Awake Athlete Podcast

The power of breath is a remarkable and often overlooked force in our lives. Although the world of athletics is steadily discovering its power for physical and mental performance, I believe the masses are merely scratching the surface of its true power. 

Each inhale fills us with life-giving oxygen, while each exhale releases not just carbon dioxide but also stress and tension. Breath is the bridge between the mind and body, capable of calming a racing heart or energizing a tired spirit. 

It's the perfect tool for mindfulness, helping us stay present and find inner peace. By harnessing the simple act of breathing, we can unlock profound physical and mental benefits, making it a fundamental key to well-being and self-awareness. 

And it may, as it has with others, just save your race day performance!

In this episode, I reflect upon a trail run and the importance of staying awake in the valleys of life. I received a reminder that day of how so much can shift in just a moment and that when we are in the valleys of life, we should not forget to plant seeds for the future. 

The valleys of life are fertile ground for growing what we desire. If we stay conditioned to repulse bad and cling to good, we'll never reach our potential. We must learn to shift our mindset around life's valleys and get curious about the thoughts driving these preferences.

Welcome to season four of the Awake Athlete podcast. I am thrilled to be traversing this life with you, and I am grateful for your attention as we dive into another season of mind training. This season will be more experiential as I have weaved in corresponding meditations and yoga nidra practices to assist you in deepening the messages of the episodes ahead. 

In this season opener, I dive into the contrast of life, precisely the contrast of racing Ironman 70.3 Oceanside and the following Saturday sitting for an eight-hour meditation. The confirmation that I pulled away from these two very different experiences is that the inner work required to make these endeavors successful was the same. 

I also share about my healing journey and what I think about my ayahuasca experience in 2010.

I go into the most advantageous time to train the mind and cultivate calm as a spacious anchor for life. I hope you enjoy this kick-off episode and that you put at least one nugget into action in your life today.

The inspiration for this episode comes from my husband BJ and a story from Dr. Wayne Dyer. It speaks to our conditioning to look outside ourselves for answers because we were never taught to look within.

I share the message not about renouncing the world but using it to your greatest advantage. When we dial in too close to the drama of the world, we will lose our perspective, and the world gets its grips on us.  

As we turn inward, we gain wisdom about who we truly are, and the voice of the false self, although still present, will lose its power. I share a story about that negative voice in my head that tried to get my attention after a recent run and how I used my connection within to override that voice.

Have you ever caught yourself fighting to feel sub-par? I have, most certainly.

And have you ever considered how emotions might be getting in the way or, at the least, causing drama on the path to fulfilling your commitments?

When we commit to something, it's essential to feel that commitment which leads us to be more skillful at saying yes or no to opportunities that come our way. I give an example of a recent commitment I made and how I had to self-regulate repeatedly to stay devoted to my pledge. 

This episode is about feeling putting our devotion to ourselves, our dreams, and our goals first. Because when it all boils down to it, the commitments that we make are not concerned with what we do or do not feel like doing.

Set up for this meditation by sitting comfortably in a chair or on your meditation cushion. Comfort is critical because it will be easier for us to return to the practice if we are comfortable. So don't sweat crossed legs if that is uncomfortable; the only thing I don't suggest is lying down. When we lie down, our minds are apt to remember sleep and thus become lazy. 

Make sure that you are warm but not too warm. Pull on your favorite socks for an added dose of coziness. Use my voice as your point of concentration, allow the words to wash over you, and notice what resonates for you. 

The message of this meditation invites us to trust our intuition and see the opportunity in all situations. Everything is for us, and life will unfold in a way where we will always get experiences to teach us what we need to learn. 

I sincerely hope that you find value in this short yet mighty meditation.

I am on the other side of my back injury and here to reflect on how it all unfolded. I share what I garnered from this experience and how my birthday intentions played out.

Coming out of injury with more strength and clarity is one of the most empowering experiences we can have as athletes. But ultimately, that is a choice. I give insight into how we can extract the greatest wisdom from our challenges in this episode and how I kept physical and mental momentum moving forward throughout my healing.

In this episode, I share my philosophy regarding eating, which focuses on healthy digestion. I steer this episode towards not so much why we eat or what we eat or when we eat but how we eat. 

If you are an athlete who counts calories, fat, macros, etc., this episode will be of particular interest to you as you seek the right balance for your body. I offer a few topics for your consideration that I believe influence the body's ability to metabolize a perfectly calculated meal. And I provide a two-fold practice that benefits the nutrition you receive and doubles as a mind-training technique.

I give a bit of insight into a time when I lived with a distorted relationship with food and guidance to move away from that if you are currently experiencing a similar struggle.

We are masters of creating habits. The question we want to entertain is if we are actively feeding the patterns that move us towards the life we desire.

In this episode, I share some practical guidance on how to break habits that you have identified that do not serve you anymore so you can feed the ones that benefit your dreams.

I share my story of how I changed a habit around alcohol which happened during a time in my life when the drive to be clear each morning outweighed the practice of drinking wine each night. And what I have discovered about habit shifting is that it all comes down to being strong enough not to choose the temporary relief so you can experience long-term freedom. 

I hope this episode gives you what you need to begin shifting the energy of your life towards the one you desire to live most. 

I recorded this podcast during an acute back injury which I feel is the perfect time to talk about sustaining an injury from an Awake Athlete's viewpoint. I share the story of how this injury happened and the subtle voice that warned me not to do what I did which caused the damage. 

This injury was timed just days before my 50th birthday, which threw all my plans up in the air and asked me to let go. It was an experience that showed me attachment to training and another opportunity to focus on what I can do.