The Living Jewishly Podcast

“Since I've acknowledged PTSD and what's going on, and accepted the facts, and stopped seeing it as a sign of weakness, I've made some progress.”

— Wilson Taguinod

Facing our challenges is the first step to healing, according to guest Wilson Taguinod. On this episode of What’s In Your Toolbox: An Honest Discussion on Mental Health, host Bobby Koven has a deep conversation with Wilson about his challenges with PTSD and depression, as a veteran of the Vietnam war and a person who lives with cancer. 

Wilson has developed several coping tools to manage his mental health struggles, including fly fishing, reading, woodworking and puzzles. But he also relies on his family, specifically his wife, who helps him to reframe and put into perspective, the thought processes that lead him towards depression. Wilson has developed intuitive strategies to notice negative thoughts, and reset, and has begun learning how to manage anger based on cause and effect.

Tune in to learn what Wilson’s advice is for anyone who is struggling with mental health, and learn how he developed his coping strategies so that you can apply his learnings to your own experience.

This‌ ‌episode discusses:‌

✔ PTSD as a war veteran

✔ Strategies to reframe negative thoughts

✔ The power of acknowledging the thing that is challenging you, to work towards recovery

 ‌  

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:01 Intro

02:34 Meet Wilson Taguinod

04:28 Wilson’s experience with PTSD

10:40 Fly fishing as a tool to manage mental health

16:22 How Wilson managed his anger

18:11 Obtaining a university degree despite mental health challenges  

22:02 How Wilson’s tools have helped him

25:45 Wilson’s Amazing Support Team  

27:58 Wilson’s advice 

29:13 Wrap up

Links:‌ ‌ 

To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly:  

Visit‌ ‌our ‌website: https://livingjewishly.org  

Follow us on Instagram: @living.jewishly  

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw   

or send us an email at [email protected].  

Shalom!

Tu B'Shvat is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the renewal of trees in a yearly cycle. Elliott notes, the timing of the holiday on the Jewish calendar is weird, falling out in the middle of winter. If we really wanted to get into the spirit of the day, we'd send everyone out into the middle of nature, "into the wild," to experience the trees. Rabbi Yossi points out that the winter is also a cool time to think about trees, because it is when the sap starts to run. The trees are starting to come alive, on the inside, where the sap is starting to build. Really, this is symbolic of the inner growth that takes place inside of us as human beings. Yossi adds that maple syrup is an ancient food but you have to get rid of the excess foam, which is a great metaphor for what people have to do - to keep the sweet parts of ourselves and get rid of the excess. As Yossi says, "whatever your winter looks like" you have to learn to go through the dark nights and come out on the other side.

Elliott also notes that educationally, Tu B'shvat should teach us to "throw out the playbook." Jewish schools could plan a trip, throw away the books for a day, and take students out into nature to experience renewal and the miracle of creation. The holiday of the trees shows us that religious education can be found as much in nature as in textbooks. Yossi says there should be "Outward Bound" program for Tu B'shvat. This holiday represents the environmental ethic of the ancient rabbis and their view of the ecosystem, exemplified in the discussion of rain in the second paragraph of the Shema prayer. God gives human stewardship over the earth and it is up to us to make sure we treat that as a sacred trust. In an age of climate change, this is a powerful message.Shout out to the late great Neil Peart of Rush and his wonderful song "The Trees!"

This‌ ‌episode discusses:‌ ‌

•  The importance of Tu B’Shvat
•  How to use this time of year to cultivate renewal in oneself
• The history of Tu B’Shvat

Email us at [email protected], 

we would love to hear from you!

Be sure to follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/living.jewishly/ and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/livingjewishly/ 

If you like the show, please leave a review, it helps us to reach more people just like you.

Links:‌ ‌ 

To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly:  

Visit‌ ‌our ‌website: https://livingjewishly.org  

Follow us on Instagram: @living.jewishly  

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw   

or send us an email at [email protected].  

Shalom!

“We age with success when we are in connection with others, it's relational.”

— Sue Lantz 

On today’s episode of What’s In Your Toolbox: An Honest Discussion On Mental Health, host Bobby Koven has a conversation with Sue Lantz, a boomer who is hoping to live a long and healthy life, and founder of Collaborative Aging. Sue is passionate about sharing her healthcare, housing, and caregiving expertise in a way that helps her peers – along with the people who will be supporting them – to envision and fulfill their best possible aging transitions and experiences.

Sue discovered early in her career that designing systems and tools for various populations requires an immense amount of collaboration - not just from individuals but from organizations as well. She took this wide breadth of experience with collaborations to develop Collaborative Aging, a platform that offers educational and consulting services to help individuals, families, and communities, to prepare the way for healthy, empowered aging and balanced caregiving.

Tune in to hear how Sue’s journey with elder care crossed over with various mental health experiences, and for some inspiration to plan your future as you age, collaboratively.

This‌ ‌episode discusses:‌ ‌

✔   Forming teams of care providers to age on your own terms

✔   The effects of aging on our mental health

✔   The importance of planning for care and support as we age

 ‌  

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:01  Welcome

02:29 Meet Sue Lantz

05:10 Collaborative Aging  

09:17 How Sue’s path led her here

14:02 Sue’s career journey 

23:01 What’s in Sue’s toolbox 

26:01 Sue’s journey with mindfulness

27:40 Aging and mindfulness

29:01 Sue’s Amazing Support Team 

31:10 Sue’s advice for collaborating with aging parents 

34:40 Next episode teaser 

Links:‌ ‌ 

www.collaborativeaging.com 

https://optionsopen.org 

https://instagram.com/optionsopenguide 

To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly:  

Visit‌ ‌our ‌website: https://livingjewishly.org  

Follow us on Instagram: @living.jewishly  

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw   

or send us an email at [email protected].  

Shalom!

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains content around self-harm and suicide and brief mention of sexual violence against children.

“They tried to ‘fix’ my stigmas to make me like everyone else, rather than leveraging my gifts. I said, ‘screw that, I'm gonna manage my gifts.’ And I started developing my gifts and ignoring the stigma.”

— Tim Nelson

In this episode of What’s In Your Toolbox: An Honest Discussion on Mental Health, Bobby Koven interviews Tim Nelson about his mental health journey. This conversation is raw and authentic, and at times may be triggering to some listeners. We have noted the timestamps for the triggering content.

Tim Nelson is an expert problem solver, but he wasn’t always able to use his dyslexia and dyscalculia to his advantage. Tim was diagnosed in his early twenties, but through the lens of stigma. And his late diagnosis prevented him from integrating into the mainstream school system.

But as a creative problem solver, Tim chose to see his diagnoses as little annoyances rather than burdens, and followed the path of his dyslexia as a gift. 

In his youth, Tim developed seven skills that helped him navigate his childhood through learning disabilities and other mental health challenges. The skills are creativity, coaching projects, running programs, improving people, knowing oneself, understanding interactions and defining standard work. Developing these consistent skills was key in overcoming the challenges of dyslexia and dyscalculia, and the consistency has paid off, putting Tim in charge of some of the largest projects in the world. 

Tim has also put his RECOVER system into practice to recuperate from life events that had a massive impact on him.  RECOVER is an acronym; R is receive help, E is exhibit compliance, C is care, O is outline a schedule, V is venture out, E is establish purpose, and R is reach for the stars.

This‌ ‌episode discusses:‌ ‌

✔ How dyslexia and dyscalculia impact learning and education and self-esteem

✔ The seven skills Tim developed to overcome dyslexia and dyscalculia challenges

✔ Tim’s RECOVER acronym

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:01  Intro

02:53 Meet Tim Nelson

09:10 Tim’s Gifts

11:33 Growing up

12:48 Tim’s seven skills

15:08 Diagnosing dyslexia and dyscalculia

20:55 Leveraging gifts

22:57 Bipolar diagnosis and mania

23:52 TRIGGER WARNING: Self-harm and suicide

26:42 Tim’s RECOVER acronym

28:30 TRIGGER WARNING: Sexual violence towards children

30:59 Tim’s Amazing Support Team

33:28 TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide

35:18 Tim’s advice to others

About Guest:

Tim Nelson is an expert problem solving coach, change agent, global diversity and inclusion ambassador and author and inventor.
Links:‌

Connect with Tim:

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-nelson-0270526

Website https://onefivefifty.com/

To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly:  

Visit‌ ‌our ‌website: https://livingjewishly.org  

Follow us on Instagram: @living.jewishly  

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw   

or send us an email at [email protected].  

Shalom!

“Anger can be illogical and it can cause a lot of harm. But it also can be righteous and it can be rectifying something that’s wrong.”

— Ganga Devi

What is the role of anger in our lives? And what can we learn from our sense of it?

This episode of Living Jewishly is an instalment of Scared Time, a podcast devoted to the healing art of the Hebrew calendar.

As we bid goodbye to Chanukah, we enter Tevet, the tenth month of the calendar. This is a time of cold and darkness, but one that evokes a fiery emotion. Its 10th day commemorates the onset of the siege of Jerusalem — no wonder that Tevet is associated with the sense of anger. 

Tevet is also connected to the story of Purim, as it is in the month of Tevet that Esther was taken to the King Achashverosh's palace to be chosen as Queen. 

Most of us are only aware of anger when we feel it or when others feel it toward us, but in these heightened states we are unable to reflect on and understand the wisdom and potential carried within it.

Tevet offers us the rare opportunity to examine anger from a place of peace. 

Through drawing on Kabbalistic themes and psychological tools, we may work intentionally with anger and see it with new eyes. This episode explores anger’s purpose — how it can point us to unmet needs and fuel us to make necessary changes in our lives, relationships, and social systems.

“That is what Tevet gives us to work with. It’s understanding: what is anger? What does it mean to play with the fire of anger?”

— Bluth

This‌ ‌episode discusses:‌

• How anger can be used as a tool to create positive and necessary change
• Comparisons between ecological fire and the fire of anger, and how each plays a role in stripping away what no longer serves
• How to differentiate between the needs and the strategies connected with our anger

Highlights:‌

01:30  Welcome to Tevet

02:58  Purim & The Book of Esther

03:53  Chanukah & Purim

06:39  Tevet & anger

08:04  Comparison between anger & fire

10:46  Emotions as data points

 12:10  Regenerative anger & trauma

15:13  Empathic communication & reframing

19:58  Our needs v. our strategies

24:45  The Language of Emotions

26:51   Ganga Devi’s story

 31:41  The Work That Reconnects

33:10  Tools within & without us

37:31  Cultivating integrity

Links:‌

Marshall Rosenberg

https://www.nonviolentcommunication.com

Alexandra Paretta, Tantra practitioner

https://www.wovenyin.com

Karla McLaren, The Language of Emotions

https://karlamclaren.com/product/the-language-of-emotions-book

https://karlamclaren.com/understanding-and-befriending-anger

Joanna Macy, The Work That Reconnects

https://www.joannamacy.net/main

To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly:

Visit‌ ‌our ‌website: https://livingjewishly.org

Visit our learning community: https://www.schooloflivingjewishly.com

Follow us on Instagram: @living.jewishly

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw   

Send us an email at [email protected]

Shalom!

“That's where I really rely on our traditional teachings because it speaks to humility, and understanding that your gifts are valuable. And everybody has gifts.”

— Jillian Morris

Trigger Warning: This episode makes brief mention of self harm and addiction.

On this episode of What’s In Your Toolbox: An Honest Discussion on Mental Health, host Bobby Koven shares a deep and open conversation with his guest Jillian Morris which started at a chance meeting in New Brunswick. 

In this conversation, Jillian shares some of the tools that her community uses to heal the indigenous communities in Ontario, and further expanding into Canada. 

A member of the Feather Carriers, Jillian is committed to community mobilization that enhances mental health and addictions and suicide prevention through a culturally appropriate training. 

One thing is for sure, Jillian will absolutely inspire you to take up a practice of gratitude for every element of life, which is an excellent tool to manage mental health.

This‌ ‌episode discusses:‌ ‌

✔ The power and importance of storytelling

✔ Connecting to your own spirituality through healing

✔ Sharing your gifts as a way to contribute to a larger community

About Jillian:

Jillian is Kanien’kehaka, a member of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, and Poet Laureate for Collingwood. Jillian is a former federal public servant and in addition to writing, she is a researcher, creator, public engager, mother, wife, and bridge builder. Jillian is also a member of the Unity Collective where she finds endless reward in volunteering and working to build relationships, capacity, and understanding.

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:01  Intro

02:54  Meet Jillian Morris  

08:35  The call to nature  

10:02  Spirituality  

11:21  Tools for healing 

13:01 Jillian’s path of healing  

15:15 Traditional teachings

24:45 The Feather Carriers

26:07 Jillian’s Amazing Support Team (JAST)

26:51 The power of listening  

30:17 Next episode 

Links:‌ ‌ 

Connect with Jillian: https://www.jillianmorris.ca/

instagram: @jk_morris_less

Collingwood Today: https://www.collingwoodtoday.ca/columns/kanikonhriio/column

Wise Practices: https://wisepractices.ca/practices/feather-carriers/

To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly:  

Visit‌ ‌our ‌website: https://livingjewishly.org  

Follow us on Instagram: @living.jewishly  

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw   

or send us an email at [email protected].  

Shalom!

“Dreaming is a necessary complement to our waking life that allows us to rest and integrate and regenerate.”

— Ganga Devi

As home to the holiday of Chanukah, Kislev is a time for celebration, light, and togetherness. But it is also a time for sleeping, for dreaming, and for integrating the teachings of our dreams into our waking lives.

The beauty of the cyclical nature of our Hebrew calendar is that it creates space for us to explore its universal and resonant themes each year as different people, bringing with us new experiences and perspectives that shift and re-shape the ways in which we engage and reflect. This episode of the Living Jewishly Podcasts is a replay of the Kislev episode of Sacred Time, a podcast about the healing art of the Hebrew calendar. 

Looking toward Channukah as a time of light, dedication, and grace within a time of darkness, this conversation deeply examines Kislev’s overarching themes of sleep, death, dreams, and light, and moves thoughtfully through the cyclical nature of the rhythms of creation.

“There’s something about this time of sleep and slumber and darkness — we are actually deeply held.”

— Bluth

This‌ ‌episode discusses:‌ ‌

• How dreams inspire, enrich, and borrow from our waking lives — and their connection to prophecy
• How our relationship with sleep can inform and soften our relationship to death
• The symbolic meaning behind Channukah falling across both Kislev and Tevet

 ‌  

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:52  Intro

01:51  Kislev & Samec

05:00  The circle of our daily rhythms

07:46  Dreams, prophecy & waking life

09:58  Death & sleep

12:14  Midrash: Adam & the Garden of Eden

16:09  Living Jewishly Channukah Guide

19:01  Channukah & Kislev

22:01  Darkness & light

24:03  Ganga Devi’s dream work

29:29  Mourning rituals & Waking Life

Links:‌ ‌ 

Living Jewishly Channukah Guide

https://livingjewishly.org/channukah 

Waking Life (2001)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waking_Life 

To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly:  

Visit‌ ‌our ‌website: https://livingjewishly.org  

Follow us on Instagram: @living.jewishly  

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw   

or send us an email at [email protected].  

Shalom!

“Even when it doesn’t feel like there is excitement, there are our rhythms and there are our cycles.”

— Bluth 

After the social and structured rituals of the High Holidays, the month of Cheshvan is a period of personal contemplation during which we turn to the quieter rhythms of our daily commitments. The absence of Holy Days during this month challenges us to source our connection with the sacred from within. In doing so, we are able to look both back and forward to address our priorities — what is meaningful and important at this moment.

This instalment of the Living Jewishly Podcasts revisits the Cheshvan episode of Sacred Time, a podcast devoted to the healing art of the Hebrew calendar.  Bluth and Ganga Devi discuss the month of Cheshvan, and the many ways that we can develop structures and systems to reconnect us with our true priorities in life.

Though it is a more introspective month, it is still one of action. The process of self-inquiry identifies what is precious and tender to us, so we are then able to step fully into those relationships — with the divine, with our loved ones, and with ourselves.

“The structures and systems of religions should exist to support each of our own personal and direct relationships with what is sacred.”

— Ganga Devi

This‌ ‌episode discusses:‌ ‌

• Being mindful of how we relate to systems of authority and power outside of ourselves in our relationship with what is sacred
• The importance of motivating ourselves to find empowerment in responsibility by creating our own structures in the absence of external ones
• Why Cheshvan is the perfect time to focus on restorative and nurturing self-care 

 ‌  

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:51  Intro

01:51  The month of Cheshvan

04:42  What is sacred to us?

08:03  Self-inquiry & creating our own structures

10:38  External structures

12:22  The sacred in the mundane

13:37  Taking action & finding support

16:50  Rhythms & cycles

18:20  Modeh Ani & daily commitments

25:06  The School of Living Jewishly

Links:‌ ‌ 

Living Jewishly Yoga for Cheshvan with Jenna Zadaka: 

https://livingjewishly.org/rosh-chodesh-cheshvan-with-guest-yoga-teacher-jenna-zadaka 

The School of Living Jewishly

https://www.schooloflivingjewishly.com 

To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly:  

Visit‌ ‌our ‌website: https://livingjewishly.org  

Follow us on Instagram: @living.jewishly  

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw   

or send us an email at [email protected].  

Shalom!

“Life is for the living. You have to go on, and make the best you can out of your present situation and utilize your tools”

— Nate Leipciger

Mental health is a different story across generations, and on today’s episode of What’s In Your Toolbox: An Honest Discussion on Mental Health, host Bobby K. has a conversation with Holocaust survivor Nate Leipciger about the tools he cultivated to survive. 

One of Nate’s survival skills, awareness, helped him during his time in Auschwitz, and then in his early years in Canada. Learning new rules every day, helped to keep him from standing out, and ultimately being freed at the end of WWII. 

You’ll definitely want to tune into this episode to hear Nate’s story of survival, and the lessons Nate learned that can be used as mental health tools for many generations to come.

This‌ ‌episode discusses:‌ ‌

✔   How Nate survived the concentration camp

✔   How Nate navigated immigrating to Canada and how the survivor skills he learned helped him 

✔   Nate’s mission to educate future generations about the Holocaust

 ‌  

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:01  Introduction

04:31  Meet Nate Leipciger

07:32  Nate’s story

18:50  Coming to Canada

22:19  Nate’s survival toolbox

25:32  The King of Kensington

27:33  Cole’s Notes

29:47  Starting a business

34:20  Educating youth about the Holocaust

40:07  Problem solving

43:43  Self-hypnosis

46:21  Nate’s Amazing Support Team

49:53  Wrapping up

About Guest:

Nathan (Nate) Leipciger, who has a B.A. in Science, lived through the horrors of the Holocaust, where he was forced to live and work in Nazi concentration camps, losing his mother and sister, and enduring several closed brushes with death before the end of the Second World War.

Having suffered and witnessed firsthand the devastating consequences of hatred and war, Leipciger went on to dedicate his life to educating Canadians and global citizens about the dangers of racism and the importance of tolerance, inclusivity, and dialogue. Through thoughtful stewardship of various institutions involved in Holocaust education, Nate's efforts are credited with educating young generations of Canadians about the Holocaust, and teaching them the virtues of respect and acceptance.

Links:‌ ‌ 

Learn about Nate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate_Leipciger

Link to Nate’s Book The Weight of Freedom: https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=nate+leipciger&hvadid=254863918482&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9104712&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=10619440215456575975&hvtargid=kwd-473138502367&hydadcr=10108_10274008&tag=googcana-20&ref=pd_sl_5aiccf9sx7_e

To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly:  

Visit‌ ‌our ‌website: https://livingjewishly.org  

Follow us on Instagram: @living.jewishly  

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw   

or send us an email at [email protected].  

  Shalom!

“At what point in our history did our houses become ‘not nature’?”

— Julia Plevin

The earth is our home, our classroom, and our legacy — how can we create a nurturing relationship with the earth that allows all living creatures to thrive?

Sukkot, the ancient Jewish Harvest festival, is an invitation for people of the Jewish faith to experience, celebrate, and revere the gift of our natural world. But in the face of the looming climate change crisis and global food insecurities, what can Sukkot teach us about how to live in harmony with nature — and what spiritual and secular practices can help us ensure our ongoing survival?

This episode of Living Jewishly is the third and final of a series of special episodes exploring the Jewish holidays.

Dr. Elliot Malamet is joined by guests Julia Plevin and Rabbi Rachel Rosenbluth, who have actively engaged nature as a powerful focal point in their personal, professional, and spiritual lives. 

This episode dives into our evolving relationship with the natural world, how to incorporate our holiday messages into the rest of our year, and the importance of embracing our identities as beings of nature.     

“We’ve disconnected ourselves from nature in our capitalist and extractive culture… we are nature. We are a part of nature.”

— Bluth

This‌ ‌episode discusses:‌ ‌

• How to experience Sukkot as a powerful invitation into a more sustainable, in-tune, and natural way of living 
• How to involve nature in your daily spiritual practice — and the healing benefits you can enjoy
• Why now is the time to seriously care about the state of our world — and why it is so urgent

 ‌  

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:52  Introduction

02:23  The sukkah as metaphor 

05:01  The sukkah as liminal space

06:21  Technology conquering nature

08:03  The sukkah as a home

09:49  Nature as daily spiritual practice

16:33  The six directions

17:24  Segmentation of holiday messages & shmita

19:47  Importance of identity & reconnection

25:57  Thinking beyond the abstract

26:45  Environmentalism & diaspora

30:58  Turning to, not away

33:50  Nature-integrated spiritual practices

41:09  Judaism as a nature-based religion

Links:‌ ‌ 

To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly:  

Visit‌ ‌our ‌website: https://livingjewishly.org  

Follow us on Instagram: @living.jewishly  

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw   

or send us an email at [email protected].  

Shalom!