-person for our longer meetings, which are two and a half meetings were two and a half hours where there’s a lot of time to do a deep practice.

And then people can also share in in small groups, share with mindful speaking and listening and more kindness with each other. And ask me questions in a more individualized way in a group setting. And then we had a 45 minute touch base once a month. That was by video. And that was happening before the pediment.

Now the whole program is live online and pardon me? Hmm. Speaking of the eating, my lunch is visiting us. So I already had an ambition before what has happened to our world. I had an ambition to be able to offer nourish your mood live online because I don’t see this. Program happening somewhere else.

So I really feel called to do it. There are other people that are doing some of those three parts, but taking them all three of them really seriously, like the deep practice of long meditations that, you know, we, we do meditation for, you know, half an hour, 45 minutes sometimes, and be they’re really taking seriously about body liberation along with saying.

You know, there are other ways of living with anxiety and depression, other than just learning how to cope with them. We can actually get you more physical improvement than you’ve experienced before. If you’re curious to try it. And of course, very, very humble, no promises because everyone is different.

But the invitation is to seek whether. Invitation might speak to something that calls to you and that it might be something worth giving a try. 

Susi Vine: Mm. Hmm. The power of the beginner’s mind.

Let’s just see, let’s just try to be present to what is

it’s refreshing and, and definitely something. I, I think that any opportunity we can give ourselves to, to drop into that space and just invite opportunity or potential. As really powerful. And, and as you said to have permission and support in, in going deeper through a longer meditation, like you say, you know, there are apps, abounding, there’s YouTube meditations, but to be in that space to be guided by one person and.

Even through the power of zoom, but to be present for a longer period of time, when, you know, we can still be present to each other, even in the virtual space. And it’s a definite, it’s a very different animal than a prerecorded video. And so I love that opportunity that you’re creating.

And so I’d love to hear about, you mentioned a compassion break earlier and food meditation. And so can you tell us a little bit more about that? Or do we have time perhaps to explore that. 

Reba Connell: Of course. I mean, my time is good. I’m not sure how yours is, but I’m fine with time. Okay. So maybe we’ll do a self-compassion break.

So this is a great one to have in your back pocket because. It’s likely there’ll be something stressful that could happen. 

Susi Vine: Life does 

happen. 

Reba Connell: Sometimes it does happen. Just like, you know, when something falls and breaks a glass, another glass dish falls on Brixton, like gravity. They haven’t canceled it yet.

So yes, it still happens. So there are three steps in the self-compassion break. And if you like I will put this on a recording for your listener. Okay, so self-compassion break there’s three steps. So the first step of a self-compassion break in a moment of stress is to say to yourself, and of course everything that I’m inviting is always optional.

So I’ll say that here, just like I say to all of my students, you never need to do what I say you are your own best teacher and guide, but these are some opportunities invitations. So the first. To save yourself inside your mind. This is a moment of stress. So that’s mindfulness. When we’re able to have a part of other selves that witnesses what’s already occurring.

Okay. This is a moment of stress. So I feel like you’re saying that inside your mind right now, this isn’t home stress. And step two is to acknowledge yourself inside your mind. Stress is part of life. This happens to everyone. Okay. So just acknowledging your shared humanity, your common humanity with everyone else.

And we’ve been talking about that, you know, quite a bit today, right? The things that we share with each other in terms of when we feel the most lonely and the most separate, we’re actually the most connected because so many other people in this moment are also feeling lonely, separate. So stress is part of life happens to many people.

And the third step, there’s an invitation to place a hand or two hands on the heart. So you can do this by one hand or two hands. We’re just letting the hands hover near the heart or imagining touching the heart. So all of those ways are all equally fine. So letting the hands rest on the heart or imagine them and saying to yourself, inside your mouth.

May I be kind to myself in this moment. May I give myself the compassion I need? And we touch ourselves to remind ourselves that we’re paying attention and we’re paying attention with the quality of care, quality of kindness. So the touching is like that. With kindness. May I be kind to myself in this moment?

May I give myself the compassion I need and then adding to this, any other things that arise for you when you imagine what you would say to a good friend who was having a hard moment? I hear you. Yeah, that’s really rough. I’m here. Whatever you want to say to yourself or other wishes. And I remember that this too shall pass.

And sometimes what arises when we invite compassion is the opposite of compassion. And so just knowing that that is also the most normal experience in the world, and it doesn’t create a problem. It just means that that’s wants to come up and have a witness as well. So just letting that be here. Not sure.

Self-compassion 

Susi Vine: break.

Beautiful, more kindness, more compassion. And I love that you illustrate you. That’s something that I like to, to bring up now and then is. To be as kind to ourselves as we are to the people that we care about. I think that we tend to miss that opportunity. And so that’s a beautiful part to include in our compassion break.

Reba Connell: And, and again, we were talking about, you know, ways to care more about others. And so there’s caring more about ourselves and there’s caring more, more for others as well. And so. You know in the county where, where I live, I believe that before the pandemic there was already like one. In six people that were getting food bank.

And now it’s one in five. These are, these are estimates, alimony, comedic county food bank of sorry, if I remembered your numbers somewhat incorrectly, but sometimes I remember numbers sort of within a feeling rather than, you know, but something like that. Right. It’s very it’s a lot of our neighbors.

Right. And so that’s another piece that I care very deeply about which is. Understanding how these things are going to change. Partly through our own individual efforts. And they’re also going to change more through more equity and better public policy. So we can contribute by doing things like going to the local food bank, where you are as a podcast listener.

Near county and making a contribution. This is a really important time of year. Of course, when people do that a lot and we can also, you know, find out where are the places where your indigenous community. Is doing land remediation or other kinds of projects that need support. So here it’s a security land trust paying the Shumi land tax or supporting@shellmound.org, supporting efforts to protect the sacred sites on there.

Places like this happening all over now and finding ways to Return land to indigenous people. So those are a couple of really important pieces. And of course, food justice is not just giving to the food bank. It’s looking at much bigger pieces, right. About what’s happening with land, what’s happening with what food gets subsidized and things like that.

So, Yeah. Things like that is such a, kind of like poor representation from like so many places. My heart wanted to go in that moment, 

Susi Vine: but it is true. It is true. And. I think it’s important to remember that it, it seems like a vast, vast issue. I’m a farm girl from Illinois. So I resonate with a lot of these, these issues.

Definitely, you know, and, and I see how it lands. And certainly over the last year, equity has. Become front of mind, access to health care access to nourishing food, you know, being able to call in the resources that everyone deserves to be able to bring in. And, and so I appreciate that. That’s something that you speak to and remind people of and, and wherever you see yourself fitting in, wherever you can begin, I think is an important place to get started.

If, if everybody chose one thing, You know, the impact would be, would be powerful. 

Reba Connell: Yeah. And I think one thing is, is this such an important principle that I would, you know co-sign your document on that? Right? Because otherwise we become overwhelmed. So one thing is a really nice place. And so, you know, I’m giving a talk this weekend with a, a land acknowledgement.

And I said, you know, and now having done the land acknowledgement, you might tie that to one thing you want to. I do learn or give. Right. So anything, one thing. Do you know have you read any of the work of Harriet Washington who writes about public policy and, and mental health? She’s written a lot about.

African-American mental health and health, medical, apartheid, just beautiful work. And I read one of her, a couple of her recent books looking at, for example, the impact of lead on health lead in the water and, you know, in other materials and, and really, I thought, you know, If we listen to these, you could say requests or demands for public policy change.

I actually wouldn’t really need to do anything because so much brain health would be taken care of, you know, by larger systems that were taking care of us in better ways.

Susi Vine: Absolutely. I agree. And that’s something that came to the fore a couple of years ago with the situation in Flint, Michigan, that’s certainly not isolated to Flint and more recently there’s attention going to the PFS cleanup sites, perfluorinated chemicals that are forever chemicals that are coming from industrial sites.

And so truly that, that awareness is important too, because as you say with that. Responsibility. It could, it could start to resolve a world of issues. Certainly the health impacts that we’re seeing in people and the, some of the mental health crisis that, that can come from being out of balance, you know, as, as health suffers, because it’s, it is all connected, 

Reba Connell: as you said.

So curious about your experience of what some wisdom that you gained from growing up close to the land like that, that supports you to.

Susi Vine: I am, you know, I’m, it’s interesting. I’m, I’m deeply grateful. My family, my father’s family was in central Illinois for 150 years. So they’ve been there for a very long time. And my grandfather had one of the first large scale hog farming. Operations there, which now is, you know, when he began. And I think so many things arise from better living, more efficient practices.

We start into some of these endeavors with, with the best of intentions and bright hopes, and then things take on a life of their own or go to scale air quotes or, you know, become industrialized. And the benefit is lost. And the messaging gets distorted. So, so that’s something that I, that I have perspective of now, as I, as I speak to, you know, the problems with larger animal facilities and that sort of thing, which we’re becoming more aware of.

But also growing up in the, in the nineties and the eighties and nineties and before round. Was everywhere, you know, before genetically modified crops were, were a thing. And so they were testing those in the fields around us. And now I I’m in Southern California, but even here I meet a lot of people from the Midwest and seeing the auto-immune issues that they share that I believe are related to having been in that area at that time when it was all, you know testing ground.

So, so it’s interesting. And I think in many cases we want a simple single solution. There’s so many different factors, so it tends to be a little sticky. We, we like to simplify things, but I think that and this is a conversation I’ve seen people having recently, we are, we are capable of nuance. We can understand that things play together and impacting.

Reba Connell: Yeah. Yeah. I was reading and there was a study in I think in 2000 about the number of adult Americans that were descendants of people who got land from the homestead act, which sounds like it was like around the time that we’re describing and the locations that we’re describing. And the, in 2000, a fourth of the adult population of the United States descended from people who’ve got land from the home act.

And I found out like how many of the adult population was white? And it seems like a third of the adult population. In 2000 would be descent of the white adult population was descended from those folks. So I met someone recently who also came from farmland in the Midwest and they are thinking that when they inherit it, they want to give it back to indigenous people.

So again, like so many of the things we’re saying. Come around and circle back together. Right. It’s and when you say nuance, I think that’s a really good word because like, how do we hold, you know, living with all these realities it’s very complex. 

Susi Vine: Absolutely. Absolutely. And the stories that we’re seeing of inequity as, as, as you’re pointing out, you know, the imbalance between access to white residents versus what was made available.

Two black people and people of color and the first nation, certainly who lost any rights at all. So it is it’s worth examining and, and being honest, even with those difficult questions, we have to keep coming back to that and being mindful and practicing compassion

we can do, we can do complex. Yes. I have a lot of faith for what we can do when we work together. Thank you so much. Thank you for everything that you’ve brought to the conversation. I think there’s so much to think about here. I think this is worth coming back to not only because of the delicious compassion break in the middle there, but also just to take one.

Thought away from, from the conversation, just take one thing worth pondering, or, you know, as you move through and look, look at life and the way that we operate through different lenses and, and ask the kind of questions that we should be asking. 

Reba Connell: Yeah. And a nice, you know, potential take-home we talked about, you know, different, you know, take homes from this would be again asking yourself, like, if I bring.

A friendly attitude toward myself right now. Like what, how might I treat myself now? If I was my friend, if I were a friend. And then, you know, how might I get curious about the points in my day when I notice moments of worry, anxiety, about what other people think of me, no irritability with my beloveds.

Really frustrating, tired and wired feeling when I’m so exhausted, but I can’t really rest or sleep. And just noticing these moments and what might be some ways I might get curious about, like, what could I add in? So there’s so many programs that are out there about removing, you know, and these teachers that say like, Read my book and go take all the food out of your cabinets and then only put my food in.

And I’m like, great. Now you have a person who’s hungry, has no food at home and might not know how to use a cutting board. Like that is a recipe for suffering, you know? So it’s not about taking away. I’m very rarely talk about that, but it’s like, what, what might you get curious? Adding in, whether that’s, again, something that’s, you know, more frequent or a little bit more, or starting early, earlier in the day with some, you know, more of a meal and seeing like, oh, what might be the impact of these changes on how I’m relating to my own mindstream and to the people I care about and to the work that matters to.

Susi Vine: Absolutely. And I, and I love that permission to stop depriving ourselves and look instead for something that we can bring you.

Reba Connell: especially because it’s winter time and this is a time when animals and humans start looking to things that feel, that feel warm, that shelter and cushion and nourish our body and brain. So wonderful time to, you know, to take care of our ourselves, that, that way. And and in our culture, it’s a very confusing time, you know, in terms of like these feelings.

So and at the solstice, it’s a nice time to take good care of ourselves and of our neighbors. 

Susi Vine: Yes. And, and I want to take this opportunity to, so this episode should be coming out right around the end of the year before the holiday. And so you have an event that you’ve put together for the solstice for a little extra 

Reba Connell: nurturing.

Yeah. So My website, which is center for stress reduction.com. If you, as a listener of this podcast would like to know about upcoming by donation, public programs. You are welcomed to go and put your, put your name in and find out, sign up to find out about what’s coming up. During long stretches of the year.

I don’t have any programs. So you won’t receive any email. And then at this time of year, it might be, you know, up to about once a week sometimes. And then I’ve also set aside some specific space just for the three times less stress. And you can give that URL if you want. The event that’s coming up is going to be a solstice event, meditations and holiday foods for winter blocks.

Science to boost your solstice mood. And that’ll be coming up in December. So after some of the winter holidays and before some of the other ones, and then we will also have more events coming up in, in the new year leading up to when nourish your mood starts to find out more about how to get more connected as well as teaching events for health coaches, nurses.

Therapists and other medical providers who want to find out more. 

Susi Vine: Beautiful. I think it’s, I think it’s such an important and empowering message. So I hope that people do take that time to visit your website that is center for stress reduction.com and for our listeners, a bonus page is there on the site.

So if you’re on the site center for stress reduction.com forward slash three X less stress. Dot HTML there, you will find some resources that Reba’s put together just for us. And so you can enjoy those well that 

Reba Connell: collected. Yes. And the page is, is hidden from public navigation. So you’ll only be able to find it by putting in that URL and 

Susi Vine: we’ll have that link in the show notes too.

So

useful. Is there anything else you want to to leave folks with as. As we’re wrapping up today, we’ve covered so much. I’m so grateful for your time and your insights and your wisdom. And I hope, like I said, people take the opportunity to, to take away just one thing for a little contemplate. 

Reba Connell: Yeah. I mean I would say that, you know, some of the upcoming programs are going to be fundraisers and we’ve really seen the impact of that.

Last year we did a fundraiser for the new Georgia project, and then we got two new senators from Georgia. So that seemed to go well. And we can’t say that our little fundraiser was the thing. Right. But it feels good to be part of. These larger things. And, you know, research shows that volunteering is good for physical heart health, for cardiac health, you know?

And we also last year, we’re really doing a lot to, to support a local program that that was a farm that was delivering free food in Richmond, California. And this year I’ll be doing some fundraisers for what I would mentioned earlier, which is the Sikora. Land trust to remain straight indigenous land here in the bay, which is an indigenous a women led land trust.

So feel free to participate. Join us, love to meet you. One of those upcoming meetings. 

Susi Vine: Beautiful. I love the work that you do. Thank you so much for your commitment and your insights and wisdom. And for making time today. 

Reba Connell: Thank you for volunteering to serve the community through, through doing these educational meetings.

Susi Vine: And I look forward to talking with you again soon. Take good 

Reba Connell: care. Thank you so much.