Do I need a title?

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Malin

Without any ulterior motive of inspiring and getting people moving and feeling better I want to write again, write just as it is, as a journal.

The winter has been way to long but finally it has come to an end and the spring is almost in full bloom. Another thing that is coming to an end is my yoga teaching training and to be perfectly honest I am glad it is. This morning I took Gary for a long walk through the forest and when I came home I continued meditating outside on the patio and I realized what is wrong. I have learned so much this past 8-9 months during the teacher training not only about yoga but also about myself but a lot of things that I do to make me feel balanced and good I have had to put on hold.

So starting in May it is time to bring balance back into my life and I do know that I get results when I put it out there in the universe.

Dear diary I have a confession to make…

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Malin

This year so far I have met so many new people who have touch me in so many different ways. Some I have lived near by for years, others I got to know better and some I have randomly met because our paths has crossed. What they all have in common is that they are all unique, I think if we are open to the fact we are all different from one another because of our upbringing, experience, religion or what ever it might we have one thing in common. We do all share that we are “peculiar” to one another and if you can embrace that and listen to their stories I think we become a happier person.

So one of my sweet, sweet Swedish friends and her family are moving back to Sweden so last night we had a girls night out and we had a blast. With great food and a lot of laughters the girls was ready for a sleep in this morning so we canceled this morning class which also meant a sleep in for me, yeah right!

Although I had the house to myself (I think for the first time ever) I still woke up bright and early and made it out for a 3 mile run just before the thunder rolled in over us. It was really humid and I had decided in my head not to go all out because I was going to an “invasion” yoga class afterwards but that was not happening. You know when you start and you feel pretty good and you push it, it is hard to stop! It was far from my greatest run but yet I fought all the way and as I walked trough the door the rain started pouring down as did the sweat at the back of my back.

I hurried to change clothes and ran off to the yoga studio for an 1 1/2 prep for handstands. I thought I knew how to get on to my hands but not so much, I guess because when my teacher Jodi Ryan told me what to do it totally made sense. She told me to lift my shoulders through the ribs and engage my core (she probably would describe it in a different way) it was like a “aha” moment and I became an addict. There you go, I am and addict! It is an amazing feeling when you figure out your body and you are able to take it to a new level, you just want more and more. So when I got home I was doing stuff around the house I kept on practicing handstand just so I could get that rush again. I guess this is what yoga does to you…haha. So to sum my day up I have had a great day and I am absolutely knackered and looking forward to get my family back!

Jodi and I playing around after the evening class…like i said I am an addict 😉

Did you dream about a burger?

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Malin

Whenever we are grilling burgers I always skip the bread as I am not really doing so good with it and t that’s ok but to be perfectly honest I do miss to be able to hold it and the texture of the bread. So I have finally been introduced to unmodified Potato Starch that apparently have been proven to improved insulin sensitivity, lower blood sugar levels, reduced appetite and various benefits for digestion just to mention a few. So I decided to try a recipe making burger buns and it was healthy and heavenly!

2 Eggs
1 pinch of salt
1/2 tablespoon unflavored coconut oil
1/2 dl water
1/2 dl coconut flour
0,5 dl unmodified potato starch
2 tablespoons psyllium husk
1 teaspoon baking powered
sesame seeds

How to:

Whisk the eggs until it’s fluffy. Add the coconut oil and the water and keep on wishing. Mix the rest of the ingredients and add to the eggs and keep on mixing. Let the “dough” rest for a few minutes before you wet your hands in water (so the dough don’t get stuck to your hands) and make small buns. Before placing in the over for 10 minutes at 300-350 F sprinkle sesame seed over them.

Patties

1 pound minced beef or your preferred protein

1 egg

garlic

oregano

Paprika powder

chili sauce

salt and pepper

chopped olives

Mix it all together and make patties, before placing them on the grill add your “grilling seasoning” and top off with your favorite toppings.

There is nothing wrong with quirky!

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Malin

It’s been a while since I did spinning but now when the “half” is over and done with I thought I’m going to change it up a bit to make it a bit easier on my body. So I with all this ambition that I was going to do great in this spinning class I entered into the room which was cold and dark and all of sudden all my motivation went out the window and all I wanted to do was to get out in the sun and lie by the pool.

But I pulled myself together and adjusted the bike to my liking as the instructor started with some light stretches before we got going. And as the first song was playing out load in the speakers this woman, slightly in front of me started cheering and clapping her hands and saying “I am Stephanie and I can do this, yay”. It was the most quirky moment I have ever experience in a dark room filled with strangers, that together was going the sweat their guts out for an hour. But you know what I used her energy and cranked the speed and resistance and gave everything I had as she kept on doing her “yays” throughout the class…so I guess there is nothing wrong with quirky 😉

The core is everything

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Malin

Being strong is one of the most wonderful feeling that I know and even if the journey can be painful there is few things that beats the feeling when you realize you can push your body to new limits. And as a house needs a strong foundation so does your body and therefore is he core one of the most important areas to strengthen (not only because you will look good in a bikini).

This is a few moves I did yesterday to strengthen my abs so I can do even more fun things at my yoga practice 😉

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I started out doing a slow pull in followed by as equal slow hip adductor and then finish off with a pushup. I did not have to do a crazy amount before I started feeling the nice familiar burn 😉

I kept on working my abs but did a different variation to get deeper into my shoulders and upper back. This was a pike from a shoulder stand…

From there I popped up to my hands and did another 10 pikes from the hands

To finish the series off I oblique crunches…from a push up position you swing your knees to the outside of your triceps alternating the sides.

What is your goal!

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Malin

I can be your fairy godmother!

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Malin

The person who knows your body the best will always be yourself and therefore I think it is important to communicate with my clients to meet their requests. So this sunny Wednesday morning with me as their fairy godmother their wish was about to come true…

…but not until I had tried the intensity of the workout myself 😉

The first circuit was just for warming up and making the heart pound a few extra beats before getting into the fun part. We did it twice through with 30 sec plank to push up and 30 sec plank followed by 10 push ups.

With that done we did a variation between a wood chop and russian twist apparently called “crazy Ivan”. Sitting down with the feet either on the floor or off the floor depending on the desired intensity lifting a medicine ball from one hip up through to the opposite side. This should be a challenging move and it may not be the core that gives in first as the shoulder has to do a fair bit of work as well.

To finish this series off we did another variation of burpees but instead of a push up we twisted both knee to the opposite elbow before we jumped back up into a squat jump. And I can promise after two sets the warm up was completed.

Giving the abs a small rest we got into the lats. I have a few goals of my own in mind this spring and being able to do pull ups is one of them. For some reason I am really weak or my body is to heavy for my arms, you choose which one you think it is…haha

So first out was cable pulldown, this is not a favorite move of mind but like I always say you will seldom like anything you’re not good at so you just hang in there and keep pushing.

Next up was TRX “lateral trunk twist”, this move will not only work the lats but also the shoulders and biceps. Hold on to one strap, reach for the floor behind you and pull yourself up and reach along the strap.

At this point I had a nice burn going and with one more exercise before the grand finale it had to be single arm rows.

And here they were, the pull ups! I am not ready to do it without assistance and the first couple of reps felt so easy but coming into the last few I had the shiver!

I did said I was the fairy godmother today and I didn’t want to disappoint nobody so we went back to the old TRX to hit the core. The first exercise was really two in one, almost like a bargain, right! Put the feet through the straps in a push up position, pull your knees in to your chest and out again. From there you will pike your hips up into the air as high as your can using your abs…that is one rep. Normally your abs should be burning by 10 but if not by all means keep on going to 15 or 20, it’s your choice and it’s your workout 😉

With the rectus abdominis out of the way next up was to hit the obliques. This move can be done from the floor as a regular “spiderman” or with one foot through the strap and the other one reaching for the shoulder and back into a plank position without the foot touching the floor. Again it is not only the core that is working, it is a lot of tension on the shoulders as well.

Someone recently told me the summer is around the corner although I have a hard time believing them but one thing I know is that few of us likes that “muffin top” sticking out. This is a great move to work on the love handles. Again, you can make it easier by keeping your feet on the floor but using the TRX, creating an unstable environment will make you recruit more muscles to stabilize the entire exercise. You can stay here or you can shoot the hip up in the air pretending you are rolling a ball underneath you to take it to the next level…

…and that is how you make dreams come true for some 😉

That is how a recovery run should go down!

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Malin

Oh gosh, this weekend has been really busy with one thing after another. The premier of “The Ghost Pirates” was at seven o’clock friday evening, all the kids had practice really hard and did an amazing job and Mira was really buzzing when she got off stage. She though it was so much fun so the next morning I found her totally dressed up with bright red lipstick and a pair of my highest heels on ready to bring on the world.

But in-between all the birthday parties, hockey and theater I managed to get my 7 miler in and it is amazing how your mind works. I mentioned my 4 mile recovery last Wednesday and it was sooo hard and I was disappointed because half way through it felt like it was never coming to an end.

This time around, I knew I was “turning” around at 3.5 mile and was running “home”. The only thing that gets me is the “sprint session” in the middle of the run, they are truly killers for the legs so for the rest of the afternoon it looked like I had **** in my pants…haha.

So when Sunday morning came around I had a choice to make…the 3 optional miles. The thing is optional is not really optional unless you hanging on by thread so I decided I was not going crazy. I took it nice and easy and I really enjoyed the brisk sunny morning not meeting a single soul on my first run of the season through the forest preserve! My legs were a bit stiff as expected but I went straight to a well deserved hot yoga session and what can be better for both the soul and the muscles to reach for your fullest potential to complete the workout week…this is truly how a recovery run should be like!

It will be what you want it to be!

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Malin

This week has been a little slow and it seems like a lot of people is sick or feeling sluggish and I would guess it’s the weather change. This will only give excuse to the unwell but for the rust of us, we don’t have one!

As you probably have figures out by now I am training for 1/2 a marathon but this doesn’t mean I given up on weight lifting. I like to “feel” that I worked out the day before, yes I sort of thrive on being sore. The thing is, trying to get all the miles in we have planned for every week and being tight and sore is not necessarily a good combination. But to every problem there is a solution, right? And mine is called YOGA!

This hour gives me the opportunity to center myself, release all the tension in my muscles but also focus on the goals I have ahead of me. So yesterday when I was doing my first run of the week, 6 miles. 2 miles warm up then 20 sprints a 30 seconds then running normal pace and legging it the last 1/2 mile and it was tough. The wind was gusting in my face and my heart pounding at 185-190 beats/minute and I’m not lying, it felt like I was running in syrup. That is when I came back to that place I go to when I’m doing yoga. Again it doesn’t mean it stopped hurting but I knew that I could do it and so I did!

This is why I’m running the Chicago 1/2 marathon!

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Malin

I will never forget when my friend told me that she was suffering from Lam or its real name “Lymphangioleiomyomatosis”

We stood on the shore of Lake Michigan a warm summer evening of 2010. I was about to travel back to Sweden for 4 weeks when she explained she suffered from LAM, a rare type of lung cancer that destroys the lungs and makes it harder for the oxygen to enter into the blood stream. Oxygen therapy will help stabilizing the oxygen-blood levels although eventually a lung transplant is evident.

I was heartbroken, confused and angry and there was nothing I could do so this is why I am running the 1/2 marathon…I’m running for my friend and her life!

This is her story!

The year was 2004 and she just had her first son and had decide to get back to exercising. This was nothing new to her as she had always played soccer and always been living a healthy lifestyle. You know, that comes with being an athlete.

So when she started working-out she noticed a strange cough during exertion, she dismissed it as being out of shape after the pregnancy and went along with her normal life. Shortly after, she was excited to learn that she was pregnant again. When she tried to return to normal activity after the birth of her second son, she developed shortness of breath, coughing that produced blood, and severe abdominal pain just like a knife was stabbing her over and over again. One of these episodes landed her in the Emergency Room six months after her second son was born.

She was told she had LAM and leaving the doctor’s office, the first thing she did was google LAM. She learned that her “new disease – LAM” had a life expectancy of 8-10 years with no treatment or cure and she had a new born and a toddler at home! It was then that she was faced with the fact that she had a rare disease and that it would be a rough road ahead.

I’ve seen my friend doing really well but I have also seen her really sick and this is nothing I would wish upon anyone. The LAM foundation has done an amazing job researching and have come a long way since I met my her. They have found a drug that stabilizes LAM but it is not a treatment.

As scientists continue to find similarities between unconnected diseases, we know that successful research in LAM has led to discoveries that impact diabetes, heart disease and other cancers. I am raising money to increase awareness for LAM and to support the successful and tireless efforts of the LAM Foundation. I am running this marathon for my friend and for the over 3,000 women worldwide who have LAM and can’t run their own race.