Why insomnia and a credit card are a bad combination It’s 3:00 in the morning when I have a sudden thought: I should buy one of those exercise bikes that you put under a desk. It will help make up for being so sedentary while I’m on non-stop Zoom calls. One week later a box arrives with a flimsy set of…
Category: Women’s Issues
Eight Weird Symptoms You Won’t Believe Are Caused by Menopause
It’s Not Just About the Hot Flashes We all know the typical symptoms that are associated with menopause: the gradual cessation of menstruation, hot flashes, mood swings and weight gain. But most women also experience an assortment of perplexing issues that go beyond the loss of their “monthly visitor”. You may be surprised to learn that some of the weird…
Yoga: Your Secret Weapon for Managing Menopause
Hot flashes? Mood swings? Insomnia? Dry itchy skin? Anxiety? Menopause is no joke, but you’ve got options. Check out my guest post on the Unfold blog to learn more about how yoga can help you navigate the long transition into menopause. You can read it by clicking here. If you’re in the Portland area and want to learn more, sign up for…
Bra Straps, Tank Tops and Dressing for Others
“I’ve given up trying to hide my bra straps,” I announced to my friend before yoga the other day. She looked at me like I was crazy. To be fair, she often does. “I have so many tank tops and so many bras,” I explained. “And none of them ever line up. I’m just showing the straps, I don’t care…
Feeling Small? Claim Your Space
“This is what most girls are taught — that we should be slender and small. We should not take up space.” — Roxanne Gay In yoga class today we were talking about taking up space. It was a “curvy yoga” class for larger people and as our instructor talked about the ways larger women in particular are trained…
Joe Biden Is Everyone’s Charming But Grabby Uncle
I have to admit it: I’ve had a long-time crush on Joe Biden. He’s smart, charming, handsome, and has a sense of humor I find appealing. I mostly agree with his politics. I love the work he’s done fighting against domestic violence. But here’s what I don’t like…..he’s also quite grabby. If you look at pictures, there he is, almost…
Keeping It Together When You’re Pulled in Too Many Directions
Recently my roommate was out of town so I brought her dog with us when I was walking my own dog. As I cruised through the neighborhood with a hyper dog on each side, I felt a new appreciation for dog walkers. Apparently if they walk together, both dogs totally forget that they know how to heel and walk nicely.…
Playing Dress Up
“Playing dress-up begins at age five and never truly ends.” — Kate Spade I’ve never been much of a “girlie girl”. I don’t remember playing dress up at all as a child. I’ve never had much interest in make-up or clothes or fashion magazines. Honestly, if I didn’t have to go to work I’d live in yoga pants and never wear…
International Women’s Day: Why Does It Matter?
“Now all we need is to continue to speak the truth fearlessly, and we shall add to our number those who will turn the scale to the side of equal and full justice in all things.” — Lucy Stone In this age of social media, every day is a celebration of something: beer, roses, pandas and today, women. Some might…
Re-imagining the Past
This week I’ve been thinking a lot about how we re-imagine the past. It’s interesting how we look back at things from when we were younger and using today’s frame of reference, either judge them as better or worse than they were. There’s a couple of very striking examples of this that have come up over the past week. First,…
Rose Bak 