Happiness Break: A Visualization to Connect With Your Heritage, With Bryant Terry
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Chef and author Bryant Terry leads us through a visualization to connect with our ancestors by appreciating our families' traditional foods.

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Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/yc6d69py)

How to Do This Practice:

- Find a comfortable place to start this practice, focusing on your breath.

- Think of a meal or dish that is linked to your culture. Reflect on what it looks and tastes like, as well as when you would eat this dish.

- Recall whoever would normally make this dish for you, and any stories that might have told you about it.

- Refocusing your attention on the dish, consider all the different ingredients that went into it, tracing them back to where they came from.

- Reflect on how generations of your family have been nourished from these sources, all leading up to you.

- Complete the practice by grounding yourself in your body, and thanking your ancestors for what they have provided.

Today’s Happiness Break host:

Bryant Terry is a meditator, chef and food justice activist based in San Francisco.

Learn about Bryant Terry: )https://tinyurl.com/juvz7sb2)

Read Bryant’s books: )https://tinyurl.com/59nxrn8e)

Follow Bryant on Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/ycyb8dwc)

More resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

Happiness Break: A Meditation to Connect to Your Roots, with Yuria Celidwen (The Science of Happiness Podcast): https://tinyurl.com/3mrd6247)

Episode 81: Are You Listening to Your Elders? (The Science of Happiness Podcast): https://tinyurl.com/2wjbjj3e)

Do Rituals Help Us to Savor Food? https://tinyurl.com/52xpj7fn)

Find Purpose by Connecting Across Generations: https://tinyurl.com/h4yyjesh)

We love hearing from you! Tell us about your favorite cultural dish. Email us at [email protected]) or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

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We're living through a mental health crisis. Between the stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, burnout — we all could use a break to feel better. That's where Happiness Break comes in. In each biweekly podcast episode, instructors guide you through research-backed practices and meditations that you can do in real-time. These relaxing and uplifting practices have been shown in a lab to help you cultivate calm, compassion, connection, mindfulness, and more — what the latest science says will directly support your well-being. All in less than ten minutes. A little break in your day.