Leading Change Through Sustainable Leadership
March 26, 2026Intellectual property partner and ML Women Steering Committee Chair Rachelle Dubow and Chief Engagement Officer Amanda Smith recently spoke with wellness expert Robyn Youkilis, who shared techniques and strategies for maintaining personal and professional sustainability, providing a road map for women leaders to tap into their intuitive wisdom for greater clarity, productivity, and more authentic leadership.
Robyn Youkilis is a certified wellness expert, author, and award-winning entrepreneur with more than 17 years of industry experience, equipping her clients with practical tools to optimize performance, support physical and emotional health, and cultivate confidence and purpose.
Here are excerpts from their conversation:
Robyn: Across my wellness and executive coaching work, I see the same root issue regardless of job title: feeling overwhelmed. Life and work are coming at us so quickly that there’s little space to process before the next demand arrives. While lifestyle fundamentals matter, the deeper shift often requires building a new internal foundation—learning to regulate the nervous system so we can respond rather than react. Today, I’ll share practices that help cultivate that kind of grounded “internal metronome.”
How do you decide where to focus your energy when time and energy are limited? How do you manage sustainably and intentionally?
Robyn: Reframe your approach from time management to energy management. Time is fixed (and arguably a human construct); energy is something you can influence. Not everything on your list deserves the same level of intensity. Categorize before doing: some items require full decision-making capacity, others require much less. You’re the “sieve”— decide what gets full energy vs. low energy vs. “later.” Physically, we’re trained to grip tightly to “being attentive,” but that intensity drains energy. Ease—literally and metaphorically—creates spaciousness.
Stress spikes are inevitable in legal practice—urgency is built in. What can we do in the moment when cortisol spikes?
Robyn: Start with a reframe: your ability to respond swiftly is a superpower. The goal isn’t to eliminate stress, it’s to prevent it from accumulating all day (like Tetris stacks). Use short physical “micro-interruptions” to release tension and restore focus. Brief breaks during sustained mental work can restore attention and reduce fatigue.
Do you have any recommendations for people who struggle to compartmentalize—work, kids, marriage, everything?
Robyn: I have two suggestions. First, mental bookmarking: acknowledge the big thing, but tell yourself “I’ll come back to this later.” We bookmark documents constantly; we can bookmark thoughts too. Second, create an “alias”—like an alter ego—for different contexts. One version of you handles the work mode, another version returns home. Think of it as a practical switch for presence.
You’re known for microbiome work. Can you talk about the intersection between gut health and emotional regulation, resilience, cognitive performance, and leadership?
Robyn: About 90% of serotonin is produced in the gut (important for mood regulation), and a large portion of immune tissue is located there. The gut and brain constantly communicate via the vagus nerve and chemical signals from the microbiome. When digestion is off, you see brain fog, irritability, and difficulty concentrating. Supporting digestion can improve clarity, energy, and immune resilience.
Anything we should prioritize in terms of food? What should we try adding?
Robyn: Chew thoroughly—digestion begins in the mouth; the stomach doesn’t have teeth. Eating too quickly shifts energy away from other tasks because your system has to work harder to break food down. For adding: one fermented food daily (yogurt, refrigerated raw sauerkraut, kimchi, miso prepared gently). Also prioritize fiber—it’s like fertilizer for the microbiome.
Many of us start our days in reaction mode—emails, kids, schedules—with no time to ground through practices, such as breathwork. Can you explain alternate nostril breathing for people new to breathwork?
Robyn: Breath is one of the fastest ways to influence the nervous system. When stress rises, cortisol and adrenaline increase, which can impair working memory and cognitive flexibility—so we become more reactive and less strategic. The goal is to activate the parasympathetic system and bring the prefrontal cortex back online. Alternate nostril breathing is a simple pattern: use the right thumb and ring finger to alternate closing each nostril while inhaling/exhaling. It can look silly but it’s practical and quick.