Mina Samuels

This past Sunday I paid money for the opportunity to plunge into a pool of icy water and swim under a wall that divided the pool in half; and I don't just mean ice cold, I mean water thick with a deep layer of floating ice cubes cozying up against...

I tried out a new yoga studio the other day. Good girl, getting out of my studio rut. Oh no -- mirrors -- on two walls, no less. Inescapable. I am partial to the notion that our alignment in yoga ought to come from the inside, from learning to feel...

To find our way in life sometimes we have to just quit, and other times we have to just do it. In Kimberly Coats' case, she did both.

In 2008, at 42-years-old, possessed of a high-paying dream job as business development manager for Sysco, schmoozing the top chefs in...

I was asked recently what I thought about men watching women's sports for the eye candy. Did I think it was bad, the interviewer asked? My immediate thought was, yes, of course. I don't want men watching women athletes for the turn-on, I want men to be watching for the...

You may have noticed, I've been thinking a lot lately about the under-layers of that eternally provocative question: Why are we here? Maybe there doesn't need to be a reason for everything. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. But isn't it nice to have a reason for something as...

We work out for all sorts of reasons -- maybe we do it to de-stress, to lose weight, to get stronger, to be healthy or for all those ends and others. All good reasons, but beneath this first layer of forces driving us out onto the roads and trails, into...

Last week I set out with my partner to do a 20-mile trail run in the South Yuba River canyon, from Little Washington to Purdon Crossing. There would be some elevation gain -- okay, 6,000 feet to be exact -- but we took the optimist's path, and set that detail...

I have tried all sorts of different workouts in my time. In addition to all the outdoor things I partake of -- from running and cycling (off and on road) to cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and hiking to kayaking, rock climbing and swimming -- I do yoga and what's variously called...

I spent a recent summer Saturday at Wanderlust, a yoga and music festival. Two friends joined me and we spent the day doing vinyasa, working on our alignment and hanging out -- a precious opportunity for some girlfriend time. And it was wonderful. Except ... except for this:...

I suppose I might have titled this, "Why I Am Not a Flesh Eater," if I was to most closely mimic Bertrand Russell's famous speech and essay title, Why I Am Not a Christian, off of which I was riffing. However, that sounded a bit rugged for my...

The words of the traditional marriage vow might just as easily apply in any circumstance in which we join our lives with another's, through marriage, civil union, or any other long-term domestic partnership, through birthing or adopting. The promise is not always explicit, but it's there. I will not abandon...

I love go-carting. I need only get behind the wheel of a go-cart and I start laughing. On my middle brother's wedding day, we took him go-carting in the morning and we laughed more than we drove. I recently lucked upon an exhibit at the Glasgow Gallery of...

We've come a long way, baby, as the old Virginia Slims ad says, but women are still champions in the field of underestimating our capabilities, at sidelining our ambitions, and then when, in spite of ourselves, we actually achieve something, we are also great at diminishing our accomplishments and far...