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Annie Duke is known as the world’s most successful female poker player.

She spends 16-20 hours at a poker table making a living, all while being a full time mom of four and a yoga and health fanatic.

How do you find yoga affects your mental and physical well being, and energy level?

Yoga has been amazing in terms of my mental well being. When I first started I had trouble standing still before poses or just lying still in corpse pose. I was always fidgeting. Yoga has forced me to develop a stillness of mind that I lacked as a completely type A person. I have an ability to focus now that I never had before and that has been amazing for me in the rest of my life.

As for my physical well being and my energy levels, what hasn’t yoga done for me? I am so energetic. My body looks better than it ever has. I am strong. I am flexible. I sleep amazingly well and soundly. I have never done anything so good for my total well being.

How has practicing yoga affected your diet and lifestyle?

Yoga is so cleansing that I really don’t want to muck up my body after putting that much effort into it. I never eat right before yoga and I don’t feel much like eating afterwards. I never want to eat an unhealthy, heavy dinner at night because I will feel it in my belly when I practice yoga in the morning. You feel so cleansed after class why would you ever want to ruin that feeling by eating some sort of fried, greasy food?

Can you share anything you have learned about how to eat healthy and well with a busy schedule and young kids?

I think it is all in the planning really. If you only have healthy choices in your house there is basically no way around eating healthy. I am so busy that I don’t have time for long, lingering restaurant lunches and whatnot. I mainly grab something on the go at home until dinner when I make the time to sit down with my kids. I am a snacker so the snacks in my house are things like dried goji berries, raw cashews, raw almonds, rice cakes, hummus. It is hard to go wrong when that is what is at your fingertips.

I also always have healthy things in my purse, even if it is just an apple I cam carrying around with me. That way I never have an excuse to eat poorly!

With poker being a game that requires long periods of sustained attention, do you find yoga is beneficial in staying strong and on top of your game in a long session that requires continual mental focus?

I used to listen to an IPod constantly when I was playing. But after developing my yoga practice, I found that I did not need it anymore. I used the music as a way to keep focus and get through the long hours at the table. But with the energy and mental focus I have developed and, most importantly, the ability to find stillness, I don’t need the IPod anymore. I used it only a couple’ of times at this years world series and it was because someone totally annoying who would not shut up was right next to me! Even yoga can’t fix that problem.

Do you have any other tips to share with our readers about staying healthy and fit as a busy mom on the go?

I think the biggest tip I can give is to always make sure to remember that if you don’t take care of yourself you will not be able to best take care of your family. As busy as we get, it sometimes feels overwhelming to find time to make healthy choices for ourselves and, usually, when it comes down to a choice between making time for our kids or making time for ourselves, the kids always win. If you make it a priority to take care of yourself, then even if the only time you find to workout is to a video at home after the kids have gone to bed then do that! Don’t put expectations on yourself…just do what you have time for and what you can to stay healthy. You will find that you get back the time you workout with the increase in energy you have that allows you to use your time much more effectively. It also makes you a happier mom. And that is always a good thing!

Duke wrote her first book How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed, and won Millions in 2005 as well as released a series of Poker DVDS. She is now in the process of writing her second book on decision making and has developed her own production company Ten Dimes Productions, which she started with Actor Joe Reitman. She is also involved in various charitable organizations such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Ante Up for Africa (a project with Actor Don Cheadle, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck), The Children’s Hospital and The Decision Education Foundation.

Recently, Annie has been featured in Runners World, Forbes.com, LA Times, New York Times, Ladies Home Journal, People Magazine, In-Touch Weekly as well as late night shows, David Letterman, Jay Leno and celebrity appearances on Deal or No Deal and One vs 100

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