In today's installment of our micro practices series, we're giving you an opportunity to level up the 5 minute workout routines we've been doing. Lauren is walking us through a high intensity interval (HIIT) workout that will help you improve cardiovascular health with just a couple of exercises per day. We're giving you this 5 minute habits series as a way to help you move from a survival state to a place where you are thriving. There is no fast way to do this, but adopting micro practices like these will help you to start healing and will move you towards more consistent practices. Use the ..read more

In today's installment of our micro practices series, Lauren walks us through a 5 minute low intensity workout. This workout may feel slightly easier than the other workouts we've shared, but these exercises are still extremely beneficial. Plus, they can be easily fit into your day. We're giving you this 5 minute habits series as a way to help you move from a survival state to a place where you are thriving. There is no fast way to do this, but adopting micro practices like these will help you to start healing and will move you towards more consistent practices. Use the tips for building las ..read more

Today we're continuing our series on workouts that can improve your body in 5 minutes.  It is so important to maintain muscular strength as you age. Adding even 5 minutes of strength training to your day can help with mental health, stress reduction, sleep, and improves your long-term health. In this episode Lauren shares a 5 minute HIIT workout that anyone can do can add to their daily routine. HIIT workouts can be uncomfortable because they get your heart up quickly, but even 5 minutes of HIIT exercises help to prevent diabetes, decreases visceral fat, and keeps your body strong as you ..read more

Today Lauren is switching it up! She's noticed that her students and colleagues are feeling drained and exhausted. They've been talking a lot about well-being, self care, and stress management. Strength training, even for just 5 minutes a day, helps improve your overall health, longevity, function, and gets more oxygen to your brain. In this episode, Lauren walks us through 5 classic movements that you can incorporate into your daily routine so that you can start seeing these benefits in your life. Use the tips for building lasting habits to make these daily practices!   Lauren a ..read more

This is the third installment of out Tiny Habits series. Our focus is on helping you create micro stress management habits that will fit easily into your busy life. In this episode, Lauren walks us through the importance of flow state (or child state) as part of our self care routines. Flow state is an intense state of body and mind in which you are so immersed in the moment and what you are doing that you struggle to even hear others talking. With all of the stress and busyness in our lives, adults can have a hard time achieving this state, but Lauren has some tips and ideas for getting you ..read more

This is the second installment of out Tiny Habits series. Our focus is on helping you create micro stress management habits that will fit easily into your busy life. In this episode, Lauren presents an alternative to meditating for other people, like her, that find it hard to maintain a meditation practice. There are a variety of types of breathwork and guided breathwork programs that you can try. All have the benefits of stress reduction and nervous system regulation.  Lauren answers this week’s listener question during the episode: What do you do for breathwork? Are there different op ..read more

In the last episode, Lauren gave tips for making micro-habits stick. Today starts a series of micro-mental health strategies that take less effort to implement and are more sustainable than big changes. Getting out into nature is a small change that you can make to regulate your nervous system and decrease stress. Even just 5 minutes of outside time per day provide benefits. We are biological beings so we are hard-wired to thrive in that environment. Remember, to make this a habit, trying pairing it with a routine that you are already doing. Lauren answers this week’s listener question duri ..read more

It can be challenging to create long-lasting habits that help to keep you happy, functioning, and regulated. It's so common for to set goals, work towards them for awhile, and then go back to your old habits. In this episode, Lauren layouts out a roadmap for creating new habits that will stick. From starting with easy, tiny changes to learning to celebrate yourself, she shares 7 of her techniques for making meaningful changes to your habits and routines.  The next few episodes will be ideas for micro-changes we can make to improve our lives, minds, and bodies. Today we learn about the B ..read more

In our society, many of us are experiencing chronic stress instead of the acute stress our bodies are adapted for. During chronic stress, we aren't able to come back into the window of tolerance. In this episode, Lauren walks through Aaron Alexander's align method and helps us to understand how movement purges stress from the body. The Align Method Daily Five will help you get back into that window of tolerance and keep your body in an optimal state of functioning.  Lauren answers this week’s listener question during the episode: What are the signs of childhood sexual abuse? Try-at-home ..read more

In this episode, Lauren walks through the basics of our nervous system. Whether you have more sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous system activation, it is helpful to know how to recognize when your nervous system is dysregulated. The goal is to stay within your Window of Tolerance and to get back into it as quickly as possible after becoming dysregulated. Lauren shares tips and ideas for preventing nervous system dysregulation and restoring regulation. Lauren answers this week’s listener question during the episode: What do we do with students or children who have behaviors and we don't u ..read more