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

It's easy to get caught up in our to-do lists. When we're constantly striving to be productive, we often forget about the importance of having fun and the impact it can have on our mental and physical health. Having fun and laughing is proven to reduce stress, ease physical pain, boost your immune system, increase endorphins, and so much more. It's obvious that prioritizing play should be on the top of our to-do lists, so why don't we?

In today's episode, members of The Balanced Life team join Robin and share ways that they've learned to integrate fun into their daily lives. Tune into this episode for playful advice and tips to bring more fun into your summer.

Show Highlights:

• Robin discusses the proven benefits of laughter and having fun
• Jackie shares ways she's prioritizing fun over constant productivity
• Ways Susan is trying to have more fun with her kids this summer
• Jen talks about how her family has always emphasized and prioritized fun
• How to navigate finding activities that everyone in your family enjoys
• Jordin shares how she pushed herself to stop sitting on the sidelines
• The team discusses their favorite games to play during the summer
• Ways Robin and her husband have committed to having more fun together this year
• The team shares little things in their lives that bring them joy and laughter in their day
• Robin and the team share games and tips to have fun this summer

Links:

The Balanced Life

Pilates Strong: a FREE 5-Day Pilates Challenge

The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life on Instagram

Kan Jam

Ticket to Ride

Bluetooth Speaker

Taboo

Apples to Apples

Spike Ball

TBL playlist

The health and wellness industry has perpetuated a narrow and scale-driven perspective of fitness for years. The way we've been taught to measure our happiness and success is by the size of our jeans or a number on a scale. This shouldn't define our success and there is so much more to our health and wellness than a number.

In this episode, Robin shares her fitness journey and how it inspired her to create a new approach to fitness. She discusses what drives her to create a more accepting and gracious atmosphere to help women embrace their bodies as they are. Join Robin in this episode to hear more about The Balanced Life's mission to help women feel healthier, happier, and more confident.

Show Highlights:

• How Robin began teaching and entered the health and wellness space
• Why Robin wanted to change the focus from physical to mental results
• Looking past physical appearance goals in the fitness space
• Why Robin wanted to create a new approach to how we view fitness
• How to live from a place of freedom
• The impact of before and after photos and why The Balanced Life doesn't use them
• Setting a positive example for others around us and changing the wellness culture

Links:

The Balanced Life

The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life on Instagram

Sign up for the FREE 5-Day Pilates Strong challenge!

Episode 45: Seeing Progress Beyond the Scale

The way you stand, sit, or even walk can be impacting your health in ways you didn't even know. Our posture affects the way we breathe and, in turn, our health. Addressing your breath and posture is one of the best ways to optimize your long-term health.

In this episode, Robin shares how our breath can affect our blood pressure, circulation, energy, focus, and much more. She also shares how we can use it as a tool to reset our nervous system and manage stress. Join Robin to learn more simple strategies you can do to improve your health and wellbeing by focusing on breath.

Show Highlights:

• Indicators that you may not be breathing properly
• The importance of breath
• Why breath is integrated into the Pilates practice and how we can use it as a tool
• How Robin has used breathwork to reset and combat anxiety
• The effects of shallow breathing
• How does your breath affect your pelvic floor
• Ways posture can improve our health and our breath

Links:

The Balanced Life

The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life on Instagram

A guided meditation for motivation + self-care

The Balanced Life Sisterhood Workout Library

Sign up for the FREE 5-Day Pilates Strong challenge!

Interesting study on this topic

This year has presented many of us with unique struggles. Whether you've realized it or not, 2020 put many stressors and obstacles in daily life that may not have been there before.

In this week's episode, Robin is sharing some of the struggles she's been facing over this past year and how she's now overcoming them. Robin dives into a deep look at her own health, the challenges and diagnosis she has faced, and ways she's moving forward. Join Robin in this personal and explorative episode to hear more about her health journey.

Show Highlights:

• How pregnancy + the postpartum season impacted Robin's health
• The consistent symptoms Robin was experiencing
• Why Robin chose to invest in a holistic practitioner
• What is the Epstein Barr Virus and why Robin got tested for it
• How Robin is dealing with mold toxicity and adrenal burnout
• Ways stress impacts the body
• The difference between acute stress and chronic stress
• What is HPA Access
• Ways The Balanced Life + Pilates has kept Robin afloat through her diagnosis
• How the stress of 2020 weighed on Robin
• What we all need to do to make sure we're taking care of ourselves
• The struggles of maintaining balance and health with a busy schedule
• Ways Robin is working to detoxify her body
• Getting our bodies back to a place of balance naturally
• Small steps you can take to make progress on your health goals

Links:

The Balanced Life

Pilates Strong: a FREE 5-Day Pilates Challenge

The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life on Instagram

Download your FREE guide here! Core Components of Health + Healing

While periods are a natural part of our cycle, pain is not. For some women, this news may be shocking. Despite what you may think, periods shouldn't be painful. Today's guest, Berrion Berry, is a menstrual health educator who helps women have simple and uncomplicated periods. She helps women find ways to optimize their flow and understand their cycle in a deeper and new way.

In this conversation, Berrion and Robin discuss cycle syncing, the different phases of the cycle, and how to honor our cycle with our fitness routine. Berrion shares an abundance of knowledge to help educate you on your cycle, stress management, and how you, too, can be in better flow.

Show Highlights:

• How Berrion became a menstrual health educator
• What inspired Berrion to help other women fix their periods
• Things we should all know about our cycle that most women don't
• The four phases of the menstrual cycle
• Berrion's daily journal prompts to stay in touch with herself
• Giving ourselves permission to pause + to not be perfect
• Honoring your body in your workouts
• Ways to manage pain that aren't birth control
• The biggest "aha" moments to improve your lifestyle
• The importance of regulating stress
• How Berrion aligns her daily life with flow
• How Berrion decides what to say yes or no to, and operates using the B.I.G. method

Links:

Pilates Strong: a FREE, 5-day Pilates challenge

Robin Long • The Balanced Life on Instagram

Berrion's website

Berrion's course - Optimize your Flo

Berrion's Instagram

Flow with Berrion Berry Podcast

Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler

Links from Rapid Fire:

Sunday Riley

Summer Fridays Vitamin C serum