Just about all wise indigenous cultures have some form of incense for ritual, ceremony or even everyday use.  There are really good reasons for this.

The best place that I have found for excellent high quality clean natural smell is Juniper Ridge ~ they are all wild crafted directly harvested in the wilderness and created without any added perfumes or oils.  They are also a very small company and give a percentage of their profits to protecting the wilderness.  You can order their products online or sometimes you can find them in your local Whole Foods Store.

*I do not receive any profit from purchases at Juniper Ridge I just love them and highly recommend them, and of course use them myself

If you have any questions about how to begin using them and what to get first please feel free to just email me directly I will be happy to guide you.

For AOY Inner Circle Members ~ I will be teaching much more about the use of certain incenses and mini fun exercises that are extraordinarily helpful for athletes.  I will be teaching you some things from Native American cultures and from ancient Asian cultures.  All very effective, fun and wonderfully inspiring.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwLWuv2VVbM

YES we are going to get race tattoos made asap

I wanted to share with you her design notes because they are so wonderful and insightful and they add meaning to the image you see.

“I created the center Zen Circle of Eternal Life, the “O”, to have white space around it created by the “A” and the “Y”. This white (or negative space) visually represents your outer circle and inner circle ideas.

The orange ink blot in the center is the athlete. Unique and like no other and connected to the “YOU” in your title. Since what you do is about the focus on the individual and their unique abilities I put visual emphasis on this connection.

The font used in the title “Awesomness of You” has a bold, vibrating and organic quality which I felt represents the energy of the individual. The font of the tagline echoes the brushwork in your logo and also mimics the organic and distinctive energy of the individual.”

You can connect with Krista on her blog OR her awesome Zaps Threads Company (Graphic Tees for Runners and Athletes) ~ I’m sure she would love to hear from you!

Krista is an AOY athlete & AOY Inner Circle member. This is a pic of her moving a few things out of the way on a trail run

Most people go from work, school or regular life directly into their training sessions.   You will gain so much more in each session if you take a moment to consciously reconnect with your body, mind and soul and balance yourself.  Both your outcome and your experience will improve tremendously.

You want to tap into your primal instincts when you are training rather than focusing on what to do at work or how you did in a test at school.

It’s a matter of quality over just quantity.  And it’s a matter of training your mind to focus on the moment and allow your body to create so much more.

Too many athletes are under the impression that if they just put in the hours and go through the motions that they will create that great performance they are looking for.  Yes you must put in the hours, however, those hours must be focused and meaningful and when you practice connecting body, mind and soul for each sessions you will find a far surpassed outcome.

When you go into your training sessions directly from another task without resetting you are taking leftover tension and distractions with you.

Inside of the AOY Inner Circle  I will be giving you a couple of specific reset exercises you can do before each training session and each race.  If you are not already a member then go to this page.

Great performance happens when you are calm, confident and having fun!

This class is perfect for ALL levels of athletes from your first race to your 500th.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmzrFbA2enw

_Jim Lynch twitter:  @authorjimlynch

Thank you to AOY Athlete Bob Baney for posting it on his Iron Man Louisville Kentucky Group Forum on iamtri

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KTEgLKhjIw

~ Albert Einstein

It’s part of why visualization works.  Our thoughts are all translated into images and those images are dress rehearsals for our life.  For example, if you continually imagine hardship you are rehearsing hardship.  If you imagine ease, fulfillment and joy you are rehearsing it which then gives it a better chance of happening.

When you are thinking about a race and you imagine it being joyful, fulfilling and fun then you are rehearsing these images and feelings ~ marinating yourself in it and basically manifesting it to happen.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP_gCdQg4Hw

I’m pretty sure that you’ve already learned that when you practice something you become better at it.  Hummmmm so what if that works for self belief too?

I hear people all the time marinating themselves in self doubt.  If you are looking to have much deeper self belief in everything that you do, including athletics, then marinate yourself in self belief.  Practice self belief!

Practice believing in yourself just like you would start practicing anything else.  Start one step at a time like, I’m going to fully believe in myself for this training session today right now.   I’m going to “practice” believing in myself for this training session.

Try it ~ you will be surprised. Remember, the more you practice it the more natural it becomes.