Autumn, stay forever!

The days are seriously getting colder and the Autumn leaves are looking more and more beautiful! Although I have to bundle up on my runs now, I often find myself smiling because the fallen leaves and vibrate colored trees are just so delightful! I keep telling myself to bring my camera with me on my run, but I always forget it, doh!

With the change of temperature I've been really enjoying a hot cup of Echinacea tea after my green smoothie. Green smoothies tend to lower my body temperature, so tea is appreciated.  I just noticed yesterday that the tea bags have these lovely little quotes on them. Oh, I love it!

 Today I had to pull out the long running tights, 2 layers of long sleeves, and gloves! Putting my brave/happy face on even though I don't feel like running in the cold.  How flattering these mirror photos are :)

This week I'm trying to catch up on some running that I couldn't get in last week. I usually try to run 4-5 days a week, but its easy to put off my run because I'm not training for anything. Running now is just for my sanity and weight management :) mmm....food!

Last week I had a huge yoga week! I took 10 hours of yoga classes, plus my own practice at home and my thighs, buns and upper back was sore on a whole other level.
Special teachers Chuck and Maty did some intensive teaching for 3 weeks at my yoga studio. I finally managed to take their morning mysore for 4 days. Each class is 2.5 hours starting at 6:30 AM! It was exhausting waking up at 5AM, but I got SO much out of each session that it was totally worth it!
Chuck and Maty are extraordinary teachers! Maty has eyes like a hawk and can see a misaligned yoga pose from a mile away! It was great to get adjusted by her and I feel my standing postures are different now. I learned I was tensing certain muscles that prevented me from getting length in the spine or putting my hip off balance. Really really subtle adjustments made a HUGE difference in how I felt in a pose.
Chuck is such a warm gentlemen who has such a great way of explaining yoga. Yoga, not as an exercise, but as a spiritual journey. He really inspired me and made me smile so much!

They emphasis that the most important thing in yoga is the breath and the mind. Those 2 aspects are really the most challenging part of yoga. Its not the poses that are hard, its keeping the breath smooth and constant (you won't believe how often we hold our breaths without being aware of it). The mind has to always be present so it can be sensitive to the body. Its easy for the mind to wander, so the challenge is keep it focused on what I'm doing in each pose. In 2.5 hours I felt like I used my mind for 8 hours straight. It was intense and exhausting, but also very rewarding!

Sunday was their last teaching day and of course I had to take their conducted class. We did a very slow Astanaga class and even though I hardly broke a sweat, my legs and arms were shaking with the intensity of each pose. During savasana Chuck said "If you want to feel a little bit of freedom, relax a little. If you want to feel more freedom, relax more. If you want to be completely free, relax completely." I can't say exactly why, but I started getting teary eyed after he said this. I wanted to be completely free and then suddenly I felt like a weight was lifted off me and I felt RELIEF.
Yoga has seriously changed my life! I don't know what I'd do without it!

But I still really enjoy running. My yoga teacher, Michael, said he hopes I can continue to keep the balance between running and yoga. Some runners get SO into running that they become so narrow minded about health and fitness. And the same goes for yogi's, its easy for us to think yoga is the best, but there's really no need to make it a competition. Do I think yoga will help runners? Absolutely! Do I think doing more yoga over running is better? No! And visa versa. Its all about maintaining balance.

Last weeks running/yoga log: Nov 8th - 14th
Yoga - 10 hours      Ran - 27.8k (lowest since September)

Mon - Off (legs needed a break from the 10k race)
Tues - 2.5 hrs Mysore class. 11.5k run (heavy legs)
Wed - 2.5 hrs Mysore class
Thur - 2.5 hrs Mysore class
Fri    - 9k run (easy run. Can't believe how sore yoga got me!)
Sat - 7.3k run after teaching yoga. (thighs still sore from yoga)
Sun - 2.5hr Ashtanga class

Lavender and Cinnamon

Blogging makes me happy. Absolutely juvenile as it sounds, updating my blog makes me feel accomplished so maybe I should do it more often :) Of course, I must keep it in perspective and make sure I'm not spending hours on the computer.

Today is a cloudy Autumn day. But I love it! I'm wearing long sleeves, socks, AND a scarf in the house and I've had to go back and forth between closing windows and opening them up again. I love the cold breeze that flows in when the windows are open! Its 5pm now and its quite dark outside. The days are definitely shorter and I can't help but get so excited. I know I said it before, but I love Autumn!

For some reason I'm feeling pretty relaxed and organized today. I wonder if it has anything to do with everything smelling like Lavender! I spilt Lavender Oil last night as I was giving Motozo a massage. At the time I thought "CRAP!" oil all over the sheets, but now that the sheet is clean, dry and still smelling like lavender I'm happy we had a little spill. My hands and almost everything smells like lavender....ahhh......maybe I should buy myself a lavender plant.
Lilia, do you know this brand? One of my yoga students bought it for me when she took a trip to Australia. I'd like to go visit this shop when we visit there! Which reminds me, I haven't done any research on Australian Open like I should have weeks ago! I'm making a list of things to do ASAP!



Today I whipped up a snack that was so good and simple I just have to post it!

Two ingredients I'm sure everyone has in their fridge.



Diced up the apple, threw it into the food processor, and processed until coarsely chopped.



Added the large banana, dash of nutmeg, and lots of cinnamon! I LOVE CINNAMON!



Processed everything until sort of pudding like, but not completely smooth.
Sprinkled more Cinnamon on top. Mmmmm...yum! Apple and cinnamon...nothing gets more Autumn like then that.



Certainly nothing special and most people would probably consider this baby food, but you can always make some adjustments to give it more texture. Some optional add ins could be: Walnuts, vanilla extract, raisins etc. Endless options to have fun with!

Since this blog is becoming more about food then running, I'd just like to mention now that I am still running. Not that I think Lilia (my faithful and only reader hehe) cares. So I'm really just saying this for myself.
In fact this weekend I plan to do a long run around the Yamanote Line with my running club. I probably will only make it half way around which will give me 20k or so, but that's pretty good for me right now :)

Right then, back to studying.

Weekend update

Everyone loves weekends, especially this particular girl. It means I have a good excuse to sleep in, spend the whole morning drinking coffee, surfing the net and best of all, spending quality time with this special man!

My Saturdays usually start off with either taking an Ashtanga class or doing my own yoga practice before teaching my Yoga for Runners class in the late afternoon. I felt inspired this time to practice Vrschikasana - Scorpion Pose.

Watch me hop 1,2,3, and FINALLY on the 4th time I bang into the wall to get myself up. How graceful of me! I'm a beginner at Vrschikasana so I'm quite shaky in the video, but oh, well...I need to start somewhere. Nina, with your bendy back I bet you can get your feet to touch your head much easier. Give it a try, but do make sure you warm up well! In this clip I was practicing yoga for over an hour with gentler backbending to ease myself into this intense backbend.

Sure was fun!

I was having a pretty moody Saturday, so I was quite happy that I woke up on Sunday feeling much more positive! I've been reading this awesome book called "Happy Yoga" and it's been a life saver recently. Its all about finding happiness from within yourself rather then looking to people or any other outer source for happiness. It explains how we can't place expectations on things or people to bring us happiness, but that happiness lies within each and every one of us and its up to us to nurture that area. So, I've been practicing some self love and each time I feel down I tell myself, "I am happiness" and amazingly I usually feel much better. I think I will elaborate on this topic on another post.

We started our day off with some refreshing carrot/apple/ginger juice. Freshly squeezed from the juicer. I was so happy that I could share this juice with Motozo and doesn't the orange make you think of Autumn? ah, Autumn!

Charged with energy from the carrot juice, I went out for a short 10k run and after returning, I got Motozo out the door because I was dying to go to VegeFesta!

Tokyo Vege Food Festa is held every year in Yoyogi-park. Since last year they made it strictly vegan (no vegetarian eggs or milk) and each year it seems they've either got better stalls out or I'm just a little more aware of the healthy things. This year they had so many goodies out! Wonderful super foods that are hard or close to impossible to find in Tokyo.

They had green juice stall. Which I thought was a little lame because look, it's mainly fruits they have in there. But wonderful, non the less, to have a green juice stand.

This place had amazing spices and reasonably priced dried fruits and nuts.

Even a place to do yoga and meditation if one wanted to.

I was on a quest to find a raw lunch and hit jack pot with this raw spinach curry and nut "cracker". YUM! I'm inspired now to try making raw curry.

Dessert was vegan ice-cream and since most of the stalls had samples, I munched happily while walking through crowds of people.

Unfortunately, I got a little carried away with looking at things and at one point, ducked into a stall that were selling things that I've been keen on getting for ages and in the process lost Motozo!

After making my happy purchase, I realized Motozo was no where to be seen. After 30min of walking around we finally found each other and Motozo was not in the festive mood any more. I accidentally left my phone at home and Motozo was not thrilled that he couldn't get in touch with me. The poor man!

After getting home I congratulated myself on some good finds.

Lacuma Powder and Cacao nibs are sure to make my raw desserts more interest!

Agave Syrup - not extremely healthy. Its still sugar at the end of the day, but the vanilla flavored agave was to die for so I had to get the 2 for the price of one deal!

KALE! First time EVER to see this in Japan. We stopped at Kinokuniya to get some groceries and I found kale on sale. This was my lucky lucky day!

Later in the afternoon I made Motozo and I big green smoothie using the kale and I slowly enjoyed it as I don't know when the next time will be for me to find the rare vegetable.

I'm kicking myself for not getting this one particular type of tea, but it was a little more expensive then what I was willing to pay for at the time. But now....damn, I wish I got it because its a tea that could possibly even replace my coffee addiction.

Oh, well, maybe I'll find it somewhere else.

Motozo and I ended our relaxing day by watching Wall Street 2. It was alright.

And then I watched Julie and Julia. Wonderful movie if you're into food like me,Haha! Motozo choose to read a book after 15min, so definitely not a guy flick unless he likes cooking.

But I highly recommend it if you're a Meryl Streep fan and a foodie.

How was everyone elses weekend?