What Is Your Body Telling You?

The biggest problem Geniece struggles with is finding balance while keeping the things in her life she loves to do. Dr. Northrup uses a breast-feeding analogy to explain why Geniece needs to make more time for herself. She says that when a mother is full and well rested, she can give the best quality milk. When she is not, "You give from a place where you don't have another ounce to give and it depletes you, and almost could give you chest pain."

Dr. Northrup says Geniece should begin each day by meditating with her heart. "Smile into your heart. Think about your heart. Take yourself into your heart. Do two minutes of smiling into your heart with your eyes closed and see what you feel like doing from that moment. And if you're doing something only because you feel guilty if you don't do it, you can't do it. Okay? Except for taking care of your kids."

Oprah says her own health issues with her thyroid are now in balance, but she stresses the importance of prevention. "So many of us wait—we don't take the wake-up call. So use the example of all the other women who have broken down, me included, and use that. What will it take to bring yourself into balance? What will it take for you to care enough about yourself? Don't wait until you have caused harm to yourself before you realize that balance was what you needed to give to yourself."

"So this show is actually preventative medicine," Dr. Northrup says.