Fit As A Fiddle

If your jaw hurts or has ever hurt in the past, tune in! On the show, you’ll learn ways to alleviate jaw pain and how dentists work with patients to improve their symptoms. Dr. Sean Bahrami is a Doctor of Dental Surgery and treats temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), which are a host of jaw joint issues that occur for various reasons. He breaks down several tips for dental hygiene and general oral health that all of us can benefit from! Connect with him on Instagram at @drseanbahrami or www.supertooth.com. 

We’ve seen all sorts of births in movies. My favorite is Emily Blunt playing the pregnant mother Evelyn in the movie “A Quiet Place.” She delivers her baby in a tub while being absolutely silent (no noise whatsoever), or else the monster will kill her. After conducting this interview, I imagined how Evelyn would have benefitted from a few hypnobirthing classes... Ha!

We now know with the growing amount of literature how powerful the mind is and how useful it is to harness your mental state to produce favorable outcomes. Meditation and mindfulness, concepts utilized most prominently by ancient South Asian and East Asian cultures centuries ago, are barely considered “hocus pocus” to the general American public anymore. We see so many apps and classes making deep breathing, deep relaxation, and meditation accessible to more people. But how about if we used those concepts during birth?

Maeva Althaus joins us today to dive deep into the core concepts of Hypnobirthing. She is a certified Hypnotist, hypnobirthing instructor, doula, and Spinning Babies practitioner. She discusses how the more relaxed you are and the more you let go during the birthing process, the more the right hormones kick in. She says she doesn’t discount the intensity of birth, but that being calm can make you less tired and less stressed. What a great course for Evelyn to have taken before giving birth in front of a monster!

Maeva goes over her own birth experience using hypnobirthing techniques and what that looked like for her, despite her birth not going the way that she imagined it. She recorded this episode for us when she was just a few weeks postpartum, and now she would be a few months postpartum. We’re glad we were able to do this interview soon after the birth of her baby - we are privileged to hear a deep, raw version of her feelings and experiences during her own birth process. Not to be missed!

Connect with Maeva at www.hypnobirthingny.com

Insomnia is a huge issue and affects millions of people’s quality of life. Infact, 15% of the population has chronic unremitting insomnia and women are much more likely than men to experience sleepless nights. Sometimes people resort to pills, alcohol, or other drugs to help. However, non-medicinal approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be the key to reversing this issue once and for all. Dr. Shelby Harris is a clinical psychologist board certified in Behavioral Sleep Medicine, Clinical Associate Professor, researcher on the neuropsychological effects of insomnia, and author of a recently published book “The Women's Guide to Overcoming Insomnia: Get a Good Night's Sleep Without Relying on Medication.” She discusses why insomnia is a problem, particularly for women, how CBT can help, and tangible tips and tricks to answer your most burning questions on insomnia. Connect with her at https://www.drshelbyharris.com/. 

Holistic wellbeing is a hot topic right about now. Your mind, body, and spirit are all integrated and contribute to your healthy lifestyle. During this time, the pandemic may be creating shifts in your wellbeing. This podcast highlights how to find harmony within the possible chaos.

Jaya Jaya Myra is an internationally acclaimed author and motivational speaker. After healing herself naturally from debilitating fibromyalgia, Myra developed the Well Method to teach others how to live a healthy, fulfilled and successful life based on each person’s unique elemental composition. Her approach to wellness and purpose shows why one-size-fits-all solutions don’t work for everyone, and how to find what will work for you. One of her best tips of all is to do something you are passionate about every single day that makes you come alive! Connect with her at https://www.jayajayamyra.com/.

Back in the day we thought the world was flat. Back in the day we also thought the brain and body operated separately, and so we had cognitive approaches and behavioral approaches to therapy. CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, combines these two worlds to describe the way that we as humans think and act. Chiara Battistello, PhD, LCSW, a clinical social worker and psychotherapist, discusses how our thought patterns or our assumptions of things around us come from underlying beliefs that make us feel and behave in certain ways. The issue is when these assumptions don’t serve us and are not based on current reality. She addresses how these maladaptive or ineffective thoughts, based on fears or past experiences, can lead to depression and/or anxiety and how her work in CBT and various other therapeutic approaches can meet her client’s individual needs and goals. Connect with her at https://chiarabattistello.com/.

On our show today we learn effective ways that new mommas can navigate their journey back into the workplace after giving birth. Robyn DeLuca, a psychologist and postpartum consultant, discusses ways to regulate emotional states, find and transition to childcare, appease struggles with partners, reintegrate into the workplace, and create sanity around it all. She addresses mom guilt and gives us tangible tips that you can implement TODAY. This episode is great for partners to listen to as well, so mommas forward it onwards! Connect with Robyn by visiting https://momsbacktobusiness.com/.

We are not quite in the times where we lived in joint families, where grandmothers, mothers, and the community of women were present to provide birth advice… advice that was passed down through generations. Many women don’t quite know what to do during and after pregnancy. Doulas and birth educators play a unique role in the 21st century.  Lisa Greaves Taylor, LCCE, CCCE, CD(DONA) is a NYC-based childbirth educator, birth doula, founder of Birth Matters NYC, and mom of 2. She talks to us today about the impact that these professions have in the world today. Lisa dives deep into childbirth preparation and what that looks like in today’s age. She also has her own podcast called Birth Matters, which shares birth stories to build the knowledge & confidence of expectant parents. Connect with her work by visiting https://www.birthmattersnyc.com/.

When the “baby blues” turn into postpartum depression (PPD), we have to seek help. Therapists trained in pregnancy and postpartum can guide you through this challenging period as you navigate the changes that a new child brings into your life. Olivia Bergeron, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and Parent Coach who founded Mommy Grooves Therapy & Parent Coaching. She chats with us today about risk factors for PPD, how to get support, and the hopeful fact that PPD is very treatable. She currently has offices in Park Slope, Brooklyn and Union Square, Manhattan. Connect with her at www.mommygroove.com.

Right now about 1 in 5 children are obese. Fast food has become an integral part of people’s daily food habits and it often spirals out of control. Parents don’t want their children to have heart disease and diabetes, so why is this happening? Namitha John Shah is a family nurse practitioner in New York City who specializes in pediatric and adolescent medicine. She urges parents on improving food habits and offers tips that parents can implement today to put their children less at risk.

In a big city like Manhattan, there are dozens and dozens of exercise classes to fit any person’s needs. You’ve got classes offering yoga, hybrid training, boxing, bootcamps, biking, and more. When it comes to the prenatal population, there are several options to continue your fitness journey if you are already active and moving without pain or dysfunction. It’s okay (and very necessary) to workout during pregnancy in a safe and personalized manner. On this show, I sit down with Erin Livingston, a fitness professional certified in prenatal fitness at Physique 57, a barre workout studio with teachers certified in prenatal fitness. Erin discusses what it means to stay strong and flexible during this time. She brings up the importance of maintaining stable, yet supple abs to make room for the baby while preventing back pain and diastasis recti. Erin shares with us how much she loves to explore all the possibilities your body is capable of especially during pregnancy. The ability to keep moving and take care of your body while pregnant is a goal she has for all of her prenatal clients.