Journey Through Health & Wellness

Dr. Elisa Haransky Beck is joined by Annie Deely in conversation about how she came to environmental activism, climate solutions, and the origins of ReImagine Turtle Creek.

About

Annie Deely is the Community Organizer for ReImagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Annie has a BA in Urban Studies and History from the University of Pittsburgh, where she began organizing for environmental justice.

Journey Through Health & Wellness is a project of ReImagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus.

Music: "Higher-Up" by Shane Ivers bensound.com

Excerpts from ReImagine the Monroeville Mall Showcase on July 21, 2021.

In April 2021, ReImagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities (TCWAC) hosted an essay contest asking high schoolers to share their ideas on how they would make the Monroeville Mall more economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable and inclusive of youth. A panel of judges, consisting of community leaders ranging from a Gateway School District Board Member to University of Pittsburgh Urban Studies Professors, chose three winning essays to receive cash prizes adding up to $1000. This contest builds upon a ReImagine TCWAC initiative that aims to revitalize the mall into a community hub for sustainability and innovation.

To celebrate our talented and inspiring essayists, TCWAC held ReImagine the Monroeville Mall Showcase in July 2021 for winners of the contest to read their submissions to the community. This event created space for Monroeville residents to think about how the mall is a vital economic asset in our region. How can we, as a community of mall patrons, ensure that this asset is sustained?

Journey Through Health & Wellness is a project of ReImagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus.

Music: "Higher-Up" by Shane Ivers bensound.com

Dr. Marcia Nathai-Balkissoon joins JTHW once again for a short conversation on how she deals with people-pleasing and overwhelm by putting herself first.

About

Coming from an engineering background, Marcia has been a lecturer at the University of the West Indies since 2011. Additionally, she is a successful poet and author. She recently published a book, "Lighting the Path: Leaning into A Hopeful Future for Special Needs Parents," which aids other special needs parents as well as health care professionals. Marcia clearly has thought-provoking wisdom that aids her students and readers in gaining a deep understanding of living in the present moment.

You can check out her book here.

Journey Through Health & Wellness is a project of ReImagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus.

Music: "Higher-Up" by Shane Ivers bensound.com

Dr. Elisa Harnasky Beck and Richard Schwartz have a discussion about Judaism, Veganism, and the world's dire need to change. This podcast was recorded during a Vegan Sukkot (One of three harvest festivals in Judaism) at Temple David In Monroeville, PA. With an introduction by Dr. Joanne Kong.

About

Joanne Kong

A lecturer on Veganism, Animal Rights, Nutrition, Compassion, and Environmental Sustainability, Dr. Joanne Kong is one of the most compelling advocates for plant-based nutrition today. Since 2015, Joanne has given public lectures on all aspects of plant-based nutrition. She will appear in two upcoming documentaries, "Eating Our Way to Extinction" and "Taking Note," and has authored multiple successful vegan books. She has an innate ability to connect with others and share her vision of a more compassionate world.

Richard Schwartz

Imparting wisdom for decades, Richard Schwartz has been a professor at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York for 50 years! He taught math courses and created a course, 'Mathematics and the Environment.' He has also been the President of Jewish Vegetarians of North America since 2000, and the President of the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians since 2004. He has authored many successful books and wishes to increase the awareness of Jewish teachings on compassion to animals and reduce the mistreatment of animals.

Journey Through Health & Wellness is a project of ReImagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus.

Music: "Higher-Up" by Shane Ivers bensound.com

"Every individual is a world and every individual can make a world of difference."

Brian encourages listeners to stop repressing parts of themselves and embrace the duality of nature - feminine/masculine, inside/outside - not as conflicting energies but as synergistic parts of a whole. What are you repressing? How can you make peace with all parts of yourself?

We need to reformulate our relationships with ourselves in order to reformulate our relationships with nature, with animals, and with people that do not look like us.

Brian Baruch joins Journey Through Health and Wellness from Toronto to discuss healing, trauma recovery, and the importance of non-hierarchical systems, inspired creatives, and stewardship. He touches on Judaism and his work with native Hawaiians. He connects the human body with the outer world and believes in the opportunity of this transitional moment in how humans treat the environment. In both appreciation of his partner, Peggy Liu, and urgency to implement change, Brian discusses Peggy's work in Chinese energy grid greening. Brian draws many of his points from ancient texts.

ABOUT

Brian Baruch is a spiritual writer and teacher who shares inspirational keys for accessing your inner genius.

With lessons that kindle the soul, Brian’s words help transform pain into a passion that liberates hearts for restorative intimacy. His lessons address the mysteries of the soul and impart keys for transcending limitations. Brian’s distinct approach to driving inner development encourages seekers to embrace the inner path with the irrepressible passion of a timeless love story. Brian teaches that one’s life journey is a love story between the realized and latent self.

http://www.brianbaruch.com/

Journey Through Health & Wellness is a project of ReImagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus.

Music: "Higher-Up" by Shane Ivers bensound.com

How does trauma impact your health and ability to move?

Tami Lysher tackles this question by integrating her 30 years in the early childhood development field with her work in pilates. In her conversation with Dr. Elisa Haransky Beck, she discusses living in Flint, Michigan, and how their water crisis has affected children's development. She offers the audience her daily practice and encourages listeners to find their own practice for making time for themselves (and disconnecting from your phone). Any moment can be meditative if you set an intention for it!

About Tami Lysher

Tami Lysher, ECE, MA, Certified Instructor and Owner of Studio T Pilates, has more than 30 years in the field of early childhood development, including teaching 15 years at the University of Michigan, Flint. Tami has been a Train the Trainer on all subjects related to Early Childhood Education and has provided extensive training on trauma effects to college students and community organizations.

Tami specializes in child development and children’s yoga and movements and practices thoughtful and reflexive Pilates and yoga to promote both physical and mental well-being. Her mission is to make a difference through one movement, one stretch, and one breath at a time. Her classes included children’s yoga, Karma Kids Yoga, Little Flower Yoga, Trauma-Informed Yoga for Teens, Balance Body Pilates, Stott Pilates, and McEntire Pilates-Comprehensive. In addition, she has taught many arms of fitness over the last 35 years including spinning, TRX, Pink Ribbon, Brain Speed, and more. You can learn more at www.studiotpilates.com

Journey Through Health & Wellness is a project of ReImagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus.

Music: "Higher-Up" by Shane Ivers bensound.com

After a traumatic car accident, Jen-ix reinvigorated her life's purpose of living in the now. 

"Give yourself credit for being who you are, where you are now...we forget very easily to be grateful for all the amazing parts of ourselves that have brought us to this point now. It is courageous to choose to be human."

During this week's podcast episode, Jenny performs a Lakota drumming song and invites the audience to join a guided meditative practice.

Bio

Jenny Lynne Sessions (Jen-ix) is a Shaman healer teacher and channel for higher guidance and healing sound frequencies. She has been involved in the healing arts for over 25 years.

In 2009 Jen-ix stood on the cusp of life and death with a severely fractured spine. She knew she had been called to make a choice to recommit to life fully. To turn trauma to treasure and become her own medicine.

Jen-ix is currently engaged as a radio broadcaster, presenter and global ambassador for earth elders and the galactic fire. She is the founder of A Circle of Feathers which is a platform through which indigenous elders share their wisdom.

Journey Through Health & Wellness is a project of ReImagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus.

Music: "Higher-Up" by Shane Ivers bensound.com

"Find the joy and fulfillment of every day through small and enabling actions."

When a medical error caused Marcia's daughter to enter a vegetative state, she started seeing life from a very dark place. Her vision for her daughter's life radically changed. Marcia Nathai-Balkissoon joins Elisa Haransky Beck in discussing how she found the light again in letting go of her expectations of her daughter, who while Marcia was mourning in another room was approaching life with laughter. Marcia powerfully shares how she shifted her consciousness and learned how to cherish each moment through raising a disabled child. She found progress in letting go of her self-expectation of perfection, being less judgemental, and treating herself more gently.

In this episode, Marcia joins us once again from Trinidad and Tobago to offer methods of self-kindness and care. She demonstrates how she practices talking gently to herself by appreciating her efforts rather than judging her self-perceived failures.

About

Coming from an engineering background, Marcia has been a lecturer at the University of the West Indies since 2011. Additionally, she is a successful poet and author. She recently published a book, "Lighting the Path: Leaning into A Hopeful Future for Special Needs Parents," which aids other special needs parents as well as health care professionals. Marcia clearly has thought-provoking wisdom that aids her students and readers in gaining a deep understanding of living in the present moment.

You can check out her book here.

Journey Through Health & Wellness is a project of ReImagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus.

Music: "Higher-Up" by Shane Ivers bensound.com

Richard Schwartz not only shares his expertise on veganism, but also has a wealth of knowledge of Judaism. Richard and his interviewer, Dr. Elisa Haransky Beck, examine how wasteful animal based societies are, as over 10% of people in the world are chronically hungry. As Richard discusses how the world has never been so threatened, he offers veganism as a solution. In his latest book, Vegan Revolution, Richard tackles revitalizing Judaism and encourages the revolution on thinking vegan. This book is intended to open minds and enlighten vegan perspectives. Richard talks of the strong teachings of Judaism, which include preserving our health, treating animals with compassion, protecting the environment, and protecting and preserving peace, which is all strongly violated by animal based diets and animal agriculture. Richard went vegan in 2000, and speaks of how this transition changed his psychological awareness. 

About

Imparting wisdom for decades, Richard Schwartz has been a professor at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York for 50 years! He taught math courses and created a course, 'Mathematics and the Environment.' He has also been the President of Jewish Vegetarians of North America since 2000, and the President of the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians since 2004. He has authored many successful books and wishes to increase the awareness of Jewish teachings on compassion to animals and reduce the mistreatment of animals.

Journey Through Health & Wellness is a project of ReImagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus.

Music: "Higher-Up" by Shane Ivers bensound.com

Stephanie Redcross West, founder of Vegan Mainstream, is making a vegan world a reality by providing training and support for vegan professionals. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, starting her own business was not a foreign concept, as she wanted to take what she loves and make a real impact. She believes that people can see the light in vegans, and encourages vegans to shine their light everywhere. Stephanie speaks of the people that have the ability to connect, teach, and influence others. She prompts those with these abilities to use their natural talents to inspire others and change their minds and hearts to be more compassionate. As a fantastic influencer herself, Stephanie shares that she lives a life as a vegan that allows people to connect to her. She prompts positive association to her veganism and welcomes anyone that inquires about her lifestyle. Having an immense vegan spirituality, Stephanie also discusses how important it is to align your career with your beliefs, so that your financial security comes from an ethical source.

About

Stephanie Redcross West became vegan in 2005 and started her vegan business, Vegan Mainstream, in 2009. She obtained her Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Japanese from the University of Michigan in 1998, and has a solid foundation of more than 15 years of marketing experience with small businesses and Fortune 500 companies. Her goal is to ensure that an ethical lifestyle is accessible to everyone, and frequently speaks at vegfests and conferences, and offers her impactful consulting and business coaching services. 

Journey Through Health & Wellness is a project of ReImagine Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities Plus.

Music: "Higher-Up" by Shane Ivers bensound.com