Category: Stress Relief

Navigating COVID-19 With An Autoimmune Disease

I want to talk about navigating a pandemic when you have an autoimmune disease. Living with an autoimmune disease on a normal day is challenging. Once you’ve been doing it for a while it just becomes part of your daily routine and you barely notice it anymore, but other people definitely do, lol 😂I wash my hands profusely. I can’t share food with pretty much anyone, ever. I can’t spend too much time in the sun, lay on the beach, take a hot yoga class, or camp when it’s too cold or too hot. I have to keep my stress levels low. Running makes my knees swell up like balloons, and I’m always afraid of flaring, ending up in the hospital, and facing a mountain of medical debt. Fast forward to pandemic… multiple all of this by 10,000 and then add a triple dose of stress & fear!

If you are struggling with an autoimmune disease the best advice I can give you is to find a way to keep your stress levels WAY down! I know this is scary, I’m feeling it too, but stress will greatly impact your immune system, and you need that sucker to keep you strong and healthy right now! 

Ways to reduce stress 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽
Meditation, breathwork, move your body at least once per day, get plenty of sleep, journal, keep in touch with friends & family often, take a bath or hot shower, go for a secluded walk with a mask and gloves (stay away from other people), listen to music, draw or paint. What makes you happy? What helps you reduce stress? Don’t forget to do these things now more than ever.

Obviously you should also be very strict about social distancing & wash your hands! You should only go out when you absolutely must, otherwise have someone else run errands for you if at all possible. I have not entered a public facility since the quarantine. My boyfriend is running all errands, and he’s wearing a mask and gloves so he doesn’t come home and get me sick. If you’re on the Nextdoor app I’m sure you’ll find plenty of posts about people who are willing to do your shopping for you, I’ve seen it many times over the last few weeks. Find someone to help you and stay inside. Delivery services can be very helpful and I know a lot of pharmacies are offering free deliveries right now as well.

If you need someone to talk to send me a DM. I’m a good listener and I understand what you might be going through, you don’t have to do this alone ❤️

For the entire month of April I am offering new clients the opportunity to pay what you can for virtual coaching sessions in meditation, mindfulness, breathwork & yoga. Now more than ever we need to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves both physically & mentally. I’d love to help you through this incredibly hard time. Be well & take care of each other!

Photo by: @jessicaczarneckiphoto

Book a session today! You may fill out our contact form, call us at 323-849-0039 or shoot us an email jenna@yoginest.com

Meditation: Embracing Uncertainty

In light of current events, I wanted to guide you through a meditation about embracing uncertainty. I don’t think there’s a single person on this planet that hasn’t been touched by this crisis and I’d like to help you find some comfort & ease in a time when that seems near impossible. All you need is a comfortable place to sit or lie down, with little to no distractions.

Carve some time out of your day to take care of your mental health. To ease some of the stress & anxiety that this crisis has brought into your life. I hope, if even for a moment, you can find calmness amidst the sea of troubling news. 

Take a moment to breathe & connect to your body! Stress can weaken the immune system, and meditation can help to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which can help you find balance.

Calm your racing mind and dive into a guided journey of self-reflection. What fears, worries, and uncertainties lay before you? How will you persevere? How will you navigate this crisis? What lessons will you learn from this? How will this trying time provide growth and strength for the person you’ll be on the other side of this? The world will look different when the dust settles & we will have to acclimate. This experience will also change you, you will not be the same person after all is said and done, but you will get through this. We will get through this. One step at a time.

For the entire month of April I am offering new clients the opportunity to pay what you can for virtual coaching sessions in meditation, mindfulness, breathwork & yoga. Now more than ever we need to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves both physically & mentally. I’d love to help you through this incredibly hard time.  

Follow us on Instagram @theyoginest & subscribe to our YouTube channel for more meditation, mindfulness, breathwork, and yoga videos. Be well & take care of each other!  

Book a session today! You may fill out our contact form, call us at 323-849-0039 or shoot us an email jenna@yoginest.com

14-Minute Beginner’s Body Scan Meditation

This is the most educational body scan of the series I posted over the last 2 weeks. The scan itself is also longer & in my opinion WAY more fun! I know time is limited for most of us, but I love a nice long meditation with visuals & all the feel good stuff. This body scan is all of that!

Body scanning can reduce stress & anxiety quickly & help you enter your day or night feeling more centered & grounded.

All you need is yourself & a comfortable place to sit or lie down with little to no distractions.

Body scanning is a helpful tool to relieve stress & anxiety so you can live your life feeling more centered & grounded. It can provide useful information about you & what’s going on in your physical & mental body. You could go an entire day without checking in with yourself, without noticing the messages your body is sending you about what you need to be physically & mentally well. If you can create a habit of scanning your body, from the top of your head, all the way down to your toes, once a day, for 60 seconds you will begin to build a better relationship with your physical & mental body. This practice could help you avoid emotional & physical pain & illness, just by taking a second to listen to the messages your body is sending you. Body scanning can make you feel more present in your life, which I guarantee will have a positive domino effect on everyone around you. Improving not only the relationship you have with yourself but with others as well.

Save this post & come back to it when you need it & let me know how this exercise went for you in the comments section.

Please let me know what types of videos you’d like to see more of & if the moment strikes share your experience & I’ll share it with my followers. You never know the impact your experience could have on someone else & the world needs connection now more than ever.

Photo by: @heidizumbrun

Book a session today! You may fill out our contact form, call us at 323-849-0039 or shoot us an email jenna@yoginest.com

Body Scan Meditation Journal Writing Prompt

Are you guys doing your body scans? Are you following them up with the guided journal writing prompts I provided you?⁠
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I’m trying to provide as many stress & anxiety relieving tools as possible during this absolutely crazy time & this has been such a beneficial tool for me, so I’d really love for you to try it.

⁠Check out the 3-Minute & 7-Minute Beginner’s Body Scanning videos I posted last week & keep an eye out for the 14-Minute Scan I’ll be posting this week as well. Then answer the body scanning guided writing prompts I provided for you last week.⁠
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Reminder… this is how body scanning can help you:

  • Reduces stress, inflammation, fatigue & insomnia⁠
  • Reduces physical & psychological tension⁠
  • Relaxing⁠
  • Builds awareness, acceptance & appreciation ⁠
  • Centers & grounds you⁠
  • Increases stability of the mind⁠
  • Cultivates mindfulness⁠
  • Increases focus⁠
  • Allows you to live in the present moment⁠

Book a session today! You may fill out our contact form, call us at 323-849-0039 or shoot us an email jenna@yoginest.com

7-Minute Beginner’s Body Scan

Photo by: @jessicaczarneckiphoto

This body scan provides a little more information than the 3-Minute Beginner’s Body Scan in this series. If you’ve got a little bit more time and you want to learn more about body scanning than this video is for you. Body scanning can reduce stress & anxiety quickly & it can help you enter your day or night feeling more centered and grounded. 

All you need for this practice is yourself & a comfortable place to sit or lie down with little to no distractions.

Body scanning is an incredibly helpful tool to relieve stress & anxiety so you can live your life feeling more centered and grounded. It also provides a ton of useful information about you, and what’s going on in your physical and mental body. We’re all so busy all the time, caught up in a million things, moving so fast through our day that we might not notice the messages our body is sending us, all day, every day. If you can create a habit of scanning your body, from the top of your head, all the way down to your toes, even once a day, for 60 seconds you will begin to build a better relationship with your physical & mental body. If you can learn to listen to the messages your body is sending you you might notice when you are hungry, full, need rest, are getting sick, need to slow down, etc. And if you can meet these messages without judgment in a more timely & loving fashion you might be able to avoid a lot of emotional & physical pain & illness, just by taking a second to listen to the messages your body is sending you. Body scanning can also make you feel more present in your life, which I guarantee you will have a positive domino effect on everyone around you. Improving not only the relationship you have with yourself but with others as well.

So what is it? It’s very simple actually. All you need to do is sit or lie down comfortably, somewhere that has little to no distractions. Then, starting at the top of the head, you’ll slowly scan your entire body until you’ve reached your toes. Feelings and emotions will come up for you, they may be physical and or mental. You’re not meant to try to stop or change these feelings and emotions, you’re meant to meet them with an open mind and a kind heart. It’s just information about you and where you are today. Then you take that information and pivot your day. Maybe you haven’t eaten lunch and you didn’t realize, until your scan, that you were incredibly hungry, go eat. Maybe you notice a tickle in your throat, or you’re slightly warm, are you getting sick? Do you need to take some time to relax and recover? Body scanning can actually be a very useful preventative measure for those of us who don’t know how to slow down and listen to the messages our body is sending us.

Don’t forget to follow our blog and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you never miss new tips, techniques & exercises. 

Let me know how this went for you in the comment section below & please shoot me any video requests you might have.

YogiNest recommends that you consult your physician regarding the applicability of any recommendations and follow all safety instructions before beginning any exercise program. When participating in any exercise or exercise program, there is the possibility of physical injury. If you engage in this exercise or exercise program, you agree that you do so at your own risk, are voluntarily participating in these activities, assume all risk of injury to yourself.

Book a session today! You may fill out our contact form, call us at 323-849-0039 or shoot us an email jenna@yoginest.com

3-Minute Beginner’s Body Scan

If you’ve only got a few short minutes but you desperately need to reduce stress & anxiety quickly so you can go about your day feeling more centered and grounded than this body scan is for you!

All you need for today’s practice is yourself & a comfortable place to sit or lie down with little to no distractions.

Body scanning is an incredibly helpful tool to relieve stress & anxiety so you can live your life feeling more centered and grounded. It also provides a ton of useful information about you, and what’s going on in your physical and mental body. We’re all so busy all the time, caught up in a million things, moving so fast through our day that we might not notice the messages our body is sending us, all day, every day. If you can create a habit of scanning your body, from the top of your head, all the way down to your toes, even once a day, for 60 seconds you will begin to build a better relationship with your physical & mental body. If you can learn to listen to the messages your body is sending you you might notice when you are hungry, full, need rest, are getting sick, need to slow down, etc. And if you can meet these messages without judgment in a more timely & loving fashion you might be able to avoid a lot of emotional & physical pain & illness, just by taking a second to listen to the messages your body is sending you. How cool is that? And it works, I know from personal experience. I partially attribute my road to remission to the powerful benefits of a regular body scanning routine. Body scanning can also make you feel more present in your life, which I guarantee you will have a positive domino effect on everyone around you. Improving not only the relationship you have with yourself but with others as well.

So what is it? It’s very simple actually. All you need to do is sit or lie down comfortably, somewhere that has little to no distractions. Then, starting at the top of the head, you’ll slowly scan your entire body until you’ve reached your toes. Feelings and emotions will come up for you, they may be physical and or mental. You’re meant to meet these feelings with an open mind and a kind heart. It’s just information about you and where you are today. Then you take that information and pivot your day. Maybe you haven’t eaten lunch yet and you didn’t even realize until your scan that you were incredibly hungry, go eat. Maybe you notice a tickle in your throat, or you’re slightly warm, are you getting sick? Do you need to take some time to relax and recover. Body scanning can actually be a very useful preventative measure for those of us who don’t know how to slow down and listen to the messages our body is sending us.

Save this post to reference later & subscribe to our YouTube channel so you never miss new tips, tricks & exercises.

YogiNest recommends that you consult your physician regarding the applicability of any recommendations and follow all safety instructions before beginning any exercise program. When participating in any exercise or exercise program, there is the possibility of physical injury. If you engage in this exercise or exercise program, you agree that you do so at your own risk, are voluntarily participating in these activities, assume all risk of injury to yourself.

Book a session today! You may fill out our contact form, call us at 323-849-0039 or shoot us an email jenna@yoginest.com