As a seasoned personal trainer, yoga instructor, and conference wellness expert, I thought I understood what wellness meant. Stretch, move, breathe, repeat. But one day while learning to box my arms went completely numb. Not from overtraining or injury, but from poor posture I didn’t even realize I was holding.
That wake-up call became the foundation for everything I teach today in the world of conference and event wellness.
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We often think of wellness as a scheduled workout or a long yoga session, but here’s what I’ve learned after 20 years in the field: your posture, breath, and energy are shaping how you think, feel, and lead all day long.
Especially at conferences, retreats, and corporate events, the toll of sitting for hours can be brutal:
Circulation
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If you’ve ever planned a full-day conference or retreat, you’ve seen it happen:
âś… Morning sessions = buzzing energy.
âś… Afternoon = glazed eyes, slouching, and a disappearing audience.
The dreaded 2PM slump.
Especially in beautiful destinations like Maui, where warm weather and jetlag add extra layers of fatigue, keeping attendees focused and engaged throughout the day is no small feat.
But here's the good news:
There’s a simple, science-backed solution and it only takes minutes.
At most events, attendees are sitting for long stretches, taking in a ton of information, socializing during breaks, and trying to stay alert through it all. Add in rich food, poor posture, and stuffy rooms, and you’ve got the perfect storm for disengagement.
This is especially true at Maui conferences and retreats, where the setting is dreamy, the days are packed, and the desire to sneak away to the beach is very real.
So how do you keep everyone present, focused, a...
As an event professional, you’re no stranger to pressure. Tight timelines, long days on your feet, and the nonstop need to deliver flawless experiences.
But while you’re focused on everyone else’s needs, your own well-being, presence, and personal story often get left behind.
That’s where the power of storytelling and simple wellness strategies like posture resets and movement breaks come in.
In this post, you’ll discover how sharing your origin story and using techniques like Power Pauses can reduce stress, prevent burnout, and help you lead your events with calm, clarity, and confidence.
I'm willing to bet you're constantly juggling timelines, people, and pressure. And one thing that often gets overlooked? Yourself.
Your origin story isn’t just a personal anecdote, it’s a powerful way to connect with clients, vendors, and your audience. It builds trust, makes you memorable, and reinforces your why.
For me,...
🧠TL;DR:
Sitting too long kills focus. Movement boosts clarity and keeps attendees engaged.
The post-lunch slump isn’t about willpower — it’s about biology. Energizer breaks reset the brain.
Hosting a conference on Maui, Hawaii? Wellness movement breaks can turn “down time” into your most productive moments and I can help!
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Why Do People Feel So Drained After Lunch at Conferences Or Events?
Because sitting for hours kills your brain's power switch. Here’s what’s really happening:
Sitting slows circulation. Your blood flow drops, so oxygen to your brain does too. Less oxygen = more yawning, less thinking.
Digestion diverts energy. After eating, your body shifts energy to your gut — not your brain.
Focus fatigue sets in. Staring at slides, staying silent, and absorbing info burns mental energy fast
That’s not “boredom.” That’s biology.
Enter your solution: Power Pause Movement Breaks! These short movement and breathing breaks reset energy, boo...
Chronic stress can look like commitment—until performance quietly breaks down.
Many high performers are in survival mode, but appear “on it” from the outside.
**Stress shows up as behavior—**not complaints. And the cost is quiet, compounding, and hard to track until it’s too late.
Stress isn’t always loud.
In most work cultures, we’re trained to recognize absence as a red flag—missing meetings, missed deadlines, missed KPIs.
But stress doesn’t always cause people to withdraw.
It often does the opposite:
staying late
over-preparing
multitasking constantly
saying yes to everything
answering Slack after hours
These behaviors can look like loyalty.
In reality, they’re often symptoms of a nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight.
When under chronic stress, the brain reduces function in the prefrontal...
I’m in the middle of packing up a home I’ve lived in for 10 years.
Let me tell you—nothing triggers a highlight reel of your life quite like peeling back layers of your own history, one drawer at a time.
This week, I found a tuft of fur from our Bailey Boy—the goodest boy, our 16 year old Cockapoo doggo—tucked in the corner of the closet. I sat on the floor and cried like it just happened.
Then, a few boxes later, I pulled out the framed certificate from when I was recognized as an HMSA Blue Zone Wellness Advocate for my Maui community. That moment brought me back to being in the Mayor's conference room full of people, laughter, pride, and Aloha.
Packing isn’t just packing. It’s a recognition. Of who you were. Who you thought you’d be. And who you actually became.
Here’s the part we forget too often: You’ve lived many lives inside this one.
There was the “just starting out” version of you. The “I have no idea what I’m doing but I’m doing it anyway” you. The “I made it through som...
People-pleasing and overthinking aren’t personality flaws—they’re nervous system responses rooted in survival.
The freeze and fawn states can keep us stuck in patterns of saying “yes” when we mean “no,” avoiding conflict, or mentally spiraling.
There are practical, body-based ways to shift out of these states—without shaming yourself or forcing confidence.
Freeze doesn’t mean relaxed. It’s what happens when your nervous system is sympathetically charged (like in fight or flight) but too overwhelmed to act.
Think:
Your body feels tense, wired, and alert.
But instead of running or fighting… you shut down, go numb, or mentally check out.
You know you should speak up, decide, o
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🧠TL;DR: That “procrastination problem” might actually be a survival response. Here's how Flight Mode hides in plain sight—and what to do about it.
I used to beat myself up for procrastinating.
Why couldn’t I just sit down and do the thing?
Why did I bounce between projects, chase a million ideas, or suddenly need to reorganize my kitchen instead of writing that email?
Sound familiar?
For a long time, I thought it was a discipline problem. Or maybe some kind of creative quirk. But it turns out, it was something much deeper: my nervous system stuck in Flight Mode.
This is Part 2 of my 3-part series, Survival Mode: The Patterns Behind Your Behavior. In this series, I’m exploring the subtle ways our stress responses shape our work, leadership, and wellbeing—even when we don’t realize it.
In this week’s episode of my podcast, Movement, Mind, & Meaning, I dive into what Flight Mode really looks like in our modern work lives—and why it so often gets mistaken for laziness, distraction, ...
TL;DR:
Think your drive to fix, perfect, and push is just “how you are”? It might actually be Fight Mode—a hidden stress pattern hijacking your nervous system. In this post (and podcast series), we unpack how high performers get stuck in survival mode—and how to shift out of it.
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Part 1: Fight Mode at Work – Perfectionism, Pressure & The High-Performer Stress Trap
I used to think I was just wired this way.
The one who triple-checked the work.
Jumped in to fix problems before anyone asked.
Held it all together—even when I was falling apart inside.
I wore “high performer” like a badge of honor.
Until I realized I wasn’t thriving.
I was surviving.
This is Part 1 of a 3-part series I’m calling "Survival Mode: The Patterns Behind Your Behavior"—inspired by the work I do every day helping people uncover the hidden stress patterns that silently run their lives and leadership. We’re kicking things off with a deep dive into Fight Mode, through the lens of modern work and perfectionism.
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Let’s be real.
You’ve got systems, checklists, productivity hacks, a time-blocked calendar… and yet by 2pm, you feel like a zombie bouncing between tabs, forgetting what you were just doing.
If you’ve ever said, “I just need to focus,” or worse, “Why can’t I just get it together?” — this post is for you.
Because here’s the truth: You’re not the problem.
But chronic stress might be.
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We’re living in a productivity-obsessed world. Everyone’s trying to optimize: sleep cycles, morning routines, deep work windows. And those things can help — but they miss the bigger picture.
Stress literally changes how your brain works.
When you’re under long-term pressure, your brain shifts into survival mode. The part of your brain responsible for decision-making, focus, memory, and impulse control — called the prefrontal cortex — starts to shut down.
That’s not an opinion. That’s neuroscience.
(And y...
Press PAUSE on your busy life with this free 10 minute "Yoga at My Desk" video to instantly feel better!
