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What if the change that transformed your health was the one your doctor almost dismissed?
For Robyn Denning, a suggestion from her acupuncturist, not her physician, set off a chain of discoveries that reversed fertility challenges, resolved an MS diagnosis, and ultimately rebuilt her entire relationship with food, movement, and her own body.
In this episode of NHA Today, host Dr. Stephan Esser sits down with Robyn, yoga instructor, health coach, and NHA conference speaker, for a conversation that is equal parts personal story and practical roadmap. Whether you’re navigating chronic illness, struggling to build a movement habit, or trying to stay consistent when you no longer feel urgently unwell, this episode speaks directly to where you are.
ABOUT ROBYN DENNING
Robyn Denning is a yoga instructor, health coach, and wellness educator whose personal health journey, including overcoming celiac disease, Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, and an early MS diagnosis through dietary and lifestyle changes now informs how she teaches and coaches others. Once self-described as a “full-time partier fueled by Diet Coke and no sleep,” Robyn rebuilt her life around balance, resilience, and joy. She now helps others do the same through movement, nutrition education, and lifestyle coaching. She will be leading yoga sessions at the NHA Annual Conference, June 25–28, 2026.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
• How eliminating gluten resolved three years of unexplained fertility challenges
• The dietary shift that undiagnosed Robyn’s MS within six months — with no medication
• Why the maintenance phase is often harder than the healing phase
• How to find a movement practice you genuinely enjoy — and why that’s the key to sticking with it
• The yoga principle of ‘using poses to get into the body’ and why it reframes everything• How gratitude reinforces the neural pathways that support lasting health
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
The Diagnosis That Changed Everything
Robyn’s health story didn’t begin with a grand plan. It began with a miscarriage, and then another, and another. After being told by multiple fertility specialists that in vitro wasn’t even worth attempting, it was her acupuncturist who floated an unlikely idea: check for celiac disease. Her doctor was skeptical. The test came back positive. Robyn eliminated gluten and got pregnant the following month. She and her husband now have two children. Years later, when she received diagnoses of Hashimoto’s and then MS, she applied the same instinct: ask for the chance to try a dietary approach first. Within six months of going all in on a whole food, plant-based protocol — supported by coursework through the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutritional Studies — her follow-up MRI led her doctors to effectively undiagnose her. Her thyroid medication, which she had taken for eight years, was no longer necessary.
Why Staying Well Is Its Own Challenge
One of the most honest moments in this episode comes when Robyn describes the paradox of feeling good: when you’re unwell, motivation is easy. When you’ve recovered, the urgency fades — and that’s when consistency becomes the real work. She also speaks candidly about the social dimension of eating differently: the friction of not fitting in at meals, the quiet pressure at holidays and gatherings. And she describes the first time she attended an NHA conference — the relief of being in aroom full of people who simply understood, without explanation or judgment.
Movement That Loves You Back
Robyn’s approach to movement mirrors her philosophy on food: find what you enjoy, and do that. As a yoga teacher, she brings a gentle, accessible perspective — reminding students that laying in Shavasana for an entire class is still yoga. That the goal is to use the poses to get into the body, not to get the body into the poses.
For those struggling to build movement habits, she offers a practical framework: attach movement to existing anchors in your day. Dance in the kitchen while making breakfast. Do ten squats before taking laundry out of the dryer. Don’t choose the movement you think you should do — choose the one you actually want to do. And when you find yourself resenting the need to move, she and Dr. Esser offer a powerful reframe: movement isn’t a burden. For the many people who’ve lost the ability to move freely, it’s a gift.
Feeding Your Happiness
Robyn closes her yoga classes with a question she returns to throughout this episode: how are you feeding your happiness? Not just with food, but with movement, with relationships, with the choices you make every day. It’s a question worth sitting with. And it’s the spirit this podcast aims to carryforward — science-based, but deeply human.
JOIN ROBYN AT THE NHA CONFERENCE
Robyn Denning will be leading yoga sessions on Saturday and Sunday morning at the NHA Annual Conference, June 25–28, 2026. Her classes are designed to be accessible for all levels — from beginners to advanced practitioners. She’s also organizing the conference’s music night. If you’re a musician who’d like to participate, reach outto her directly.
Learn more and register: healthscience.org/2026-nha-conference
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ABOUT NHA TODAY
NHA Today is the official podcast of the National Health Association, one of the oldest health science organizations in the world, founded in the 1940s. Hosted by Dr. Stephan Esser, MD — a fourth-generation plant-based eater and grandson of NHA co-founder Dr. William L. Esser — the show delivers science-based, practical conversations to helpyou live your most vital life. New episodes every Tuesday.
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