An episode of Changing the Conversation Podcast
Rio-Madison Aracri and Katie Kobie share strategies to support mindfulness and wellness with host Dwayne Watkins.
September 30, 2024
Dwayne Watkins, Host (00:05): Hello everyone and welcome to Changing the Conversation. This episode will be delving into a conversation on mindfulness and wellness. I’m your host, Dwayne Watkins, the Health Equity Manager at the Center for Health Equity here at C4 Innovations. Today we have two special guests with us and I am very excited to introduce them to you all. Both guests hold the title of Youth and Wellness Coach with the Center for Youth and Wellbeing here at C4 Innovations. First we have Rio-Madison Aracri calling in from Boston, Massachusetts. Rio-Madison, glad to have you here today.
Rio-Madison Aracri, Guest (00:40): Thank you. I’m happy to be here too.
Dwayne (00:42): Next we have Katie Kobie calling in from Somerville, Massachusetts. Hi Katie, how are you today?
Katie Kobie, Guest (00:48): I’m great. How are you?
Dwayne (00:50): I’m doing well. Thanks for asking and thank you both for being here. In this episode, we’re diving into a topic that touches every aspect of our lives: mindfulness and wellness. Whether you are looking to improve your mental clarity, reduce stress, or simply find a bit more balance in your day-to-day, mindfulness is a powerful tool that anyone can practice. Today we’re going to explore how mindfulness can enhance not only your well-being, but also the way we connect with ourselves and others. We’ll dive into simple techniques, practical insights, and even some myths about what it really means to be mindful. So whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or just curious about where to start, let’s explore how we can all live a little more mindfully. So Rio-Madison, do you mind setting the stage for our listeners and define what mindfulness means to you?
Rio-Madison (01:39): Yeah, for sure. So mindfulness to me is being aware and present in my movements, my actions, and just even little things I do day-to-day. It helps me to be more intentional and move a little bit slower, and I feel like it overall helps me feel well. So yeah, mindfulness to me is that awareness and presence in everything that we do.
Dwayne (02:09): Thank you, Rio-Madison. Katie, I would love for you to respond to what Rio-Madison just shared on what mindfulness means and how does the practice of mindfulness support one’s overall wellness journey?
Katie (02:21): Yeah, I think Rio-Madison encompassed it pretty well. There’s so many different ways that you can describe mindfulness and people incorporate it into their lives intentionally or non-intentionally. And I think she summed it up really well and they really go hand in hand. So mindfulness and wellness, they are kind of overlapping and interconnected in my life. And when I practice mindfulness in my wellness, it can really support you to do things that you genuinely feel good doing. So it feels good in your body, whether that’s taking a mental health day, doing your favorite workout, creating boundaries, getting ice cream even. Wellness really just encompasses so many aspects of our life that are often interdependent on one another. And so being able to recognize where you might need some extra support is really being generous to yourself and your wellbeing.
Dwayne (03:16): Oh, I love that. When you said being generous not only to yourself but to your wellbeing. Now let’s talk about something deeply personal, yet universally relatable. You begin to talk about that, as you said, going to get some ice cream or potentially working out. So just to reiterate for our listeners, wellness is not a destination. It’s an evolving process. It’s something that is dynamic in the balance of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. And each person’s journey is as unique as their fingerprint. So marked by the moments of growth, setbacks and revelations, I would like to just talk about our own personal journeys on wellness. What was the point for you that led you to start your own wellness journey?
Rio-Madison (03:59): For me, I had a pretty long period of not being mindful and I didn’t know it at the time. I was just moving differently in life, and that was specifically my teenage years, which translates for me now and why I love helping youth so much. But I went through a lot of medical changes and I was on different medications and suffered from anxiety and depression, and I think just not knowing how to move through those things and different diagnoses, I just didn’t know how to be mindful and I coped differently. But I always had an interest in holistic wellness. And when I was younger, I thought that was just working out or trying a spin class or a yoga class or seeing my mom do workouts.
(04:51): But then it evolved into much more. It evolved into eating well and still working out, but finding a healthy balance in the way that I worked out and surrounding myself with the right people and journaling. So I started to just build a self-care package that started to define what wellness meant to me in a different way than I knew. And that also brought on being mindful as I moved through those things because I started to just become really conscious of how it felt for me and really conscious of what made me feel good and what didn’t. And I think that that is what I carry into my mindfulness now a lot is just being mindful of how I feel when I do every little thing.
Dwayne (05:44): Love that. Being mindful of how you feel when you’re doing every little thing. Katie, I would love for you to share your journey.
Katie (05:50): Thank you. Yeah, that was a great explanation of your journey, Rio-Madison, and I really relate to a lot of that. I think for me, mindfulness in my wellness journey has been a really slow long navigation of really learning how to listen to my body and let go of practices and habits that don’t serve me anymore and that were kind of dragging me down and really not putting expectations on myself anymore in terms of what I think I want to do or be or what society tells me. And I grew up just with a lot of issues, kind of a compound of pretty debilitating anxiety and OCD and I dealt with a lot of eating disorders, and I think that those really were the catalyst of me trying to find something that would help me feel better in my body. And it wasn’t easy. I remember my mom trying to tell me to just meditate, and I hated that. That made me so angry. And now I love it [laughter] and I just needed to come into it on my own time.
(07:10): And so it’s really for me about being present in my body and getting myself out of my head. So trying to meet myself with kindness and grace when I’m struggling and really slowing down and getting myself out of a catastrophe mode is really important when I feel overwhelmed and out of control. And then more of a preventative measure for myself, I know that moving my body in ways that make me feel good or getting my favorite beverage or listening to podcasts that just make me smile while I’m walking down the street is me being really mindful of what makes me feel good and what keeps me grounded to stay well.
(07:53): And I know Rio-Madison, you relate to this, but Inside Out 2 was a really great reminder that these emotions and thoughts deserve the space that they need sometimes and we don’t have to sit back and let them control us. But we also don’t have to push them down and struggle trying to never let them see the light of day. So I think that that was a really great reminder to myself and hopefully to a lot of other people out there.
Rio-Madison (08:22): Katie, I feel like that’s such a good point to bring up about Inside Out 2. And I definitely relate to it because speaking of mindfulness and relating to your mom recommending you just meditate, it kind of gives this feeling that we should just put all the other feelings to the side and just be calm and just meditate. It’s easy. But mindfulness is really … It’s important to point out that it’s letting all of those feelings exist at once and recognizing all of them and not just pushing them to the side in order to be calmer. Mindfulness doesn’t mean you can’t have those. So I just wanted to lift that you brought that up because I definitely agree.
Dwayne (09:00): Thank you both for sharing your journeys. And I wanted to lift Inside Out 2 again, as that was in an amazing movie, and I think that everyone can relate to that movie in some shape or form. So if you haven’t seen it, this is not a paid advertisement, but it would be a great movie to see as we begin to talk about this journey and further with mindfulness and wellness.
(09:23): So as you both kind of mentioned in your responses of in your personal journeys around mindfulness and wellness, for many that journey begins with a pivotal moment. So whether it’s a health scare, burnout or even a subtle realization that things aren’t quite right. But from there it’s about learning, like you said, to listen to your body, understanding its signals and aligning them with a deeper sense of purpose. We begin to talk about this a little bit and folks having this preconceived notion that mindfulness and wellness is just literally someone sitting on a yoga mat being in the most calm state. But that isn’t the way that it shows up a lot of times. So can we talk about just some myths on mindfulness and wellness? How does it show up in social media? What are some other ways that friends and family and what society tells you how to practice that practice of mindfulness and wellness?
Rio-Madison (10:19): I think that something coming up on social media right now is just a lot of products or places and things, like material things that can make you feel better. And especially for youth, I think there’s an overload of information and just hard to know what to listen to. And to break that down into a myth, I think it’s just that material things aren’t what’s going to help you heal from the inside. And just reminding youth that there’s different ways to get back to the basics and you don’t have to have that aloe set or workout set that the other person has or the Stanley Cup. There’s different ways to get back to basics, connecting with nature and listening to your favorite song or something like that that is more likely to help you get to the root.
Dwayne (11:19): Yes, getting to that root is going to be vital. Katie, would you like to expand upon anything?
Katie (11:24): That’s amazing, Rio-Madison. I think that is such a huge issue with youth today. I think we were kind of like the last generation to live without an overload of technology, and I think most youth were really born into a world that’s surrounded with constant consumption of media and products and material goods. It can be really difficult to not have that, and especially on social media and in our society, at least in the US, we really stress idealistic body types and diet culture and fashion fads. And you’re totally right. We don’t need to be buying all of these things and conforming to what society tells us that we need to, to appear well and appear like we are focusing on our wellness instead of going out and walking with your yoga mat so people see you. Mindfulness can simply just be getting under a tree and you see your favorite tree every single day, and that’s a highlight of your day.
(12:31): And social media can be very harmful, but also very helpful sometimes, especially if someone doesn’t have anyone to talk to or get these supports from. But it’s important to just take time to discern whether what you see is right for you, ask questions, be curious, do the research, and really just stay open to new perspectives and changes because we’re always changing and evolving and something that might feel right for you right now might not feel right for you in three months. So just keep listening to your body.
Dwayne (13:04): That is so vital, that pivot, as we’ve stated listening to your body. Are there any other myths out there potentially about mindfulness and or wellness that you all would want to share with the listening audience today?
Rio-Madison (13:16): I think another myth is that mindfulness means your mind is silent because I can absolutely promise from personal experience that it does not mean your mind is silent. My mind can be running and feel like it’s running at a million miles per hour a day sometimes and can be super overwhelming. And I can still find mindfulness in that by even just hearing my thoughts and slowing them down. And something that helps me is to picture my thoughts as clouds sometimes and just watch them pass by and see the thoughts as clouds. So it doesn’t mean that your mind is empty. There’s just techniques and ways to strengthen being able to be mindful while you have a lot on your mind.
Dwayne (14:07): Really appreciate that Rio-Madison for someone who’s mind is always moving a million miles a minute, that in itself was extremely helpful for me.
Katie (14:17): And another myth I think that some people might feel or not feel is that mindfulness is connected to a religion. And although these contemplative practices can be seen throughout many religions and it does have a background in other cultures, it’s really not tied to a religion. You don’t have to identify with any religion to practice mindfulness. I think that’s really important for anybody who might have concerns about that conflicting with any of their beliefs currently or if they just heard that preconception and weren’t sure. I think it’s important to just note that and keep it in mind as you explore it if you choose to.
Dwayne (15:02): Absolutely. So I would love for us begin to talk about what are some of those practical ways for anyone that is entering this space of mindfulness as a part of their wellness journeys, whether that is a practitioner, whether that is someone like yourselves, youth wellness coaches that are working with youth primarily. What are some real tangible items in which people can utilize and or do to start these mindfulness exercises?
Katie (15:31): If we’re talking about more on the practitioner side or someone who is speaking to youth or anyone else for that matter, all of the same things still apply. But it can have those added aspects of making sure that you use the appropriate language, language that’s understandable, vocabulary for the ages that you’re dealing with, and not expecting someone to understand a word that maybe they haven’t learned yet or they don’t know because they’re not in healthcare. Also using the right pronouns or if you’re speaking with youth and you’re asking about their caregivers to use that word instead of maybe parents. And I speak a lot from personal experiences too, but really just taking the time to read the notes or to ask the right questions and really actively listen and be curious with who you’re speaking to.
(16:33): And if we’re really talking in a healthcare setting, and I guess really any setting, to be aware of disparities that different minoritized communities face, and really actively mitigating this through your work. And I think that’s really, really important, especially to promote this aspect of wellness if that’s in your job. And it may seem very trivial or a common practice to you, and if it does, it probably means that you’re being mindful, but it really does take mindfulness to put these practices into place. And for youth, it really can make them feel safer, it can make the space feel safer, it can teach them how to regulate emotions, thoughts, and impulses, and it’s really, really important.
Dwayne (17:24): That is super important, Katie, and thank you for putting that into perspective because it appears that mindfulness and wellness all plays into equity in which we are all about here at C4 Innovation. So Rio-Madison, what are some practical things that we can give these practitioners or to our listening audience today on this mindfulness journey?
Rio-Madison (17:44): I really feel like Katie encompassed everything pretty well, so I can just keep it short and sweet by raising up everything that Katie said and pointing out that it’s important to just meet youth where they’re at and know that not every size fits all and not every term fits all, and not every conversation fits all. And to just really try and tune into how the person you’re working with might be feeling as an individual, get to know them and be open to helping them as who they are and not comparing them to anybody else because I think we all need that. But youth really need that, especially when they don’t even really know how to be mindful all the time. It can be an easy way to teach them through example.
Dwayne (18:41): Love that. Leading by example, reminding ourselves to be mindful in the spirit of mindfulness. Well, this has been such enriching and great conversation. Rio-Madison, thank you for joining us.
Rio-Madison (18:56): Thank you for having me.
Dwayne (18:57): And Katie, thank you so much for joining us and again, for sharing so much valuable insight and knowledge.
Katie (19:03): Thank you so much. This has been really wonderful to be a part of.
Dwayne (19:06): And to our listeners, join us next time on Changing the Conversation.
Erika Simon, Producer (19:11): Visit www.c4innovates.com and follow us on Twitter, Facebook LinkedIn, and YouTube for more resources to grow your impact. Thank you for joining us. This episode was produced by Erika Simon and Christina Murphy. Our theme song was written and performed by Peter Hanlon. Join us next time on Changing the Conversation.
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