Last week we discussed the effects stress has on your body and mind. Things you may not even realize, check it out here. There is one more significant part of your life that is affected by stress too. Your menstrual cycle. We’ve all heard of the fight-or-flight response, right? The driving force behind that response is the hormone cortisol. Higher levels of cortisol in the bloodstream reduce reproductive hormones, especially progesterone and estrogen. That affects your whole entire month! Let’s review your cycle before we get too far into this. Please know that hormone fluctuations in the body are an intricate and complex process. What I will do here is provide information from a very high-level view. 

So let’s have a little refresher on your cycle. If you are not on any kind of hormonal birth control, you have four distinct hormonal phases throughout the month. These phases make up what we know to be our menstrual cycle. Of course, everyone is aware of the menstruation part of the...

Much of what I work on with my clients is based on stress relief. Whether that's stress from a current situation, stress from past events, or stress caused by our current lifestyle,  it all boils down to a lack of peace in the body, mind, and soul.  

We hear so much these days about self-care,  work-life balance, and wellness it's easy to forget that each of these is more than just buzz words.  

A stress response from the body can be a good thing. This is your fight or flight response. This is the mechanism in the body that helps you to fight a virus, shiver when you're cold, and run from the saber tooth tiger to save your life. We certainly want those things to keep happening. The difference between these scenarios and the kind of stress most of us endure is that each of those scenarios is short-lived. Here and gone in a matter of weeks. Your work stress likely isn't that way.

That is where we run into problems and why there is so much talk about decreasing your stress lev...

I have always been a proponent of using a multitude of modalities to find true wellness. As you are a multifaceted human being, you need many different techniques to stay well. Just like your nutrition is not balanced without consuming a wide variety of foods, you cannot be well in your body, mind, and soul, without a wide variety of modalities. Essential oils are one of the modalities I turn to often. I love having them in my diffusers (I currently have four diffusers in my home), use them in skin care remedies (like sunburn relief), or for inflammation from an injury.

EO's are also the only "pretty smells" allowed in my home. I do not use anything in my home with the word "fragrance" listed on the ingredient label. Did you know "fragrance" is a blanket term for many different chemicals in products? "Fragrance" is not regulated by the FDA so it becomes a default place to hide chemicals you wouldn't otherwise want in a product you use daily (like BPA, a known contributor to cancer). ...

Are you one of those people that replays a conversation over in your mind for days thinking, “oh I should have said THAT instead!” or “what was I thinking when I uttered those words?” To some degree, we all do this. Self-reflection is a part of how we learn to be the best version of ourselves we can be. Maybe it is in that moment of awareness that you realize you could have turned a situation into a teaching moment instead of yelling at your child. Maybe in that reflection, you realize you weren’t very kind and need to apologize. Maybe, you realize that you didn’t hold your boundaries and there’s still work to do in that part of your life. All of these things are okay, as long as you allow yourself to grow through them. 

This type of inner dialogue becomes a hindrance when you dwell on the what-ifs and could have beens, instead of ways to improve the next similar encounter. Dwelling on the negative aspect often leads to feelings of mom guilt, frustration, and burnout. It is so easy...

You’ve likely heard the term, “the weight of the world is on your shoulders” or some variation of that anyway. After a session, my clients will often tell me, “I feel so much lighter” because we always work to relieve some of that weight. That heaviness we carry around thinking everything and everyone is our responsibility does not serve us, mentally, spiritually, or even physically. Now, you may start thinking this sounds a little woo-woo but hear me out. 

Think about someone who gets a tension headache. They experience sustained, intense stress (emotion), and that leads to a headache or even migraine (physical symptom). Or the person who vomits (physical symptom) when they get nervous (emotion). See every emotion we experience carries its own energy and is held in a specific part of our body. When we hold onto that emotion for too long it can cause build-up or stagnation and that leads to physical ailments. 

Energy should always flow, like a running river. Running water is cl...

“I’m so weird.”

I hear that from clients from time to time and it always makes me smile. Webster's definition of weird is, “of strange or extraordinary character.” 

Isn’t that interesting… strange OR extraordinary? We don’t usually use those words interchangeably, yet they are both listed in this definition. Generally, strange has more of a negative connotation in our society, and extraordinary is a positive one. And this is why I smile when people self-proclaim being weird. Because aren’t we all? 

Aren’t we all a little of both? A little mix of good and bad, strange and extraordinary, light and dark? 

Often when this comes up in conversation, it is used as a precursor to a statement that a person may feel judged for. For example, “I’m weird, I like carrots dipped in peanut butter.” Or, “Maybe, I’m weird but I’d rather shower at night instead of in the morning.” If we start the statement owning our “weird” then the person we’re chatting with cannot make us feel bad for ...

You know that feeling when you’ve eaten more than you should? The one where you have to unbutton your pants, and couldn’t possibly have one more bite, even though the food was delicious? One could say, you were at capacity at that moment. We’ve all been there and in reality, we are all ready for another meal within the next 12 hours. Just as long as it’s not right that second. Because that feeling of fullness is such a physical symptom, it is easy to recognize it and honor it. You know darn good and well if you ate another piece of pie you’d likely be miserable, so you take a break from food and don’t think twice about it.

Why don’t we honor our need for a break in life’s obligations as well? When your plate is already full, how often do you take on one more thing? One more activity, responsibility, or obligation? Even though your schedule is stuffed and you’ll be uncomfortable taking on one more thing? 

We are so good at listening to our bodies when they offer us a physical sy...

Most women are wired to be helpful. To be caregivers. To lend a hand to someone in need. Often we don’t think twice about it. Most of the time that “I will do it” behavior comes from the caregiver side of us. But sometimes, there’s a different motive. 

Sometimes, we are control freaks. We need everything done exactly this way or that, at exactly this time.

If you’ve ever had these thoughts you know exactly what I’m talking about:

“I’ll just do it myself because you’ll mess it up.”

“You are just so slow, it’ll be faster if I do it”

“I’m going to have to fix it if I let you do it, so I’ll just do it right the first time.”

“You will make such a mess, I better do it”

“The tracks on the lawn have to be perfectly straight, so I can’t let you mow.” 

This type of behavior gets us into trouble for a few different reasons. One, we often put so much pressure onto ourselves to be perfect, do it just so, to appear a certain way that we add more stress to our lives. Two, we prevent ours...

According to an article posted in Forbes in 2021, at least 52% of the working population is feeling the strain of burnout. Yikes! That means if you’re not feeling it, the person sitting next to you likely is. The worst part is they might not even be aware of it. You can’t fix it if you don’t even realize that it’s happening. 

So often I hear clients tell me all the ways they are struggling in their day-to-day and then follow that up with something like, “but this is ‘adulting,’ right?” As in, I shouldn’t complain because this is just what being an adult is. They always told us being a grown-up was no fun. 

Here’s the reality. While being an adult does come with its own set of responsibilities and stressors that our children know nothing about, it doesn’t have to feel this heavy and exhausting! Some days are hard, yes. Some situations require a lot from you, yes. But if every day feels like a struggle, you might be burnt out. 

Do any of these sound like you? 

*Tired all ...

I was listening to a book the other day that explained the difference between "best practice" and "evidence-based practice" in healthcare. When I was in nursing school one thing they drilled into our heads over and over was to always perform evidence-based care instead of doing things because "that's the way they've always been done."  It got me thinking about how often in life we accept what is happening as "normal" because that is just the way it's always been. "Normal" is different in different parts of the world, different workplaces, and even inside different households. One could even go as far as to say normal is different for each body. But that is when this idea of "normal" gets a little dicey. See, so much of what we have accepted as normal in our body, might not be. Because it is common, does not mean it is normal.  When it comes to your health and your wellness it is important to distinguish between the two. 

For example, it is common for smokers to develop lung cancer,...