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

Being in a cluttered space can make us feel overwhelmed and bogged down. As new seasons approach, it’s time to freshen up our wardrobes, our routines, and our homes. In today's conversation, Robin Long shares how decluttering your space could bring you the stress relief you’ve been searching for. 

Robin takes a balanced approach to health and fitness that is applicable to every aspect of your life. She provides practical and tangible steps you can do at home to reduce stress and benefit your physical and emotional health. 

Show Highlights:

• What is The Balanced Life Sisterhood
• Why The Balanced Life does Off-The-Mat Missions
• What decluttering has to do with your health
• Robin shares studies that explore how clutter negatively impacts mental health
• Small tips to get started cleaning out the clutter
• Ways to decipher whether to make a home for an item or get rid of it
• Using the “Neat Method”
• The difference between decluttering and organizing
• How to keep decluttering moving in your house
• Tips to keep toys uncluttered and organized
• How Robin keeps toys and the home “fresh”
• The nightly “Sanity Sweep”
• How to “maintain” the order as you declutter
• The importance of optimizing spaces that bring you life 

Links:

The Balanced Life

Pilates Strong: a FREE 5-Day Pilates Challenge

The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life on Instagram

Allie Casazza's Courses

Blogs referenced:

Pantry Organization with Neat Method

3 Simple Strategies To Reduce Stress and Find Peace

Articles referenced:

The Unbearable Heaviness of Clutter

For better or worse? Coregulation of couples' cortisol levels and mood states

What does clutter do to your brain and body?

Interactions of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in human visual cortex

To enter the giveaway, email: [email protected]

As seasons of life shift, so do our morning routines. Maybe you have one, maybe you don’t, maybe you want a more set routine, or maybe you do better going with the flow. Regardless of what season you’re currently in, having habits we integrate into our mornings can help us set ourselves up better for our days. 

In today’s episode, Robin shares her current morning routine and the reasons why she prioritizes them in the morning. Whether you’re looking to make a new routine, want to switch yours up a bit, or you’re just getting started, this episode is packed with tangible and rejuvenating ideas. 

Show Highlights:

• How to adapt and create a morning routine that fits for you
• Embracing seasons and readjusting your routine
• Being proactive throughout your day instead of reactive
• Why Robin likes to “get ahead” of the day
• Starting off the morning with positive and grateful thoughts
• The benefits of using a dry brush
• Why Robin takes a cold shower in the mornings
• Listening to a podcast to start your day
• Doing a 15-minute workout in the mornings
• What Robin does for her spirituality
• Why Robin avoids her phone in the morning

Links: 

Join the FREE 5-day Pilates Challenge! Pilates Strong

The Balanced Life

Instagram

Dry Brush

Today, we’re talking about self-talk and self-compassion - this is something we talk a lot about at The Balanced Life and is so important to our overall health.

Many of us will start a health + fitness journey and focus on all the physical components, but sometimes we fail to address what is going on inside our head, thoughts, and mind. We also fail to look at how that impacts the way we feel and act, our relationships, and our self-worth. All of this is connected. It can be a  huge mistake to embark on a health and wellness journey without addressing the mental side of things. That includes mental health, emotional health, and how we talk to ourselves.

How we’re talking to ourselves, and the thoughts we’re thinking, affect the way we feel and affect our ability to be successful and make positive changes in our lives as a whole

Join Robin and her guest, Lilit Lewis, as they address the topic of self-talk and self-compassion. Lilit is a licensed marriage and family therapist and is a proponent of self-compassion. She has a wealth of information to share. This episode is one that everyone needs to hear.

Show highlights:

• What self-compassion looks like.
• How self-compassion speaks to our self-talk.
• Some tips for becoming more aware of your thoughts and recognizing negative self-talk.
• Ways to break out of the habit of negative self-talk.
• The pay-off you get from making the shift to practice more self-compassion.
• Why you need to step in and practice self-compassion with purpose and intent.
• What self-compassion looks like when there have been negative consequences to your choices.
• The best place to start with self-compassion.
• Some tips for when you’re struggling to have compassion for yourself and find yourself having negative self-talk.
• The impact on the other relationships in our lives when we change to have a more positive relationship with ourselves.

Links in this episode:

Join the FREE 5-day Pilates Challenge! Pilates Strong

The Balanced Life

Instagram 

Foot Spas

Book mentioned: Mindful Compassion by Paul Gilbert

Lilit’s website: Lilit Lewis Therapy 

Lilit on Instagram 

Laura Mercier Concealer

Sometimes we need a reminder of how truly strong, capable, and beautiful we really are. In today’s episode, Robin walks through a guided meditation to help bring you to a place of relaxation, calmness, and to motivate you to feel inspired to prioritize your self-care. This episode is perfect to start off your day with positivity, or to wind down before bed. Join Robin in this peaceful and empowering meditation. 

Show Highlights:

• Finding a comfortable place to start meditation
• Breathing and awareness exercises
• Noticing your mental state
• Imagining the healthiest and most fulfilled version of yourself
• Affirmations to enhance your motivation for self-care
• Taking affirmations to approach your day with positivity and self-love 

Links: 

Affirmations - The Balanced Life Online

No matter how much we plan, prepare, or try to control, there will always be obstacles. Oftentimes, we take these circumstances as a result of us “not being good enough” or not “trying” hard enough. When life happens, many of us give up. However, obstacles don’t have to define your success. They are simply a part of the process. 

In this episode, Robin Long shares why we should embrace obstacles as part of the journey. She discusses what it means to “stay stagnant”, the biggest mistakes people make when starting a new workout routine and how to redefine our idea of success. Join Robin in this encouraging and uplifting episode! 

Show Highlights:

• The most common mistakes women make when starting a workout plan
• How expecting challenges can help us find success
• Reframing our “all or nothing” mindset
• Why we should expect to fall off track
• Life always happens but we can prepare ourselves and not get discouraged
• The secret to finding “success” in your results
• Embracing and reframing your idea of success and failure
• Choosing to look forward instead of looking back

Links: 

The Balanced Life

Instagram 

5 Free Days of Pilates