Episode 196: How to Get Your Kids to Bed, Effortlessly, Using Process Improvement; Sleep Better and Reduce Stress Using Bullet Journaling and Digital Minimalism

We’re finally re-releasing one of our favourite past episodes! In this pre-pandemic-shutdown episode, Dr. Lisa talks with process improvement consultant (and mom of almost 3) Nicole North of Whiteboard Consulting about how process improvement makes your life easier and reduces mom stress – from getting your kids to bed at night and out of the house in the morning to keep track of all of the important and mundane things that are stuck in your head.

In this episode, we cover:

  • How Nicole made going to bed fun for her step-daughter
  • The importance of off-loading mom burden and increase your kid’s responsibility
  • How creating checklists makes routines like getting out of the house with your kids in the morning way less of a nightmare
  • The wonders of bullet journaling for creating the world’s best to-do list to keep track of your grocery list, your daily health habits, appointments, personal goals, meeting notes, and everything else in your life
  • How bullet journaling reduces your mental workload and stress level as a busy mama
  • The difference between using a computer or phone versus using a paper journal
  • How to maximize your kid’s naptime and not waste your time on email
  • The benefits of practicing digital minimalism on your stress level and sleep quality

Today’s Mama Must Haves:

Dr. Lisa loves her Costco membership for stocking up on toilet paper, organic produce and healthy food staples like chia and hemp seed.

Nicole loves to reduce the messiness of kids’ activities with Melissa and Doug Water Wow! Mess-Free Reusable Colouring Flip Pads and Crayola Color Wonder Mess Free Markers and Paint.

How to Find Nicole North/Whiteboard Consulting:

Find Nicole and Ruth of Whiteboard Consulting on Instagram @whiteboardconsult

Here is the link to Nicole and Ruth’s podcast “At The Whiteboard”

Here is Nicole’s blog post on “How I Used a Process Map to Make a Kid Go To Bed”.

FREE online courses from Whiteboard Consulting:

Here is Nicole and Ruth’s free online course: “Show Your Inbox Who is Boss”.

Here is Nicole and Ruth’s free online course: “Bullet Journaling: The Ultimate Organizational Hack”

Thank you for joining us today! 

Have any comments, suggestions or burning questions? Email us or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5 star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Episode 194: The Connection Between Birth and Menopause (And How Hypnosis Helped Dr. Toni Through Both)

In this new episode, Dr. Toni shares a new insight about the connection between birth and menopause in her experience. How we feel about birth and menopause may be linked by the messages we are programmed with from a young age about our bodies, as well as how we cope and manage stress. 

Previous episode about Dr. Toni’s journey through perimenopause into menopause: Episode 169

In this episode, Dr. Toni discusses:

  • How programming from society, culture, media and your family can create fear and distrust of your bodyThe importance of harnessing the power of your mind to work for you not against you to decrease stress and reduce symptoms in perimenopause and menopauseWhat is hypnosis and why you would want to use it

Today’s Mama Must-Have:

Dr. Toni is a big fan of the work of Dr. Gabor Mate and highly recommends his latest book The Myth of Normal

What’s Else is Happening?

Dr. Toni’s next HypnoBirthing session for expecting parents looking to decrease fear and anxiety to support their natural instincts around labour and birth is happening this fall. Join her at https://www.hypnobirthingcalgary.com/register

Thanks for listening!

Email us or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

You can also support us by visiting our Patreon page.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Disclaimer: The information provided is not meant to replace treatment with a licensed health care practitioner. It is for informational purposes only. Consult with a Naturopathic Doctor or other licensed health care professional to determine which treatments are safe for you.

Episode 189: Get Outside: What You Need To Know About Forest Bathing with Dr. Cyndi Gilbert (Re-Release)

In today’s episode re-release from 2020, Dr. Toni talks with Dr. Cyndi Gilbert about the health benefits of nature exposure. Getting outside is so important to reduce stress and stress related health conditions for both you and your kids. Listen in to learn more.

Dr. Cyndi is a naturopathic doctor, the mom of 2 kids and the author of two books, the Essential Guide to Women’s Herbal Medicine and Forest Bathing. Dr. Cyndi’s naturopathic medical practice in Toronto has a clinical focus in mental health, trauma, addiction, sexual/reproductive health and LBGT2SQ health.

In this episode, we cover:

  • The impact of quarantines and stay-at-home orders, in addition to what neighbourhood you live in, on access to green space
  • How less access to green spaces makes you at higher risk for a number of different health conditions related to stress
  • The health benefits of just sitting outside for both you and your kids
  • How your immune system can benefit from smelling the essential oils of the trees, as well as the vitamin D your body makes from sun exposure
  • The importance of mindfulness and getting away from your daily responsibilities to decrease your level of stress
  • How you experience nature and green spaces is impacted by your sense of nature connectedness and safety, which can also depend on your sex, gender and racial identity or level of mobility
  • The importance of considering and acknowledging the history of the land you are on and people who have cared for that land
  • Creating your own mindful practice for self-care and self-reflection in nature
    • Five Senses Forest Bathing – use each of your five senses to acknowledge what is around you
  • How nature can provide a place for both self-care and building community

You can order Dr. Cyndi’s books on her website https://cyndigilbert.ca/

You can find Dr. Cyndi on social media @drcyndind or on a hike or in a canoe with her family.

Today’s Mama Must Have:

Dr. Toni is grateful for her neighbourhood park to spend time outside with her family with a ball or bottle of bubbles. 

Dr. Cyndi recommends introducing more green into your life, even if it is as simple as having a potted plant. She always brings a plastic bag and glove to clean up garbage in the green spaces she enjoys.

Thanks for listening!

Email us or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram.

We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

You can also support us by visiting our Patreon page.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Disclaimer: The information provided is not meant to replace treatment with a licensed health care practitioner. It is for informational purposes only. Consult with a Naturopathic Doctor or other licensed health care professional to determine which treatments are safe for you.

Episode 184: How to Use Your Breath to Manage Stress, Sleep Better and React Less with Maya Bahar Castle

In this episode, Dr. Lisa discusses the benefits of breathwork for ourselves and for our kids with certified breathwork coach Maya Bahar Castle. Listen in to find out how different breathing techniques can be used to: calm your nervous system down, lower cortisol, support mindfulness, enhance sleep, reduce anxiety and more! It doesn’t take long…even a few minutes of intentional breathing can have profound impacts on our mental, emotional and physical health and well-being. Maya also shares some ways to incorporate breathwork into you and your kids’ schedules. Every little bit helps!

Maya Bahar Castle (@breathingwithmaya) is a Certified Breathwork Coach and homeschooling mama. Prior to leaning into motherhood and breathwork practices, she enjoyed more than a decade long career in EdTech.  She’s honoured to guide journeyers through down-regulating forms of Breathwork that bring awareness back into one’s body, still the mind, connect to intention and restore the nervous system. She works with moms and children in Toronto, and when she has a spare moment, you’ll find her writing away.  

In today’s episode we cover:

  • Maya’s experience with homeschooling her son
  • How breathwork transformed Maya’s postpartum anxiety
  • The importance of grounding and responding instead of reacting to situations in your life
  • How you can breathe in a healthy way
  • The difference between healthy breathing and breathwork
  • The breathwork practice that has been proven to lower your cortisol level in 5 minutes
  • How breath can influence your hormones through your menstrual cycle and ease the transition through perimenopause and menopause
  • The importance of introducing breath work to your kids
  • How you can incorporate breath work into your day and remember to breathe properly

You can connect with Maya on Instagram @breathingwithmaya

Check out Maya’s 5-minute breathing exercises for kids: here and here.

Listen to the Hubermann Podcast episode on how to breathe properly here.

What Else is Happening?

Dr. Toni’s next HypnoBirthing session for expecting parents looking to decrease fear and anxiety to support their natural instincts around labour and birth is this fall. Join her at https://www.hypnobirthingcalgary.com/register

Join Dr. Lisa’s Facebook group Wild Woman Adventures Toronto if you want to get out in nature, connect with other women and push yourself out of your comfort zone. Activities include: sunrise/sunset SUP, tree-top trekking, a new moon workshop and more!

Thanks for joining us!

Email us or connect with us on  Facebook  and  Instagram.

We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

You can also support us by visiting our Patreon page.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Stay safe and healthy everyone!Disclaimer:The information provided is not meant to replace treatment with a licensed health care practitioner. It is for informational purposes only. Consult with a Naturopathic Doctor or other licensed health care professional to determine which treatments are safe for you.

Episode 183: How to Optimize Your Vacation or Short Staycation to Fully Recharge and Avoid Burnout

In this episode re-release from August 2022, Dr. Lisa walks through the benefits of using a vacation departure plan and vacation optimizer plan. Do you ever feel like you need a vacation after coming home from vacation? Being intentional around your holidays can make your time away more enjoyable, plus you get to avoid the stress and burnout that can happen before and after vacation time! You need and deserve time off, so listen in to make it work for you to fill your cup and feel re-energized.

In today’s episode, we cover:

  • What is included in a vacation departure plan
    • Wrapping up work tasks
      • Do it, defer it or delegate it
    • Automated vacation responder for email
    • Tech detox plan
  • What is included in a vacation optimizer plan – the fun part!
    • 3 words to describe your ideal vacation
    • Rest vs. activity
    • Relationships
    • Where to eat
    • Nurturing your mind and heart
  • Find the 5-4-3-2-1 mindfulness meditation with Amy Fowler at Episode 96
  • Find Michael Hyatt’s Vacation Optimizer at: https://landing.michaelhyatt.com/vacation-optimizer 

Today’s Mama Must-Have:

Dr. Lisa loves her Kitchen Aid food processor for making coleslaw, salad dressings with ginger, smoothies, energy balls, coconut milk ice cream and one-bowl crepes. 

What’s Else is Happening?

Dr. Toni’s next HypnoBirthing session for expecting parents looking to decrease fear and anxiety to support their natural instincts around labour and birth is happening this fall. Join her at https://www.hypnobirthingcalgary.com/register

Join Dr. Lisa’s Meetup group Wild Woman Adventures Toronto if you want to get out in nature, connect with other women and push yourself out of your comfort zone. Activities include: sunrise/sunset SUP, tree-top trekking, a new moon workshop and more!

Thanks for listening!

Email us or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram

We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

You can also support us by visiting our Patreon page.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Disclaimer: The information provided is not meant to replace treatment with a licensed health care practitioner. It is for informational purposes only. Consult with a Naturopathic Doctor or other licensed health care professional to determine which treatments are safe for you.