Summer finding the Zen in the city...

On Christmas Eve day, while most people [...]]]> As many of you know, I am heading to Costa Rica to help teach yoga to teachers and then guest teach at my first yoga retreat. The time leading up to this huge journey has been filled with reflection and creating intention.

Summer finding the Zen in the city...

On Christmas Eve day, while most people were with family, I opted to go see Sri Dharma Mittra give a talk on purification and intention. Picture a 72 year old yogi, with the brightest shining face you have ever seen speaking with a thick Brazillian accent about relieving suffering. There he was, seated with all of his disciples, teaching the most simple things. I was inspired by what he said, ” Purification of the mind begins with purification of the body.”

So the day after Christmas, I started my 4 day raw juice fast. Thankfully, I called a professional, Donna from Gravity East, and she instructed me to drink plenty of green juices (2-3 per day) and maybe one carrot/beet/ginger juice. She said to stay away from fats like coconut milk (which happens to be my favorite). Today is day 4 of my fast, and I feel really really good.

Everybody’s experience is different, but I found that waking up with a glass of water, then a red or green juice was totally fine. I didn’t miss breakfast at all. Later closer to lunch, I would run off to a juice place and find some sort of green monster (usually spinach, cucumber, parsley, ginger, kale, etc.). Then another 2 juices throughout the day. I only had a pure coconut water from Organic Avenue once during my fast, but found it to be very hydrating. I found that Organic Avenue has various cleanses that they will even deliver to your house. Blueprint is another popular cleanse here in the city.

Taking a break from solid food was actually really refreshing. I was surprised by how much I didn’t actually miss it. Not to mention, my skin got a little clearer, my belly got a lot thinner and I had consistent energy throughout my days. I recommend talking to a specialist before embarking on your own cleanse, or at least doing some research. But I can now speak from experience that a juice cleanse feels really good when you do it right!

I am very excited to announce that I am hosting my first CST Infused Yoga Retreat in Nicaragua this February 19th – 25th. This will be an amazing time for people [...]]]>

This is Warrior II holding a clubbell, on a rooftop in NYC. Escape the city (or town) come do yoga with me in Nicaragua!

I am very excited to announce that I am hosting my first CST Infused Yoga Retreat in Nicaragua this February 19th – 25th. This will be an amazing time for people interested in what I call “Circular Yoga Training” to come experience it first hand. I will be teaching some unique flows that blend elements of CST and joint mobility into vinyasa, guaranteed to leave your body buzzing with vitality and prana. I will also be available for private one on one sessions of CST and yoga. This retreat has been organized up by my yogi friend and entrepreneur Tanya Lexin, who I met at Yandara Yoga institute,  and she is offering it for a huge discount (Only $1500 for twin bed or $1600 for queen bed accommodations). To see all of the details at the resort go to the AMA Website www.yogasurfnicaragua.com.

For those who may have seen me on the Clubbell DVD with Scott Sonnon, or in his Prasara Yoga Manual, but would like to know a little about my yoga teaching style, check out my bio below:

Summer’s Yoga Bio

Come take your Yoga to the next level at my first retreat in Nicaragua!

Summer practices and teaches vinyasa flow yoga with an emphasis on alignment, thoughtful sequencing and cultivating a soothing meditation through movement. She has a passion for wellness, and will gladly share her mind body training tips and healthy food recipes anyone who asks. In addition to studying for her masters in Exercise Science, Summer has also studied with Scott Sonnon, founder of the Circular Strength Training method, which is mind body exercise using a clubbell. Her joint mobility, Prasara yoga and Flow Fit background allow her to help students to unlock bound areas and allows for training of the nervous system. Summer’s yoga practices are challenging, but playful. She encourages smiling and letting go during your practice to uncover your innate ability to find freedom through movement. Summer also weaves chakra and energy work into her teaching to help students learn to experience the sensations that arise in their bodies during meditation and asana. A native from Washington state, Summer now resides in New York City where she teaches people to find balance in their lives and grow a personal home yoga practice.

If you are interested in signing up for this retreat, we have a limit of 8 people and its first come first serve. Contact me directly with any questions, and there is an early bird discount if you put a 50% deposit down by January 8th.

All right, I admit that living in NYC has given me more time to think about saving that green stuff ($$$, not green smoothies…). But, I had a thought today that staying on top of your cardio is a lot like making sure that you [...]]]>

Feeling free to run on the beach (& save $)!

All right, I admit that living in NYC has given me more time to think about saving that green stuff ($$$, not green smoothies…). But, I had a thought today that staying on top of your cardio is a lot like making sure that you are contributing to a savings account monthly. To improve your fitness and start to lose weight, the average person should do 100-150 minutes of moderate cardio each week. Think about it as a percentage of your day devoted to improving YOU (your body, your mind, your self-discipline). Depending on your financial goals, the average person should also contribute a percentage of their income to savings, 401k and investing.

I have recently been reading a book called “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” by Ramit Sethi, a down-to-earth indian entreprenuer in his late 20’s who cracks jokes throughout the entire book. Reading this book on the subway on my way to the gym each morning has given me a completely new outlook on money and saving, and I have to say it is quite empowering. The book offers you a 6-week program to getting your finances in order (do you see the congruencies with personal training and fitness yet??).

The book’s first chapter has you take care of your debt by aggressively paying off credit cards one by one, and limiting your spending to do so. I draw a parallel with the first month of working out. In order to see results, you must aggressively put in the time at the gym and limit your eating. You are essentially trying to create a deficit between calories taken in and your output of energy. The more you put into your little bank, the closer you are to being out of debt.

So next time you decide to do your cardio, your flow fit, your yoga, your nintendo Wii, think of it like you would if you were saving for something important like a house or vacation. Your end goal is what motivates you to do the work, but your weekly input of effort will determine how much success you will have.

I just want to give everyone an update on what I have been doing in New York, besides having fun and taking tons of yoga… A typical day for me in the big city starts with training my private clients, [...]]]>

Mike Barbero of Darkheart Visions filming at 3Ohms Yoga studio with Summer and Bethany.

I just want to give everyone an update on what I have been doing in New York, besides having fun and taking tons of yoga… A typical day for me in the big city starts with training my private clients, sneaking in a yoga class at either Jivamukti yoga studio or right now ISHTA yoga, then finding the extra time to film yoga and CST videos.

You tube is the best way for people to share videos these days, so I figured I should make a clip to promote the yoga instructional dvd that I want to shoot. So far I have done this with two different producers from the Pacific Northwest, first the Knapp Brothers and then Mike Barbero of Darkheart Visions. Both had different outcomes with the clips, but I learned a whole lot in the process. And trust me it is a long process.

In the first shoot with the Knapp Brothers, I learned that I needed a bigger space to shoot so that my arms were not out of the shot when  I was doing sun salutations. I love the opening edits and ohm for this clip and it is very bright and easy to see everything In this shoot,  I also learned that I wanted to make my video a bit more edgy and have a ton of different angles. Check out this video on you tube and give me your feedback.

Summer & Beth having a healthy snack at yoga shoot (snap peas and green tea).

In the second video shoot, months later with Mike Barbero of Darkheart Visions, I learned that you can manipulate the light in your space to create a more intense feeling tone. Also in this shoot, we were lucky to have Branden Clark aka “IG88″ share some of his music that he created specifically for the video. I am a huge fan of his music, so that was really awesome that he partook in the creation. The shoot with Darkheart Visions allowed me to see that there are a lot of tools at our disposal to get the type of video that I am envisioning i.e. rolling cameras, having a second model to demo poses, creating more of a mood to the shoot. I was inspired by yoga teacher Sarah Tomson Beyer’s video from 2007 and I sent some of her clips to the Producer so he could have an idea of what I wanted.

After working with two different producers and acting as a director, I am ready to open the floodgates for any and all feedback from my readers. What do you want to see in an intermediate yoga DVD? Please share any inspiring links to your favorite yoga videos and teachers. I have got a taste of filming and I will continue to keep shooting until I get it right. Everything in life starts with a thought, and with persistence and hard work, then it manifests into your reality.

Summer is here and so is the long awaited outdoor tennis season! Tennis is a fabulous sport that combines agility, speed and skill into an energetic workout.  The point of this article is two fold: my first point is to motivate you to start adding some speed/agility drills into your workout [...]]]>

Gearing up for Tennis

Summer is here and so is the long awaited outdoor tennis season! Tennis is a fabulous sport that combines agility, speed and skill into an energetic workout.  The point of this article is two fold: my first point is to motivate you to start adding some speed/agility drills into your workout and the second is to show you how to do core exercises specifically for tennis.

Now for those of you reading who may not be into tennis, these are still great ideas for mixing up your workout in a functional and dynamic way. You may be a die hard yogi and be less inclined to play ball sports, but I assure you that the game of tennis is very challenging to the mind and can be a form of meditation in itself. Lastly, If you are a reader of Fitness Magazine, look for me in the summer issue giving input on tennis clothes in the Summer Gear Guide.

Speed and Agility

High Knees: Jog across court bringing knees to parallel to ground fast. Drive your elbows back and go for maximum steps between endlines.

Running Lines: Sprint across court and back, reaching to touch the lines from the back of the court to the net and beyond. You can do this to the right or left of the net to get a longer sprinting distance in.

Side sprints: Face the net and sprint left and right. Touch the outside lines with your hand and repeat 5X per set.

Core Exercises

Boat Pose with Med Ball: Sit in “boat pose” and engage your core. Holding a med ball, bring it to either side of your body while maintaining a core contraction. Careful not to round your back, if it does round start with working on your boat pose with no extra weight.

Trunk Rotation with Cable: Stand in spine neutral position (knees bent) holding a cable at shoulder height. Rotate your your torso by moving your arms 180 degrees from side to side. Feel your obliques contracting during this exercise to make sure it is working.

Allow [...]]]> Flow is most easily defined as movement that is unrestricted and fluid. However, the concept of “flow” in strength training is completely foreign to 90% of the population engaging in exercise. As an instructor, I feel compelled to teach people that they can find freedom in their movement by incorporating more “flow” into their workout.

Allow me to give you a practical application. Let’s take traditional strength training; a two dimensional activity designed for people who want to build muscle for body building shows. The idea is that by applying a weight greater than your body is used to, you promote muscle growth in the ’show’ muscles. These 6 main muscle groups are chest, back, shoulders, triceps, biceps, legs and of course, abs. From an exercise science perspective, it is beneficial to strengthen those 6 muscle groups, but not if it is to the detriment of the other 634 muscles in the human body. I propose that it is just as important that the other muscles (i.e. inner core, stabilizers, etc.) be active in as many exercises as possible, so as to maintain fluid and balanced movement. Through this attention to flow, you can improve the strength of your body in a pain free, and uplifting way.

Summer holding a "clubbell" strengthening her core and stabilizing muscles with flow.

If you don’t know already, there is a counterculture movement of exercises that improve ones energy flow and awareness of these other muscles, and it’s not just yoga. One such counterculture is Circular Strength Training with Clubbells instead of gym machines. However, in order to embrace the new, we must let go of the old and outdated. And let me tell you from experience, it’s extremely difficult for people to let go of what they are familiar with (more logically, what they have been told is the “right” way for their entire lives). If you consider yourself a “gym-rat” (meaning you lift heavy weights 2-5X a week), I urge you to take an overall scan of your body and ask yourself if any of your injuries have improved when you ignore them, and just keep lifting heavier. The answer that I have seen time and time again is no. Some trainers will provide rehab exercises, but there is still something missing in these singular plane movements…you guessed it FLOW!

Let’s take the shoulder for example. The most common injury that I see is rotator cuff scar-tissue which limits range of motion. You may have encountered this issue if you have spent several years doing the bench press with heavy weights. Or perhaps you injured yourself years ago, and thusly lost the full range of motion in your shoulder. Some of the more traditional strength training exercises for the shoulders, may strengthen the muscles on the outside (anterior, medial and posterior deltoid), but neglect to strengthen the ligaments and tendons surrounding the joint & its stabilizing muscles.  There are more practical, and all encompassing ways to improve this joint when it comes right down to it, and this, I believe is achieved through Circular Strength Training. Examples of CST theory include exercising in 6 degrees of freedom, priming the joints, providing traction with clubbells, and decompressing the joints with Prasara yoga. If you want to know more about CST, I strongly urge you to do your own research. In the meantime, here are a few links to get you started! [FYI I don't get paid to promote for this company, I just feel like it is a superior method of training and highly recommend it].

Circular Strength Training with Scott Sonnon & Summer Huntington

Flow Fit

RMAX international Website (to buy CST products) or Scott Sonnon’s Flow Coach Website

Incorporating flow into your workouts will start you on your way to feeling more connected with your body. Wellness is all about achieving a state of balance, paying attention to all the areas that make up our being. By engaging in flowing movement, you will find freedom in your body. Form follows function, and if you cultivate a sense of fluidity when you are exercising, that will carry over into every other aspect of your life.