Rebe shares her personal journey of navigating a significant life shift after losing her mother at 19. Her story highlights the process of "overcoming grief" and the importance of "grief support" as she built her life. Years later, a question stirred, leading her back to "Havana" and a different relationship, prompting a period of "self improvement" and "change your life" moments.

===
Rebe Huntman lost her mother to cancer at 19. She was told to move forward, to make her mother proud, to keep going. And she did. For 30 years. Then, on the edge of 50, something shifted.

In this episode of The Life Shift Podcast, Rebe shares the story behind her debut memoir My Mother in Havana. A former professional Latin dancer and choreographer, Rebe took a 30-day pilgrimage to Cuba to immerse herself in Afro-Cuban spiritual traditions, including Santeria and Spiritism, where the veil between the living and the dead is treated as real, thin, and navigable.

What she found there changed everything: how she grieves, how she loves, and how she carries her mother with her.

This conversation covers:

- How decades of disciplined forward-motion became a way of avoiding grief
- The Afro-Cuban spiritual traditions that gave Rebe a radically different relationship with death
- The pivotal scene on a plane home from Cuba that became the emotional heart of her memoir
- How returning fully to herself transformed her marriage, her relationships, and her sense of purpose
- Why she believes talking to your ancestors is not crazy, it is essential

Rebe's book: My Mother in Havana: A Memoir of Magic and Miracle (2025)

Website: [rebehuntman.com](http://rebehuntman.com)

Instagram: @rebehuntman

Listen to the full episode and follow the show: [www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/follow](http://www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/follow)

Subscribe to the newsletter: https://thelifeshiftpodcast.beehiiv.com/

Listen here: [www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/s5e247](http://www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/s5e247)

If this episode resonated, leave a review or share it with someone who needs it.

grief healing podcast, mother loss stories, ancestral healing, Afro-Cuban spirituality, pilgrimage transformation, memoir about grief, life after 50, disenfranchised grief, talking to dead ancestors, Santeria healing