Ep 43 Nature's Path to Wellness in Adolescents

In this episode of Chakras and Chardonnay, host Maria Mayes welcomes Anna Resende, the founder of Mamma Terra Coaching, to discuss her mission to reconnect people with nature. Anna is a Chemical Engineer by trade with 25 years of experience in the manufacturing industry focusing on continuous improvement. After working in five different plants between Brazil and the United States she finally found the branch of continuous improvement that most resonated with her;  improving peoples health and well-being. As a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Anna uses her passion for nutrition and a healthy lifestyle to help her clients discover their best, healthiest selves.

Anna explains how her coaching programs focus on connecting with nature, mind, body, soul, and community to achieve balance and well-being. She shares insights into her signature program, Nature Walk, which incorporates stress-relief techniques like meditation, breathing exercises, forest bathing, and grounding, along with the importance of nutrition.

Her upcoming book, "Living Your Best Life in College," is aimed at high school seniors and college freshmen to help them transition smoothly into college life. Inspired by her son's struggles with college-related stress and her own journey as a health coach, Anna emphasizes the importance of holistic approaches to health and wellness.

Throughout the conversation, Anna and Maria discuss the pressures adolescents face today, the significance of self-care, and how clean living can enhance clarity and productivity.  Though not a wine lover Anna shares her appreciation for the beauty of vineyards and her occasional enjoyment of port wine. The episode closes with a guided relaxation to tap into nature. 

To connect with Anna: 

https://www.mammaterrahc.com

On Social: https://www.instagram.com/mammaterrahc/

Featured on this Episode of Chakras & Chardonnay:

Soluna, a safe, no cost Mental Health App for 13-25 year olds in California.

HIYO Watermelon Lime organic social tonic crafted with adaptogens, nootropics, and functional botanicals.

Recess Mood made with real fruit, magnesium & balancing adaptogens to help you unwind.

Learn more about Maria and her work at Take5.Health and subscribe to receive tips and free Guided Meditations each Wednesday. Connect with Maria on social:
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Transcript

Maria Mayes: [00:00:00] Welcome back Chakras and Chardonnay listeners. I'm so grateful to be back with you again today and have a beautiful guest with me here. I have Anna Resende joining me from beautiful Tennessee. Welcome so much, Anna. Oh, thank you so much for 

Anne Resende: having me. Yeah, it's my pleasure. 

Maria Mayes: Yeah. So Anna is the founder of Mama Terra Coaching.

And so I'd love Anna, if you could give us a little insight into what the work that you do and, uh, we'll go from there. 

Anne Resende: Yeah, so, um, Mama Terra is, um, meant to connect people back to nature. Um, so, the foundation of my, uh, programs is connection, so, um, I say connection with nature, mind, body, and soul, and community, because those, I think, Or, um, the pillars of, like, being well and finding balance in life.[00:01:00] 

Um, so, I have the program that I call my signature program, and I call it Nature Walk, just because we are walking back to home. Right. So nature being home. So, and that is the idea. The idea is to find, um, stress release techniques based on nature, like meditation, breathing, forest bathing, grounding, all those things.

Um, yeah, to release stress. And then nutrition is a big part of it because again, Um, Earth being our biggest provider, so the energy of the food that we eat and the energy of the four elements, um, being all connected us back to nature, back to Mother Earth. So, and that is the whole story behind the name of the, the business and connecting everything [00:02:00] with nature.

Maria Mayes: Oh, I love that. And that is all right up the chakras and chardonnay alley. That is for sure. So tell me a little bit more. I know you have a book you're coming out with soon. Yes. 

Anne Resende: Yes, I'm working on this book. Um, and, uh, I'm going to have you ready in December. So the name of the book is Leaving Your Best Life in College.

And, um, although I do have, uh, programs that I, like, 101 that I teach, coach, um, any person, I am trying to focus on, um, young adults. Um, so this book is especially for high school seniors and, uh, college freshmen, because what I, what I want to, um, really, uh, tell them in this book is how to make the transition.

The best way [00:03:00] possible. Um, so they can start their lives in the right, um, path, like right away. Um, and the reason why I decided to pick this nation work, uh, the way I'm working is because I had this experience myself with my son. So, uh, he graduated from high school in 2021. And he was accepted to, um, a big state college.

Um, we were living in, in Kansas back then, and he was accepted. We were so glad and we moved him to the dorms and everything was great. Um, three months after that, he got depressed and had to withdraw. So, um, this whole, um, situation, um, made me reflect back on how much pressure and how much, [00:04:00] uh, challenging this, um, time of their lives is, and also reflecting back to when 18 years old.

Um, and I didn't have any guidance at all back then. So I thought, well, it's maybe a good idea to help them. So I created the program to help them thinking about, um, finding a college that I could start with group coaching, like in, in the campus. Um, and then. This idea of the book just kept hovering over my head, and I was already writing my blog, and every time I was trying to do something else I had this big intuition about this book, and what about the book, [00:05:00] and what about the book, and all the time then I finally decided you know, that is the book that I'm gonna write, um, so.

I started pulling everything together and then now I have an editor. I have almost 40, 000 words already on this book and I'm doing it. Wow. Well, that's so 

Maria Mayes: amazing. 

Anne Resende: Yeah. Um, and this is. the biggest calling that I feel, um, for now. So that is why I'm actually dedicating, um, uh, big chunk of my time now to write this book this year and have it ready.

And the, the great thing about the timing is that now my daughter is graduating next year and she is going to go to college. So the book's going to be, A gift for her to take with her like all the guidance that I, I [00:06:00] wish I had when I, I was her age and I wish I could have helped my, my son too. So that is the most beautiful.

Yeah. 

Maria Mayes: Wow. Well, that is Anna. That's so beautiful. And from, uh, one mama's heart over here to another, I mean, just, it's such a beautiful offering. Not only. Making taking your own memory and pain from adolescence into then helping others, but also leveraging what you saw with your son and taking that pain into becoming your purpose, right?

Do you mind sharing how your son's doing now? 

Anne Resende: Yeah, he's doing better. Now we found a therapist. Um, he, He decided to try online college, so he did it for a while. It didn't work. And then we tried different things, and now I think we found a path forward. Um, he's doing [00:07:00] much, much better. Um, that's great. And in the meantime, it was interesting because I just got into health coaching after the whole thing happened.

And so I think my training was all guided through ways for me to help him. And I really realized how important all the holistic approaches are for healing because I didn't have any idea before. So the, the training just broadened my, my, you know, my perspective so much. And so I feel that now I am more Capable of bringing him 

Maria Mayes: right 

Anne Resende: in so many ways.

Um, And 

Maria Mayes: for the audience, you know, you were sharing [00:08:00] before that your background is that you're actually a chemical engineer by trade, right? So this is kind of a second, second career for you. And so do you see pieces of your chemical engineering background coming in and supporting you with your health coaching work and in writing this book?

Anne Resende: Yeah. So. That is again, the magic of the universe working with us, right? Because, um, most of the time during my, um, engineer career, I worked with continuous improvement and continuous improvement is, uh, I don't know if you're familiar with, but, uh, we work like, investigating root causes of problems and improving processes, um, and whatnot, customer complaints and whatnot.

So what I'm doing now is looking for root causes of diseases and issues, people's health, right? So it is the same [00:09:00] approach with a different purpose. Got 

Maria Mayes: it. 

Anne Resende: So simple. And it looks like for me, like when I look back that it was always set up for me to do the work I'm doing now. 

Maria Mayes: Right. 

Anne Resende: So, I mean, I'm ready because I have all those skills that I've learned from all those years working with the same thing, but now it's just a greater purpose.

Maria Mayes: Oh, that is so beautiful. It's so beautiful. And just, um, You know, I do a lot of work with adolescents as well and They are it's a it's a different level of uh, Struggle if you will where it's very easy for us to drop into at least I know for me as well to drop into the memories of the challenges of that coming of age of the pressure of What are you gonna do now kid you're getting out of school, right?

Of what are you gonna [00:10:00] be and you don't know what you want to be but you better get You know, good grades to get into college and all the things and, um, you know, that's still interestingly enough the same pressure, even though it's much different with social media and technology and post pandemic. It's still very much the same pressures.

I'll just share that. I yesterday I was having lunch with 6, um. Six college students at the university here that I went to my alma mater and at a pay forward luncheon where business and community leaders come in and have lunch with the students and I just took the opportunity to ask them what's your biggest stressor right now?

What's the biggest challenge and across the board? They all said balance. And they're, they were all working at least one job, sometimes a job and an internship, as well as having a full load at school, and then also just preparing for that next piece of life. And so it's so interesting that, you know, That [00:11:00] balance piece comes in in that adolescence.

And as we know, it never goes away. Right. I said, sorry to tell you guys, but this is the skill you're building right now that's going to take you through life because it doesn't the balance, the need to balance certainly doesn't go away, away. Right. But I think, um, Gosh, the work you're doing is so hugely important and so needed.

If you were to offer up for our listeners who are either parents of adolescents or maybe young people themselves that are listening to us right now, what can we give them to put into play today to improve their wellbeing? 

Anne Resende: Um, I think self care at this point, um, if I have to say one thing, I would say self care.

Self care in the essence of, um, listening to your body and honor, um, your intuition. Um, taking [00:12:00] care of, um, having your body be clean so you can listen to your intuition. 

Maria Mayes: And then 

Anne Resende: we can do that in many, so many different ways, but finding the right technique, uh, that works for you, if it's meditation or, um, like cleaning your diet or whatever else you can do, because we know that our bodies are just vessels and they have to be cleaned.

Clean, um, for us to perform, right? So the clarity of mind that we can get, the productivity that we can get when we take care of ourselves. Um, it might be sleep as well or just releasing depression from, uh, social media. So those are all acts of self care. Mm-hmm. And self love that. I think it's really important for them to learn.

And, [00:13:00] um, it wouldn't be awesome if we could teach them how to balance their lives at a younger age so they wouldn't have to worry about that later on like I did. 

Maria Mayes: Right, right. It wasn't really a conversation, right? No one told us there was this We didn't even know what self care was! There wasn't even a word for that, for crying out loud.

So to I love the focus on the being clean, to create cleanliness within the body, either through For that clarity, right? Either through the nutrition or through meditation or through one of these means because I think that's not something that's discussed either or approach from this angle that might just get some folks thinking like, what does that mean to have a clean body?

Anne Resende: You know, my big dream is to have Um, what I think I'm writing on this book is something that I wanted the schools to [00:14:00] teach. You know, they have the health and wellness, um, discipline, but what are they teaching on this discipline? They are teaching the kids to not get pregnant basically, right? And then they are doing PE and weights and sports, but what about everything else that we can do to make.

them feel healthy, like the balance of the tools to mAnnage stress and how to eat better, to feel better and perform better. I think all those things could be very well taught at schools, uh, on the health and wellness, um, discipline. 

Maria Mayes: Yeah, there's certainly a lot of room for opportunity and granted I did when I walked into the student union yesterday, I thought, well, the food choices are getting a lot better because I remember a Taco Bell versus them having a nice salad bowl area today.

So, um, oh, so beautiful. So, um, How can [00:15:00] people I've got one more question for you, but I'm just how can people reach out to you get a hold of you if they have maybe a teen or if they have, um, uh, or if they are one and they just want to learn more if this sparked their interest, where do we find you? Yeah, 

Anne Resende: so my website is mamaterrahc.

com mama with double M and Terra is T E R R A So it's mamatherahc. com. Um, I'm also on Instagram, um, mamatherahc, at mamatherahc. Um, so they can find me those ways and, and I have everything else, um, on those two channels so they can. Yeah. Reach 

Maria Mayes: out. Well, we'll definitely have those in the show notes and I highly encourage anybody who's listening to reach out to Anna and look at the resources she has, her blog, and keep an eye out for her book.

Um, I'd love to know now if we can pivot into a conversation about [00:16:00] wine because this is Chakras and Chardonnay. What's your favorite type of wine to mindfully enjoy? 

Anne Resende: So that is interesting because, um, I don't drink at all. I have never drink, uh, drunk, um, but it's, it's interesting because my body never, I couldn't find anything that I really, never, but I, I've tried for when I was younger.

I really tried. Like, different types of wines, beer, and every kind of, uh, alcoholic beverage that you imagine. I tried them all, but I couldn't find one that I really liked. Um, but in wine specifically, I did find port wine. You know, the liquor wine? Sure, the port wine. sweet and you don't have to drink a lot to just like drink a little tiny bit.

Um, so that is actually the only one that I enjoy. Okay. Yeah. [00:17:00] So when, but I, I love going to wineries and visiting vineyards. They are so pretty and I've actually visited a lot of them and tried a lot of different wines, but I, I think it's just my body. Just. 

Maria Mayes: Well, if, if your body's telling you it's not for you, it's not for you, right?

And I love that you're sharing that you still visit vineyards and enjoy the beauty because we don't have to necessarily consume or even in some cases we're tasting and we're spitting out, right? We don't even actually drink it. And so, but the, the port, the fortified wines like the port, those are certainly, um, certainly beautiful option too.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, awesome. Well, thank you so much, Anna, for coming on and for the work that you're doing with our youth. As a mom of a, let's see, my son's a junior in high school and my daughter's a sophomore, we're just really in the thick of those pressures starting to come down. And so I'm seeing it there as well as in the [00:18:00] places I teach and the adolescents I work with.

So your work is so, so needed. I can't wait to, um, see the book come out and just thank you for gifting us with all your insights today. Oh, thank you so much for having me. It was, yeah, a pleasure. Likewise.