Can exercise reduce your anxiety and boost your mood? Research says yes! According to this article studies suggest that regular exercise can help alleviate anxiety as much as medications and the effects may last longer than those of drugs.
While short 10 to 15 minute bouts of exercise can improve your fitness and your mood, a total of 30 minutes of exercise a day is recommended. This week try taking the stairs at work, or parking your car a few blacks away from your destination. What are your favorite tips for adding more movement into your day?
Here is a recent article from the New York Times about upcoming fall marathons. The author mentions The Portland Marathon happening October 4th as well as several others across the country and around the globe.
For most of these races you need to sign up well in advance and training coaches like Jeff Galloway recommend between 20 – 30 weeks of training leading up to a big race. Jeff suggests combining running with walking whether you are a beginner or a race veteran. His website has specific breakdowns of the run/walk ratios.
I have been practicing this along the Springwater Corridor this week. There are mile markers every half mile, so I run for one half mile, then walk the next.
I am back from a week in Maui and am now getting around to uploading my photos. The reason for my trip, along with vacation, was a Table top Thai Stretching course with Valerie “Passion Flower” Mandall. We learned an excellent lower body routine that I have been testing out on clients this week (you know who you are:). This work incorporates a lot of stretching, range of motion and breath work. Really nice after a long run or bike ride, or even sitting at a desk all day.
This is my third trip to the island and I spent most of my time in Kihei. I’ve decided my favorites spots are on the south and west sides of the island (Kihei, Lahaina and Napili Bay in that order) because it is usually hot and dry. The north shore tends to be cooler, greener and get more rain.
Most Saturdays and Sundays the HeU’i Arts and Crafts Festival is happening under the Banyan tree in Lahaina. You can’t miss it, this one tree takes up the whole city block. I found some nice photography and jewelry made by local artists.
There are several spots along the beach in South Kihei where you can just pull over, and snorkel right from the beach. At secret beach I saw a yellow tang (my favorite), a trumpet fish and the state fish – humuhumunukunukuapua. I’m still not able to pronounce this correctly. I also saw a unicorn fish, an eel, and one sea turtle.
Kamaole 1,2 and 3 have big grassy areas with picnic tables and you will see local families barbecuing and hanging out on the weekends. I stuck to snorkeling but if you are interested in SCUBA contact Steve at Maui Dive shops.
On Sunday the action is at Little Beach. Go here to watch the sunset, and post-sunset drumming and fire dancing. Awesome! These dancers were unbelievable. I saw kids as young as 7 or 8 working the flaming hula hoops. Here a sample:
Even though I slept luxuriously late most days I did manage to do at least 30 minutes of Pilates almost every morning and yoga on the beach several afternoons. Here are some action shots:
Warrior
I am planning a client trip for February 2011 so keep your eyes peeled here or on my newsletter for more info. I would love for you to join me!
And I will leave you with a sunset…..Aloha and Mahalo!
My friend Jill Allen and I saw a sneak preview of the movie Enlighten Up! last night. It follows a yoga novice as he takes a variety of classes in the U.S., and around the globe. He experiments with Bikram, Kundalini, Iyengar and meditation. This is definitely worth seeing if you are curious about how to incorporate yoga into your life. At one point the lead character asks an old yogini what twisting up like a pretzel has to do with enlightenment and he says “Absolutely nothing” with a grin.
The movie opens Friday at the Fox Tower. Go see it! Seriously, go!
