"A deeper, more effective way to hydrate for your healthy lifestyle"
Hawaii is known for its infinite beauty. People from all over the world, travel far and wide to visit this incredible location. Each Island has its own amount of beauty: beauty that goes far deeper than we can even imagine. Many of us, including myself, can not even begin to understand the amount of "AWESOMENESS" that truly resides.
Regardless of which Island you choose to locate or visit, we know the importance of hydration. Living on the Big Island of Hawaii and being a part of this active lifestyle day in and day out, I know my body needs more than simple waters to hydrate. I need something deeper than faucet water for my training of marathons and that's why I incorporate the use of Kona Deep. Have you heard about Kona Deep? Some of us living right here in Kona have never even heard of Kona Deep.
Kona Deep Corporation 73-275 Makako Bay Dr. Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
Kona Deep is Deep Hydration from the Sea. "A pure and refreshing water from the deep ocean waters of Hawaii." Take a look at their website to educate yourself further. It's an epic journey in which this water becomes available to all of us. It comes to us as a source of natural, no added ingredients, deep sea water with natural electrolytes ( electrolytes and trace minerals that come directly from the ocean. These include: Potassium, Magnesium, Sodium,
Chloride, Calcium and numerous trace minerals.) "Along the way, it travels over underwater volcanic fissures, soaking up
beneficial electrolytes and minerals before arriving at the Island of
Hawaii." No need to add ingredients when nature has taken care of it all within itself.
Kona Deep - Beach Days
On some of our Islands cooler days, which we don't get very often, but I have felt the cooler weather within the last couple of days, I still make sure I'm getting enough plentiful hydration. Hydration filled naturally with electrolytes and minerals that are essential to the function of cells and organs in the human body. As an athlete (Runner, Fitness Instructor,Yogi Practitioner,) I want to keep my body as healthy and injury free as I can. The proper functioning of my body often requires a little more than I can do for it alone. And so, that is why I trust and rely on using Kona Deep as a daily part of my training and active lifestyle. Kona Deep has a unique blend of "naturally occurring deep ocean electrolytesand trace minerals that help keep your body deeply hydrated, balanced and performing as it was meant to". Kona Deep Sea Water is easily accessible and bottled ready to go with you on your own Epic Adventure!
Even my son loves bringing Kona Deep with us on our adventures (He said to me "mom make sure the cap is on tight, so no sand gets inside.")
I would love to offer each of you a bottle of this "AWESOMENESS" however that might be a little out of my budget unfortunately. With that said, I will be offering each of you an opportunity to win yourself Kona Deep product with a GIVEAWAY/CONTEST sponsored by Kona Deep themselves.
To enter >>>Please follow me via Instagram @ BreatheBrooke
(all you need to do is post a picture of you and your active lifestyle - telling me why you need Kona Deep in your life. Use the Hashtag #KonaDeepPlease ) You have until the end of February 2016 to post your pictures. I will then pick a lucky winner maybe winners!!!!
As I continue my fitness/healthy lifestyle I will be sure to bring Kona Deep sea water with me everywhere I go. Even more so now than before, I am incorporating it into my training as I begin my journey towards running my first ever 100 Miler. I hydrate extra before my longer runs and you better believe I fill my camelbak and water bottles with it too!
Drinking From my camelbak never tasted so good - all because of Kona Deep!
Kona Deep truly knows whats up! If you would like more information about their Deep Sea water visit them at info@konadeep.com or feel free to give them a call at 808.327.1400. Please let me know if and when you incorporate Kona Deep into your Healthy/Fitness Lifestyle and how. I would love to hear your thoughts...
It blows my mind to think we are now in the year twenty sixteen. "Time certainly flies when you're having fun" or raising a family or running marathons or just moving right along with this thing called Life.
Let's make this New Year even more meaningful than the last. Let's stop making these endless resolutions and stop repeating the same life over and over, year after year.
What are you going to do differently this year? How will you live a more meaningful life than the last?
To be honest, I feel like I've repeated the same things for the last couple of years and frankly I'm over it! I'm ready to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life. I'm wanting to try new things, adventure, and experience meaning in my life differently.
Today is January 1, 2016. Can you believe it? Today I commit to myself, to living a more meaningful life. And I hope you'll join me...
Desire is the most important factor in the success of any athlete.Willie Shoemaker
In no way does this photo belong to me - all credit given to MarathonPhoto
Well Willie, I believe your words to be truer than true. Desire does have much to do with the success of an athlete. Without desire, what else would there be? Desire is alongingorcraving,asforsomethingthatbringssatisfactionorenjoyment: for me running does exactly that!
I have learned to be comfortable with not always having to prove something to myself or to others. For me, Honolulu Marathon is about enjoyment. I made a commitment to myself not long ago, that no matter what the outcome of my performance would be, while participating in any Honolulu Marathon, I would enjoy myself. Whether I am capable of giving my fastest performance or my absolute slowest, I would cross the finish line knowing that I just got to run and for that alone I should be HAPPY.
Well, this years Honolulu may not have been my fastest marathon, but it most definitely was NOT my slowest either. Rather than rambling on and on, I'll just give you my finishers time: 4:08:something. And I will leave you with this: I LOVE RUNNING AND HOPE I ALWAYS WILL........
Another year I was able to find my running partner Tonya near the porta-potties ans we even ran a mile together!
Last time I ran the Honolulu Marathon with my sister Bree Wee was in 2007... Nice to have her back on the course years later (faster than me of course, but just knowing she was there was enough)
- Happy Holidays to all of you -
Another year behind all of us.... What will we do with 2016?
Honolulu Marathon 2014 Finish-line feed 3:00-4:00 (If you know my finishing time from last year - you should be able to find me?)
Most people this time of year get all excited because it's the Holiday Season. I get excited because I know I will be running the Honolulu Marathon along with thousands of other people. It means the last marathon of the season and right around the corner a New Year.
I look forward to running this particular marathon all year. It holds that special place in my heart that no other race has touched yet. It was my very first marathon I ever watched (chasing mile markers to find my sister Bree Wee ), the first marathon I ever fully participated in individually (I have done a relay marathon in West Palm Beach with my college girlfriends, but I only ran like 5 miles of the 26.2 and almost died...lol), and it was the first marathon to create what I consider a goal chasing PR for myself. A PR I intend to break!!!
Honolulu Marathon has seen me cry tears of pain, hurt, trouble both mentally and physically. It has witnessed me completely break down. Honolulu Marathon has also seen me cry tears of joy and complete happiness for my accomplishments. It has witnessed me run one of the best running days of my life thus far... A running day where I never walked, never bonked, never felt pain, never wanted to stop running, nutrition was on point, body felt great every mile, and I can still feel the run in my heart. Deep down in my heart.
I get a sense of peace this time of year (Marathon Race type of Peace). I don't get that typical pre-race anxiety that leaves my stomach and my head all tangled in a mess. I used too - but now I think I have run enough Marathons and have learned how to calm my nerves. I know I have put in the miles training, the time, the strength, some speed, and the heart. As I near the starting line this year, I take a deep breath in and close my eyes for a short moment. I tell myself that "I will allow whatever is to come of this years Honolulu Marathon to be another experience and I will embrace it with all of my heart either way."
Only 6 Days 13 Hours and 11 minutes until the gun goes off! I can't wait!!! Oops, actually now it is 6 Days 12 Hours and 43 minutes...you know you're counting, as am I :)
To everyone running this year ( and I know there are a lot of you from the Big Island), I hope you have a beautiful run, an incredible experience, and please do not forget to breathe it all in..
This is one of the many questions I get asked from my social media peers quite often. If you have been following my fitness journey, you know by now it is pretty much my life! It is my job and it plays a role in my playtime too. Yoga plays so much of a role in my life, that, you pretty much cannot take me anywhere: without me thinking about yoga, jumping-bending-twisting into some kind of yoga pose for the camera, or talking about something yoga related. If you do not believe me, just ask my family...Here is Nick's number 808-just kidding, but seriously, ask my family!!!
But, how does yoga support me while training for marathons? Wherever you are in this very moment, get down on the floor on all fours. With your shoulders over your elbows over your hands and your hips over you knees. Begin flexing and extending your spinal column in what we yogis refer to as cat & cow. Do this for 1-3 minutes breathing evenly, breathing and moving slowly. When you finish relax your hips back towards your heels in what we yogis call child's pose (choose any comfortable variation). Breathe in child's pose for 3-5 minutes, close your eyes, and calm your mind. Relax every muscle in your body. Get back to reading when you have done these two exercises/postures and not a word more before....................................................................................
How do you feel? (Write 3 things down you felt while practicing).
1.
2.
3.
Here is how I felt: ( I wrote 3 things down too!)
1. My spine feels lengthened & more flexible.
2. I feel centered/balanced.
3. My breath was calm & relaxed.
4. That bit of tension in my upper shoulders is not really there anymore! Yeah I know I wrote 4!!!
When I run, I want to feel the same as I do on my yoga mat or within my practice. I want to feel as though nothing in the world around me has control over my mind or body. When I am on my mat, I am on my mat and breathing towards staying centered. I don't want my mind to wander away and take me to these dark depressing places that the mind can often do. I don't want to think about the bills I have to pay, or the to do list that I know will still be there waiting for me later to do. As a runner who practices yoga, I run listening to my breathing (unless of course I am chatting with a my running buddies). I run listening the sound of my feet landing on the pavement or ground whatever beneath me. I run paying attention to how my body feels. Are my shoulders relaxed, my chest relaxed, am I breathing mostly nostrils expanding my lungs, and the body check continues as so do the miles.
I enjoy being in the moment when I'm running. If you have ever "Hit The Wall" in running a marathon, most likely your mind gave out first long before your body truly ever did. If you disagree with me, I ask that you revisit your race mentally and see when you began to shut down. I have run those marathons where I thought that I was tired and ready to quit. Inside I battled what in the world was I doing running 26.2. In reality, it was always my mind talking me down. I have allowed my mind to control a couple of my marathon races before. I have since learned and learned to listen to not my minds mind, but my BODIES mind. I have learned to listen to my bodies body. And when I am weak, which happened not too long ago, my mind once again controlled my running and led me to a mental breakdown. I did finish the race, but I was in a struggle to move beyond my mind. Needless to say, it took me a really long time to find my finish.
Each and every time I show up to my mat, I practice breathing through these struggles I have. I learn to release and let go. In running, I try to incorporate the release and let go technique as well. I release myself of expectations and perfection. I let go of needing to impress myself, the community, the social media crowd.
I take on this yogic approach to running. I run not to compete against other runners, but to run for thy self. Each marathon is like stepping onto my yoga mat. I come to my mat to learn and develop into something far greater than I was the day before. I show up to my mat to practice for thy self. When I show up to the start of a marathon, I show up willingly. I show up with an intention to run because I love running. Over and over, again and again I breathe. On my mat over and over, again and again I breathe. I show up to my mat to practice willingly. Yoga and running cannot be about forcing the body to do something the mind wants it to do. The body has to be willing to put in the effort, the time, the commitment. Sure your mind can say "Hey lets train for a marathon, lets go run 26.2", but if the body does not show up and commit to the miles, to the training, the marathon is most likely not going to happen. Or it might happen but be kind of ugly. You know what I mean by ugly...
I know that running is mental. I do not disagree with you on this, but it is so very physical. The body can and will keep going if the mind is willing to keep going. If the mind is telling the body to stop even though the body is saying it doesn't feel like it needs to stop, the fight has already begun. This is where the calming of the mind, the breathing, the detachment of the thoughts helps a runner continue running. If you know you trained and have successfully put in the effort to run your marathon, you know there is no injury that is lingering, nothing that really could prevent you from finishing. Then what? You run your race and have one hell of day hopefully, right?
We have to learn to train our minds just like we do our bodies. For me, yoga takes care of all the thousands of details. Yoga creates strength, flexibility, mindfulness, calmness, love, practicing at a mental level, practicing at a physical level, and the list, you guys, could seriously go on for pages.
So you ask me, How Does Yoga Support Marathon Training? Yoga supports my body and my mind to balance one another out. They learn to work together, rather than creating a struggle for one another. Sure I show up and some days things do not go as planned even though I practice yoga and I run, but life doesn't always come with a guarantee and absolute. All I know is that I am a much stronger runner because of my yoga practice. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand from the few years of pushing my son in his jogging stroller. I have come so far in my training. I learned to love running, rather than force running. I don't wake up dreading getting out of bed to lace up and show up on those 5am run mornings. Most of the time I look forward to putting on my shoes and for those off kind of days when my body is asking me not today not to run, I listen. Just because my training plan says go run or because you tell me I need to be running X amount of miles a week, doesn't mean I am going to go run if my body is saying Not Today. That is what yoga has done for me: yoga has taught me to listen to my body first, not my mind.Yoga has taught me to breathe. Yoga keeps my body healthy and happy. Healthy and happy is what a runner wants. We all want our bodies to keep moving for us, so we can keep running.
I know that every body is different and has its own mental and physical needs. We all have different needs. Maybe yoga is not your thing, not what you require. For me, I know I need the time on my mat. I need to stretch out my muscles after running and I need to quiet my mind, so it will not distract me negatively while running. Oh my goodness I need yoga for so may reasons really, but I might take up days of your time if I continue writing.
Yoga supports my marathon training. It's as simple as that!
Beginner Yoga Flow - 5 minutes that sets the tone...
For more information, yoga poses, run information, and the whole fitness shebang follow ME socially:
I had put my headphones on as I gazed out the tiny window from the exit row seat. I began making playlists for my yoga classes back home. I must have already been missing my students, so I thought to myself quietly. With 5 hours to spare in the sky, I had time to listen, time to think, and time to create.
I often prepare my music in a way that moves me from one song to the next. Occasionally a song will slip in the playlist that throws my teaching off rhythm, but as a teacher I have learned to adapt in order to keep the attention of my students.
Music is inspiring and motivating. So I closed my eyes as I listen to the different songs playing loudly in my ears and I began to feel the music. I questioned each and every song. I questioned its ability to move me. Could the music I was listening to make me feel alive? Could each and every song in the playlist make me feel alive?
As I arranged the different songs in some kind of order, I realized the title of the songs were speaking to me. One after the next, these words kept POPPING out at me LOUDLY!!! They are telling my story. These songs described the story of my life, my life as a bulimic. Immediately, I reached for my notebook and pen to write. I didn't stop writing until each song in my playlist described my story on paper.
I listened to each song in my playlist and wrote the only words that came out at that exact moment. I didn't have a pencil to erase or piece of paper after piece of paper to throw away. It was as if this story had been sitting inside of me and was waiting for the right moment to pour out. Sitting high in the sky on an airplane must have been the right moment.
And so here is my playlist (click the Link to connect to Spotify): Flying With Love
And here is my story, my Playlist Story of my life: Written on my way from Kona traveling to San Fransisco. "I dedicate this Playlist to all of those who have or still continue to struggle with an Eating Disorder. May you find a path that creates healing in you, your life. May you find the love in your heart that will conquer the Eating Disorder. You are beautiful and deserve to live with love for yourself."
Flying With Love November 6, 2015
We all begin with a CRAZY HEART that needs AWAKENING. We've carried this bucket. We CARRY WATER filled with our FLAWS. We have carried this bucket THE WAY THROUGH life. THE FLOW is filled with painful moments that we're learning to let go of. After days, months, years of PATIENTLY WAITING we begin to develop our practice. It has been A LONG TIME in the making, but we are here now: Present. Rather than waiting to receive love, we learn to GIVE LOVE and start LIVING! We didn't get here by chance, we got here by CHOICE. Through this choice we made, we learn to RISE ABOVE. We reach our hands to the sky. Our hearts wide opened. We open our eyes because there is LOVE IN MY HEART. A mantra that resonates so clearly with us now. A word revealed, a divine sound. For love will continue to be TOMORROW'S SONG and today's CLOSING MEDITATION. Namaste ~
If you are in the Kailua Kona, Hi area please come practice with me. I would LOVE to have you..
Class Schedule listed Yoga With Brooke Myers
"My
mind has always been my greatest weakness. But one of these days I'm
going to lock myself inside my head until I come out knowing how
incredible I actually am. Lock myself inside my head, until I come out
knowing how Strong and Beautiful I am. One day my MIND will be my
GREATEST STRENGTH"...
Rather than waiting for that one day to come, I am making a very real commitment right now. I Brooke Myers am making a commitment to making my mind MY GREATEST STRENGTH.
For years and years and years I have made a commitment to working out, running, yoga, and pushing myself beyond my physical limitations. But, I have never truly made a commitment to my mind. I've tapped in from time to time, but end up leaving the very same as I went in.
As a bulimic, I thought I was head strong because I could push and push myself to the point of pure HEll. In reality I was so damn weak and fragile. If I couldn't purge like the girls I knew, I was weak. If I couldn't run another mile because I was too tired or often times hungry, I was weak. If I couldn't starve myself like an anorexic, I was even weaker! My mind has never been strong enough to walk away on its own. It took my getting pregnant with my son to finally wake the shit up and do something about my Eating Disorder. I changed in that moment for the life of my son. Yes, that is a sign of strength, but I would not have chosen to give up the bulimic lifestyle had I not gotten pregnant. Truth!!!
As a runner, I learn everyday to push myself. I push myself to become a faster marathoner and a stronger runner. Running truly is mental and I fully am aware. I am also aware that I am not always mentally there. I know my body is strong and can endure miles of running. But my body is also weak at times too. My mind is weak. When my body is feeling weak I need my mind to pick up the lacking pieces of my body, but I am not always able to do that. Sometimes I just completely give in. I gave in this year running the Kona Marathon if you remember, I walked the majority of the race. I was not there mentally.
As a yoga practitioner / yoga teacher, I have learned that the mind is to be still. Yoga is a time in my life where I am not supposed to be thinking about how my body looks, what I ate yesterday and the day before that. Yoga is teaching me that I need to come to mat and dedicate my whole self to the practice. Yoga is the one time where I should be able to get completely out of my head and into my soul. When I close my eyes I do not have to see all that I see in the mirror. When I close my eyes on my mat, I draw my attention inwards and go by feel.
So, as I sit here writing, I say to myself " what Brooke have you done to dedicate time to your minds healing?" Yes the fitness in all aspects, my son, my yoga life and so fourth plays an incredibly beautiful role in the healing of my mind, but I do not spend enough time in stillness. I do not dedicate time to meditate like I know I should be. When I practice I know how much better I feel, so why would I neglect spending time to meditate or sit quietly or fill myself with positive language? If I can spend countless minutes staring at myself picking myself apart, why can I not spend minutes in front of the mirror talking to myself beautifully?
The most truthful answer I can give myself and give to you, is that I have never really wanted to change the way I think. I just say I do, but I never do anything about it. I say I want to look in the mirror and see myself the way I should see myself, but the very next moment there I go again criticizing.
Do you understand where I am going with this? Can you relate at all?
The mind is seriously the strongest tool we have, but rarely does it get the attention it should or in my case that it should. My mind has been neglected for so long. Now is the only time I've got to start taking care of my mind and making it become MY GREATEST STRENGTH.
Just as I make time for my practice, family, running, and everything else in my life, I am going to make time for my mind too. I have to do this, there is no more putting it off or working around it. I have to start RIGHT NOW!!!
Sorry not sorry, for my ramble, but I just had to write it out. I need the world to hear me make this commitment, I needed to hear me make this commitment to my mind! And so here it goes................... You know that "struggle you're in today, makes you stronger tomorrow" quote, yes I love that quote but I'm tell you I don't want to be in today's struggle anymore. I want to be stronger today and everyday!
