Returning to Rhythm: The Medicine of Daily Flow with Yoga & Reiki

Stephanie Westfall
Jun 10
3 min read

A smudge stick, incense, glass vials, and a wooden stick are in a dish on a windowsill next to an open book with a blue cover.

There’s a quiet hum inside each of us—a steady pulse beneath the noise of modern life. It’s not the rhythm of our to-do lists or the expectations we’ve internalized. It’s the rhythm of our own body: our breath, our heartbeat, our energy as it rises and falls like the tide.

This week, we begin our journey not by doing more, but by tuning in to what already is. In a world that glorifies hustle, it’s a radical act to ask:

What is my rhythm? And what happens when I honor it?

The Body Has a Beat

The body knows. Long before the mind can make sense of anything, the body responds. It gets tired. It gets hungry. It tightens when boundaries are crossed. It opens when we feel safe.

But when we override those signals—when we eat on autopilot, skip rest, or push past our capacity—our rhythm begins to distort. We lose track of what nourishes us. We move out of sync with our natural flow.

The path back isn’t complicated. It’s about coming home to the simplicity of listening.

This week, we ask: What if self-love isn’t a feeling, but a rhythm we return to?

Rhythm as Ritual

Establishing rhythm doesn’t mean creating a rigid schedule. It’s about building rituals that align with your energy—not against it.

✨ Maybe it’s 5 minutes of breathwork before checking your phone.

✨ Maybe it’s a short walk after lunch instead of diving back into tasks.

✨ Maybe it’s noticing that 3pm crash and choosing tea + rest over caffeine + push.

It’s not about perfection. It’s about honoring the sacred relationship between your body and time.

Yoga & Reiki: Pathways to Alignment

Both yoga and Reiki offer access points into rhythm. Slow, intuitive movement in yoga helps us notice how energy flows. A simple Reiki self-practice—even just placing hands on your low belly and breathing—can realign your internal rhythm after a stressful moment.

These aren’t just “practices”—they’re reminders. That we are cyclical beings. That healing doesn’t always move in straight lines. That flow often requires stillness first.

The Rhythm of Autoimmune Healing

For those of us living with autoimmune conditions—whether celiac disease, thyroid disorders, or other forms of chronic inflammation—rhythm can feel disrupted on a deep, cellular level.

Our bodies have spent years navigating confusion and over-activation. We may have felt betrayed by our own systems. Fatigue, brain fog, digestive discomfort, joint pain—these aren’t just symptoms; they are messengers, asking us to slow down and re-establish harmony.

Healing isn’t linear. It asks us to tune in daily, even moment to moment.

Living with celiac disease, for example, requires constant awareness—of what we eat, how we nourish ourselves, and how our bodies respond. This isn’t just about restriction; it’s about rebuilding trust. Trusting hunger. Trusting fullness. Trusting rest.

And for anyone on an autoimmune healing path, rhythm becomes a compass. Grounding meals, intuitive movement, and adequate rest are no longer “nice-to-haves”—they’re sacred essentials.

These daily choices become a rhythm of reverence—a way of listening to the body and honoring its cycles with devotion.

Living gluten-free or managing any autoimmune condition is not a detour from embodiment—it’s a deepening of it. A calling home to the body, again and again, through the medicine of mindful rhythm.

Practice This Week

Try this:

Choose one moment of your day—waking, mealtime, winding down—and turn it into a mini ritual.
Add breath. Add presence. Let it become a rhythm you return to.

Ask yourself: