LOOSE YOURSELF

FINDING MY INNER ZEN IN THE WOODS OF COLORADO CAPTURED BY ALI VAGNINI FOR ZEAL OPTICS

Ever thought about the concept of what would happen if rather than trying to find yourself, you completely let go and allowed to loose yourself? The practice of NOT trying to find myself feels strange and challenging, but to be honest; to completely be comfortable with not knowing who I am is the most liberating thing i’v ever felt. It’s even more liberating than hitting a 80 foot jump on a snowboard, flying through the air (this can be scary too but most of the time liberating 😊)With this approach to life, I am realizing that my expectations around who I should be is disappearing. Even other people’s expectations are disappearing, as they were only illusions of a limited mind anyways. What is left is just me. Exactly what I was looking for in the first place. It’s my Being. Not defined. Not categorized. When we give up trying to define our selfs, we open up space for our Being to come to life. Additionally, we open up space for others to be just them selfs too. Pure consciousness without labels, makeup, fancy clothes or gold medals. It’s life itself and here in the PRSNT moment we are always enough 

MOVING MEDITATION

SWIMMING CAN BE A GREAT MOVING MEDITATION

P: @chanellesladics

What is your relationship with the #PRSNT moment? Every day I do 2 x 20 minutes meditation sessions but to be fully transparent, some days it can be challenging to find space and time to practice. This especially happens when family is around or I have a long “to do list” or if I am really stressed out. With that said, I know how beneficial a consistent meditation practice is, so rather than getting frustrated when I can’t do my regular practice, [or skipping the meditation] i’v learned to find a way to flex and flow with what er is going on around me. One solution that I absolutely love is to practice #movingmeditation 🏊‍♀️ This style of meditation can be integrated into activities like for example running, swimming and snowboarding. In fact, you might even feel like you have been meditating while immersed in these activities. The reason for this is that when we connect with our bodies and breath, we naturally become a part of the #PRSNTmoment, because the body and our breath is always present.

RUNNING, TUNING INTO THE BREATH AS A MOVING MEDITATION

When we systematically apply a technique of breath awareness to an activity, we draw the attention of our minds into the moment and practice what is called a moving meditation. It’s similar to when you just get “lost” in the activity but with an added layer of mindfulness. The result is a strengthened capacity to return to the #prsnt moment - In day to day life, when stressful situations arise, this is a great tool to have in your tool belt. Did you know that fear can’t live in the present moment? The ego, who is is responsible for triggering fear, pain, disappointment and so on, can’t survive in the now. That’s why, when we draw our attention into the #PRSNT moment, we feel so good. We become free from the ego and feel love, fulfillment and bubbling positive vibrations 🙏🏻

Turn our passion into purpose - Protect our winters

P @chanellesladics / @bprsnt

We can’t ignore the fact that the health of our planet is in a state of urgency, meaning we need to act and do something different in order to reverse and rebuild what has been worn and torn down... natural playgrounds are being polluted and resources are being depleted, rapidly. I think that the outside is a reflection of what is happening on the inside. Can the state of our planet be a reflection of what is happening on our inside? I feel like as a collective we humans are not so healthy. We have so many individual problems. We waste. We care about what we look like, what others think about us, if we are good at something and so on. We let the ego sit in the driver seat, wrapped up in our thoughts and beliefs, comparing and constantly finding ways to separate us from each other and from our surroundings. We have more disease than ever. Meanwhile, earth is getting warmer, oceans are getting contaminated and animals are trapped in our mindless line of trash... This blog post is not meant to be negative, yet I think it’s an important topic to speak about. I´m not saying that I’m doings something better than you, that is the ego again. I’m just saying that we have the opportunity to help turn things around for the better of our planet...

I’m a part of the @protectourwinters athlete alliance and I see what an amazing job #pow is doing to help protect our winters and beyond. With this message I hope to reach outdoor people who care for our planet, to get involved in the electoral process. I also hope to reach YOU, as everyone can be an environmentalist. @protectourwinters have just launched the @pow_action_fund where real action on policy can happen!!! Since there is power in numbers we hope you will join us on this new and important venture. Head over to POWActionFund.org to learn more about our mission, initiatives and ways to get involved. Together, let’s turn our passion into purpose and realize the true potential and power this community holds. And show the climate deniers in office the door.

P @chanellesladics / @bprsnt

During @bprsnt women’s adventure retreat in Lofoten Norway we got together a global community and brought a #pow flag out with us hiking the mountains. As a community of mountain loving, outdoorsy women, we hope to help create awareness around #pow

I love being outdoors & aim to help protect our natural playgrounds as much as I can, so future generations can enjoy it too 🌎 I experience that temperatures are getting warmer and snow seasons are getting shorter and I know that the environment is in a state of emergency. But in order to help the glove getting warmer we need everyone. We need a global cooperation

In April 2018 we hosted a @bprsnt women’s adventure retreat in Lofoten Norway. The week we were in Lofoten we saw rapid snow melt and we had to hike with our boards on our backs for a while before we even found snow. We still had such a good time,

connecting with each other and the outdoor. Speaking of, spending time outdoors is amazing, but with the current state of the globe & in order to keep our natural playgrounds accessible, we need to merge our passion for the outdoors with action that actually help protect it. Whether we have a large, medium or small stage, we are all role models for someone in our life’s and we have a footprint that matter... because in order to change everything we need everyone

If you want to be a part of @protectourwinters or any of their national extensions you can follow their account or go to powactionfund.org and www.protectourwinters.org to find out how, when there is a climate march near you and how you can get involved in general.

FOOD IS MY MEDICINE

Food is my medicine. Food is my fuel. I can even stretch it to say that food is becoming my religion. Call me crazy but the more I experience what a profound impact the food I eat and what I drink has on my health, the more I want to fuel my body with only good stuff

“I want to use my platform as an athlete to showcase these companies and people, who are committed to providing us with products that are good for us and for the environment.”

So much of our food has/ is getting depleted and altered, and it is getting harder to find pure, fresh, non-chemical food. Our soil used to have over 52 trace minerals, compared to now when it's reduced to only 3 in most conventional agriculture. I started waking up to this (harsh) reality about 8-9 years ago, and it's important for me to keep educating myself. Knowledge is power and when I go to the store I want to be able to make choices I can really stand behind. I want to understand who and what system I am supporting with my purchases. There are many companies and people out there who are serving a purpose for the greater good. I want to use my platform as an athlete to showcase these companies and people, who are committed to providing us with products that are good for us and for the environment. If you are curious about this delicious superfood smoothie bowl in this picture please visit www.purps.com/blogs (see link in my bio) to find the recipe - It's made by myself as a pre-workout meal, with fresh ingredients and lots of intention to support good health. It provides me with clean every that enables me to adventure and use my body all day long

GLUTES & CORE WARM UP

In all seriousness of exercising and training, it's important to remember to have fun and get a little weird. These are warm up exercises are great because they can be done literally anywhere. They require little to no equipment and you even get to go upside down and see the world from a different perspective. Any bands can be used, but we recommend you choose a band with medium resistance, that is completed so you don't have to tie it. Your "glutes " will thank you for the warm welcome!

PHOTOS: Nikol Herec

Wrap the band around your shoulder and leg and move your leg up and down.Squeeze your butt when leg is in the straight position. Repeat 10 times on each side.

Position 1: Push your leg backwards and slightly up and squeeze your butt (Gluteus Maximus) in the end position. Do 5 sec holds in this position to make the exersice harder.

Position 2: Take your leg forward and bend the knee. Then move your leg back to position 1 immediately. 

 

Same exercise seen from back. Great way to warm up your "glutes" before any activity where legs are involved. Repeat 10 times.

Plank to single leg / single arm reach. Squeeze your butt at end position. Hold for more challenge. Alternate legs. Repeat 20 times (10 on each leg) 

Attention: Advanced exercise! Make sure you can do a head stand before attempting this. Go from the head stand upright position and slowly move your legs down towards the ground. Make sure to not go any farther than you can control. Stop no later than right before your feet touches the ground. Move your legs back to upright headstand position. repeat as many as you feel in control of

Vegan Strawberry Milk

This delicious vegan strawberry milk is so easy to make. It's great to use with cereals, as a smoothie base or just drink chilled with a glass straw :) You can add anything you like to make it even more powerful, like spirulina, chlorella or maca root.

Recipe:

• Coconut shavings
• Hemp seeds
• Water
• Strawberries
• Sweetener of Choice
• Blend everything together. Amount depending on how much you want to make but generally I just eyeball it to get the right consistency :)

Kjersti Buaas takes on Freeride World Tour

Becomes the first woman in history to compete simultaneously on freestyle and freeride world tour - By Peter Gløersen, October 26, 2015

Photo: Matt Georges

OSLO, NORWAY: «I’m so excited to make the cut of eight women to compete on the Freeride World Tour this season. I wanted to challenge myself in a different element, outside of the park», says Kjersti. «Snowboarding is all about exploring potential and creativity, something I belive this terrain will provide».

Thus Buaas will challenge herself on some of the most difficult faces in the world this winter. The 33 year old, however, has no plans of letting go of the park just yet. She will also be competing in the biggest slopestyle and big air events this season.

«This is huge. Kjersti is a candidate to win X Games with her frontside 1080, and will at the same time be taking on the gnarliest freeride competitions in the world. This is unique», commented Per Iver Grimsrud, national team coach. «She handled the transition from halfpipe to slopestyle and now it will be interesting to see how she handles the transition to freeriding To compete in both the freestlye and freeride world tour simultaneously has to our knowledge, not been done before.»

«It has always been attracting to me to compete because I give it all when the pressure is on», said Buaas. «This is a huge challenge, where I will have the opportunity to use my experiences as a contest rider, in a unknown, exciting and natural element»

Buaas has been a member of the Norwegian National team for 17 years, competed in four Olympics and won arguably the most progressive contest last year, Nine Queens. She was also awarded as female rider of the year at the Norwegian Snowboard Awards earlier this month. As a competitor on the Freeride World Tour Buaas win be guaranteed a place in Andorra, Chamonix and Fieberbrunn. If she performs well she will also qualify for the season finale. First in Alaska. If that goes well she will stare down the frightening face of Bec de Rosses in Verbier at the final day of the season.

This is what’s in store for Kjersti on the Freeride World Tour