Welcome to this bonus episode of The Balanced Life podcast. Today’s episode is a guided meditation with Robin Long herself. Robin walks you through mindful practices to relax and appreciate your body. This meditation is quick, simple, and elevating. Join Robin in this conscious practice of self-love, breath work, mindfulness, and relaxation.   

Show Highlights: 

• Robin shares how meditation can help you improve your health, strengthen your self-esteem and love your body 
• Take deep breaths and pay attention to how you feel throughout your body 
• Pay attention to the rhythm of your thoughts 
• Take a moment to tell your body “thank you” for everything it does for you 
• Repeat positive affirmations 

Links: 

Join The Balanced Life Sisterhood  today for more wellness, encouragement + Pilates. Click here for a FREE 7-day trial!

No matter what your body looks like, what you’re going through, or what you’ve been conditioned to feel, we can learn to love our bodies in every stage of life. 

Learning to love yourself doesn’t have to mean that you like how you look ALL the time or you’re the most confident person in the room, but it DOES mean constantly making choices that benefit your health and wellness. The first step learning to put yourself first. Join Robin in this insightful episode to learn how she’s learned to love her body and how you can too. 

Show Highlights: 

• Telling people to “just love their bodies” can often make the process even harder
• Loving your body is less about your physical appearance and more about showing love to your body 
• It’s important to reflect on our self-dialogue because we often have negative self-talk towards ourselves that we would never reflect on someone else 
• What is your gut reaction when you think about your body? 
• We should assess our habits and behaviors that reflect whether we love and care for our bodies or are sabotaging ourselves 
• When you get into a flow of making decisions that are best for you, you get into a rhythm instead of constantly feeling like you’re working against yourself 

Links: 

Try The Balanced Life Sisterhood FREE for 7 Days!

The Balanced Life

The Balanced Life on Instagram

Welcome back to The Balanced Life podcast! To kick off this new season, we’re focusing on nourishment and our relationship with food. This can be a complex subject for many of us, which is why we’re looking at how to take a well-rounded and less complicated approach to food and nutrition. In this episode, we’re joined by Tamar Samuels from Culina Health, who shares ways to enrich our overall wellness with practical and realistic advice. 

Tamar is a dietician, nutritionist, and co-founder of Culina Health who takes a holistic approach to help individuals heal their relationship with food. She discusses what causes inflammation, how to improve your sleep, easy additions to your diet, and so much more. Join Robin in this insightful and enriching conversation with Tamar. 

Show Highlights:

• What is inflammation and how does it affect our bodies?
• Foods that cause inflammation + foods that help reduce inflammation
• The difference between Omega-3 and Omega-6
• How what you eat can impact your sleep and ways to improve it
• Adding to your diet instead of restricting
• The difference between a dieting mentality and making healthy changes
• The importance of making nutrition accessible

Links:

Get started with a 7-day free trial to The Sisterhood + get a free 4-week meal plan!

Recipe Central

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Learn more about Culina Health

Follow Culina Health on Instagram

Follow Tamar on Instagram

Mental health is often left out of the conversation when it comes to health and fitness. However, with as many people as it impacts and the struggles that many people face due to its severity, it’s important that we destigmatize it and normalize the experience. As someone who has struggled with anxiety, Robin is very passionate about supporting both physical and mental health at The Balanced Life.

In this conversation, Robin shares statistics about mental health, the importance of it, and ways we can work to improve our own mental health. She discusses the strategies she uses to regulate her anxiety and tangible tips you can use to support yourself or others who are experiencing it. 

Show Highlights:

• Mental and emotional health are intertwined and we have to care for both.
• Statistics about mental health and why it’s important to normalize it.
• Robin shares her experience with anxiety and how therapy has been transformative for her experience.
• How Pilates can help regulate both physical and mental health.
• How the media we consume has an impact on our mental and emotional health.
• Trying our best to give ourselves grace over guilt when it comes to sleep can improve the mental stress of daily life.
• Counseling and therapists are great resources to get on a better path towards overall health.

Links:

The Balanced Life

Pilates Strong: a FREE 5-Day Pilates Challenge

The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life on Instagram

Episode 40

Robin's favorite decaf coffee

Telehealth Counseling Services: BetterHelp

Telehealth Counseling Services: Talkspace

Raising Worry-Free Girls by Sissy Goff

Many women fall into the trap of “when I have this” or “when this happens”, I’ll start. We all seem to think we need a fancy notebook, the newest workout gear, or a perfectly clear schedule to get started moving towards our goals when all it takes is one small step right where you are.

What if you started working towards your goals with what you have, where you are, right now? In this episode, Robin shares a word of encouragement and tangible tips on how you can start working towards your goals without waiting for the perfect moment. 

Show Highlights:

• Robin shares ways we get caught up in the wrong things when trying to start a new habit.
• Focus on how to build habits into our daily routines instead of waiting for the perfect moment.
• Get started where you are with what you have right now.
• Take small steps to build new habits.
• Build awareness of the thoughts that are holding us back.

Links: 

The Balanced Life

The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life on Instagram

In today's world of social media, it’s easy to get caught up, feeling like we’re not doing enough - even with ten thousand other things on our plate. We get overwhelmed with having to get a new outfit for every event, needing to start a new workout plan, attempting new diets, and the cycle doesn’t stop. We’re faced with this subconscious pressure to “catch up” every day, but what if we gave ourselves permission to do less? 

This habit of always doing more keeps you from putting forth effort towards the things that will positively impact your life and prevents you from truly doing anything well. Join Robin in this encouraging episode and for tips to start doing less with more intention. 

Show Highlights:

• Ways the internet has subconsciously pressured us to try to do more
• How to give ourselves permission to do less without backtracking
• How trying to do too much prevents us from doing our best
• Giving yourself permission to do less with more intention
• How do you know where to focus
• Making small changes to make a positive impact 

Links: 

The Balanced Life

The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life on Instagram

Sign up for the NEW, Free 5-day Pilates Challenge: Refresh + Reset!

When we’re feeling overwhelmed and overworked, it can be difficult to know where to begin to regain a sense of calm and order in our lives. . An important place to start is at home and with our surroundings. . Decluttering our surroundings is a great step towards decluttering our lives of unwanted stress, work, and exhaustion. 

Today’s guest, Allie Casazza, is the author of Declutter like a Mother. Allie specializes in helping women organize their lives through simplicity and structure. Join Robin in this insightful and actionable episode for more about how you can create more calm and less clutter in your own life. 

Show Highlights:

• Allie shares the current stage of life she’s in
• Why you need to take ownership of your current circumstances to align with your goals
• How motherhood brought Allie to a place of learning and teaching to be proactive instead of reactive
• How clutter can subconsciously exhaust our mind and bodies
• What is minimalism versus what it looks like online
• Questions we can ask ourselves to align our environment with our goals
• How to create a home environment that works for everyone that lives there
• What a typical day looks like for Allie
• Things Allie is currently saying no to in order to say yes to other things
• Self-care habits Allie practices to stay rejuvenated 

Links: 

The Balanced Life

Pilates Strong: a FREE 5-Day Pilates Challenge

The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life on Instagram

Allie Casazza’s Instagram 

Allie's viral post on The Balanced Life!

Allie's first episode on The Balanced Life

MUD/WTR

Declutter like a Mother by Allie Casazza

Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts--Becoming the Person You Want to Be by Mark Reiter and Marshall Goldsmith

Prioritizing your health and wellbeing is essential. It is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and everyone else around you. As busy women, it is easy to fall into the habit of taking care of others before considering our own needs. To change that, you have to be intentional about doing things differently. Start by taking small steps towards your healthiest self, which will, in turn, benefit everyone else in your life.

In this episode, Robin talks about the ripple effect that happens when women prioritize taking care of themselves and improving their health and wellbeing. Her husband, Matt, joins her to explain how the ripple effect plays out in their family and everyday life. Tune in today to learn about the ripple effect and find out why self-care needs to become a priority in your life.

Show highlights:

• Robin talks about where our motivation usually comes from to take care of ourselves.
• Taking care of ourselves goes beyond the size and shape of our bodies.
• Robin talks about The Balanced Life online community, its approach to health and wellness, and the incredible transformations women in The Balanced Life Sisterhood experience.
• How the ripple effect happens, and the significant and positive impact it has when it plays out.
• Robin discusses the myriad of benefits that happen when prioritizing caring for yourself.
• Robin’s husband, Matt, shares how the ripple effect has played out in their relationship and family.
• Modeling a healthy lifestyle is a powerful way to equip your children to navigate life and challenging situations.
• Robin challenges you to prioritize your health and well-being.

Links:

The Balanced Life

Pilates Strong: a FREE 5-Day Pilates Challenge

The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life on Instagram

Matt’s Q&A Podcast Episode

Do you ever find yourself bored, tired, overwhelmed, or worn out? If so, this episode is for you. In today's conversation, Robin shares what it looks like to find restoration in moments of needing a break. Robin reveals habits she’s found in her own life that aren’t serving her, and how she’s making a shift to find restoration vs. relief. Join Robin in this quick episode to learn more about restoration vs. relief and how you can implement more habits into your life that fill you up. 

Show Highlights:

• Robin shares habits she’s recognized in her own life that don’t restore her
• The difference between finding relief vs. restoration in overwhelming moments
• What are restorative habits
• What it looks like if something provides “relief”
• What are habits of relief
• Why you should pay attention to what you turn to in moments of being overwhelmed
• Why you should make a list of restorative habits 

Links: 

The Balanced Life

Pilates Strong: a FREE 5-Day Pilates Challenge

The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life on Instagram

Link to Episode 52!

Each season brings a new set of habits, thoughts, and practices. In today’s episode, Robin responds to the questions you sent in over Instagram! From dealing with adrenal fatigue to creating pockets of silence to managing self-care with 4 kids, Robin shares it all. She also unfolds how her current season of life has impacted her current habits and practices and ways she’s honoring the season she’s in. Join Robin in this look into her life and for tips on how you can stay motivated and inspired. 

Show Highlights:

• What Robin has found to be the most important thing to do to address her adrenal fatigue
• Ways Robin has prioritized rest during her current season of life
• Navigating supplements and why it’s important for your diet
• Redefining expectations for yourself in different seasons of life
• How to stay motivated when you get tired
• How to manage life with 4 kids
• Different ways to look at self-care when you’re a caregiver
• Robin shares what inspired her to take the leap and start The Balanced Life 

Links: 

The Balanced Life

Pilates Strong: a FREE 5-Day Pilates Challenge

The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life on Instagram

Episode 52: A Surprising Diagnosis: my current health + healing journey