Endocrine System - Balancing Your Hormones
What Is the Endocrine System (and Why Should You Care)?
If you’re on a healing journey, learning about the endocrine system is a powerful place to start. This system is the master regulator of your body’s internal balance—and it quietly influences everything from mood and sleep to digestion, metabolism, fertility, and more.
Let’s break it down in a way that makes sense, so you can start building a deeper connection with your body.
🌿 What Is the Endocrine System?
The endocrine system is made up of two main components: hormones and glands. It works alongside your nervous system (brain, spinal cord, and nerves) to regulate nearly every process in the body.
Its primary job? To keep your body in a state of homeostasis, or balance.
🧪 Hormones
Hormones are chemical messengers released by glands into the bloodstream. Think of your bloodstream like a train system delivering these messengers to different areas of the body to carry out specific tasks—regulating mood, metabolism, energy, reproductive cycles, and more.
🌀 Glands
Glands are clusters of tissue that monitor what’s happening in the body. When they detect imbalance, they secrete the appropriate hormone to help bring the body back into alignment. Major glands include:
Pituitary (the “master gland”)
Pineal
Thyroid
Adrenals
Pancreas
Ovaries & Testes
Thymus
In Kundalini yoga, we often focus on stimulating the pituitary gland, as this can help restore balance to the entire system.
🛑 What Happens When There’s Too Much Hormone?
When the body produces too much of a hormone, it needs to be filtered out. This is where your liver comes in. The liver removes excess hormones and toxins—especially while you sleep.
But here’s the catch: If your liver is overwhelmed with toxins, alcohol, or processed foods, it can’t function properly. That’s when unprocessed hormones and toxins start circulating back into your bloodstream—leaving you feeling foggy, inflamed, anxious, or downright awful. (Ever felt gross after a night of drinking? Yep, that’s your liver waving the white flag.)
⚠️ What Are Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs)?
According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, EDCs are man-made or natural chemicals that interfere with hormone function. They can mimic, block, or alter your natural hormonal signals.
You’re exposed to EDCs every single day through:
Cosmetics & personal care products
Food & beverage packaging
Non-organic produce (pesticides)
Plastics & water bottles
Candles, carpets, cleaning products
There are over 85,000 human-made chemicals in circulation today, many designed to be “hyper-palatable” (i.e., addictive), especially in processed foods.
🔎 What About “Natural Flavors”?
“Natural flavors” may sound healthy, but they’re often made in a lab and can contain up to 100+ chemicals in a single formula. These flavors are engineered to create intense dopamine spikes—higher than those from real, whole foods—leading to overconsumption and addiction.
Plus, solvents, emulsifiers, flavor enhancers, and preservatives can also disrupt your endocrine system.
🚨 What Can This Do to Your Body?
Exposure to EDCs can:
Disrupt mood and emotional regulation
Contribute to anxiety, irritability, and depression
Cause weight gain or fatigue
Affect fertility and menstrual cycles
Accelerate aging (greying hair, dry skin, etc.)
Interfere with sexual health
Contribute to chronic illness and inflammation
When your hormones are balanced, your brain has healthy levels of serotonin and dopamine—the feel-good chemicals. But when that balance is off, everything from your mental health to your energy levels can spiral.
So before you reach for that overly processed snack, ask yourself: How will this affect my emotional and energetic health?
🛡 How to Protect Your Endocrine System
The good news? You can protect your body—and it’s easier than you might think.
Here are a few lifestyle changes that support your endocrine health:
🥦 Eat real, whole, organic foods
🚫 Avoid seed oils (corn, canola, soy, etc.)
🧼 Swap toxic cosmetics and candles for clean versions
💧 Use filtered water & glass containers when possible
🚶♀️ Move your body daily (walk, stretch, breathe)
🧘♀️ Practice Kundalini yoga and breathwork
🌿 Incorporate herbal support and grounding practices
🌀 Try the Daily Energy Routine to reset your energy systems
📹 Watch my YouTube video on the Daily Energy Routine →
🧘♀️ Try These Yogic Asanas to Support Endocrine Balance:
Child’s Pose
Cobra Pose
Bridge Pose
Cat-Cow
Frog Pose
Shoulder Shrugs
These poses help stimulate glandular function, reduce stress, and encourage emotional release.
Final Thoughts
Your endocrine system is always trying to bring you back into balance. The more you learn to listen to your body’s cues—and reduce outside interference—the easier it becomes to reclaim your well-being.
With love,
Jeri
P.S.
If you’re looking to quit alcohol, I highly recommend the book:
📖 Kick the Drink... Easily! by Jason Vale.
After reading it once, I was done. It’s been 2.5 years since I’ve had a drink, and I’ve never looked back. Alcohol is one of the biggest EDCs, and I’ve never felt more free without it.
✨ Sweet freedom at last. ✨
📚 Additional Resources:
Original Post: August 30th, 2023 Updated: 12/14/2024
