Be Outdoors and Move Those Limbs!

Breakfast:
Raw Blueberry elixir with coconut water, water, frozen fresh banana, frozen blueberries, psylium seed powder, flax seeds, crunchy almond butter, cacao nibs (a small amount) and agave

Lunch:
Sunshine cheese with celery (soaked cashews, water, sea salt and nutritional yeast)
2 small golden delicious apples with almond butter

Snack:
Raw Revolution chocolate hazelnut bar

Dinner:
salad with romaine, carrot, mushroom, sprouts, dulse; with nutritional yeast and dressing of olive oil and stone ground mustard
Dessert:
bowl of Organic Nectars mint chocolate ice cream with a few walnuts drizzled with agave

12 ounces water

Not enough water today; I was enjoying my elixir so much after my six mile run, that I forgot to have my lemon water. I had a great run today. The sun was sparkling on the water and my "running partner for life or until we finally do a marathon together," Jim, was biking beside me as I ran. Since we have not done this for awhile, it really kicked my butt in a good way; stepping up my running speed to match his biking. Don't get impressed; he was biking very slow, but in order to make it worthwhile for him, I had to challenge myself a little. Have I told you yet how running transformed my relationship with Winter? For the past two Winters, I've been running outside in all weathers; from six degrees to snowstorms and rain. All my friends and family know that Winter used to be extremely difficult for me. From the end of August, when the nights would dip down to fifty degrees, I'd already be freezing and wearing socks to bed. I hadn't run outside in Winter since my twenties. Two Autumns ago, after three seasons of warm running, I said to myself, I need to change my relationship with Winter. Each Winter, I stop running and restart in April, and it gets harder and harder each year to do this. Plus, I'm miserable all Winter. So, I went into the runners' shop and asked for their warmest lightweight clothing. Did I believe it would actually keep Me warm? No way! Lo and behold, it worked. That Winter was a spiritual awakening for me. I ran between seven and nine miles a day (again, know that it's not my speed; I'm a ten minute miler) from five to seven days a week. Also, it was a meditation for me. I was letting go of some things in my life and the running allowed me to process without thinking; I just felt my soul. Believe it or not, I did not actually feel my body as much as my soul. This past Winter, I was running five or six miles. I've also been infusing some other exercise into the mix; dance, yoga, rebounder, jump rope. You know those legs we have? Guess what? They are not designed to sit for long hours in front of the computer or in a car; they are here to move; to bring breath and life into our circulatory system.
If the gym is something you start and stop again and again, think back to what movement excited and inspired you in your early life? Did you love to roller skate or ice skate? Was swimming the most fun for you? Did you grow up playing Frisbee on wide open fields? How about kite flying? Don't do what you "should;" do what you love!
When I was an adolescent, I took six years of modern dance a la Martha Graham; I am still totally turned on by that kind of movement, and bring it into my Thursday night gatherings, along with drumming, singing and chanting (other passions of mine).
Write in and tell me what forms of movement inspire you?

Breathe as Deeply as Possible

Breakfast:
32 ounces of Raw elixir with water, banana, mango, psyllium seed powder and agave
Lunch:
salad with romaine, radish, carrot, sprouts with dulse and dressing of nutritional yeast, olive oil and sea salt

32 ounces lemon water
a couple handfuls of raw cashews
Raw Revolution chocolate raisin bar
Dinner:
2 small bowls of last night's chocolate avocado pudding - it only gets better when it sits in the frig for a day!
8 ounces raw cacao elixir with: coconut water, water, cacao powder, cacao nibs, banana, psyllium seed powder, agave, almond butter - this was rockin'!!! Who needs ice cream!
My food was light and wonderful.
Drumming and singing under the sky with good friends to pay homage to and welcome in the Spring Equinox. Wonderful roaring firepit. Just going to sleep now, and it's 1:30 AM. Keeping my food light gave me potent energy.


Today was my first seasonal run in shorts and a tank top! The golden sun was shining down and I was consciously breathing slow, long, deep breaths; kind of like Ujaya yoga breaths, as I ran. I could hear my breath making a gutteral sound as I ran past people at the beach. "Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out." Those are the words of Thich Nat Hahn; breath as a guide to meditation. Bringing in oxygen and chlorophyl are the major catalysts to healing the body. Stop and notice how shallow your breaths might be; now stand or sit comfortably and allow your breath to feel like it's coming up from the earth through the arches of your feet; now into your legs and then into your hips and groin; moving into your belly and solarplexis, expand your belly; now all through your back and up into your shoulders; down your arms and up into your head, face and scalp and out the crown. Expand your belly with each inhlae, let it fall back inward with each exhale. Take your breath to a new edge with each inhale and with each exhale. Exhaling, flow your breath back through your body while lightly raising your tongue in your mouth; you will hear the opening in your wind pipe and a whooshing sound. Full, deep breaths. Now, bring them into your body when you're doing the dishes. Let them enter you while you are making the bed. Consciously connect with the greatest healer of all; your breath as medicine to feed your body and awaken your cells.
Ahhh....