One of the reasons I got certified in health coaching that focuses on women's hormonal health is because about 70-80% of my life coaching clients were dealing with anxiety. 

Wait what? You got certified in health coaching for people dealing with anxiety? 

Yup! That's right.

When I worked with women who felt stuck because of their own anxiety and overwhelm we focused lot on managing their symptoms of anxiety through rewiring their brain to have a more positive internal dialogue, strengthen their confidence and belief that great things can and will happen to them, and taking action outside of their comfort zone despite being scared.

Many of the women I worked with over the years experienced tremendously positive results from our work and truly transformed their lives. 

However, for some women, their anxiety kept sticking around.

When I was in my 20s, I weighed about 20-25 pounds more than I do today (even after having a baby last year!) although I was constantly obsessing over food and exercise. 

I was also super anxious and felt like the smallest thing could either lift me up super high or crash me down super hard. My anxiety was manifesting in an uncomfortable, tightening sensation in my throat and I was feeling tired and unmotivated.

I wasn't balanced at all although I was striving for balance all the time.

Looking back and knowing what I know now, I can pinpoint exactly what I was doing wrong:
 

When I was preparing for my pregnancy with Felix, I learned an incredible amount about the female body and how to support it gently and naturally to be as healthy as it possibly can be.

Amongst my explorations, I found a study that was spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group that showed that an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants were found in umbilical cord blood. The study also revealed a total of 287 chemicals found, of which 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. (1)

When I learned about this, I knew that some things had to drastically shift in the kind of food, household supplies, and skincare I was choosing.

Confidence. Do we ever need more confidence than at the very moment we become moms?

There is no job in the world that requires more decision making (& many of the decisions you make will have a serious impact for the rest of your baby's life), more patience, more team-playing spirit, more communication, more resilience, more intuition and, of course, more love than parenting! 

All of these qualities are deeply rooted in confidence.

That's why I am interviewing my dear friend and colleague, Anna Goldstein on "Walking into motherhood with confidence." You can access the interview here. 

In my last post, I started to talk to you about your skin's health. In that post I covered the importance of decreasing inflammation by healing and strengthening your gut. If you missed it, you can check it out here. 

Today, I want to talk to you about how balancing your hormones is absolutely crucial in order to have even, radiant, beautiful complexion (as well as healthy weight, a good sex drive, plenty of energy, a rocking fertility, and a positive mindset that can manage stress well).

At least once a month I get an email from a woman somewhere in the world, 

I have to confess: I am somewhat of a skin freak. Some women love emphasizing their eyes or their lips or whatever else, but I've always been a skin girl. Hand me a good moisturizer and some blush and I'm a happy camper ;) 

That also means that if my skin feels and looks healthy and smooth, I feel confident, and if it doesn't, well, you know how it goes:
I spend too much time in front of the mirror picking at my face while telling myself to stop (but not listening!) and then beating myself up the next morning when I see the battlefield that is now my face. Ugghhh... why is that so tempting?!

Luckily, I've been able to solve these issues for the most part in recent years and in today's post, I am going to start dissecting the issue of beautiful, glowing skin, how it is connected to your hormones and your greater health and what you can do NATURALLY! to finally get to the root-cause of what's causing your skin problems and how to fix them.

FEMALE VITALITY.

Sounds good, right, but what does it actually mean?

FEMALE vitality, to me, means living in a strong and active way inside your own female body and life!

It means living in harmony with who you are, with ease, equipped with a sense of humor about yourself and the world.

It means you are actively fueling yourself with foods, people, and choices that are adding value to your life.

....

This post is a bit unique because it's not about delivering you coaching value but it's simply about sharing some of our highlights from our Europe trip this summer (in case you are not following me on instagram). I hope you enjoy them :)

A huge part of living a fertile life is having quality time with people who energize you and in environments that fuel you. 

This is for all new moms (so if you know a new mom, forward this to her!)

I am giving away 3 free 30-minute post-partum support sessions. 
 

You can win one of them by filling out a simple questionnaire about your post-partum experience here (the deadline is this Friday 8/19).

Yay- I was featured in The Huffington Post a few weeks back :) Check out the article on their site or click on the picture of me and Felix.

n today's episode of The Fertile Life Interview Series, I am chatting with the lovely  Luise Jørgensen, a student expert of qi-gong, meditation, DANCEmandala, mindfulness, and Buddhist psychology on "Tune into your body wisdom & create trust in yourself."

Besides pregnancy (& life!) being a marvelous journey, it is also an emotional and physically demanding experience.

One of the most important things for women to become pregnant successfully and have a beautiful experience being pregnant (not to mention a calm mindset once they become moms!) is that the body is in physical, hormonal as well as emotional balance. 

Sometimes things happen in life that we cannot explain to ourselves, perhaps these things even make us angry, frustrate us, make us deeply sad. 

Or, we're standing in front of a challenge, a question, a hurdle that we don't quite know how to take. 

Today, I decided to record a little video for you from my morning hike in the Swiss Alps (I'm still a bit sleepy in it lol, but I was thinking about a very important topic which I wanted to share with you + my view was just so spectacular;))

One of the biggest questions for the women I have met in the last years -whether through my coaching work or through my private friendships- is: how can I stay calm and grounded, especially in times of transition, stress, and uncertainty. 

(Think, times of heartbreak, career stress, self doubts, anxiety, hormonal imbalance and infertility, death of a loved one... the list goes on.)

You've probably heard that parenting can be challenging. Growing into the role of a mother often comes with self-doubt, guilt, and overwhelm.

As a new mom myself -we recently celebrated Felix's first birthday :)- I have gone through a series of intense emotions over the past year simply because I love my little man so much that I want to do this parenting thing "right." 

That obviously increases the pressure we create within ourselves enormously.

If you opened this post, I am assuming you know what it's like when sh*t just keeps hitting the fan. 

What the f***! When will this end? Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Why me? 

And then, once the sh*t actually stops hitting the fan so hard, we often find ourselves just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Can life actually feel so pleasant? I wonder when the next crappy thing will happen? 

After prolonged times of bad news and feelings of exhaustion and disappointment and heartbreak and low self-esteem, it is easy to develop an unconscious anticipation for more bad things to happen. 

If you are one of the 85% of women who are dealing with any emotional PMS (think: anxiety, depression, irritability, mood swings, tiredness/ trouble sleeping...) or physical PMS (think: cramps, bloating, headaches, constipation, tender breasts, acne...), I have good news for you: PMS is not necessary, normal, or only treatable with medication (such as the pill). 

I believe that one's name is enormously powerful. It is the sound the world makes when referring to you forever. It carries strong energy. It influences how the world sees you and responds to you; often without ever having met you. It is how you introduce yourself to others. It is a huge part of your identity.

An article in the New Yorker Why Your Name Matters, even reported that "some recent research suggests that names can influence choice of profession, where we live, whom we marry, the grades we earn, the stocks we invest in, whether we’re accepted to a school or are...

This Sunday will be my very first mother's day. While it may seem like I am fishing to get your congratulations, that is only part of the reason ;) Just kidding... I am writing to you today because this past year has held so many lessons for me that are applicable to you whether or not you are a mom. 

I'm also writing, because, in celebration of this day and to honor all the amazing family, friends, and mentors who have supported me in becoming the women, wife, mother, and coach I am today, I am also offering