As we enter winter the days are getting shorter and the weather can feel cold and damp. A great way to balance the dark, cold and wet qualities of winter is to feed our bodies nourishing, warming foods and spices that heat up our digestive fire. Turmeric is one such heat-generating spice, and it’s a powerful anti-oxidant that gives curry it’s beautiful yellow color. It promotes digestion, optimal cell functioning, and supports the immune system. Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric, and is a powerful anti-inflammatory. Low-level inflammation is a significant part of chronic stress, as well as many
Yoga for Paddling: Basic Low Lunge
December 5, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Anna's Blog, Yoga for Paddling
(Excerpted from Yoga for Paddling with Anna Levesque) Yoga for paddling emphasizes the importance of strengthening the muscles we underuse in paddling and stretching the muscles that we overuse. Our hips, low back, and legs experience a double whammy in our culture due to the time we spend sitting – at our desks, in our cars, watching TV, and so on. All that sitting can lead to chronically contracted hip flexors and hamstrings. Kayakers and canoeists also then sit in their boats. SUP paddlers are a little better off, but their lower bodies are still susceptible to imbalances. One yoga
Yoga for Paddling: Three-Count Belly Breathing
December 5, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Anna's Blog, Yoga for Paddling
(Excerpted from Yoga for Paddling with Anna Levesque) Breathwork (Pranayama) is one of the eight limbs of yoga. According to yoga, the breath is our life force (prana) and can be manipulated to warm us up, cool us down, stimulate digestion, energize us or induce relaxation. Another benefit of breath control is to bring you to present moment awareness on your yoga practice, and to manage the effects of stress. Stress isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In her 2013 TED talk, health psychologist Kelly McGonigal explains how stress cannot simply be labeled as bad. She uses scientific evidence to show
Yoga for Paddling: Side Angle Stretch
December 5, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Anna's Blog, Yoga for Paddling
(Excerpted from Yoga for Paddling with Anna Levesque) The muscles of the side body are mainly responsible for lateral flexion of the spine and hiking the hip. Kayakers and canoeists activate these muscles for hip snaps, performing the roll, edge control, and stability. SUP paddlers also use these muscles for balance and stability on the board, and when carrying the board by the handle. Stretching and strengthening the side body for full range of motion helps paddlers achieve better balance and control when paddling. Side angle stretch is a great pose for stretching the top side body and it is
Yoga for Paddling: Legs up the Wall
December 1, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Anna's Blog, Yoga for Paddling
(Excerpted from Yoga for Paddling with Anna Levesque) Relaxation and stress management are important in maintaining our health, happiness and performance in life. This is especially important in our culture where the focus is almost exclusively on expending energy. Keep moving, keep busy, and keep striving. We fuel our bodies on the move and and sacrifice sleep in the name of ambition. There’s nothing wrong with being up to great things in life. It’s important to share our unique gifts with the world, and that requires action and energy. Having said that, it is unrealistic to think that our bodies
Yoga for Paddling: Simple Seated Twist
November 21, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Yoga for Paddling
(Excerpted from Yoga for Paddling with Anna Levesque) The obliques are key muscles in the movement of torso rotation and tend to be chronically contracted in paddlers. Twists help to stretch the obliques, give our internal organs a good massage, stimulate digestion, and calm the nervous system. One of my favorite twists for paddlers is the simple seated twist. This is a gentle twist that invites the obliques to lengthen, keeps your spine supple, gives a gentle massage to the internal organs, and stimulates your digestive fire. Photo credit scottmartinimages.com Take a comfortable cross-legged seat on your mat. Sit up
Yoga for Paddling: Table Top Pose
November 21, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Yoga for Paddling
(Excerpted from Yoga for Paddling with Anna Levesque) Core strength is an important element of effective paddling technique. A strong core assists us in sitting up tall and helps to protect our low backs from risk of injury. According to yoga, we are not striving for a “six pack.” In fact, yoga advocates for a soft, supple belly that allows room for our organs to function optimally and for our breath to be full and easeful. The optimal expression of a pose, according to yoga texts, includes both steadiness and ease. Core strength contributes to being able to hold a
How to Build Emotional Resilience on the Water
November 9, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Anna's Blog, Health and Wellness, Inspiring Articles, Kayaking Tips
According to the dictionary, resilience is defined as, ‘the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.’ A second definition is: ‘the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape.’ When you experience a difficult, disappointing or scary situation on the water how quickly do you recover? Are you able to let it roll off your back and feel empowered to paddle on? No matter your answer, know that you can increase your resilience with practice. In the past, when I performed poorly in a competition or got trashed on a river and swam out of my kayak I
Why You Should Take an International Paddling Trip
October 16, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Inspiring Articles, Kayaking Tips, Trip/Tour Reports
A really smart woman once told me I didn’t need a drysuit when I could just boat where it’s warm enough not to wear one. Inspired by this approach to winter boating, I booked my first international kayaking trip to Mexico and have been traveling ever since. Although it’s not quite drysuit season yet and the warm weather has me wondering if I’m ever going to need my drysuit again, fall is always a time when I start dreaming about my next big adventure, preferably to a more tropical location. You don’t have to be an expert boater to enjoy
The River, my Old Friend
October 13, 2017 | Written by: | Filed Under: Inspiring Articles, Kayaking Tips
Mind Body Paddle recently re-posted the very first blog post I wrote at Anna’s request—the story of how I became a kayak instructor, written before I actually started instructing. Written before I ever knew that I would end up working for Girls at Play/Mind Body Paddle. I was in high school, writing about this dream I had of guiding people down the river. I was signed up to teach kayaking on the Wolf River in Wisconsin that upcoming summer, despite my status as a novice boater. I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew that I was
