So What If It's Fall? Try These Fall-Inspired Smoothies

I love smoothies, but with the cool fall weather here, the bright berries and cool cucumbers don't cut it anymore. 

 

During the fall and winter season, I incorporate more dark greens and root vegetables in my smoothies on those days that my digestive system needs a break, or I am eating meals on the run.  Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Smoothie

Sweet potato, 1 baked and fully chilled or about 1 C.

Coconut milk, 1/2-1 C. to taste

Apple cider/juice, 1/4-1/2 C. to taste.  Total, liquid should just cover solid

Spinach or kale, small handful

Banana, 1 frozen out of peel

Cinnamon, to taste

Recently, I made another smoothie with carrot cooked soft in ginger water. 

 

I chilled the carrots in the water they were cooked in and then added some frozen mixed fruit (cherries, apples, pineapple, peaches), handful of greens, and a dash of cinnamon and almond milk to make it a bit creamy. 

 

I bet coconut would have made it taste like carrot cake!  It was delicious. 

 

 

Pele the Goddess of Fire

 

What do you think of when you envision a yoga teacher? If you had to describe a yoga teacher to someone who had never heard of such a person, what would you say? Would you discuss their looks? Personality? Tone and manner of speaking? Way of moving?  I am guessing the picture below is not exactly what you had in mind...
 


 

One word for ya: HOTHEAD!

Looking back at my evolution in consciousness, on and off the yoga mat, the factor driving me back to my yoga mat day after day has changed many times. Initially it was quite superficial. I wanted to slim down, lengthen out, and tone. 

But that isn’t what grabbed me about yoga.

I was sad.  I stopped caring. I wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning. I would show up hours late to work. I drifted away from social settings. At the end of a yoga class however, it felt OK to be sad. I felt hope, amidst the sadness. I started to function better, amidst the sadness. Then, the sadness began to be less present in my life.

I started to see past myself. I started to see how my mood affected others. I noticed that when I was happy, it fed others. The more I showed gratitude, appreciation, and love to others, the happier I was. My motivation to continue yoga began to revolve more around a sense of responsibility to make the world a better place. 

Historically, there are not many things that stay with me over time. I changed majors four times in four years. I haven’t kept in touch with many high school or college friends. I was head over heels in love with micro-finance, but then became jaded. I am 25 and sometimes I feel like I am ¾ of the way to trying everything. What if I end up uninterested in everything?! Even with yoga, I have gone through recent hiccups where I question whether it is where I can best serve humanity. I am starting to realize that I lose my enthusiasm for something when I don’t see a way to fit it into a new way of viewing the world. My view is always changing.

There has always been a part of me that I am embarrassed about. I would say, it isn’t only a part of me, but a part every human being to some degree. That part is anger. 

Anger. Burning, red-hot, swelling, high-pressure anger.   Anger, making me volatile and ready to explode at any moment. That is an emotion I have always feared to experience. As a yoga teacher, I sometimes dread and despise it even more. Descriptive words of an angry person and of a yoga teacher don’t have much overlap.

My anger often comes out of conflict. Conflict within, or conflict with something outside myself. Both have the potential to lead to frustration if left unresolved. Frustration, the feeling of being trapped, the feeling of helplessness, all feed my anger.


Land being build.  A gift!

As my view changes and I wonder how yoga can fit into it, I find myself sometimes feeling angry and explosive. I feel the pressure building. I resist my practice, and I resist connecting with other yogis and teachers. For yoga to continue being a part of my life, I will have to create a new yoga framework for myself, with the help of other teachers with similar views. I have to keep asking for daily guidance in my process. I have to have faith that this time of turmoil will pass. But in the meantime, my overall demeanor is a bit more assertive, harsh, and capricious.  

There are no perfect decisions. Sometimes the fiery, warrior, Pele ( the Hawaiian Goddess of Fire) path can cause destruction in your life. But it can also create. The people of Hawaii thanked Pele because she created land.  Her explosions were a GIFT. This fire is by no means perfect. It can cause destruction. It can burn bridges. It can be jealous. It can be violent. But yoga isn’t about putting that fire out, it is about turning it into passion. Turning it into new growth. It is about CREATING, not following. As important as flexibility is, this fire allows us to stand up for what we believe in, fearlessly, in any given moment.

Pele.  Fire Goddess.

I give thanks to the majesty of Mount Kilauea for helping me see the value in my own explosive moments. That growth allows life to exist within the middle of the expansive ocean. Sometimes Mount Kilauea and I create something and it lasts for some time. But lava flow is unpredictable. I build, I destroy, I rebuild. My yoga practice is much like this. I am not sure where it is going. Sometimes even my faith is destroyed as I grow, but I know it will always come back renewed. 

We all have some Pele in us, this I believe. But I have accepted that I might just have a lot of Pele in me. You may know me for a year before I erupt, but for now, I am very much an active volcano!

If you are an active volcano, use it! Embrace it! Celebrate it! You feed life.

Part 3 (of 5): The Truth About How to Progress

Welcome to Kindergarten.

 A child is taught the ABC’s for the first time.  They are shown how to write the letters and recite the alphabet in order.  From there, the child is allowed to let it absorb.  They may have to be re-taught and reminded a few times, and they will be expected to practice!  It would be unheard of if a teacher taught ABCs one day, and the next day expected the students to form words and spell, and then the next day to read, and the next day to write a 5-page research paper integrating all of their reading comprehension and writing skills.  The body, similar to the mind, needs time to digest new information.

Cory and I were training a client together and teaching her the hip-hinge.  For her, it was so unfamiliar in her body and she finally exclaimed, “I feel like I am learning how to write again!” 

YOU ARE

She was learning movement ABCs.  It is important to teach the foundations before adding speed and weight.  We want to help you reach your greatest potential by mastering the basics first, and these are often the hardest to get.  Once you master the basics, and know how to find those positions quickly, a whole new world opens for you.

 When you are learning a new movement skill, there are four stages you will pass through.

Four Stages of Skill Development

                                                               i.      Unconscious incompetence: You are bad at something, but don’t know it,

                                                             ii.      Conscious incompetence:  You are bad at something, and know it.

                                                            iii.      Conscious competence:  When you think about it, you can do it.

                                                           iv.      Unconscious competence:  It’s how you are now!  Proper movement has been trained in to your body so you don’t have to think about it.

A lot of group classes skip these steps and assume that participants will figure it out as they go.  Some people can, and do.  But not everyone does.  Without a good instructor who is constantly watching and assisting, some poor movement patterns can go on for years as possibly lead to injury.  The four stages of skill development is a cycle that is constantly repeated every time a person learns new ways of moving. This is why having private yoga instruction or personal training provides faster progression of skill development.  In a group class, an individual may be corrected once, but unless the body practices a new pattern, chances are the individual will return to the same, compensatory movement patterns the next time they go to class, especially if it is with a different instructor who may not realize they need to work on correct said movement pattern.  The same thing occurs with organized sports.  From a young age, only the skill of the sport is taught, no general movement principles.  Youth are put into the game and it is expected that they should know how to run, start, stop, jump properly and safely .  The result of a poor training program, especially in high school, is a bench full of sad, injured kids.  Eventually, Cory and I would love to see these principles integrated into sports at a very young age!    

So, what is a progression plan and how does one get started?

Step 1:  Know where you are when you begin.  There are many different types of movement assessments that may be administered to find out where your strength areas of movement are, if there are asymmetries, if there is any major dysfunction in the body (where a movement can’t be performed without pain), and where an individual’s growth areas are.  More about movement assessments to come in Part IV of this series.  

Step 2:  If looking to begin personal training sessions or join a fitness program, a good movement assessment should come with a consultation to discuss action steps that are measureable.   

If you are trying a little do-it-yourself revamping of your fitness routine, look at the activities and identify the goal of the activity (biking, yoga, strength training, etc.).  Answer very specifically. What? Why? How?  After that, look to see if you are integrating these points into your life.  For example, if you are strength training to manage back pain (and your trainer has taught you to properly hip-hinge), are you changing the way you pick up something  even as light as a TV remote by loading your glutes and keeping your spine neutral?  Another example is if you are using yoga to manage stress, is that translating into your daily life?  If these things don’t translate outside of the activity itself, then make a change!

Step 3:  Take those bigger goals and break them down into measureable steps that make sense for YOU and will keep you MOTIVATED.  In the act of your movement, whether it is yoga, or training, or something else, set aside those goals and competitiveness, and be present with what you need to do THIS MOMENT.  Maybe it is breathe.  Just breathe in each pose today.  Or if your goal is weight loss, don’t think about that while you are working out or just how many calories are being burned or whatever.  It is more important to make sure you are moving well and mindfully.  If the body gets injured, a good trainer can help you keep moving around the injury, but there will be setbacks and limitations.  Take care of you body and don’t PUSH through pain (Stay tuned for the upcoming article “Don’t Pride Through Pain.”

Step 4:  In athletics and yoga, there are times when you need to let go of the desired training effect.  A sense of flow where time is irrelevant and there is a sense of freedom in the body, is necessary for you to look inward and tap into your own unique way of creating and expressing through movement.  Games are important to athletic training to have this effect where you don’t necessarily focus on coaching the movement.  In yoga, it is important to balance alignment focused classes out with ones that focus on energy and flow.  They complement each other beautifully.  One of the most powerful teachings I have experienced is from Alex Pfeiffer (http://www.madisonyogateachertraining.com/) who teaches:

“Align physically to align with your true nature.”

This had a profound impact on my life and changes I’ve made over the last 10 years.  There are many truths out there, and it is important to find yours and trust the experience in your body.  One of my favorite quotes is by Khalil Gibran:

“Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.' Say not, ' I have found the path of the soul.' Say rather, 'I have met the soul walking upon my path.' For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.”

Always be open to a experiencing a new truth!

Step 5:  Know when to regress in your progression plan.  Yes, you do not get to move forward non-stop and never look back.  You should stop and further refine a movement here and there, and not force it because you think you should be in a certain place.  Lateral steps can help, for example if your squats are a struggle, maybe you need to mobilize your ankles and perform squats with your heels elevated in the meantime to nullify out the influence of the ankles.

Step 6:  Check back in periodically as your goals change or are reached.  

1.       With any major change, you may want to have another assessment.

2.       Athletes may want to seasonally assess.

3.       You can constantly test throughout your training.

4.       Your goals will evolve, and so make sure your methods do also.  If you work with a trainer, that is their job.  You just communicate how your goals have changed.

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Stay tuned for more on movement assessments in Part IV, coming soon… or soonish.   I am amidst planning a wedding J

The Real Definition of “Workout”: More Than The Act Itself.

For our second topic… what is a workout?

The act of working out is part of it, of course.  During the act of performing exercises, youare breaking down your muscles and taxing your body’s energy systems.  Since you are breaking down the body, your work isn’t done here!  There are actions that should be taken to aid the body in its recovery.  Body recovery is the period of rebuilding for next the workout.  If you don’t allow recovery, you are constantly breaking down without providing your body an opportunity to build up new strength.

Would you spend hours slaving away in the kitchen, plating a beautiful meal and setting the table, only to walk out the door, find another kitchen, and begin immediately preparing another meal?  Never, that would be kind of insane.  You are going to sit down and eat the meal you prepared, maybe taking the time to savor each delicious bite.  And then, you are going to digest and incorporate the nutrients into your body.  If energy is being re-routed because you are stressed, exercising, or experiencing strong, upsetting emotions when the body is trying to digest, then you might experience indigestion of some sort.  Itis important to devote full presence to recovery and “digestion” after aworkout.  That is why savasana is so lovely after a yoga practice (or an iGO fusion class).  Youare enjoying the meal and digesting.  Butrecovery is more than just lying on your back for 10 minutes after a workout(my 12 year old soccer team calls it “starfish pose”, and we all flop into it after a tough game or practice!) 

Nutrition is key.  You should be providing your body with calories pre and post workout.  What you eat should vary depending on time of day, and type of exercise.  In the morning, I recommend some protein, especially if you are off to a hot yogac lass within an hour or two.  Every person is different, but dizziness and fainting experienced in hot yoga may bea result of not eating enough of the right thing beforehand.  Generally, endurance runners will need more carbohydrates.  However I am not going too deep into specifics, because nutrition should be hyperly individualized, and should vary depending on the exercise that you do.  Another point about individualization I wantto make is that your diet should be supportive to your body and activity level.  Diets are all about depravity.  Cut out carbs, cut out starches, or salt, orfat, or whatever other fad diet is out there. Your body NEEDS all of those things. My personal story is mine, andI will share it not because it can be replicated necessarily (there may be similar experiences), but because it shows how deprivation can be counter-productive.  I spent a few years being a bit obsessive about my diet and my weight and experienced greatly fluctuating weight and energy levels during this time. Besides biking for transportation, yoga was my predominant form of “exercise.”  Yoga will lower one’s metabolism (makes sense right, you are slowing downnn), as will depriving your body from the calories it needs.  Yoga also has other impacts, like stress reduction and generally increased happiness, which can have an indirect, positive effect on weight loss.  There are so many variables, so find YOUR balance.  I found a more steady state when I brought some meat and fat back into my diet, atebalanced meals and snacks (the fruit-only snacks I relied on led to a sugar spike and crash), and wove in aerobic and strength training into my week.  Not “perfect”, but everything is always changing, so I just try and stay present with what my body is telling me.  Sorry if I just made the nutrition topic abit murkier by shedding some light on it.
                  
                     “The more I learn, the more I realize, I don'tknow” - Albert Einstein.   
 
Word, Mr. Einstein.

Sleep. Arguably, 7-8 hours. Do it.  This guide offers some fascinating information about sleep, http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih3/sleep/guide/info-sleep.htm.  There is a chart in this article that gives the average amount of sleep different animals get each day!

Mental health is part of your workout.  It will help you stay on track and avoid getting discouraged.  Find ways to de-stress and understand your moods and emotions, giving them space to exist.  If you can succeed at that, it will help you let go of guilt if you don’t follow your workout plans exactly.  Improving your mental health may also improve your body’s ability to recover by influencing your parasympathetic systems.  This gets a complex and one could write a book on it (not me), but I will mention some things to consider.  You want to find ways that you enjoy tobalance your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.  Sympathetic systems contribute to your fight or flight response and explosive movements.  If a person doesn’t have theability to rest and recuperate (i.e. their body doesn’t have the ability tocalm down) they will eventually break down because the body is going 150% allthe time.  When this person trains, theywill be overtraining because they haven’t rested.  By strengthening your aerobic capacity, your body has the ability to recover, rebuild, and reproduce strong actions.  There are other ways to do this besides distance endurance work.  It is the parasympathetic nervous system (chill and ill) that we want to activate for recovery.  If you are going 150% all the time you need to find a balance to restore some parasympathetic tone.  One simple way is to breathe into your back.  You can place your hands at different places on your back and try to direct your breathe there.  Obviously, I am going to say yoga can be great for this. Aerobic interval training will help strengthen your ability to recover as well, as aerobic fitness lends itself to helping reduce sympathetic tone.  Find something that resonates with YOU.

Five Things They Never Told You (Pt. 1)

Not too long ago, iGO Fitness (&Yoga!) held a workshop titled “5 Things They Never Told you About Fitness.”  I have decided to post them in a 5-part blog series. 

Here on the five “things”: 

1.   Quality over quantity:  I know, it is a pretty common saying in regards to just about anything, but ask yourself do you really practice it on a regular basis?

2.   The real definition of “Workout”:  More than the act itself.  This point is SUPER important.

3.   Progression Plan:  Know your weaknesses and starting point.  Make a sustainable action plan.

4.   Get a movement assessment:  How does your body function with movement?

5.   Don’t pride through pain:  Does it hurt?  This is a yes or no question.  Anything other than a no, is a yes.

6.   And a sixth point to summarize:  Use all of your tools, all of the time! 

So the first point, quality over quantity.  It is a common phrase that we use when we are trying to simplify our busy, multitasking lives or improving the quality of interpersonal relationships.  Maybe you have heard it now and then in a yoga class.  How often, though, has anyone actually shown you, or described even, what quality is?  Or what taking care of your body feels like?  In fact, there are a lot of mixed signals in group active yoga classes (or any fitness class as well), and the strongest signals are pushing us to not look weak, to fight through the fatigue and the pain, and keep going.  Unfortunately, once form breaks down (if it was ever there at all!), more reps reinforce bad patterns. 

Another concern with fast moving yoga classes are that the foundations of movement are skipped.  There is an assumption that the practitioner will figure it out as they go and that they will be okay.  It is beautiful to flow with the breath, but sadly, correct alignment and movement patterns are not a naturally intuitive thing for the body.  Our bodies can become accustomed to compensatory patterns that only the trained eye can pick out sometimes.  The weak points in the body (maybe it is the knees, maybe the lower back, etc.) repeatedly get stressed until pushed to the last thread and injury occurs.  As someone who has learned a lot through personal injury, I would recommend learning from the mistakes of others when it comes to taking care of your body! 

It is important to prepare for an intense vinyasa class or power flow like you would an athletic event, and that doesn’t mean by just doing more yoga classes.  It is important to correct your movement patterns FIRST, otherwise you will only accelerate your body’s weak points to injury when taking it through extreme ranges of motion during a yoga class.       

My advice... diversify the types of yoga classes you go to.  It is rare, but there are some yoga teachers out there who really know the body.  There are also teachers out there who instill such joy and peace in their classes that even if the class is void of alignment work, there are many other benefits.  In general though, start slow so you can feel your body, and progress to adding more speed.  This will allow the nervous system to develop, which I will talk about more in the following weeks.  When it comes down to it, if you can find contentment in each yoga pose you assume, you will not plow past the point in which you should be in that moment.  If you cultivate contentment and patience, you will be okay with modifying your sun salutations as a beginner, and also as a more seasoned practitioner who has learned something new or experienced a change that requires you to refine your technique.  I encourage you to begin taking in the meaning of quality over quantity whole-heartedly in your yoga practice, as well as any other activity you do!

Cory and I go into more detail during our workshops and have an actual workout to go along with these points we want to make, but feel free to post any questions that come up below!

Take Yoga With You

Mmmmm.

Like a meal that is so good and prepared with so much love, one bite satisfies everything.  That is what this first day of teaching was like in our new space.

What matters is the soul in the space.   Of course who doesn’t love beautiful wood floors, lights with dimmer switches, or an ocean view as they are doing yoga?  However, we can’t always practice by the ocean, or a fancy space, or a dark quiet cave.  That’s why it is important to take yoga with you, so you don't have to wait for the perfect conditions - it is always there.  Today a simple, humble (but large!) space was transformed into… soul food!  Hopeful.  Energetic.  Exciting. Beautiful.  

It was surreal to experience the moment a dream, an idea, comes to fruition.  At times in my life I have feared running out of inspiration and creativity.  Today, however, I felt limitless possibility.  Maybe I am starting to uncover more of the phoenix within.

                “A mythical bird that never dies, the phoenix flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and distant space.  It represents our capacity for vision, for collecting sensory information about our environment and the events unfolding within it.  The phoenix, with its great beauty, creates intense excitement and deathless inspiration.” – The Feng Shui Hnadbook, feng shui Master Lam Kam Chuen

I sure feel like flying!

I am so blessed to have such loving and supportive friends.  Thank you for taking the time to be at class today, but also bringing such wondering energy into it!  Watching you do your work in each asana was beautiful, and an absolute gift to witness.

I also want to thank Dr. Dave for welcoming us into his space and into the warm, caring community he has built there.  Every time I walk into this clinic, everyone is smiling, healing, growing stronger.  It is such a genuine place, and Cory and I are so grateful for this new partnership.  Yoga is about the people. 

I look forward to relishing future experiences with you on the yoga mat…. Yummy.