Yoga can be a powerful tool in addressing chronic people-pleasing tendencies by promoting self-awareness, self-compassion, and healthy boundaries.

As nature reawakens, embrace the wisdom of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda to ensure that you, too, flourish in the season of rebirth.

Lean into the calming power of the winter season, a time of inner reflection and embracing stillness, guided by the wisdom of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda. As the chilly air settles in, our bodies and emotions shift, reflecting the changing landscape around us.

The vagus nerve, often referred to as the body's "wandering nerve," plays a crucial role in regulating various bodily functions. As the longest cranial nerve in the body, it is responsible for managing heart rate, digestion, inflammation, and even mood. A healthy vagus nerve is essential for overall well-being, and one way to support its optimal function is by incorporating herbs into your daily routine. In this blog post, we'll explore several herbs known for their potential to enhance vagus nerve health and offer you insights on how to incorporate them into your wellness regimen.

Fall is a time for letting go, grounding ourselves, and for turning inwards... away from the expansive energy of summer. It’s a time that our physical and emotional bodies change to reflect the shift in seasons around us.

Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda are both ancient systems of understanding our bodies. Both of these perspectives remain relevant and helpful, especially when it comes to understanding how we change with the seasons.

Discover the profound impact of conscious breathing on your nervous system and overall well-being. In this article, we'll delve into the intimate connection between our respiratory and nervous systems and explore how being mindful of your breath can be a game-changer for stress management. Chronic stress is a prevalent issue in today's society, with far-reaching consequences for long-term health. By understanding the link between breathing and stress response, you can take steps to enhance your body's resilience and promote a healthier, more balanced life.

Omega 3’s are essential fats that your body needs to support your cardiovascular health, your nervous system, and your metabolic functions. They are crucial to fighting inflammation in your body and keeping things running smoothly.

Let’s get into that a little bit more.

By identifying and labeling these fluctuations in our energy and stress levels, we can mindfully choose our practices that will bring us back to a calm, balanced, centered, and regulated state. If you had a day full of rajasic, or fight/flight energy, you may find that a fast-paced workout or yoga class isn’t as regulating as a slower-paced practice may be. Similarly, if you have been feeling shut-down, gently guiding yourself towards bigger, faster, and more activating movements and breath can help shed that extra tamasic energy.

It’s easy to overlook these messages our bodies send us. The noise of our day to day lives, and the busyness of our schedules, can make it hard to hear what our body has to say.

In order to support our mind-body connection and use it to create positive experiences (physically, emotionally, and mentally)... the first step is to become aware. Notice how certain sensations connect with certain thoughts and feelings.

How we sleep, how often we move our body, how we process our stress, and what we eat ALL play a large role in our overall health. If we don’t listen to our body, how will we know if we are giving it what it needs?

Enter…Interoception! The eighth sense you didn’t know you had.

The word “wellness” has so much buzz these days! Not a bad thing, but I believe it deserves some context, clarification, and a little bit of a makeover.

“Wellness” is worth nearly 5 trillion dollars, suggesting that it’s another area of our lives impacted by consumerism and capitalism.

While it can be harmless to indulge here and there, it’s important to know that wellness doesn’t REQUIRE that you spend an arm and a leg. There are tools and resources with greater availability and accessibility than a $10 smoothie or $40 fitness class.

As a yoga instructor and health coach specializing in stress management and the nervous system, I hope to diminish some of the unnecessary pressure that goes into our “wellness”. This means accepting that our overall health requires much more than aesthetically pleasing routines, trendy workout classes, and the struggle for perfection when it comes to diet and lifestyle.

Yoga truly gives us so many tools for developing positive habits that can both calm our nervous system, as well as develop its resilience.

What is your favorite way of using Yoga to tend to your nervous system?

Some common physical manifestations of stress include migraines, insomnia, skin irritation, increased blood pressure, reduced appetite,irritable bowel syndrome,muscle aches, joint pain and inflammation, weakened immunity, and many more. Overtime, overlooked stress can even lead to chronic health conditions and illnesses.

But, living in this world means stressors are inevitable. AND, stress is a survival mechanism from our nervous system. We just want to teach our nervous system how to recover from periods of stress and anxiety (and your brain CAN learn this new skill!)

Alternative medicine is an umbrella term used to categorize most modalities that do not fit within the “conventional”, western medicine model.

Why functional and integrative healthcare is important

These modalities rely on a “whole person” approach, concerned with the root cause of issues rather than just the symptoms. This typically results in longer appointment times with your provider, an increased flow of open communication, and the experience of being treated as more than just a sum of your symptoms..which in turn can prevent misdiagnosis, unnecessary prescriptions and medical costs, etc.

These modalities also typically consider the impact of emotional issues or areas of distress in your life– to a greater extent than conventional medicine does. By addressing these issues, there is greater opportunity for the patient to find sustainable solutions to stress and other emotional challenges, thus improving long-term health outcomes.

Blood sugar is the sugar, or glucose, that is derived from what we eat and drink. Blood sugar gets a lot of talk in the health community- why is that? Let’s revisit highschool anatomy & physiology, a little bit of biology, and a dash of chemistry to find out!

How does this little science lesson help me decide what to buy at the grocery store? Well, it’s important to know how to consume your carbohydrates in ways that optimize your body’s process, and reduce the chance of having a blood sugar spike/crash (you know that uncomfortable feeling of headaches, agitation, fatigue, or even dizziness).

Now that the background information is out of the way, what can we do in our daily lives to support this impressive system our body has in place? As mentioned before, shoot for meals and snacks that include 3 components: protein, fat, and fiber.

Below are some items you can include in your weekly shopping:

Inflammation… the good, and the bad!

Inflammation is a process your body has in place to keep you safe from unwanted visitors (environmental toxins, viruses, and bacteria to name a few). At its core, inflammation is simply just your body's way of promoting recovery from illness and injuries.

What triggers prolonged periods of inflammation?

Inadequate sleep, too much consumption of pro-inflammatory foods, stress, and environmental toxins can place your body on hyper-alert mode and maintain a chronic inflammatory state.

There are foods that are pro-inflammatory, and there are foods that are anti-inflammatory!

Learn more by visiting the the full blog post!

Self-care, self-love, we love to say it! But how do we use it in our lives as more than just a fad?

This blog post discusses self-care and self-love rituals that focus on your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health as well resources and tools to support you.