Chai on Life

Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, I am speaking with Nomi of Nomi Knows Nutrition.

Cheshvan is a time when people want to put their goals into action. We reflected in Elul and Tishrei, came up with what we want our intentions to be going into this new year, and Cheshvan really is the quiet time afterward to set things into motion and make things happen.

For many, working on or maintaining good health habits is a big goal. Maybe it’s eating more whole foods, finding time to exercise, or making going to sleep earlier a priority. Maybe it’s spending less time on your phone or social media or maybe it’s even trying to be just a little bit more positive each day.

These are all things that Nomi is helping us with on today’s episode. 

Nomi is a double board-certified nutritionist and health and wellness coach, affiliated with Duke Integrative Medicine at Duke University. She holds a Master of Science in Nutrition and Functional Medicine. Her undergraduate and graduate research topics have included the psychology of long-term weight-loss maintenance and the role of nutrition in ADHD. She has a private coaching practice in Jerusalem and on Zoom, with clients from all over the world. Additionally, Nomi runs educational workshops on nutrition, healthy lifestyle essentials, and behavioral change. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Clinical Nutrition and researching the relationship between the estrobolome and female hormone disorders. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Instagram @nomiknowsnutrition.

P.S. Nomi is starting a new coaching group on December 1! If you are interested, you can reach out to her directly on her website or through Instagram.

Learn more about Nomi's backstory on Inspiration for the Nation.

Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. Today, we are talking all about Moshiach. It’s Cheshvan and on the surface, Cheshvan seems like a chill, catch-up kind of month. The chagim are over, we’re back to routine and Cheshvan gives us the time to do so. But is that all Cheshvan is for? Like pretty much all things in Judaism, how things appear on the surface are well, just the surface and there is a whole world of depth underneath.

As I was researching more about Cheshvan I learned that it is soooo Moshiach centered. If you learn from the Sefer Yetzirah or the Book of Formation, which you can read about on inner.org, you will learn that the letter of the month, sense of the month, tribe and so much more are all connected to Moshiach.

To be honest, Moshiach is something I’ve struggled with over the years becoming religious and being religious. It’s something that I am taught to want, yet also something I don’t actually know that much about.

So for awhile now, I’ve been determined to learn more and really understand more and I knew Faigy Blumstein was the perfect person to do so with.

Faigy Blumstein does not call herself a lecturer, but someone who loves to share. A passionate educator and school psychologist, she is dedicated to living a Hashem-centered life. As part of the Thank You Hashem women’s division, Faigy draws on chasidic teachings and the light of the Baal Shem Tov, to inspire others. Her heartfelt approach helps women deepen their connection to Hashem, integrating spirituality into everyday life in a meaningful and modern way.

And let me tell you this conversation gets deep. We talk about how she got into Chassidus in the first place, how it can connect you in ways you never could have imagined, what Moshiach even means, how we can all work to bring Moshiach, why Cheshvan is the time reserved for Moshiach, how Israel connects to all of this and so so much more.

We also learn about the connection between Cheshvan, Moshiach and Rochel Imeinu. Tonight, Monday night, the 11th of Cheshvan begins Rochel Imeinu’s yahrtzeit and our conversation brought such a new light to Rochel that I wasn’t aware of before. It is hashgacha pratis that the podcast is coming out right before so hopefully we can all use our connection to Rochel Imeinu to feel more strength and a new kind of vitality with our Yiddushkeit.

Learn more:

Cheshvan on Inner.org

Thank You Hashem

Listen to Faigy's Cheshvan Playlist:

Spotify

Apple

Hi everyone, welcome back to The Chai on Life Podcast! It feels really good to say that after the holiday hiatus we've had. The holidays were so nice, and I feel so blessed that I was able to take that pause to fully focus on Hashem, my family and other connections in my life and now feel even more energized coming back to the podcast and all of the conversations and guests I have lined up for this year.

Today’s episode is on somatic healing with Rena Reiser. While we recorded this before the chagim, it feels like such an important one coming back into everything. We had time and space to turn off, to disconnect from technology and the news and reconnect to the things that matter most.

More about Rena:

Rena is a Polyvagal-Informed Focusing Trainer. She trains female leaders and healers to facilitate embodied change in the lives of those around them. In other words, Rena helps them understand how their clients’ autonomic nervous systems impact their behaviors and emotions and how to use the Focusing technique to explore and shift these behaviors effectively.

Rena has more than a decade of ongoing training including Focusing, Polyvagal Theory, Non-Violent Communication, and Inner Child/Parts work that she uses in her own life and that of her clients. Together they forge a uniquely empowering approach that allows clients to shift their behaviors at their source in a compassionate and embodied way.

In this episode, she speaks about why we are so stressed and overwhelmed today, how we can get to a place of menuchas hanefesh, what menuchas hanefesh actually means, exercises we can do to achieve more calm right now, why that may be the prerequisite to other spiritual growth and so much more. She even goes through one of her modalities with me in real time so you can get an idea of how things work. It’s Cheshvan, it’s the time to put all of our spiritual growth into action and this episode is the perfect way to set the stage to get you into the best mental headspace in order to achieve your goals.

To learn more about Rena, you can visit her website at renareiser.com. Check out her own podcast called The Embodied Jewish Women and follow her on Instagram @renareiser.

Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today we have a REALLY exciting guest — Danielle Renov, the recipe developer and cookbook author of the brand, Peas, Love & Carrots.

Danielle has been a dream guest of mine for many reasons. One, being that I absolutely love her recipes and they are fully a part of my weekly rotations, but mainly because of her ever-inspiring simchas hachaim and unwavering bitachon.

She lost a child — a baby boy named Yaakov Rafael, Z"L — more than six years ago and despite the unbearable pain, continues to be a beacon of light for Klal Yisrael.

This episode is of course coming out at a powerful time. It’s not only the aseret yemei teshuva, or the ten days of repentance but it’s also October 7th. Danielle’s words will help us get through the darkness and the unknown with a renewed dedication to Hashem, and that of course, is everything.

In the episode, we speak about:

-How she got started with Peas Love & Carrots

-How she balances motherhood with her work

-What it meant to rely on Hashem when her world went dark after the loss

-How she builds her bitachon muscle daily

-Where her simchas hachaim comes from and how she works to cultivate it

-How she handles life with small children — how she gets through the tough moments and still finds time for herself

-How she balances posting about her life on social media and staying present in real life

-What's next for Peas Love & Carrots

...and SO much more!

She also leaves us with a message about getting through this year’s Simchat Torah that deeply resonated with me and I will definitely be thinking about as we head into what will G-d willing be a beautiful yet difficult day.

NOTE: We will be off through Sukkot but G-d willing back in Cheshvan with all new episodes! Wishing everyone a meaningful rest of the chagim.

Special thank you to Tania Friedlander, our podcast partner! Tania is so helpful for professionals in any area — budding entrepreneurs, business owners, seasoned employees, leaders looking to take their companies to the next level, and more.

Maybe you need clarity and direction, you’re trying to achieve better work/life balance, not sure what next steps to take in your career, you’re motivated but also burnt out, you’re realizing leading people isn’t simple or are fearful that you don’t have what it takes to succeed.

So, if you are at all interested in working with Tania, you can book a complimentary call with her at TaniaFriedlander.com/contact.

Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, I am speaking with Calanit Paz Cohen, a life coach living in Miami, FL.

I met Calanit about eight years ago when I was on a trip to Israel called Meor Upgrade. I was on a part of my Jewish journey where I was nearly all in, but was holding off because I was nervous that I was going to let go of and lose myself. Calanit was the perfect role model for me at that stage of my journey — she was so herself and this wonderful religious Jewish woman. I had an emotional conversation with her on that trip that really changed things for me and how I saw what things could be — how I could be myself and bring that person into my religious life — so it’s a really full circle moment for her to be coming on this podcast now talking about living an authentically. 

And, it’s no surprise that she literally makes a living now coaching others to live a more authentic, true life. 

We’re already in the final days before Rosh Hashanah and while this episode is evergreen, it’s also the perfect way to get us into a good headspace as we’re approaching the start to another year.

In this episode, we speak about:

-How Calanit figured out what her passion in life was

-What authenticity coaching is

-What to do when you don’t feel like yourself — maybe it’s around certain people or doing certain things

-How to connect to yourself more deeply and how in turn, that can connect you to Hashem more deeply

-How and why living an authentic life is living a life according to Hashem’s will

-How to approach angry, sad or confused feelings that come up in this spiritual relationship

-How we can all approach Rosh Hashanah without fear and rather with a new closeness to Hashem

…and so much more!

Special thank you to Tania Friedlander, our first podcast partner! Tania is so helpful for professionals in any area — budding entrepreneurs, business owners, seasoned employees, leaders looking to take their companies to the next level, and more.

Maybe you need clarity and direction, you’re trying to achieve better work/life balance, not sure what next steps to take in your career, you’re motivated but also burnt out, you’re realizing leading people isn’t simple or are fearful that you don’t have what it takes to succeed.

So, if you are at all interested in working with Tania, you can book a complimentary call with her at TaniaFriedlander.com/contact.

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal and today, we are speaking with Yaffa Moskowitz, the Director of Education at Midreshet Rachel V’Chaya, a seminary in Jerusalem. 

Here’s a little more about Yaffa: She is a native member the Far Rockaway community and was active in that community and the Five Towns for many years. Yaffa, her husband Danny, and seven children made aliya in the summer of 2013 and now live in Mitzpe Yericho. Yaffa served as teacher and Director of Ateres Seminary for women on the Queens College Campus for 13 years and she was also involved in the Neshei Shor Yoshuv community where she gave chaburas for married women.

I met Yaffa when I was a student exactly seven years ago at Midreshet Rachel and have continued to learn from her and with her since. She has such a wealth of knowledge and this conversation really turned into the perfect thing to listen to right in the middle of Elul preparing for the chagim.

During this time at Midreshet Rachel, the students learn from the sefer, Tomer Devorah, which teaches us about Hashem’s 13 Attributes of Mercy. As we learn about Hashem and understand who He is more, so to speak, we learn how we can emulate Him more in our own lives, and we used that text as the jumping off point for our conversation. 

As we spoke, we explored:

-What a “sin” actually is in Judaism (it may not be what you think) and how we can always get back on track

-How to separate ourselves from the sin and retain our confidence and closeness to G-d through the process

-How we can get to the core of what emunah really is on the most basic level and use these foundational concepts to connect to Hashem more deeply

-The restraint Hashem has with us every day and how we can apply that concept to our own lives and actions

-How to work on letting go of control

-Why we should speak to ourselves with more compassion from a Torah perspective

-When fear is appropriate in Judaism and what kind of fear that actually is talking about

-How we can continue to grow and elevate ourselves year after year

…and SO MUCH MORE!

To learn more about Midreshet Rachel V'Chaya, click here.

Special thank you to Tania Friedlander, our first podcast partner! Tania is so helpful for professionals in any area — budding entrepreneurs, business owners, seasoned employees, leaders looking to take their companies to the next level, and more.

Maybe you need clarity and direction, you’re trying to achieve better work/life balance, not sure what next steps to take in your career, you’re motivated but also burnt out, you’re realizing leading people isn’t simple or are fearful that you don’t have what it takes to succeed.

So, if you are at all interested in working with Tania, you can book a complimentary call with her at TaniaFriedlander.com/contact.

Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today we are so blessed to have Aleeza Ben Shalom here.

If you have a Netflix account or have heard her speak in the Jewish world, then you’re already familiar with how personable and wonderful she is. But if not, we are going to introduce you. She was featured as the matchmaker on the Netflix show, “Jewish Matchmaking,” which reached millions of viewers across 130 countries and has been translated into 37 languages.

Outside of that, she continues to work as a matchmaker, dating coach, speaker and published author. She is the host of her own podcast, “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” and is coming out with a book of the same name in early December, although it’s available for pre-order now.

She has helped more than 200 people get married and has trained over 350 matchmakers and coaches. She and her own husband just celebrated 21 years of marriage together.

We talk about everything from dating advice, ways to keep your marriage fresh and vibrant, how to judge others more favorably and nurture your ahavas chinam, or baseless love for other Jews, how to handle negativity and live in the moment and so much more.

Resources she mentions:

Preorder her book, "Matchmaker Matchmaker."

Listen to her podcast.

Join her Elul Course, "40 Days of Connection."

Special thank you to Tania Friedlander, our first podcast partner! Tania is so helpful for professionals in any area — budding entrepreneurs, business owners, seasoned employees, leaders looking to take their companies to the next level, and more.

Maybe you need clarity and direction, you’re trying to achieve better work/life balance, not sure what next steps to take in your career, you’re motivated but also burnt out, you’re realizing leading people isn’t simple or are fearful that you don’t have what it takes to succeed.

So, if you are at all interested in working with Tania, you can book a complimentary call with her at TaniaFriedlander.com/contact.

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today, we are kicking off our Elul Energy series with the ever-inspiring Aliza Bulow.

In the episode, we speak about:

-Where she comes from and what guides her mission in life

-Her genuine relationship to Torah and why she calls it a “transformational treasure trove”

-Why she started an organization revolving around women and what we can all take from that

-Why we are lonelier than ever now when it comes to real friendships and connections and what to do about it

-How you can actually achieve the dreams and goals you have for yourself

-How she nourishes her emunah, or faith and how she finds comfort in Hashem, without fear

-Her advice and experience building a healthy and strong marriage despite many differences

-How to keep your mind on the bigger picture

…and honestly SO much more.

More about Aliza:

Aliza Bulow is the Founding Director of Core, an organization that connects, develops and supports Orthodox women who engage in Jewish communal work. She is also an author, educator and mentor to Jewish communal leaders and lay people around the world. Before founding Core, she directed Ner LeElef’s North American Women’s Program for 11 years where she coached rebbitzens and provided strategic development for outreach organizations in Canada, the US and Mexico.

Her love of Jewish texts and philosophy was developed at Michlelet Bruria, Hebrew University and Hunter College where she graduated with honors in Hebrew and Jewish Studies. In her early career, she worked for Partners in Torah and The Jewish Experience. Even before entering college, Aliza’s passion for strengthening Jews and the Jewish community led her to campaign on behalf of Soviet Jewry and build settlements in Israel while serving in Nachal. That early passion has only grown with time. Over the past four decades, Aliza has worked with hundreds of women in over 50 cities and 5 continents, strengthening the social fabric of the Jewish People. More information is available on her website: ABiteOfTorah.com or about Core at CoreTorah.org.

To learn more about Aliza, you can listen to her here:

18Forty — Aliza and Ephraim Bulow: When a Spouse Loses Faith

Empowered Jewish Living: Women's Empowerment, Grief and a Never-Ending Quest for Greatness

Deep Meaningful Conversations: The Power of Sisterhood

Inspiration for the Nation: A Mother's Will to Build After Suicide

Special thank you to Tania Friedlander, our first podcast partner! Tania is so helpful for professionals in any area — budding entrepreneurs, business owners, seasoned employees, leaders looking to take their companies to the next level, and more.

Maybe you need clarity and direction, you’re trying to achieve better work/life balance, not sure what next steps to take in your career, you’re motivated but also burnt out, you’re realizing leading people isn’t simple or are fearful that you don’t have what it takes to succeed.

So, if you are at all interested in working with Tania, you can book a complimentary call with her at TaniaFriedlander.com/contact.

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today I am so excited to be speaking with Alyssa Goldwater, a self-proclaimed plus-size advocate who also refers to herself as “your Orthodox Jewish friend.” She creates content for social media that gives followers an inside look into an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle and is open about her journey with eating disorder recovery and how she has grown and continues to grow to love and accept her body as it is.

This conversation is a powerful one. As I said in an episode on eating before this, if you are a woman in this world you have most likely experienced some sort of thoughts on your body and the food you’re putting into it. It’s something we can’t avoid. Even if you had parents who spoke about everything in the healthiest way, there is diet culture messaging that is pervasive elsewhere and it seeps into our brains, often at an early age.

I’m so passionate about this topic because often, it’s something we still need to work on in our day-to-day lives and Alyssa really helps with that and also, if you are a parent and raising the next generation it’s something that we’re thinking about in terms of how to teach it and we can do that so much more effectively when we feel good about it ourselves.

In the episode, we speak about:

-How she got to this place in her social media career where she shares so openly about her struggles

-Why and how she’s reclaiming the word “fat”

-Why dressing for her body is so important to show online AND how it’s so much more than just clothing

-The difference between accepting your body and loving your body and why you don’t have to love every single thing about it

-How she deals with mean comments on her social media posts

-How she practices self-care and maintains her mental health on a day to day basis

-How she speaks to her kids about food so they can develop a healthy relationship with it — I loved her messaging here

-How her relationship with Hashem has helped her throughout her eating and health journey

…and SO MUCH MORE

This conversation was so meaningful, so profound in a lot of ways and honestly, very cathartic for me. I hope you get a lot out of it and can’t wait to hear your thoughts. 

More about Alyssa:

Alyssa Goldwater is a wife, mom and the Digital Influencer behind the lifestyle brand, A Glass of Goldwater (@alyssagoldwater). Merging motherhood with humor, A Glass of Goldwater has become a community and support network of more than 200,000 women across the world. By having hard conversations about difficult topics such as mental health, the dangers of diet culture, and the unspoken struggles of motherhood, Alyssa not only keeps people laughing with her sarcastic take on life, but also helps women feel part of something bigger - that they aren’t alone in this crazy world.

Alyssa has made it her life’s mission to “take back the word fat.” Society has turned, what is a regular descriptor word, into an insult that incites feelings of ugly, bad, unhealthy, unlovable, unworthy, etc. Diet culture and the anti-fat bias have demonized every body that doesn’t fit the perfect, “thin is best” mold. It has turned unrealistic beauty standards, and unscientific health standards, into a multi-billion dollar industry that preys on the insecurities and vulnerabilities of people who believe their bodies aren’t acceptable.

For as long as someone cannot accept, and learn to respect, the body they live in, they will never be able to live a truly fulfilling life. Alyssa is breaking down the walls of diet culture by helping women live confidently in their bodies, as they learn to love themselves again.

Along with other movers and shakers in the Anti-Diet Culture and Eating Disorder Recovery movements, Alyssa is helping to redefine beauty standards and pushing the boundaries of what society deems as “acceptable”.

Every body is worthy, lovable, acceptable and houses a holy soul inside. Through education, plus size fashion and advocacy, Alyssa helps women internalize and access those feelings of self acceptance and love, as they work to live full and meaningful lives.

If there is someone you want to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, email me at [email protected] or send me a DM @chaionlifemag. Thanks again, see you next week!

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of The Chai on Life Podcast. I’m Alex Segal, and today we are speaking with Miriam Pineles, a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine practicing in Cedarhurst, NY.

Miriam is someone who really heals from the inside out. I met Miriam almost five years ago now when I was pregnant with my first son and experiencing really horrible back pain in my third trimester. Miriam healed me in one week. I couldn’t believe it. Honestly, before going to her, I was skeptical about acupuncture and had no interest in it but afterward I was completely sold and talking about it to everyone I knew.

Throughout the last few years though, I’ve learned that it wasn’t just the acupuncture or the healing techniques she used, it was Miriam herself. She is meant to be a healer. She is someone that holds space for so many individuals and when you’re with her, she makes you feel like you are the only person that matters. 

In addition to her clinical practice, Miriam teaches “Living With The Elements,” a course she created to help women gain deeper self-awareness and foster harmony in their relationships and homes. If you want to learn more and sign up (it starts September 9!) you can do so at livingwiththeelements.com.

In this interview, we speak more about the course she created and what you will get out of it as well as:

-How she got into Chinese medicine and how it’s deeply connected to Torah and Kabbalah

-What is going on under the surface when you’re getting acupuncture or Chinese medicine treatments and why they work

-Where a lot of unhappiness and disease stem from

-How we may be passing unresolved trauma and issues onto our kids — and how you can stop that

-What the five elements of Chinese medicine are and how they connect to Judaism

-We go through each element and learn a little bit more about what each one means

-What the framework of seeing yourself and child through the elements can do for your parenting

-Practical parenting takeaways you can start today

…and SO MUCH MORE!

More about Miriam:

Miriam Pineles, DACM, is the founder of Conscious Health and Wellness, Inc., a premier Chinese medicine clinic located in Cedarhurst, NY. With a Doctorate in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine (DACM) and certification from the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM), Miriam is also licensed in Acupuncture by the State of New York.

Her extensive training includes mentorship under some of the most revered practitioners both in the United States and internationally. Miriam has mastered unique techniques in acupuncture, pulse analysis, and herbal prescription, specializing in women’s perinatal health and addressing syndromes arising from emotional trauma.

She also founded *Ayin Healing*, a non-profit organization dedicated to running holistic healing retreats that support Jewish women recovering from childhood sexual abuse.

Explore more about Miriam’s work at:

•⁠ ⁠[Conscious Health and Wellness](http://www.Conscioushealthandwellness.com)

•⁠ ⁠[Living With The Elements](http://www.livingwiththeelements.com)

•⁠ ⁠[Ayin Healing]

(http://www.ayinhealing.com)

You can also learn more about Miriam on the Chai on Life website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, leave a rating and review so more people can gain from Miriam’s wisdom. Consider sharing it with a friend, family member or coworker who you think might enjoy the episode as well. If there is someone you want to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, email me at [email protected] or send me a DM @chaionlifemag. Thanks again, see you next week!