Becoming Her

Jeanetta Bodie
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Practical, research-informed education on women's health, hormones, pelvic health, strength training, mobility, and yoga. Learn how your body works and how to care for it through expert teaching, coaching resources, and movement practices. somamoonwellness.substack.com

  1. Sep 23

    Age is just a number, right?!

    I’ve been waiting my whole life to be old. When I was a child, adults kept telling me: “You’ll understand when you’re older.” “You’re not old enough yet.” “When you’re older, I’ll explain.” I imagined adulthood as an arrival place, one where age unlocked a vast storehouse of knowledge. As I’ve gotten older, and worked with hundreds of older bodies as a personal trainer and yoga teacher, I’ve had to question my own beliefs about what chronological age tells us. Chronological age matters. A body that has lived for 70 years is not the same as a body that has lived for 20. But the number alone cannot tell me how strong someone is, how well they balance, how quickly they recover, what they fear, what they practice, or what they are still capable of learning. The word “old” describes time lived. I don’t use it as a diagnosis, an insult, or a prediction of what someone’s body can still do. If you’re new here, welcome to Soma Moon Wellness. My name is Jeanetta Bodie and I’ve been teaching women’s health, strength training, and yoga for a decade. Soma Moon Wellness is women’s health education publication written be multiple yoga teachers to help you train for the life you want to live today. Our work on Substack is offered freely. Our subscription is a patron-based model. We would be extremely grateful for your financial support to keep this going. What happened when I put “older” on the flyer I live in Oro Valley, Arizona, a town of about 48,000 people with a median age of roughly 55—more than 16 years above the national median. Aging is not an abstract subject here. It is a daily conversation in the grocery store. Occasionally, I like to stir the old’s pot and last week I made two flyers for the same yoga offering. The images and most of the information were alike, but the language differed. One named “older bodies.” The other emphasized “recovery.” Some people disliked or felt offended by the age-based wording. Some stepped in to defend it or explain what they thought I meant. Others contacted me because they had not noticed a meaningful difference between the two flyers at all. “Recovery” describes a process. “Older” describes a person. For many, that word carries assumptions that were never printed on the page: fragile, limited, slow, dependent, no longer athletic, or in decline. Two definitions of Age Part of the confusion is that we use age to describe different things. Chronological age is the simple one: the amount of time since a person was born. Biological age is an estimate of how old the body appears based on how well its cells, tissues, and organ systems are functioning. I started thinking more carefully about this after reading an article by physician Elroy Vojdani about a recent Nature Medicine study. Researchers analyzed data from 154,169 UK Biobank participants younger than 55. They estimated biological age using a model based on chronological age and nine routine blood measurements, including markers related to inflammation, blood sugar, kidney and liver function, immune cells, and red blood cells. The researchers found that people born in more recent decades tended to have a larger gap between their estimated biological and chronological ages. They also found that a greater biological-age gap was associated with a higher risk of several early-onset solid cancers. Here is the plain-language version: Researchers found that people whose blood markers suggested they were biologically older than their actual age were more likely to develop certain cancers before age 55. Even simpler: Our bodies can age faster than the numbers on our cake each year. This study does not show that accelerated biological aging caused the cancers (let’s all take a breath here). It also does not mean that a biological-age calculation can predict one person’s future with certainty. Beliefs can alter the boundaries we accept My mom and I often talk about what she is capable of doing and what I believe she can do. Those are not always the same things. I push my mom pretty hard sometimes because we have talked about the lives we want to live. I want to be healthy enough to live on a sailboat. She wants to be healthy enough to come visit me. For her, that means being able to squat, get up and down from the floor, walk across uneven or moving surfaces, carry her luggage, and climb stairs. That may sound like a list of exercises, but it isn’t. It’s a list of physical requirements for the life she wants. If she loses those abilities, I am not going to love her any less. But parts of the life she wants may become unavailable to her because her physical capacity has become more limited. So I’m going to give you the same hard coaching talk I gave my mom. What you want matters because it gives your training direction. But wanting something does not prepare your body to do it. You may want to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon before you die. But if you are not training your body to control your descent, carry water and equipment, tolerate uneven terrain, and sustain hours of hiking, your desire alone will not get you safely down and back. A desire is not a training plan. Aging matters. Your body changes. Your health history matters. Injuries matter. Recovery matters. But your chronological age does not tell me everything I need to know about what your body can do or what it could learn to do. When I work with someone, I want to know: * What do you want to be able to do in your life? * What can your body do today? * What is currently limiting you? * What capacities will that life require? * What can we begin training now? Because the goal isn’t to become better at working out. The goal is to build a body capable of participating in the life you want to live. Want help building your training plan? I offer one-on-one coaching sessions specifically for this. This isn’t a session where I hand you a workout plan. We’ll start with your life and getting crystal clear on those questions above. Then we’ll work backward and identify the strength, mobility, balance, endurance, skills, and physical capacity that life requires. You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of what you’re actually training for and a practical plan for how to begin preparing your body for it. Would you come to this workshop? I’m also considering teaching an online workshop (free for paid subscriber) called What Does It Mean to Train for Life Instead of Training for the Gym? I’ll teach you how to look at the life you want to live, identify the physical capacities it requires, and begin thinking about training around those requirements—especially as your body changes with age. If you would attend, leave a comment or reply “interested.” Your body is changing. That does not mean your world has to get smaller. Yoga with Jeanetta I’m still offering twice a week yoga (with sneaky strength) on Tuesday and Thursdays at 8:30 am through November 19th. $15 cash or Venmo. No preregistration required. Location: Hydra BJJ at 10861 N Mavinee Dr Ste 155, Oro Valley, AZ 85737. I’m considering a Zoom yoga class and would love to know if anyone is interested. Leave me a comment if you’d like to see it happen. Reporting notes and sources * Tian, Z. et al. “Accelerated biological aging and rising early-onset cancer incidence across generations.” Nature Medicine (2026): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04448-w * Allen, J. O. et al. “Experiences of Everyday Ageism and the Health of Older US Adults.” JAMA Network Open(2022): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7742998/ * Chang, E.-S. et al. “Global reach of ageism on older persons’ health: A systematic review.” PLOS ONE (2020): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33317402/ * American College of Sports Medicine. Resistance training guidance and position stand (2026): https://acsm.org/resistance-training-guidelines-update-2026/ * Oro Valley demographic profile, U.S. Census Bureau data via Census Reporter: https://censusreporter.org/profiles/16000US0451600-oro-valley-az/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit somamoonwellness.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Jan 29

    Ever wonder why women's health advice feels so confusing?

    If you’ve ever felt confused about your health, you’re not imagining it. Maybe you’ve followed the advice you were given. You’ve tried to do the “right” things. You’ve listened to doctors, wellness experts, books, podcasts, and social media voices that all seemed confident in what they were saying. And yet, something still doesn’t quite add up in your own body. A lot of women tell us they feel like they’re constantly adjusting to new rules. What was once recommended is now questioned. What was once discouraged is now encouraged. And somehow, you’re expected to keep up without being given the context to understand why things changed in the first place. There’s often a quiet moment when you realize the problem isn’t that your body is unpredictable. It’s that the guidance around women’s health has shifted repeatedly, often without slowing down to help women integrate that information in a meaningful way. If this has left you feeling unsure of what to trust, or hesitant to fully commit to any single approach, you’re not broken. You’re responding to a system that hasn’t always made room for education, nuance, or lived experience. Women’s health hasn’t felt confusing by accident. It’s been shaped by decades of evolving beliefs, incomplete research, and cultural assumptions about women’s bodies. In the early 20th century, many women’s physical and emotional symptoms were dismissed as hysteria or nervousness. Pain, fatigue, anxiety, and hormonal changes were often attributed to weakness or temperament rather than investigated as legitimate health concerns. The body wasn’t something to understand. It was something to manage. By the 1950s, the framework shifted but the pattern remained. Health became closely tied to control. Calorie restriction was widely promoted, food was framed less as nourishment and more as discipline, and many women’s complaints were met with reassurance rather than deeper inquiry. Sedatives and tranquilizers were commonly prescribed for symptoms linked to stress, exhaustion, or the pressures of domestic life. The 1960s introduced major change alongside continued limitation. The birth control pill offered new reproductive control, yet medical authority remained largely paternalistic. Practices like twilight sleep during childbirth persisted, and women were often advised to restrict movement during menstruation. Even as options expanded, trust in women’s embodied experience lagged behind. In the 1970s, the women’s health movement began pushing back. Books like Our Bodies, Ourselves encouraged women to learn their anatomy and ask questions. Still, mixed messages were common. Exercise was promoted for stress relief and health, but strenuous activity during menstruation or practices like yoga inversions were frequently discouraged. Information increased, but clarity did not always follow. By the 1980s, health became increasingly defined by numbers. Exercise was framed as a way to burn calories. Diet culture emphasized eating less and moving more. A calorie deficit became a marker of discipline, success, and wellness. Many women learned to override body signals in the name of consistency and control. In the 1990s, hormone replacement therapy was widely promoted as protective against heart disease, while low-fat diets dominated nutritional guidance. Women were encouraged to trust medical advice, follow guidelines, and stay compliant. Yet much of the research informing those recommendations was based on male physiology, leaving women-specific questions about hormones, metabolism, and long-term outcomes only partially answered. In 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative study was halted early, and headlines announced increased cancer risk associated with certain hormone therapies. The sudden shift created widespread uncertainty. Many women and their providers were left navigating menopause care with incomplete information and few nuanced explanations for what the findings actually meant. In the 2010s and 2020s, new conversations emerged. Body acceptance and Health At Every Size movements challenged weight as the primary indicator of health. At the same time, medications like GLP-1 agonists gained approval for diabetes and later for weight loss. Public attention focused heavily on weight outcomes, while broader conversations about metabolism, inflammation, neurological health, and long-term integration remained less visible. Taken together, these decades tell a consistent story. Guidance has changed, sometimes dramatically. Context has often been missing. And women have been expected to adapt quickly, trusting new rules without being given the tools to fully understand how or why those rules evolved. When you step back and see the pattern, the confusion makes sense. Before you try to make sense of all the information you’ve absorbed over the years, pause and notice this: Take a breath and ask yourself one simple question:What health advice am I still following out of habit, not clarity? You don’t need to change anything yet. Just notice.This isn’t about fixing your body or finding the “right” answer. It’s about creating enough space to recognize what you’ve inherited, what you’ve questioned, and what no longer fits. Confusion is often a sign that your body is asking for context, not correction. Soma Moon Wellness is an online education and wellness platform designed to help women learn, reflect, and practice integration over time, rather than chase quick answers or rigid rules. If you want to explore this work more deeply, you’ll find it here: * The Whole Self Library — foundational education to help you understand your body, nervous system, and health across seasons of life * The Movement Hub — accessible movement practices that support integration, not performance * The Soma Moon Podcast — ongoing conversations that slow the narrative down and add context where it’s been missing Think of Soma Moon as a place to make sense of what you’ve been given, reconnect with your own experience, and build trust in your ability to choose what’s right for you. Be well, Be Blessed, Be Loved. The Soma Moon Team This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit somamoonwellness.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Jan 14

    Before We Get Deep Into Vagina Therapy, Here’s Where I’ve Been

    Before we get deep into vaginas (ha! pelvic floor jokes—yes, she’s got jokes), I want to start with a proper introduction. For anyone new here, and for my friends who’ve been asking where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing since the studio closed—this is for you. Over the next few months, I’ll be sharing personal reflections on how yoga therapy helped me, what it really is, and why integration matters. This work began for me in a place of confusion, not lack. I had more access than ever to women’s health education, research, and resources. What I was missing wasn’t information. It was how to live what I knew. How to integrate insight into my daily life, innovate my own wellness instead of outsourcing it, and create life rather than just manage symptoms. This story is where that began for me. My name is Jeanetta Bodie. I’m a pelvic health yoga therapist. I’ve been studying, teaching, and coaching women’s health for almost a decade. But more importantly, I’ve been examining my own life. I’ve been integrating what’s true, and doing the painful work of letting go of beliefs (and sometimes relationships) that I kept long past their expiration date. If you want more context, you can listen to the podcast Steph helped me record last week. It felt vulnerable and exciting to step into my voice in a new way. Over the past four years, I’ve been working on creating a new kind of community and coaching model. What most people don’t know is that it didn’t start as a business idea, but as a journal entry. Years before Iron Crane Yoga had a name, I was writing these words to myself. I wasn’t trying to start anything or build a vision, not realizing at the time that this is how a brand is actually formed. I was paying attention to how I wanted to show up when I walked into a room, how I wanted to leave it, and imagining how those words from my journal might give hope to someone else. When Iron Crane Yoga opened in September 2022, it wasn’t an accident or a reinvention. It was my way of seeing if those ideas could exist in real life. The studio became one of my most creative accomplishments. And for a time, it did exactly what I hoped it would do. There was community.Growth.Celebration.Self-awareness.Rest.Friendship.Challenge.Beauty.Leadership.Peace. Iron Crane Yoga was one of the most meaningful personal and professional accomplishments of my life. And it came at a very high cost. (More on business leadership later.) After two years of ownership, I finally had enough staff to take a vacation. We packed up our Sprinter van, that we named after Rebel Wilson’s Pitch Perfect character Fat Amy (#crushedit), and took off for the month of July. We had a loose direction and a desired outcome, but the van (and my husband’s incredible navigation and weather-vane skills) gives us the freedom to hold plans loosely. Most nights ended around a campfire, or inside a bug net if we were in Colorado, where it rains daily and breeds pterodactyl-sized mosquitoes. We’d talk about what we wanted to do the next day and what we loved about today. It took about two weeks of being out of studio-management mode, supported by really hard, fatiguing mountain biking, to exhaust my body enough to quiet my mind. That’s when some very real, very uncomfortable conversations with my husband began. Conversations about our family’s vision and hopes for our marriage. I love being married and I love having a teammate who reminds me through his words and actions that we are on the same team. Still, I used to get extremely emotionally activated when he challenged a decision or life choice that felt sacred to me. While I was wrestling with the studio’s place in our life, my instinct was always to do more or be better, believing that if I were enough, things would work and I wouldn’t be “failing.” It took many tear-filled conversations, and a willingness to stay present with a familiar tension, before I could finally hear the sadness he was holding for me. We talked about how hard I was working for an outcome I didn’t always have control over. We looked honestly at the extremely tight profit margins yoga studios operate under, and the cost of that effort. My health. My time. My energy. The revenue. The profit. I was finally able to see that the business model was broken, not me. I remember sitting on a mountain above Purgatory Bike Park, crying, and knowing it was safe to say out loud to the one person in the world who truly has my best interest at heart, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” The truth was terrifying. And it started a twelve-month journey to develop and execute an exit strategy. I explored everything. Could I sell it?Would it work without me?Was it valuable enough—or would I be handing someone else the same impossible situation?Could I turn it into a community-run nonprofit?Could I take one last swing and build a team to share the load? Ironically, the work kept growing. And the profit kept shrinking. At the same time, in January 2025, I started a second business with about as much clarity as a blind person climbing Everest. I had been working with Steph for four months, and it felt like two opposite planets colliding, forcefully and magnetically. She saw the world differently than I did. She had skills I didn’t. And I knew that whatever was coming next, I needed her. I grabbed on and refused to let go. (You can read our story or listen to it on our podcast.) I realized a reinvented version of Iron Crane Yoga wasn’t going to happen. The next monster I had to face was closing my business—ending the life of something deeply precious. Closing a business is as hard as opening one. Managing logistics while protecting my heart, and witnessing the grief of our members, nearly broke me. I think it actually did. I told the landlord in February that I wouldn’t be renewing the lease in September. I sent a prayer into the universe asking if I could be done by June, before our annual van trip in July. I had already been turned down when I offered to buy out my lease with money I didn’t have. On June 10, the day after my birthday, an email came through. Someone wanted the space as early as the end of June. As a penny-pinching sole entrepreneur, it felt like Willy Wonka handing me a golden ticket. For the next three weeks, I pushed hard. I tucked my emotions into a protective turtle shell and focused on logistics. Behind the scenes, I was trying to close Iron Crane with as much integrity as possible while also pushing to create something new inside Soma worthy of being loved. I was still performing out of fear and “enoughness.” I burned every candle in my body. I tried to be a good business partner, knowing I was the one benefiting most. I tried to protect the community from disappointment. I tried to look like I had my s**t together and not bother my husband. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, I wrecked my bike and broke a few ribs. I tried to make everyone happy at the cost of myself. A recurring theme in my life. On the last Friday in June, I came into the studio for my own quiet closing ritual. I forgave. I blessed. I expressed gratitude. Then I called a friend who owns a farm in Minnesota and understands hard work without a guaranteed harvest. I cried. I told her I just needed someone to witness the grief. I taught my last class like it was the greatest gift I could give. Then I set my mat in the back of the room and watched my mom teach the community’s last class, tears streaming shamelessly down my face. After 6 months of hibernation, I’m realizing the point of all this wasn’t the studio. It wasn’t the programs, the schedule, or the sign on the building. It was never about how long something lasted or how much it grew. The point was learning how to listen when life asks you to change shape. Learning how to let something meaningful end without turning it into a failure. Learning how to trust that what was created doesn’t disappear just because the doors close. It gets carried forward in people. In conversations. In bodies that learned how to feel again. In leadership that didn’t exist before. Iron Crane Yoga scattered seeds. Of faith. Of insight. Of courage. Of leadership. Those seeds don’t belong to me anymore. They live wherever someone learned to unify their head, their heart, and their body, and bring more truth into the spaces they enter. Closing the physical doors reminded me of something just as important. That I am one person. That one step at a time matters. That I don’t have to hold everything to keep something alive. What remains is the work I’ve always been practicing. Creating authentic invitations. Helping people meet what is sacred by coming back into their bodies and their lives with honesty. Letting what wants to grow, grow. And letting what needs to end, end cleanly. This is not the end of the story. It’s the integration of it. Until next time, Be loved.Be blessed.Be well. — Jeanetta Bodie This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit somamoonwellness.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Jan 9

    You’re Not Broken. You’re Just Not Feeling It Yet

    I want to start this month by introducing you to the first course in our Whole Self education series, Empower Your Core. But before I talk about the program, I want to tell you who created it and why. I am Jeanetta Bodie. I am a yoga therapist, strength coach, and educator, and I have been teaching movement and women’s health for over a decade. I did not come to this work because everything worked perfectly in my body. I came to it because things were not working. Like many women I now support, I spent years doing all the right things. Training hard. Pushing through discomfort. Trusting that if I just tried harder, my body would cooperate. Instead, I met injury, pain, postpartum recovery, a miscarriage, and a nervous system that stayed on high alert long after the danger had passed. What I learned through my own body first, and then through years of study and practice, is that most women are not broken. They are overloaded and under supported. Often they are being asked to apply advice that does not account for hormones, stress, history, or real life. Empower Your Core was created from that place. One of the most common things women say to me sounds like this: “I didn’t even know I had a pelvic floor until it stopped working.”“I’m doing kegels and nothing is changing.”“I feel disconnected from my body.” Yes, the pelvic floor is made up of muscles. Yes, strength principles apply. But we don’t relate to this part of the body the way we do a shoulder or a quad. We can’t see it. We weren’t taught about it. Many of us were taught not to touch it, not to ask questions, not to feel it. So we end up trying to strengthen something we don’t actually have a relationship with. And the nervous system doesn’t work that way. Sensory input is how the brain gets information about muscles. Where they are. How much tension they are holding. Whether they are shortening, lengthening, or stuck somewhere in between. That information is what allows the nervous system to coordinate when to activate and when to relax. Most of us were only taught one half of that conversation. We learned how to squeeze.We learned how to hold.We learned how to do a Kegel. But no one taught us how to turn it off. A lot of leaking, pain, and disconnection happens not because the pelvic floor is weak, but because it has been holding all day long. Without access to relaxation and movement, strength doesn’t have anywhere to go. That’s why I talk about pelvic floor toning instead of kegels. A toned muscle isn’t just strong. It has range. It can shorten and lengthen. It can turn on and turn off when you actually need it to. Empower Your Core is not a workout program. It is not about fixing your body or doing exercises perfectly. It is a structured, self paced education designed to help you rebuild awareness, coordination, and trust in your pelvic floor and core, using tools your nervous system can actually receive. Think of it as more of a daily devotional practice. Inside the program, we explore: * Pelvic floor anatomy in plain, functional language * Why tightness does not equal strength and often makes symptoms worse * How stress, breath, hormones, and movement influence pelvic floor function * Practical breath and movement practices that support daily life * How to coordinate your core with lifting, carrying, exercise, and intimacy * How to work with postpartum changes, perimenopause, or cycle shifts instead of fighting them The course includes video lessons, written reflections, visuals, and downloadable resources so you can absorb the material in a way that works for you. You can learn more about Empower Your Core or explore enrollment on our website at somamoonwellness.com. When women begin this work, the first thing that usually changes is not their symptoms. It’s their relationship with their body. They stop blaming themselves.They realize they are not the only one.Their nervous system softens just enough to start listening again. In my yoga therapy sessions, I often begin with two simple questions:What am I feeling today?What has my attention? Those questions create space for awareness. From there, we can figure out whether the work is physical, nervous system based, emotional, or layered across all of it. That approach is woven throughout Empower Your Core. This is not about pushing or forcing change. It is about learning how to listen and respond with more clarity and compassion. If this work resonates, here are a few ways to go deeper over the next couple of months: Empower Your CoreStart the course. It’s self paced, but think of it less like a program and more like a daily self-study practice. It’s also basically like having me as your coach, without the scheduling gymnastics or calendar Tetris. Substack Live | January 22 at 4 pm PTWhy Strength Isn’t Working (Yet): Pelvic Floor Awareness for Real LifeI’m hosting a free live conversation and gentle practice exploring why effort alone often stops working and what awareness actually changes. This will be my first LIVE, so fingers crossed Mercury behaves, the tech cooperates, and we all pretend this isn’t a big deal. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it! Small Group Pelvic Health Yoga Classes | Starting in FebruaryI love teaching. It’s one of the things I miss most since closing the studio. I can already hear your resistance to online, and I get it. But hear me out. What if it actually works better than driving across town and finding parking? Drop in 15 minutes early if you want to hang out and say hi. One-on-One Pelvic Floor Yoga TherapyThis is where the integrative magic happens. In these private, individualized sessions, we can do a deep dive into a specific concern, restore awareness, and build trust in your body at a pace that feels sustainable. You don’t have to do all of it. You don’t have to rush. You don’t have to know exactly where this leads. You just have to start listening. With care,Jeanetta Bodie Soma Moon Wellness This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit somamoonwellness.substack.com/subscribe

  5. 12/23/2025

    When the Holidays Stir What You Thought You’d Moved Past

    The holidays add stress to a body that’s already carrying a lot. Old stories get triggered. Family patterns reappear. Grief resurfaces in quiet ways. Your nervous system responds to all of it even when you’re telling yourself you should be fine. It’s completely normal to feel the pull of both longing and loss this time of year. Your body is simply responding to everything it remembers. And whether those memories are joyful or painful, they live in the tissues, in the breath, and in the small protective contractions we don’t always notice. If this season feels heavier than you expected, there’s nothing wrong with you. The Biology Behind Holiday Stress and Emotional Fatigue Grief is not just emotional. It’s biological. Your nervous system doesn’t sort stress into categories. It doesn’t care if the trigger is a comment from a relative, an empty chair at the table, the pressure to show up cheerful, or a memory that surfaces out of nowhere. It responds the same way every time: by turning down your logical brain and turning up your alarm system. This is why you may feel foggy, irritable, exhausted, or overwhelmed without a clear reason. You’re not failing. Your biology keeping you safe, exactly what it was designed to do! Your body also remembers long after your mind has moved on. Sounds, smells, traditions, and routines can cue physiological memory before you consciously register what’s happening. When sadness, tightness, or fatigue appears suddenly, it’s often your nervous system saying, “This feels familiar. Let me protect you.” And yes—this time of year is more tiring. Even “good” stress requires energy. Your system is constantly adjusting, anticipating, remembering, and trying to stay present. No wonder you’re craving rest, sugar, or quiet. Tears aren’t regression. They’re release. Crying completes a stress cycle. It’s how the body softens instead of storing. A simple reminder for this season You don’t have to override what you feel. You’re allowed to take breaks, leave early, say no, choose quiet, feel both joy and sadness, move slowly, and remember what mattered. Being human isn’t an inconvenience—it’s the whole point. If your body feels activated, tender, or depleted, Yoga Nidra can be a powerful support. It’s a guided rest practice that helps your nervous system downshift without effort—no fixing, no performing. Doraine Bennett recorded a gentle Yoga Nidra specifically for moments like this: when emotions are close to the surface and your body needs a place to land. Let this be a place where you don’t have to hold it together and where your body gets permission to rest and release. Soma Moon Resource Section If you’d like to explore this work further, we invite you to explore more resources and was to work with us: Movement HubGuided practices and reflections shared here on Substack, including short videos, audio practices, and written prompts designed to support your nervous system in real time. These are meant to meet you where you are—no fixing, just support. Empower Your Core A self-paced online course teaching pelvic floor awareness, breath, nervous system regulation, and cyclical understanding. This work is about reconnecting with your body, building trust from the inside out, and learning how to work with your system instead of against it. Starting January membership includes once a month group yoga therapy and a once a month pelvic health focused yoga class. Yoga Therapy Private SessionsOne-on-one sessions designed to support pelvic health, nervous system regulation, and whole-self integration. These sessions are tailored to your body, history, and goals, offering individualized guidance when you need deeper or more specific support. Please reply to this newsletter if you’d like to learn more. For Anyone Feeling Tender This Season You’re not too emotional. You’re not overreacting. You’re not broken for feeling deeply. You’re a body with memory. A heart with history. A nervous system doing its best with everything it has carried. If this post resonated, you’re welcome here. Soma Moon Wellness is a space for slowing down, noticing, and learning how to work with your body instead of against. Soma Moon Wellness is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and practices like this, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Be gentle with yourself. You’re not alone in this. Be Loved. Be well. Be Blessed. The Soma Moon Team Soma Moon Wellness is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Stay connected You can explore programs, gatherings, and movement classes at Soma Moon Wellness: * Website: somamoonwellness.com * Substack * Facebook * YouTube If this episode resonated with you, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend who might need the reminder that her worth isn’t earned. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit somamoonwellness.substack.com/subscribe

  6. 12/04/2025

    Why Your Pelvic Floor Acts Up During the Holidays

    Hi friend, So Substack sent me an email this morning with a challenge to go live today. And I thought—what the hell. I love a good challenge, and honestly, I’m in a season of facing my own fears and insecurities… so I hit “go live” with messy hair, sweats, and zero perfection. When I watched the replay later my very first thought was:“I like me.” So thank you, Substack Team, for the nudge to be bold and the reminder that we don’t have to clean ourselves up to be worth listening to. Why Your Pelvic Floor Acts Up During the Holidays In the live, I talked about something I see all the time: * leaking that suddenly comes back * low back or sacral pain that flares * sciatic-type pain that seems to show up out of nowhere Here’s the reframe: It’s not because you’ve “let yourself go.”It’s not because you’re not strong enough.It’s not you failing at the end of the year. It’s your nervous system being overloaded. Your pelvic floor is directly connected to your breathing diaphragm.When stress ramps up, your breath changes—shorter, higher in your chest, more bracing. Your pelvic floor mirrors that. As stress piles on (family dynamics, grief, travel, money, expectations, a to-do list that never ends), your system shifts into protection mode. Protection mode in the body can look like: * gripping and tension around the pelvis and low back * nerve irritation that feels like sciatica * leaking or urgency that feels embarrassing and “out of nowhere” The pain and symptoms you feel are 100% real.They’re just not random.They’re your brain and body trying to hold it all together. A Different Way to Meet This Season Winter, in nature, is a time of withdrawal.I joked on the live that it’s like Mother Nature is on her period—she wants to be cozy, quiet, less “on display.” Your body often wants the same thing. Two invitations I shared: * Use your voice.Your throat and your pelvic floor are deeply connected.Saying “no” to the holiday card, the extra trip, the thing you’re dreading… is not selfish.It’s nervous system care. * Practice balance, not just “tighten.”Gone are the days of 1980s “Kegels, Kegels, Kegels.”Pelvic health is about full range of motion:learning how to engage when you need support and how to un-grip so your body can rest. In the video, I walk you through a simple breath and pelvic floor practice you can do lying on the floor or sitting in a chair—using your sit bones, breath, and a lot of permission to let your belly go. If You Want More Support If this landed for you and you want to go deeper: * Empower Your Core – my pelvic-floor-focused course with short, floor-based practices and education so you can actually understand what’s happening in your body. * The Movement Hub – a free yoga library with gentle, restorative, and somatic practices that are perfect for this season. You can find both at somamoonwellness.com. And because this first live was actually fun (who knew?!), I’d love to do more. If you have pelvic health, nervous system, yoga, strength training, or totally random questions you want answered, just hit reply and send them my way. Your questions will shape the next live. Be well.Be blessed.Be loved. Jeanetta 💛Pelvic Health Yoga TherapistCo-founder, Soma Moon Wellness This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit somamoonwellness.substack.com/subscribe

  7. 09/11/2025

    Episode 35 - How Storytelling Helps You Heal and Re-Emerge

    Episode Summary This week, Jeanetta opens up about the past four months of unexpected challenges, including three significant mountain bike crashes that left her with broken ribs and a fractured pinky. Rather than hiding away, she shares what it’s looked like to slow down, process, and find presence in the midst of disruption. In this vulnerable solo episode, Jeanetta reflects on how life’s interruptions can become invitations — to pause, to feel, and to reconnect with your body’s wisdom. She explores what it means to show up honestly, even when things aren’t polished or perfect, and how storytelling helps us move through pain toward meaning. In this episode you’ll hear: * Jeanetta’s honest account of three consecutive bike crashes and their physical/emotional impact * How slowing down created space for presence and self-reflection * Why hiding can sometimes be protective — and how to re-emerge with intention * The power of storytelling as a tool for healing, connection, and marketing differently * An invitation to honor your own seasons of setback, rest, and renewal If you’ve been navigating a hard season, this episode will remind you that you’re not alone — and that your body, your story, and your timing are all worthy of respect. Resources & Ways to Connect * Website: somamoonwellness.com * Substack: Subscribe for updates and reflections * Instagram: @somamoonwellness * Questions or requests? Email Jeanetta at jeanetta@somamoonwellness.com Edited and produced with love by Steph Woods. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit somamoonwellness.substack.com/subscribe

  8. 09/03/2025

    Episode 34 - Becoming Her Stories

    Episode Summary This week, Jeanetta welcomes a very special guest—her mom, Doraine. After an unexpected bike crash and a broken collarbone, Jeanetta calls in reinforcements to introduce a new project close to both of their hearts: Becoming Her Stories. Together they share the vision behind this five-week storytelling workshop and podcast series, designed to help women reflect on their lives, write their stories, and celebrate their journeys in community. Doraine brings her decades of experience as a writer, editor, and creative coach, while Jeanetta brings her love for podcasting and authentic conversation. The result? A unique blend of healing, storytelling, and ecosystem marketing that amplifies women’s voices while supporting their businesses and leadership. In this episode you’ll hear: * Doraine’s background in writing, editing, and guiding others to tell their stories * Why storytelling is both healing and transformative * How the 5-week workshop helps participants move from free-writing to a polished story * The role of befriending your inner critic in the creative process * How Becoming Her Stories integrates authentic marketing and collective amplification * Opportunities for participants, including blog features, podcast interviews, and professional photography If you’ve ever felt like your story doesn’t matter—or that it’s too overwhelming to tell—this episode will encourage you to take it one bite at a time, honor your resilience, and step onto the stage with the support of a community cheering you on. Resources & Ways to Connect: * Website: somamoonwellness.com * Substack: Subscribe for updates and reflections * Instagram: @somamoonwellness * Questions or requests? Email Jeanetta at jeanetta@somamoonwellness.com Edited and produced with love by Steph Woods. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit somamoonwellness.substack.com/subscribe

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Practical, research-informed education on women's health, hormones, pelvic health, strength training, mobility, and yoga. Learn how your body works and how to care for it through expert teaching, coaching resources, and movement practices. somamoonwellness.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Jeanetta Bodie
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    45
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Soma Moon Wellness
  • Show Website
    Becoming Her