Hello and welcome to Your South Florida.

I'm Arlene Borenstein.

As we begin a new year, many of us are looking for ways to bring balance and mindfulness into our lives.

In today's episode, we're diving into the mindbody connection and ways you can start the year with healthier habits.

From tips on mindful eating, to strategies for cultivating a calm mind, we'll explore practices that can help you live a more balanced life.

First, we're talking about how mindfulness can play a crucial role in changing habits, especially those that may not serve us well.

By becoming more aware of our thoughts and actions, we can create space for healthier choices and sustainable change.

Joining me now to share more on that is Mary Beth Stern, a Qualified Habit Change Facilitator and mindfulness trainer with Mindshift Recovery.

I'm so excited to talk to you today.

Thank you, it's a, it's a pleasure to be here with you.

Thank you for being here.

One of our first questions is, focuses on people hoping to overcome a challenge and what you do is you help them do that through mindfulness and awareness.

Tell us a little bit more about that.

So I teach a class at the Mindfulness and Health Institute, and I'm sharing this, and I love the title and it's called The Science and Practice of Habit Change and the title just says so much because what's new in mindfulness is the science, right?

The practice of mindfulness have been around really for thousands of years and in, in recovery and other things for pain, et cetera, for about 50, but what's new is the neuroscience.

So I should say that I have been collaborating and training with Dr. Judd Brewer for about, about 10 years now.

And he's the authority.

And it's his work, yes, and it's his work.

He's a psychiatrist and a, an addiction psychiatrist.

MD, PHD, so very qualified and his passion is neuroscience.

I'd like to think of mindfulness as, as simply awareness.

It's being aware and I would say if people are watching this show, they're already a little aware that there's some kind of habit that's not serving them well, right?

So awareness is important, mindfulness is important because without that, we're simply on autopilot.

We're running from pillar to post and not paying attention to too much at all, so awareness is vitally important and this simple program of habit change is basically kind of really simple.

It doesn't mean it's easy, but it's a three step program and awareness plays a part in each of those steps.

Habit loops is something you talk about and involves those three steps you just mentioned.

How can someone identify that they need this, that something doesn't serve them well, and what is this process?

[Mary] Yes, so habit loops, we think of habit loops of having three components, a trigger, or something that activates us, a behavior, or response to the realization on being activated, and a reward.

So the brain changes habits based on rewardbased learning, which has really been around for a long time.

We used to call it operant conditioning, but so how we change behaviors is bringing awareness to, I wanna say at the outset, the least important part is the trigger, 'cause we can get so caught up in that.

I wonder why I'm so pissed off today.

I wonder why I'm just in this sad funk or whatever it is.

So the trigger is the least important of process of this, of these three steps, but knowing what I'm doing in response to the realization that I'm in a funk today, I, sometimes we don't even know why.

We just wake up and we're, we're in, feeling rage, we're feeling loneliness, we're feeling sadness, frustration.

So I just, sometimes I can identify it.

I have a meeting with the boss.

Easily, easily identified.

Sometimes it's free floating, so what's important is what am I doing once I realize that I'm activated or triggered?

Am I going for the second glass of wine?

Am I going to the fridge for the HaagenDazs?

Am I engaging in, we often understand what behavioral habits are, right?

We go for, just gonna have a couple beers to take the edge off.

Before we know it, it's a six pack and then maybe another.

Gonna go for the ice cream, gonna, but there are behavioral, excuse me, mental, mental patterns of behavior too.

So when we're stressed, we go into a certain habitual way of thinking, this will never change.

I'm never gonna, I'm never gonna get out of this and before we know it, we're at the worst case ever.

So awareness is, is knowing that I'm triggered and what am I doing in response to this.

So second gear is what am I getting from that behavior?

So we're really inviting you, almost counterintuitively, we're inviting folks to really be with the behavior as they're engaging in it.

So in the beginning, you know, we wanna have a change, we wanna change this, that New Year's resolution, right?

I'm gonna lose that 15 pounds by February and then what happens, right?

It doesn't work because that's not the way brains learn new behaviors.

[Arlene] Right.

They learn new behaviors by pay, paying attention to the activity that you're engaging in, even if it's the mental habit loops of what if, oh no, or if it's that second six pack or the vape that you're trying to change.

So many things that we're trying, that we try to change.

Before we can change them, we have to become aware and we almost have to get to know them a little bit.

Befriended is sometimes a word I use.

Right.

Befriended because it's in getting to know it, not here, not knowing it.

If this worked, there would be nobody using tobacco anymore, via vaping or smoking or whatever, right?

Because we all know by now that tobacco is not healthy.

This part of the brain, which is the ancient part of the brain, the survival brain.

So if we think of back when we were on the savanna as cave people, we had a few tasks and most of them, the things we needed to do to survive were pleasurable, right?

We needed to eat, we needed to drink, we needed to reproduce, we needed to ensure that we weren't the food source for another species, right?

So back, so we still have this part of the brain, it's the oldest and strongest part of the brain and when we pay attention, really pay attention to the habit we're trying to, to change, feel into it.

How does it feel?

How does it feel that next day after a night of partying and you missed your kid's soccer game?

How does it feel, that taste of the cigarette, 'cause feeling is gonna activate this part, which always wants to move toward what feels good and it wants to avoid what feels dangerous.

And there's a portion that ties into all this, which is meditation and you do have some practices where, like we mentioned before when we were chatting earlier, we don't have to go to Tibet or be among somewhere.

No.

You know, it can be something simple.

Thankfully.

Sitting here even, you have a way and and a system to help folks.

Yes, yes.

So on our app that's, that we have developed, Mindshift Recovery app, there are practices, there are lessons.

So we have to involve this part of the brain.

This is still important.

We need to understand some concepts, but we also, we, we learn those concepts in the service of wisdom.

So the wisdom part comes when we get to know something in, in the bones, in, in our bones, as opposed to know it conceptually.

The practices help train and teach mindfulness, mindfulness practice and simple way of thinking is, I'm getting out of my head and into my body.

So it might just be awareness of the breath, it might just be little guidance to say, feel into your feet right now.

The app was originally targeting people struggling with substance use and what we've discovered was there are a lot of people working with habits.

So in some ways, we all have habits that are not serving us well anymore.

So it's really now become targeted toward substance users, but anyone with a habit that's not serving them well.

So we can, it really what we've discovered is it takes away the stigma.

It takes away the stigma, so people who might not seek help feel like they're just humans.

We, we're all just humans.

Whether we deal with stress differently, whether it's using, using substances or engaging in the worry thoughts.

So the app is a Mindshift Recovery app and it's available on your app store, it's free.

I should say that Mindshift Recovery is a notforprofit, started by Dr.

Brewer recently and we've been around a little over a year now to really serve people that might not have the resources to get help and we have a, a weekly meeting on Thursdays from 12 to one online and that's a basically a virtual meeting of people that have used the mindfulness approach, Mindshift app and Mindshift methodology to deal with whatever they're working with.

Whether it's substance use, or worry, or various other things that people turn to, to feel better.

So easing suffering.

What a great tool, and hopefully as you said, someone can actually go ahead and delete the app one day once they're ready.

Yes, yes and I don't wanna take credit for that.

That was, that was Judd Brewer himself.

He said, "I've created the app designed to be deleted."

So what that's saying, it's referring to that these skills that we're teaching, they're innate.

We're, we're just kind of knocking on the door reminding them that hey, you know how to pay attention, you know how to feel into the body and we're providing a safe haven to do that, whether it's in a group or individual counseling, or it's a safe way to ease suffering and eventually, and it doesn't take a lifetime.

I wanna just encourage people, it really doesn't.

You'll integrate this way and this will become the new way of being, the habit that does serve you well.

Mary Beth Stern, thank you so much for being here today.

Thank you.

Yoga has long been celebrated for its benefits to the body and mind, yet for many, access to yoga spaces that feel welcoming and representative remains a challenge.

That's where Black Yogis of South Florida comes in, recognizing the lack of diversity in many yoga communities.

This wellness group was created to offer an inclusive space, empowering students through healing practices and a supportive environment.

Take a look.

[Kiyona] I began yoga as a practice over 12 years ago.

It was at a time when I was trying to explore what would be the exercises that I would do to keep myself in shape as I became a young adult.

It was the first thing that I did that was different than just a physical exercise and I felt the mindbody connection from the beginning and I said, "Oh, this is different and I want more of it."

I moved to South Florida to grow my yoga business.

I quickly became a yoga teacher and was hired at a yoga studio where I was the only black woman, black person at all on their staff and I found myself in many classes where I was the only black person.

There have been times where I felt, you know, super welcomed, it's felt aligned.

There's also been times where I have experienced someone not wanting to have their mat next to me and that doesn't feel good and I have, you know, also experienced times where I felt like the music didn't align, or the, the message didn't align with me.

Jasmine came to a a 6:00 AM class that I had.

It was refreshing to see her in class and I wanted to make a point that I made sure that she knew she was seen and that we spoke and that she knew that this was a place that she was welcome to come back to.

When I saw that the instructor was a black woman, I didn't, I knew I wasn't alone, but I knew it would be soulful, it would be spirit led, it would be fun, exciting.

Since 2015, I had been practicing and teaching yoga.

It gives me a moment to check into my body, to ask myself how do I feel, what am I feeling?

And just it kind of take myself away from the world and only focus solely on myself, my body, and my movements one at a time.

If anybody has ever taken a class with a cultural person or a black woman, the feeling, the music, the movement, everything is interconnected, so that feeling of not being alone, you have something you can relate to.

It makes a whole difference in your, your practice and the outcome of it.

And we could not find an easy way to find places where we could be in community with people who looked like us and we decided to start it as a meetup group and we started very small and humbly with just one student and it continued to grow.

The part of building our community is networking and so we found out there was a blackowned coworking space led by a black woman.

As soon as you walk in, you feel comforted, you feel excited, you feel vibrant.

The energy is good.

It's important to be in spaces like this that's gonna welcome you and give you your needs and be supportive.

[Joy] The relationship with Co Space and the Black Yogis of South Florida, it is perfect alignment of a mission that we have to support people who look like us and create an opportunity for us to, to be mindful but also, you know, have a place to be productive, to have events, to have places where you can do yoga and, and also places where you can and get some work done.

Mindful Monday is an offering that we have at Co Space.

We host it once a month and we invite various Yogis to come and instruct a gentle yoga flow right here in this space and our members, with various levels of experience in yoga, can experience a, a class that is helping them to reset the Monday, depending on how your day has gone, intentionally have a good week and just introduce people to a different way to cope with the stresses that sometimes come with just being a business person, an entrepreneur, just a person trying to survive in this day and age.

[Kiyona] Through Black Yogis of South Florida, we have a network of 30 or so yoga teachers and what I love about the network is that we all have different yoga styles.

We all have our own unique flair that we bring to the practice.

We have created opportunities for jobs and opportunities for exposure for the people who are a part of our network.

It's super important to have culturally safe spaces for black women, black families, black people and I'm coming from a background of Capoeira, which is a very cultural practice.

I took my teacher training and I was the only black person there.

Even in the teacher training, they're like, oh, you guys shouldn't be listening to hip hop because it's an aggressive, it's gonna, you know, take you out of alignment and I'm, for me it was painful because it's like this is my culture.

It's important for us as black practitioners to create these spaces for black people to come and get the healing that yoga has to offer without feeling like their culture is wrong, without feeling like their food is making them further away from their alignment.

They've created this awesome network of black yogis and I've gotten to create new relationships with different teachers.

I've been able to go into spaces and teach children, teach all kinds of different people and I just love how dedicated they are and they're always looking for new ways to bring more people into the fold, to highlight us as teachers.

[Kiyona] I think that the music, the energy, the vibe, it's about creating an aesthetic and an ambiance and I think that we are really good at doing that.

We incorporate some things that you might not experience in other yoga classes.

So for instance, we did a class during Black History Month and we had some elders come and doing live drumming.

One of my favorite parts about being a yoga teacher is that I'm also a DJ and it provides me an opportunity to show my creative side and create and cultivate a playlist that can take people on a journey.

[Jasmine] The music is always a staple that people enjoy when they connect with us.

They love that the way we present ourselves on camera, on Instagram and social media, it's the same way they, they meet us in person and it's family friendly and so that's something people enjoy, 'cause they don't have to necessarily get a babysitter to come enjoy the event.

We have something separate for the kids that we host and so the parents get a chance to separate a little bit and do their own thing while the kids are still occupied.

I think that's what sets us apart from your traditional yoga class because childcare is not a barrier.

You can flow with your child and then your child can see you in that space and be able to see their parent maybe the way that, that you were not able to see your parent and so it's changing those generational cycles of being overworked, of being stressed, of being selfsacrificing and being able to set those examples for children is important.

What I love about Black Yogis of South Florida is that what we offer and what we've been able to offer extends beyond the physical asana yoga practice.

We've been able to incorporate a number of other modalities, including meditations, Pilates, sound healing, dance and so what I like about that is that all of those things contribute to the mindbody connection.

We are preparing to celebrate our third anniversary of Black Yogis of South Florida.

We've done some amazing things including going to Palm Beach County.

We even went to Tallahassee and taught a class at a university for their entire athletic department.

We also have a partnership with the City of Miami Gardens, where we host a monthly Pilates class.

We have a partnership with Nomi Village in North Miami where we host a monthly wellness Wednesdays class.

The mission is to share the wealth and knowledge that we can continue to build up our community within each other and be able to really branch out in the wellness space and be known for what we do, so not hiding.

People know that black yoga teachers exist, they enjoy the classes, there's a multitude of us and we have an array of gifts to continue to spread wellness through from the childhood up.

I am excited for all the ways that this organization will be able to use what has been gifted to expand and spread the word and get more people on the mat.

Living a mindful and balanced life is about connecting the mind and body and that includes our relationship with food.

It's called mindful eating and it's about being present and intentional with what we eat, which can have a big impact on our overall wellbeing.

Joining me now to share more about that is author and wellness coach Rebecca Kastin.

You are also an integrative nutrition specialist.

We're so lucky to have you at FAU.

Thanks for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

So what are we looking at right now?

What are we cooking today?

Today we're going to make a very hearty, nutrientdense lentil stew.

It has full of protein, it's got lots of vitamins and minerals, B vitamins, and it's a great, easy hack for busy moms, people who are trying to be healthy during the new year.

Why lentils?

There's so much to it.

Hm.

So lentils is a great protein source, especially for like my non meat eaters.

I love lentils.

It's full of iron, protein, folic acid, B vitamins, so I love lentils.

All the beans are great, but in this stew like lentils really gives it a nice, warm kind of homey feeling.

It really is.

It's going to not only be healthy, but you can add all these wonderful things and maybe make it your own.

Tell us why you picked some of these specific ingredients.

[Rebecca] Okay, so I love teaching to eat the rainbow, right?

And when we eat the rainbow, first of all, you're getting all the different nutrients and vitamins and minerals.

Each different color fruit and vegetable, there's a reason for it.

They each offer our bodies something different.

The great thing about these stews is that you can use any vegetable, right?

Anything that you have in your refrigerator.

[Arlene] Perfect.

[Rebecca] Whatever is on sale at any of the local supermarkets and you can throw anything in that, change up the, the, the vegetables, change up the spices and create just like a whole new flavor, but in this dish, you're getting like a very protein rich meal that's really good for your health and it's good for your brain and it's great, easy to feed the kids and it's great, has great leftover, you know, capacity.

[Arlene] Value.

Value, yeah.

We love that as moms for sure.

So what is mindful eating?

I guess we can start cooking and talk about what it is to be mindful because there's a mindful element in even cutting the vegetables.

[Rebecca] There is, so when we talk about like mindfulness just in and of itself, we're just fully immersed in the experience of, you know, creating the recipe, shopping for it, picking out the beautiful vegetables and then when you sit down with your plate, like using all of your senses, the smells, the taste, the textures, even like listening to like how a particular food, like may crunch in your mouth, right?

And if you take that time and eat it really slowly, like your body gets that full experience, which is so much better than that everything's fast, fast, fast, fast.

[Arlene] Right.

Your body doesn't know what to do with all of that fast food that you're consuming.

Like if you're eating in the car or eating standing up.

Exactly.

Or just rushing through the meal 'cause you're at work.

Exactly, it's just creating more stress in your body and the body kind of stores it and this is where we start to see metabolic disease and weight gain.

So if we sit and we are just really enjoying it with our family.

Right.

Right?

You also get that family time, right?

Sitting with them.

[Arlene] Absolutely.

And really just slowly enjoying a meal and then your body knows what to do with every nutrient and uses it for energy and helps with your brain and helps with weight loss and digestion, so.

Love that.

Just slowing, mindfulness is just slowing it down.

[Arlene] Yeah.

And just being aware.

Even like one meal at a time.

Yeah.

Just trying to slow it down a little bit.

Exactly.

So okay, so for those of us who don't cook a lot, what would be sort of the first thing we start making?

What do we put in the pot first?

Okay.

And then after So we're gonna chop all of our vegetables.

Love that.

And we're gonna put a little bit of olive oil, maybe about a table spoon or two.

Olive oil is really good for you, it's good for your brain, so we need olive oil, but if you're not doing oils you can, you could start it with a little bit of broth.

[Arlene] Okay.

[Rebecca] So we have our olive oil in there.

The first thing we're gonna add is our onions.

[Arlene] Love that, it's a lot of flavor.

[Rebecca] Right?

Its one of like the best smells in the whole world.

[Arlene] I, I smell it in here.

[Rebecca] Smell like onions and, and garlic.

So we have our onions in the pot and then we have three cloves of garlic.

You can either dice them, chop them, or use our garlic press, which is my favorite easy hack.

Love that.

And the prep of all these vegetables literally took me, I don't know, less than 15 minutes.

And the cost, it might look like this was very expensive, but it's really not.

10 to $12 max depending on where you're shopping.

So this will feed a family of eight or a smaller family with lots of leftovers and it averages out to under $2 a serving and then just put a little bit of rice.

Then you've got a complete protein, a little green salad, and you've got like this beautiful meal and leftovers to take the lunch the next day, so it's fabulous.

And a mom hack that I have, and this is for anybody, you know, college student in a rush, someone busy trying to practice mindful eating is maybe some frozen vegetables, 'cause in case you buy them raw, you don't make them in time.

You don't wanna lose the vegetable or the money, so frozen vegetables are okay too.

Frozen vegetables are great.

I always say I'd rather you eat a frozen vegetable than no vegetable at all, right?

Frozen vegetables are frozen right as they're picked so you know, in the perfect world, I would love everyone to eat organics, but it's sometimes it's not affordable.

So you can always get frozen vegetables.

Frozen organic vegetables are a lot cheaper and you can use those in, in the stew.

Also, this is great for when you have vegetables at home and they're starting to go bad.

[Arlene] Right.

Don't throw them out, like throw out like the icky parts and then just chop 'em up and just throw away the rest.

[Arlene] Cut around it, save it.

That's it, cut around it.

Don't, don't leave it, okay.

So we've got our onions and our garlic.

We're gonna cook those down for a few minutes.

We just want them to be really soft and fragrant.

Low heat, we don't want them to burn.

Perfect.

And then after that we're gonna put in all of our carrots.

[Arlene] Good for your eyes and celery for [Rebecca] And our celery.

[Arlene] Love that.

[Rebecca] And we're gonna cook this again for like another five minutes or so and what we wanna do is just really have everything just nice and soft.

[Arlene] And the potatoes can be peeled or not peeled as well, right?

[Rebecca] Potatoes peeled or not peeled.

The potatoes give it more fiber, more vitamins.

All the skins on the vegetables actually boost the nutrient profile.

So as long as you're washing it very, very well.

Especially if you're buying conventional veggies, you may want to soak it in some baking soda, or get like an organic like vegetable wash. [Arlene] Oh wow.

And just really, really scrub and make sure all the dirt's off and then you can keep the skins on.

[Arlene] Okay, that's a good tip.

So you also teach at FAU.

I do.

Tell us about that.

I do.

So I teach an integrative cooking class at FAU and it is free to the community.

We actually have a lot of classes on Oh wow.

Cooking, mindfulness, breath work that's free to the community and what we teach is holistic living and how to just be mindful in everything that you do and you know, one of the greatest things is knowing that you have a breath, which is like your best tool and you take it with you.

So people can come there and learn all kinds of things on how to support like holistic wellness.

Some moms don't have time to like meditate, but something like this could even be meditative.

Like how you're chopping your vegetables and, and stirring the pot and, and this is also great to enlist your kids, right?

Your kids can help.

Absolutely.

If they can use a knife.

So then we're gonna put in our spices.

We've got teaspoon of cumin, a teaspoon of paprika, some Italian seasoning, or you can use thyme and some salt and pepper.

[Arlene] That looks amazing, and some of these diced tomatoes as well.

[Rebecca] And that's gonna give it some flavor.

A little bit.

Yes and then we're putting in one can of diced, chopped tomatoes.

[Arlene] That goes all right in together, looks really good.

[Rebecca] Right?

It smells so amazing and then we're going to put in our broth.

Okay.

Okay.

And how much broth do you need?

So about one and a half of these, so we're using about six cups.

So, which this is about four cups, so about one and a half of these are gonna go in.

[Arlene] And we haven't even put in the lentils yet.

Then we put in the lentils.

Last is the lentils.

So the thing with the lentils is you always want to rinse them.

Okay.

To get any excess starch.

Right.

And sometimes you'll find little rocks.

Okay.

So you always wanna like rinse and check your lentils.

Rinse the lentils.

[Rebecca] We're gonna put that in, right?

[Arlene] Love that.

[Rebecca] We're going to stir that up.

[Arlene] It's from the earth.

[Rebecca] And that is it and then you're gonna take your cover and just cover it up and it's gonna sit for about 30 to 40 minutes.

You just want the lentils like nice and soft and the vegetable's not mushy.

They'll have a little bit of bite and you can get that started and then just, you know, set the table, help the kids with homework and then we have our finished product.

I love that and you can have this, you said with a salad.

Lemme put this right here.

Yeah, so What could you, can you pair this with?

[Rebecca] This would be great with, you know, over some rice.

If you wanna put some white rice or some brown rice, you can make like a little green salad and it's just such a hearty meal.

Show the cameras how good this looks and it smells so good, nice and steamy.

Can you see my bowl?

Can't wait to try it, I don't wanna spill it.

This is, this is great for our Florida winters, but Yes.

Anytime.

Here you go.

And then thank you and then we can also, a little garnish, right?

A little cilantro.

Make it look pretty.

Make it look a little beautiful.

[Arlene] Love that.

[Rebecca] Right?

'Cause we wanna [Arlene] I can't wait to try this.

[Rebecca] We wanna look at all of like the colors and the, and the smell.

This is mindful.

That's part of mindful eating is, is like getting the sensation and the aromas and stuff.

It smells so good.

Well, I hope you enjoy it, cheers.

I know let's, I'm so excited to try this, 'cause I've been looking at it and smelling it, so good.

That is delicious.

All the spices come through.

Yeah.

Nothing's overpowering, everything blends in well together.

Thank you so much for being here, Rebecca.

Oh, you're so welcome, thank you for having me.

And of course, and I'm gonna try to keep mindful eating at each and every meal.

So for the full recipe, for this and more on mindful living, follow us on Facebook at YourSouthFL.

I'm Arlene Borenstein, thanks for watching.