Looking at my blog site Bikram yoga is the first thing that I mention. I was thinking of changing it around as at the moment I am trying to take a more balanced approach to life and not go five nights a week as I have for the past eighteen months. Then I got absolutely hammered in a recent class and as I showered after, I remembered, this is why its front and centre in my blog header!
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| I was always skinny |
I was always the tall, skinny one growing up. The beanpole who looked like I would break in half if someone looked at me the wrong way! As a youngster I would somehow curl up on whatever boat I was sailing taking my cue from the ropes on deck. Even as I left high school I was 190cm and still couldn’t manage to raise the scales to 60kg wringing wet.
My only saving grace was that in yachting leverage is everything and the fact that my disproportionate, lanky legs allowed my to swing further out from the centre line meaning boats could be sailed flatter and faster
Just after leaving high school I moved into a much bigger, faster class of boat, and although having filled out a little I simply wasn’t strong enough to deal with the class’s extra weight and pressures. Really wanting to break into the class I took myself off to the gym and took a season to prepare myself for the extra challenge. Over the next ten years I was able to excel and I prided myself on being one of the fittest and strongest sailors competing.
Trouble was, I only trained specifically for my boating, focusing on upper body strength. Allowing my torso to remain straight and my arms to do all the work meant I utilized my leverage to the maximum. That however came at a cost. I had no flexibility, and as my strength built I would constantly be dealing with niggling injuries and despite the best efforts of my physio’s, stretching remained boring and just not on my radar. To make matters worse I had an accident on the water that involved spending half a day in hospital with no movement in my legs, forcing me to consider life as a paraplegic. Luckily it was just a shock reaction and full movement returned but my back would never be the same again.
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| My sailing career in full flight |
Middle age spread is a term I hear bandied around a lot. Apparently its an insidious disease that has no cure and just cannot be stopped. After retiring from my professional sailing career and getting involved in more domestic life the weight suddenly piled on. Being tall I could carry the extra 50 odd kg with no more than empathetic understanding from peers going through the same problems. I hated it and knew that despite the social understanding of its occurrence I had to do something about it.
Although divorce perhaps not the most desired solution, it certainly has the benefit of weight loss, well, for me at least. Living on my yacht again I had never plumbed in hot water so each morning for 6 months I would lie in bed thinking, I can stay here for an extra hour and have a cold wash out in the open, or I can get up, go to the gym and enjoy a warm shower after. Funnily enough, at the end of that time I had hardly missed a day in the gym, and long after the hot water had been installed I was in such a routine and could see such a difference that I was addicted to my morning workout.
So here I am. I've been skinny, fit, fat and now bulked up and strong. I stretched just enough to keep injuries at bay although my back periodically still played up on me.
As the cycle of life continued to turn I became more and more interested in yoga. John, a work colleague was training to be included in the Australian track and field team and was a huge inspiration. I kept meeting people who’s life perspective and body form I admired all sung the praises of this mystical and passive exercise I didn’t understand.
All the universes aligned when I met my partner Eva. She is a yoga junkie whose journey had led her to Bikram Yoga.
Bikram yoga is a series of 26 postures all done in a room heated to 40ยบ with 40% humidity.
I was assured there was no chanting or weird stuff, just a good solid 90minute workout.
Lying on my towel covered mat in the dense heat reminded me of being in the tropics on a really hot day, and as I prepared for my first class I closed my eyes and thought about swaying palm trees and surf crashing on white, sandy beaches. Turns out I was the only thing swaying as I huffed and puffed my way through 90minutes of discomfort! Whilst everyone around me seemed to rotate gracefully and almost effortlessly into these impossible positions, all I could think was, I can press 130kg and pulldown 280kg, how come I cant stand here with my arms over my head for a few minutes!
And so began my journey in life with yoga. I have since included some more traditional yoga to help improve my understanding of the postures but am drawn to the heat and challenge of the heated studio. I am still nowhere near the most flexible person in the room and it would be so much easier to give up and go back to a gym and the familiar rewards it offers, but that is not my path. I have also been able to take away so many lessons into my life outside the room I often wish that I had started a lot earlier.
The breath is such an important part of life. We all do it all day, every day, so the ability to stop struggling and allow what we have so naturally to take us places our will power never can is, and probably always will be my biggest source of learning and wonder!
We have such a strong core. It holds our body together and allows us grace and fluidity, yet we focus on muscles and external power to the detriment of the source that makes everything else possible. Not using our core is like treating the symptom rather than the cause, but like most things important remains in the background and needs to be sought. Once tended to, will help solve so many other issues.
Integrity of posture has always been a mystery to me. Like most of us, I tend to be goal orientated and so when someone says for example, touch your toes I struggle and strain to touch my toes and I get frustrated because I can’t. The situation and ego is made worse when seemingly everyone around can flex so effortlessly which makes me struggle even further, when really it doesn’t matter, what matters is the journey to the toes, being kind to my super long legs and just breathing till I can.
One of the things I have had trouble getting my head around is the whole concept of using postures to cut off circulation to specific parts of the body (internally and externally) before lying down to let fresh oxygenated blood rush into the starved organ/limb to help revitalize and heal it. With that is part of the dialogue which says posture is more important to depth. My egotistical world of striving for maximum depth just means that because the posture hasn’t been achieved the circulation has not been cut so the healing benefits are not maximized. So I have to swallow ego and constantly adjust for alignment and breath whilst allowing depth to find itself (despite the fact that the person alongside has effortlessly folded themselves in half!).
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| Yoga is a journey! |
When I trained at the gym I could not seem to dip below 100kg. Instructors assured me it was because muscle is heavier than fat and so not to worry. Still ,some of the little rolls remained and didn’t want to shift. Eva, who is a nutritionist changed my diet completely, basically removing all sugar from the diet. What happened was nothing short of amazing. With no weights the bulk quickly disappeared and suddenly maintaining 80kg was no problem. What also went were the sugar highs and lows that have dominated my whole life!
Although the bulk disappeared my strength remained as the benefits of yoga lengthening and redefining muscle tone kicked in. Still paddling my surf ski, I actually started going faster as I began to utilize chore and muscle without the burden of weight and bulk.
After two years of Bikram Yoga at Noosa and Nundah (both fantastic studios) I am by no means an expert and the steps forward are small, but the journey is evolving and I am constantly amazed at what the human body is capable of. From just being able to get my hands down past my knees, on a good day I can actually touch my toes. More importantly, in two years I have not had any back trouble, and I feel healthier than ever before. There are so many good and beautiful experiences to be had out in that big oyster called life and yoga has become an integral part of the shell!
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