Hilaria Baldwin is all about positivity. As a mother of four (all age 5 and under!) and wife to Alec Baldwin, she documents all things motherhood, family and fitness on her Instagram account and on her own podcast, Mom Brain. She’s also the author of The Living Clearly Method and co-founder of Yoga Vida in New York City. Listen to the full episode on Long Story Short here.

On using yoga to heal…

I remember I started dieting when I was five. I remember somebody came up to me on the playground and said, “You’re very skinny. You’re very pretty.” It was so ingrained in my head. I just went with it, skinny equals pretty. That it was some kind of power. I was very focused on that throughout my childhood. I had low self esteem and an eating disorder. My interest in yoga was a way to heal my sick self.

Whether it’s cigarettes, shopping too much, rage, whatever it is, we go somewhere else when were doing behavior we shouldn’t do. Our brain turns off a little bit and our body continues on. I realized I needed to wake myself up. In the beginning it’s really hard, you have to slow it down. You have to be patient with yourself and not shame yourself when you don’t get it right. I can do certain things that keep me grounded and keep me in my body. Eventually, little by little, it becomes second nature. I reprogrammed myself.

On her food philosophy…

Food is fuel. I want to eat good things because I want to feel good. If I don’t feel good because I’m eating a lot of junk, that is just as bad for you as being anorexic or bulimic. So, when we go out, which we do frequently, I will have dessert. I will eat bread before dinner. I learned one of the most difficult things in life: When am I hungry and when am I full? And that is ultimately what all of these different eating issues come down to. Does the average person know when he or she is hungry or is full? How many times do we eat for the wrong reasons or forget to eat?

On the Living Clearly Method…

My Living Clearly Method is perspective, being able to say this is what is going on and being able to see the situation. Then you breathe through it. Then you want to make sure ground, where am I connected to the ground. Then you balance. Where is my center? Where am I? Where is my soul? And then you let go. What do i need to let go of that is not serving me? Basically, using those in all aspects of life.

On being a mother of four…

It isn’t easy, but it goes back to perspective. Yes, I’m tired. Yes, I get stressed out. I would love to be able to go back to sleep in the morning. And I also know, and everybody tells me, it’s a moment. People always say, I never spent enough time with my kids or I never had enough kids. So I thought, I’m going to spend a lot of time with them and I’m going to have a lot of them.