I recently had a request to do a training for a group of pharmacists and I had to say no. It was a great opportunity and something I love to do, but I didn’t have the bandwidth to take it on. What’s interesting though is I knew that as soon as the request came in, but I thought about it for a while before saying no, trying to rationalize how I could do it. And when I said no, I felt like I had to offer an explanation as to why I was saying no.

I recently started my 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training. You might remember I completed my 200-hour training this past May. There is so much still to learn so I couldn’t help but do another training. I’m a little bit of a nerd in that way…The initial phase of my training is focused on teaching yoga therapeutics, which is a type of yoga focused more on the clients than the practice. It’s designed for students with specific conditions for whom we design a yoga session that’s tailored to their specific needs. 

One of my friends recently celebrated her birthday. She’s in her first year of her medicine residency, her intern year which is unbelievably busy, so she had to celebrate her birthday on call. When she told me she was on call for her birthday, I responded with “that’s a bummer…” She quickly responded with, “No, I’m good. I worked really hard to get to this point, so I don’t think it’s a bad way to celebrate my birthday at all!”

A few weeks ago I was on a flight with a couple expecting their first child. She was visibly nauseous and clearly not feeling well at all. Her husband gently stroked her back while she lay her head on the tray table. They sat in the row in front of me while behind me, there was an active 1-year-old, crying and kicking my chair. He was definitely having a hard time as most kids do on long flights. And then there’s me in middle, thinking what an interesting dynamic while also wishing that I hadn’t forgotten my headphones.

Recently, I was really excited about Monday. I went to bed early the night before, so I could get up early, got dressed, put makeup on, wore something other than yoga pants and a tank top, and actually got my son to school on time. I came home, mediated, and had coffee in my favorite mug on the back patio before I got to work. The day started off perfectly, and once it started, it didn’t stop. That Monday was literally the busiest Monday I have had in a very long time. I couldn’t believe the calls, packages I needed to sign for, papers I needed to file, and meeting after meeting. It was a lot. And even with all that, it was still a great Monday.

It’s the second post in my “Yoga Can” Blog Series! This series is all about the stuff you never knew yoga could do. And this week we’re talking about your genetics. Yes, yoga can change your gene expression! I think it’s important to share this kind of information about yoga to really broaden your knowledge and empower you to change your health. You have no idea how much control you can have over your health and your family history and how it will impact you in the future.

Welcome to my “Yoga Can…” Series! I’ll be writing a series of blog posts to expose you to all the benefits of yoga. There’s so much yoga can do to support a healthy lifestyle, particularly for working moms. This week we’ll talk about fertility. You may not realize how the stress of being a working mom can affect your fertility, especially if you aren’t trying to get pregnant again.

Yes, I said it, “You’re the reason you’re not getting what you want.” Now before you get offended, hear me out. And trust me, I’m no exception. I can talk about this because I had this same conversation with myself for the last 2 weeks. Remember, we teach what we need to learn. But back to you…Your pretty, little head is keeping you from living out your wildest dreams and not for the reasons you might you think.

This may sound kind of weird, but sometimes I wish I had a job that had a set schedule. Before you clutch your pearls, let me explain a bit. When you work a set schedule you have to be somewhere at a certain time and you leave at a certain time. You might even have to eat lunch at a certain time (now that might get on my nerves, it seems weird to be told when to eat…). Now full disclosure, I haven’t had a job with a set schedule since my residency and even then I always worked past my set hours, but having a set schedule can create discipline and increase productivity. Because I don’t often work set hours due to my travel schedule, work can bleed into more hours than what’s necessary.