Jodh Kaur
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Mindset is Everything

11/5/2019

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In September, I flew to Portland, Oregon to run a marathon. Preparing to run a marathon takes months of conditioning: running 4 times/week, strength training, stretching, eating well, staying hydrated, resting and getting enough sleep. Like a Kundalini Yoga practice, this training cultivates mental strength, the ability to withstand and work through discomfort and most importantly, a Keep Up spirit. Sure, there were days where I felt tired and there were runs where I didn’t feel good, but I kept up. Quitting was not an option. Instead, I kept moving forward even if that forward movement was walking (or running really slowly😳). 

Throughout training, I maintained a positive mental attitude. I saw myself finishing. I felt how it would feel to cross the finish line with tears in my eyes and a big smile on my face. I felt the medal hanging around my neck and saw myself adding it to my medal rack. 

When I arrived at the starting line in Boring, Oregon, it was cold, dark and rain was imminent. With relaxed intensity, I stood at the start with only two things on my mind: “I’m finishing no matter what” and “I need to run as many miles as I can before it starts raining!” (it started raining at mile 16, not bad). 

As I ran, I started laughing out loud because I realized I traveled over 2000 miles to run 26.2 miles in the rain and never did it occur to me I couldn’t do it. Even as I whooped and yelled for the last mile because everything hurt (oooh those hills got me), quitting was not a consideration, let alone an option. I would have crawled through the finish if I needed to.
 

This marathon experience has given me an opportunity to reflect on how I set goals in my life and to consider why I’m successful in some areas but not others. One important difference is being "all in" versus giving myself an "out". When I give myself an out, it’s a lot harder, if not impossible, to achieve my goal. What if I arrived at the marathon and said, if I don’t feel like finishing, I can always quit? The outcome could have been different, there were lots of reasons to quit that day. And as I write, I can’t imagine saying this to myself for the marathon. Yet, I give myself an out in other areas of my life, creating duality because I allow myself time to think about the out vs The Goal. I am not all in. Not to mention, the out is often accompanied by intense stress and anxiety putting me in a space of fear and scarcity. Not the place to be in for goal achievement. Certainly not the space I was in for the marathon. 

The beauty of life is that we always have opportunities to reflect, learn and grow and we can apply our experiences in one area of life to others. With that said, here is what the marathon has taught me about goal setting:

  • Write your goal down, be specific
  • Mindset is everything
  • Create a detailed plan and follow it
  • Spend time with others who have a similar goal or who have what you want to achieve
  • Share your goal with others and let them hold you accountable
  • Spend time every day focused on the goal through:
    • Meditation including visualization and feeling your achievement
    • Taking action, it’s the small steps every day that create confidence, strength,  momentum and belief in yourself
  • Plan a reward for achieving your goal and celebrate your hard work and achievement

Do you currently have a goal you are working on for the end of this year or into 2020? I would love to hear about it. Sharing goals is inspiring. It stretches us to dream bigger, be audacious and to know if others can do it, we can too. 
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Falling into Oats

10/25/2019

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With the cooler weather, I have been craving oatmeal for breakfast. Initially, I thought it was too heavy for a pre-run meal, but I have been experimenting with it and it's not too heavy at all. In fact, it's perfectly warm and satisfying.

Oatmeal is quite nutrient dense, 1/2 cup of uncooked oats makes about 1 cup of cooked oatmeal and contains 13 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber. A solid start to the day. I have been adding a spoon of almond butter, chia seeds, cacao powder, a banana and drizzle of maple syrup for a slightly sweet, grounding, nourishing bowl of breakfast. It's quick to make and provides the right amount of fuel for me to get moving. 

Oatmeal provides a nice base for a variety of toppers - raisins, dates, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen berries, coconut, hemp seeds and cinnamon offer a variety of combinations that will keep oats interesting so we can continue to enjoy them throughout the colder months. 

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What I Ate - Half Marathon Prep

4/21/2019

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After a very cold, snowy and windy training - I ran my first race of the year today. I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to cold weather running, but I scheduled this Half Marathon to motivate myself to get moving and to condition myself for Marathon training. This race was my I did it​ moment as  I happily waved goodbye to winter. The weather this morning was beautiful, sunny and mild. The course was hilly. I felt strong and better prepared than I realized. I can't ask for much more. 

This is what I ate yesterday and this morning, in preparation for my race today. I started yesterday with a smoothie very similar to my  Spring Super Food Smoothie  except I substituted orange juice for the plant milk and omitted the cacao. 
For lunch and dinner I had Kichari made with quinoa, split moong dal, celery and spinach. This dish is packed with protein, carbs and fiber and ended up being a perfect meal for the day before a race. I would definitely have this again. It is also easy and inexpensive to make. Throughout the day, I snacked on 2 pieces of sourdough toast and 2 bananas and had a cookie - what can I say... carb loading.
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 My pre-race meal will sound familiar.  One hour before race time, I ate one half of a brown rice tortilla with 1 Tbsp nut butter, 2 dates, a sprinkle of hemp seeds and about a teaspoon of maple syrup. I also had coffee with soy milk and drank about 32 oz of water before the race began. We had just over an hour of driving which gave me plenty of time to hydrate and eat my breakfast.  
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Here I am, post 13.1 - Mission Accomplished!
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What I Ate Today - I'm back to running

2/6/2019

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While I'm not a fan of running in the cold (Ok I don't like it at all!), I'm working to shift my perspective. And let's face it, when the weather shifts from -20º to +20º - it makes 20º feel downright tolerable - dare I say warm? At the beginning of the week, I mapped out my running goals, scheduled my races and wrote out my training plan for the year and it all needed to start this week. So here we go! 
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I ran today and I always have the same thing before running, coffee with half of a brown rice tortilla (heated on the stove) with about 1 Tbsp almond butter, 2 dates and a sprinkle of hemp seeds. It's not pretty, but it is a light breakfast that is filling enough to send me out the door without feeling like I'm running with a  brick in my belly. I also try to drink about 24-32 ounces of warm water during my morning sadhana so I'm well hydrated as my day begins.
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​I came back from my 3 mile run hungry so I had 2 slices of this polenta pumpkin bread toasted with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkling of Everything But the Bagel Seasoning.  I absolutely love this bread and it kept me satisfied until lunch. 


​If you saw my post from last week, you know  last week was a bean fest in my kitchen.  I pulled out the chickpeas and some kale to make this hearty and delicious pasta recipe. One of my favorite things to do is to take what I have on hand in my fridge and see what I can do with it.  This dish was a successful experiment. The sun dried tomatoes and lemon juice balance the flavors out nicely. Plus it was all ready in about the time it took to boil the water and cook the pasta. Hearty and satisfying, just what I crave fo lunch. 
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​You will come to learn that I love tacos. For dinner, I made portobello mushroom tacos and vegan ground beef tacos which I jazzed up with some diced onion and jalapeño and seasoned with chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.  We topped them with my cheeze sauce, salsa, lettuce and avocado and served with pinto beans over rice.  I love these creamy pinto beans. The rice and beans inside of a tortilla make for a yummy taco on their own. 
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    I am an animal loving-Vegan runner, I practice and teach Kundalini Yoga and I love to cook and eat flavorful plant-based food.

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