Katharina Claeys Yoga & Yoganestling

Katharina Claeys Yoga & Yoganestling Katharina is registered Yoga Medicine® Therapeutic Specialist & RYT-500, Pregnancy, Children & Baby Yoga teacher.
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She emphasizes on optimizing physical & physiological function by combining anatomy & physiology in relation to modern science & research. Katharina has been practicing yoga since 2014 with highly experienced teachers from around the world (e.g. Jason Crandell, Tiffany Cruikshank) and is a registered Yoga Medicine® Therapeutic Specialist and a RYT 500 Yoga Teacher. She completed the Yoga Medicine® 500h teachers program and is currently enrolled in the Yoga Medicine® 1000h teachers program. Her first Yoga Training was her RYT 200 with IndivYoga in 2019. As qualified Pregnancy Yoga (RPYT, 2020), Childrens Yoga Teacher (RCYT, 2024) and Baby Yoga teacher (2021), she continuously furthers her teaching techniques and knowledge with Tiffany Cruikshank, Rachel Land and other Yoga Medicine® teachers. Katharina’s classes are accessible to beginners as well as seasoned practitioners and are adapted to all health conditions and ages. By giving every student the space, respect and attention they deserve, she is committed to the growth of her clients and teaches with the hope that each student will find the spark they need to stay present, playful and inspired during their time on and off the mat. Breathing exercises, myofascial release techniques (MFR) and meditation are a key aspect of her classes. In her 1:1 sessions, Katharina creates individualized therapeutic yoga practices. She emphasizes on optimizing physical and physiological function by combining anatomy, physiology, mental health, in relation to modern science and research.

07/09/2026

“If you can’t swallow 3 times in a row, your vagus nerve is in survival mode.”

A woman I work with sent me this “test” in a panic. And I get it — it sounds scientific. But it isn’t.

What’s true:
The vagus nerve is involved in swallowing.

What’s not:
Swallowing is not a vagus-nerve solo. Multiple cranial nerves, many muscles, and a complex network in the brainstem coordinate the process.

So why does swallowing 3 times in a row often get difficult?

Because dry swallows need saliva. After a few swallows, there’s simply less available. The next swallow becomes harder.

That is not evidence of “survival mode.”

And HRV? It can provide information about cardiac vagal regulation under appropriate conditions — but it is not a direct “vagus nerve test” or a simple measure of your overall nervous system state.

The problem with viral body hacks like this?

They can turn a completely normal physiological response into a diagnosis.

And then the thought “Something is wrong with my nervous system” can create the very stress the test supposedly identified.

🌿 Your nervous system is not a broken machine that a swallowing test can expose.

Save this for later — and send it to the friend currently testing her vagus nerve at the kitchen table. 😉

What viral “body hack” should I fact-check next?

24/08/2026

Years of stress can live in your shoulders.

Have you ever noticed how your shoulders slowly creep up toward your ears?

Your body is always communicating with you. Sometimes, all it needs is for you to pause and listen.

This gentle shoulder stretch is an invitation to soften, release built-up tension, and remind your nervous system that it’s safe to relax.

From a TCM perspective, the arms are also home to several important meridians, including the Heart and Pericardium meridians.

Both are connected with the way we relate to stress, connection, and the experience of holding or letting go.

As we transition into late summer, there’s an invitation to slow down, come back to centre, and create a little more space — in the body and beyond.

Maybe this is your reminder today: you don’t have to carry everything so high on your shoulders. 🤍

Where does your body hold stress the most?
Let me know in the comments 👇🏽

Follow for more nervoussystem health and lasting resilience.

25/03/2026

Pema Chödrön writes in When Things Fall Apart
something I haven’t been able to shake:

What we discipline is never our “weakness.”

What we discipline is the urge to escape — from the moment, from the body, from what’s actually here.

Your system knows this pull.

Scrolling.
Eating.
Staying busy.
Not because you lack willpower — but because somewhere, something got too much.

Real discipline isn’t about clenching harder.
It’s about building the capacity to stay — even when it’s uncomfortable.

Not willpower.
Capacity.

That’s the shift.

💾 Save this if it lands.

Follow me for nervous system science and the books nobody talks about — not what’s trending, but what actually works.

Can you see discipline in this light? Tell me below 👇🏽

I am rooting for you 🤍

We think we’re in control.And then swipe. 👉What we can actually consciously control?Shockingly little.Heartbeat,Breath,D...
23/03/2026

We think we’re in control.
And then swipe. 👉

What we can actually consciously control?

Shockingly little.

Heartbeat,
Breath,
Digestion,
Sleep,
Hormones,
Immune system —
all of it runs automatically.

In the background.

All the time.

Regulated by the nervous system.

Without you doing a thing.

This isn’t a flaw.

This is design.

I’ve learned this across many phases of life —
through work & law, through teaching at university, through motherhood.

And I see it every day with the women I work with.

Whether it’s exhaustion,
sleep problems, or
the feeling of no longer understanding
your own body:

The body isn’t just “doing its thing.”

It’s responding to what you’re signaling to it.

The question isn’t: how do I control more?

The question is: what am I signaling to my nervous system right now?

That’s the difference.

That’s the work I love. 🌿

Many approaches start with the brain.

With thinking.
With mindset.

I work differently.

Because the nervous system doesn’t only live in the head —
it lives in the body.

In the breath.

In the tension of the muscles.

In the rhythm of sleep.

In the gut.

The body is not the tool of regulation.

It is the regulation.

That’s why we need ALL components.

The women who work with me often arrive leading with their heads.

With analysis.

With the desire to understand.

And they leave with something different —
with a body that feels safe again.

More energy.
Deeper sleep.
Less reactive.

Not because they controlled more.
But because they stopped fighting.

💬 Do you tend to start with your head or your body?
I believe in you 🤍

20/03/2026

There’s a point right next to your nostril that works the moment you press it.

LI-20. Large Intestine 20. Yingxiang — Welcome Fragrance.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this point opens:

• the nose when congested
• the head when foggy and heavy
• and — this surprises most people — it belongs to the Large Intestine Meridian

The Large Intestine in TCM is about:

• Letting go
• Letting go of thoughts
• Letting go of control
• Letting go of what you no longer need

For people who carry a lot, think a lot, are responsible for a lot — that’s not a coincidence.

I’ve experienced this myself, and it’s one of the meridians I return to most in my work with clients.

How to use it:
– Find the hollow right beside your nostril
– Press gently but firmly
– Exhale
– Notice what changes

📌 Save this for the next time your head feels full.

👉🏼 Tried it? Tell me — was it just your nose, or did you feel it in your head too?

17/03/2026

“thin” is being sold as an ideal again —
and it has real consequences for our health.

→ Muscle mass disappears
Muscles protect joints, support posture, keep us strong long-term.

→ Bone density declines
Osteoporosis doesn’t start in old age — it starts in the years we underfuel.

→ Pregnancy & breastfeeding
During pregnancy, the body transfers calcium to the baby — at the expense of the mother’s bones.
Breastfeeding intensifies this: studies show up to 5% bone density loss in the first months of nursing.
Whoever starts with low reserves has less buffer.

→ Perimenopause
Estrogen decline and muscle loss happen together.
Whoever already has little substance feels it more.

→ The nervous system shifts into survival mode
Chronic undernourishment isn’t an aesthetic win — it’s a stress signal the body never forgets.

A lean body can be healthy.
But a body starving to be thin — is not.

Thin is not a health goal.
Strong, stable, and well-nourished is.

Sources in the first comment ↓

—
If you feel ready —
physically and from within —
just send me a DM. I’d love to hear from you.

From functioning to inner stability —
because your body deserves success AND health.

Follow for more on nervous system health, bone health & inner stability.

15/03/2026

The wellness industry has done something quietly damaging:

It turned nervous system regulation into a product.

Buy this.
Track that.
Optimise your recovery score.

And somehow, in all that optimising, we lose the very connection we were looking for.

I see this in my work every week.

Women who are doing everything right on paper.

The app.
The routine.
The supplements.

And still feeling disconnected from themselves.

Because self-optimisation and self-connection are not the same thing.

One is performance management.
The other is actually listening.

Real body awareness doesn’t come from a dashboard.

It comes from learning to hear your body before it has to shout.

That’s not a product.

That’s a practice.

And it’s the only thing that has ever actually worked for me, and for the women I work with.

Save this if it resonates. 🌿 DM me if you want to step out of this constant functioning into leading with inner stability.

19/02/2026

“Chew properly” isn’t just something your grandmother said.
It’s nervous system training. 🧠🥕

Most of us don’t really chew anymore.

We…
• eat in front of a screen
• swallow between meetings
• live on soft food, snacks, coffee
• and then wonder why jaw, neck and digestion feel “off”

From a nervous system perspective, chewing is a powerful input:
• your jaw muscles create a lot of force
• that force is sensed and sent via the trigeminal nerve straight into the brainstem
• which helps organise muscle tone, posture and protective responses
• plus: chewing prepares your whole digestive system

That’s why real food + real chewing (carrot, apple, nuts…) can feel so different in your body than soft food inhaled in 3 minutes.

🧠 Why I’m not a big fan of constant gum:
• many gums = sweeteners and additives
• nonstop chewing can overload jaw muscles and joints
• and for stressed nervous systems it easily becomes another way to “push through” tension instead of regulating it

From a TCM lens, the area around mouth & jaw is linked to Stomach/Spleen – the “Earth” element that digests food and experiences.
Always biting, never really resting? Very on-brand for an overworked Earth element.

This doesn’t mean “never eat soft food” or “never chew gum again”.
It’s an invitation to notice what your body does when you actually slow down and chew.

⸻

👀 Try this once today:
Sit down with something crunchy, chew slower than usual and just notice jaw, tongue, neck, breath and belly.

Then tell me in the comments:
What’s your chewing style on a normal workday?

💌 If you want to learn more about a healthy nervous system and have the success your body can actually hold DM ready for a get to know call for my 1:1 work.

I am rooting for you 🤍

26/01/2026

What your child (and your team) needs most from you
isn’t perfection.

It’s a real nervous system.

Real looks like:
• admitting “today feels hard” instead of pretending you’re fine
• letting tears come when something truly hurts
• saying “I don’t know yet, but I’m working on it”
• apologising when you snapped because you were overwhelmed

When kids see us be real, they learn:
it’s okay to feel,
it’s safe to be honest,
they don’t have to shut down parts of themselves
to be loved or accepted.

Being real also means meeting yourself and your kids
with compassion instead of criticism.

Your reactions are human.
Your nervous system is trying to protect you.
From there, change becomes so much easier.

And yes – the same is true in leadership.
The people you lead don’t need a flawless robot.
They need a human who can notice their own stress response,
take a breath, repair when needed
and stay in connection.

If you want to build that kind of inner safety –
for yourself, your family and your leadership:

👉 DM me “REAL”
and I’ll share how we can work together
1:1 or in my group programme Resilience Within. 🌿💛

Follow me for more tools on Resilience, yoga, mindfulness and success your body can hold.

25/01/2026

You might think you’re afraid of failure.

In reality, you’re afraid of the sensations in your body that come with it.

💥 racing heart
💥 heat in your face
💥 tightness in your chest
💥 thoughts like: “Now everyone will see I’m not that good.”

So you delay decisions.
You perfect.
You wait for the “right moment”.

But:

Failure is not a verdict on your character.

Failure is feedback.

And your nervous system can learn to hold that feedback.

A few questions that can help:

• What would be a mini experiment that’s allowed to “fail”?

• Where could you show up deliberately imperfect today – and still stay safe?

• How can you regulate your body while you’re doing something scary (breath, movement, self-talk)?

The more often you take these small risks,
the less failure feels like the end of the world –
and the more it becomes what it truly is:

➡️ information that helps you learn faster.

💬 I’m curious:
What’s one mini-failure you’re willing to allow this week – just to learn?

💙 If this resonates, feel free to like, share, follow and connect.

📬 For weekly nervous system & resilience tools,
sign up for my “Resilience within” newsletter – link in bio DE or EN and dm me if you feel ready for a shift in your life and journey - I’d be happy to walk beside yours

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