Dr. Cori checks in to offer support during this difficult time we are experiencing collectively across the world.  So if you like this content and find it helpful, please share because it’s not enough to just focus on our own health, we have to help the people we love and create a lasting health legacy for our families and our communities.

It kind of bugs me when people refer to yoga as exercise. It’s so much more than that. In fact asana, the actual postures people refer to as “exercise”, is only one of the 8 limbs of yoga. That means there are 7 other ways to practice yoga. If you study the root of the word yoga, it means to yoke or to unite.

Adrenaline or epinephrine is your short-term, acute stress hormone.  It’s designed to help you get out of danger quickly.  It is the hormone that promotes the fight or flight response, that results in your blood supply being diverted to your periphery, (i.e.) arms, legs.  In order for your body to have the energy to fully execute on the fight or flight system, you need fuel or energy, and the most readily available source of energy in the body is glucose.

Habits are a powerful thing. But if you know like I do, creating habits can be incredibly hard and sometimes they even feel impossible. Habits, however, are the reason why you aren’t losing weight, why you constantly feel like your schedule is out of control, why you can’t seem to get ahead financially, and why you aren’t doing the work that you love.

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.

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.

I feel like people say all the time to avoid stress because it can affect your health. It’s interesting though if you ask them how, you don’t always get a clear response. And the truth is, your health is affected by stress in multiple ways. I want to share with you a specific system of your body that is affected by stress that I find to be most common among working moms. Now remember, this is not the only way stress affects your health, but it is a concrete way that you might be able to identify with and then use this information to improve your health. First of all, what is stress?

It’s part 2 in my latest blog series! If you missed Part 1, check that out first. Before we dive into how to instantly relieve stress with just one word, let’s recap what you were supposed to do last week. Last week you were to pay attention to how you felt when you were asked to do something. We were looking for a pattern, remember? Did you notice your hesitation when you said yes to teaching the youth at your church on Sunday? Did any request cause you to feel overwhelm this week?