This will literally make your day. Over and over again. Friday’s are awesome by default, but when you get to share in someone’s complete and unrestrained stoke, you know that all is aligned in the universe.

“”Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaahh EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS JUST SO GOOOOD!!!”

“I CAN’T BREATHE…WOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!”

Thanks for the stoke Joe V, I think we’re in love!

Check out Joe’s YouTube Channel here.

Earlier in November I got the chance to explore the Utah Olympic Oval.  This is where the long track speed skating events were held for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics.  I had previously heard my friends talk about the oval and this made me want to visit even more.  They told me that the oval was so big that two NFL sized rinks fit inside.

When I saw the shear size of the building, I swear my mouth was hanging open.  When I walked in the door and saw the long track and rinks for myself my jaw was on the floor.  It was huge!  The long track itself was 400 m.  And the two NFL rinks were end to end, not side by side like I had imagined.

Unfortunately, I got the time for the freestyle sessions wrong and didn’t get to skate the first night I was there.  The following day I went back and skated on one of the NFL rinks.  Compared to the speed skate long track, the NFL rink seemed tiny!  I was able to do all of my spins and double jumps, through my double axel.

The whole experience was surreal!  Getting to skate at the Olympic Oval was an awesome experience!

Who else is ready for ski season?

Only 28 more days!

An original video from Jacky Hallett. Check out Spread Stoke for more!

I had a very progressive and fun season, traveling to new places and competing all around the Western US. I worked on throwing more tricks off of natural jumps and cliffs.  Near the end of this edit you’ll get to experience the biggest air of my life!

I traveled to a bunch of cool places for competitions; Grand Targhee, Big Sky, Crested Butte, and Breckenridge on top of my standbys of Park City Mountain Resort, Alta and Snowbird. Overall I had a super fun season, and I’m stoked for this upcoming season!

We are mountain people. Born in the alpine, our souls soar with the eagles and our hearts are clear and run with the purpose of cascading creeks. For us, the season of winter is a gift, blanketing everything anew like a canvas, which calls for an interaction with the slopes of the world.

In winter, snow is our purpose for existence. Like the bubbling stream, it is our source of water- our source of life. The health of our forests, and our happiness is intertwined with it. Driven by stories of the mythical “Deep Snow Awesomeness!” of Niseko Japan, The Life Cosmic Project went in search of the wonderful. What we discovered was a fountain of youth, a prayer answered endlessly.

This film is our totem to that spirit.

About the Flow Riders:

Aaron Lebowitz  created The Life Cosmic Project as a collective of mindful individuals focused on our relationship with the elements. His favorite medium is the snowboard, of which he explores an intimate connection with mountains. His lines are a conscious calligraphy upon the snow-covered slopes.

Lefteri Alexander (Alx) is a third generation photographer and teacher of consciousness through a multidisciplinary and dimensional lens, transcends the literal and allegorical, weaving spiritual exegesis into the practice of spiritus itself, the thread of the many garments into one.

We wish to thank Niseko United for the hospitality and plenty of fresh “Japow” for us to explore. Thank you to Taro Tamai of Gentemstick Snowsurf Designs for sharing with us the consciousness of creating a life honoring our relationship with nature through the lens of snowboarding. Special thanks to Sweetgrass Productions for inspiring our own dreams with their film Signatures 4 years ago.

Respect to the spirits of the snow, mountains, and forests of Japan. We hold you in reverence.

And to everyone we met along the way…We carry you in our hearts- Thank you.

The Life Cosmic Project is dedicated to the exploration, cultivation, and perpetuation of “Stoke!” as a virtue by which happiness is experienced and shared.

http://www.lifecosmic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/lifecosmicproject

Kiteboarding towing Brooke Shaw on a sled. Awesome fun!

The Life Cosmic Project is founded on ridership of flow. The flow rider is one who embodies a challenging task in motion where body, mind and spirit are enacted and performed with grace. We are collective of visionaries, innovators, and artist, dedicated to exploring the experience of “Stoke!” and sharing that experience in various art forms through the local communities we represent.

The Life Cosmic Project will be traveling to Japan to intimately explore the winter environment of Niseko and translate this experience through art to the local snowboard, meditation, and climate change communities in Missoula, Montana and Toronto, Ontario. We will be sharing these experiences through a variety of mediums of artwork and donating the proceeds generated to the A-ROB Plant A Seed Project through our Fundrazr page ”SHARE THE “STOKE!“. The Project will provide the experience of snowboarding to underprivileged children along with the opportunity to discover the exhilarating feeling of “Stoke!” through a snowboarding based mentorship program.

PURPOSE OF CAMPAIGN: In support of the A-ROB Plant A Seed Project, the Life Cosmic Project wishes to create rider inspired artwork in Niseko, Japan through the medium of film, photography and poetry. Our story will weave together three elements of snowboarding – the expression of the physical, the spiritus of meditation, and the environmental experience of winter. This project expands the activity of snowboarding to a level of artistic expression. The first element will entice the imagination of local snowboarding communities in both Canada and the United States to reach beyond North America. We intend to portray a parallel of snowboarding at the same latitude but at opposite sides of the world, and how the experience of snow connects us. The second element is based upon the practice of meditation. Through the act of snowboarding, the internal condition of flow is extended to a variety of activities. We will be focusing on enacting a Japanese perspective and “surf style” of snowboarding. Surf style is about blending with the energy of the mountain. This predominant expression from Northern Japan is a type of calligraphy upon canvas, in essence, a dance with the mountain. Our visual images of one in oneness, draws the audience to an inward experience of “Stoke!” Or as the Japanese say “Sugoi!” and “Saiko!” The third element focuses on the oral history of the winter experience in Niseko. As the winters grow shorter, the effects of climate change are seen near and far.

We will be conducting interviews, based on interactive and interpersonal stories of winter.  This oral history will be connected to similar histories from North America at the same latitude. The stories are intended to compliment scientific research based on global climate change, and human interactions with the environment. Through our portrayal, we will be demonstrating the how and why it is important that we interact with the spirit of ourselves and the environment. Like us on FaceBook: The Life Cosmic Project.