Back to the hot room!

I like to think I am a proactive kind of guy. This is a milestone year for me, I cant believe I passed forty nearly a decade ago, and although I feel in better shape now than I did back then something inside me is a little nervous about this one. I have been practicing Bikram Yoga now for two years and it is a testament to my general health. Alongside the radical transformation of my diet I have daily been stretching my ever so tight sciatic nerves in a slow but continuing effort to gain flexibility. It has had its benefits. My back has never been better and  the use of core strength has been nothing short of a revelation. Certainly, I have not had an exercise related injury in that time. It has also had a positive benefit to my other pursuits, surfing, paddling and even basketball and tennis have been turning back the clock with yogas help.

Sailing however, has been another story. Being 193cm means I never quite have enough headroom and so I seem to spend most of the time slightly bent over as to protect my forehead from the ravish’s of the beams supporting the deck above. I was really looking forward to spending quality time aboard my boat over Christmas and even had planned some yoga stretching as part of the quiet holiday routine.

 Life aboard has a lot of benefits and my muscles appreciated the manual labour of heaving up anchors, winching sails and pulling on the oars of the dinghy rather than starting the motor. Stretching however, wasn't one of them and each day I could feel my back gradually stiffening up. Sure, we tried to do some stretching on the beach like we planned and whilst it should have been ideal my mind was elsewhere,  leaving my poses shorter than they ought have been.

By the time we got home getting out of bed and even alighting the car required some effort to get past the stiffness in the back and my body was screaming out for a decent stretch.  Strangely though, I was having trouble getting my head into gear, maybe it was the hot summer days or the distraction of all the boat work I was inspired to pursue. I had eaten really well and the activities had lifted my spirits, all I needed now was for my back not to have me acting my age!

So this morning as I ached my way out of bed and began preparing my sunday morning coffee, I knew what I needed. It was funny then that I thought I might head down to the beach to greet the sun before realising there was a better place for me to be.

Despite the fact that I was stiff and struggled through the 90minute class it was so good to be back and as I headed home I felt refreshed and alive like only the hot room seems to be able to do and ready to renew my relationship with the mat!

It is often said in class that yoga will have the chiropractors chasing you and I often smile and think sure, sure,  but you dont realise how true it is untill you stop and see how quickly the body goes on holidays!

Rockhampton to Bundy Bash

North West Island

We all hear stories of the difference between potential and reality, and as an eternal optimist I guess I spend most of the time dwelling on the potential side of things which suits me fine.  Sometimes however, reality jumps up and bites me firmly on the backside.

Some of my most treasured cruising destinations lie in the stretch of water between Hervey Bay, north to the Whitsunday Islands. Included in the area are places that are inaccessible to people without boats and the ability to be self sufficient. There is no tourist investment so they are not promoted by anyone. Places like the Percy and Duke Islands in the North are beautiful anchorages lined with white sand and water clear enough to see the array of marine life that happens to float by. Below them are Port Clinton and Island Head Creek which are off limits at certain times because they happen to lie in the middle of a military training reserve, but when the military are not wreaking havoc are stunning locations that seem a world away from the exercises that get carried out there.

Just below them are the Bunker Group of which most of the pretty Islets are off limits in a strict marine park environment save for a couple of gems. These include North West Island, Lady Musgrave and Lady Elliot  

Lady Musgrave Island

With Razzamatazz, my friends beautiful Bavaria 48 foot yacht, sitting in Yeppoon and needing to come south on its way to Sydney, I gladly volunteered my services, dreaming of the opportunity to spend some quality time in this magic part of the world. I sold the concept to Eva with a plan for a leisurely cruise down to Lady Musgrave Island for an overnight stop and the chance to take a bottle of wine to the beach and watch the turtles nest on the remote shore at sunset. Maybe, with a good run we could even find time for some snorkeling on the reef. I always enjoy negotiating the small entrance into the lagoon and anchoring with a 360º view of the ocean crashing onto the reef protecting the turquoise water inside, miles away from civilisation and free from the world.  The second day plan was a run into Hervey Bay via  the waters off Platypus Bay, playground of the whale's who stop there with their calfs to build up enough strength before making the long journey into antarctic waters. Both of these trips I have done several times before and although a longish stretch, the Razzamatazz is a bigger and faster boat capable of covering the distances.
Part of these exercises is the logistics of a one way trip to the boat and then transport back to your  vehicle home. In this case we were already at the finish end so it was a simple matter of a Greyhound bus from Hervey Bay with a driver that passed away the boredom of the 7hr run by giving commentary all the way to Rockhampton. As with my experience of these things we arrived in Rockhampton at 7.20pm with the last connecting bus leaving for Yeppoon at 6.30 leaving us with a $150 cab fare out to the coast. Undeterred, on arrival at the Rocky coach terminal Eva negotiated with a backpacker company picking up two people in a bus heading for Emu Park for us to hitch a ride with them,  leaving us with a much cheaper taxi fare at the other end. Our driver, a young English lad, keen to catch up with his mates at the pub after the run put his foot to the floor and we rattled and bounced our way through the darkness only to see the blue flashing lights of the local police who didn't seem to appreciate his cavalier enthusiasm. Eventually we were dropped into Emu Park, a small village which was deserted by this time (9.00 pm)

Percy Island 

Eventually a cab ferried us to the marina where we busily prepared for our early morning departure.
By the time my 3am alarm rang out the sound was lost to the rumbling of the diesel engine as we motored out of Rosslyn Bay Marina and straight into 15knots of wind on the nose! The forecast was still insisting that the breeze would back further to the east and my hope was that as daylight warmed up the land, we might actually see it backing further again from the north, giving us our armchair ride south. My hopes were still not dented as a storm cloud swallowed up the sunrise and then soaked us for the privilege!
The Keppel Islands slid relatively effortlessly behind us as we punched our way on. It was apparent even then though that my hope of Lady Musgrave was not going to happen. Never mind I thought, my back up plan was almost as nice. Pancake creek lay not too far south of Gladstone and would provide great shelter surrounded by lovely beaches and a magnificent headland, so I altered course and soon enough we were crossing the Tropic of Capricorn. I have always been fascinated by this circle of latitude even as a small boy. There a 5 significant circles of latitude including the equator, tropic of cancer north, the tropic of capricorn south and the the two poles. The tropic of capricorn represents the most southern latitude that the sun can appear directly overhead. Sitting at approximately 23º south of the equator we share the circle with the Andes in Argentina and  Chile, the Kalahari desert in Namibia and the Kruger National Park in South Africa. (forgive me for not mentioning them all) and I always feel the need to acknowledge its crossing even when I fly over it by plane. Cape Capricorn, our landmark, is a steep, barren headland that people attempted to settle on a long time ago and there are still visible remnants of the carving of rocks and lines that were layed to tie the ships alongside and drag the materials up the the steep embankment to build the lighthouse and small community that existed to keep the beacon lit.

Cape Capricorn

On this day however, it was overcast and the whitecaps persisted in blowing the spray onto our  demoralised faces.
Having passed the cape we altered course enough for us to be able to pull some sails up and we motor sailed right down Curtis Island and the entrance of Gladstone Harbour. A major shipping channel, we needed to pull the sails in and slog our way into the tide throwing up a short and nasty chop reducing our headway to crawling pace.
As the sun began to sink alarmingly close to the horizon it was clear we were not going to make either Pancake Creek or the small town of 1770 by nightfall. The good news was that the coast veered significantly south allowing us to turn the motor off and sail. Not only was this significant for our sanity, it also helped relieve the  problem that we did not have enough fuel to motor all the way to our destination.
The sailing did wonders for Eva's seasickness and she perked up immediately even to the point she insisted on cooking us a beautiful and much appreciated dinner which we ate as the sun sunk below the horizon. With the last dashes of pink in the sky I was wondering how far we could get before the sun reappeared on the eastern horizon.

Sunset off Bustard Head (Pancake Creek)

Really? Its 3 o'clock!!

Unfortunately it wasn't long before the breeze veered back into the south east, the same direction we needed to go and the long dark night passed closing in on the unlit shoreline before digging back out to sea, forcing us to sail two miles for every one gained in our southerly quest.
I have never been so grateful to see the first signs of light penetrate what was a pitch black night sky giving me my first point of reference for the past 12hrs.



And so my question from sunset last night was answered. Exactly 16.7nm north of Bundaberg was the answer and so my next decision was made through the fog of three hours sleep in the last 40 odd hours. We needed to pull into Bundaberg for fuel, with a decision as whether to continue or not made after that.
In an attempt to preserve the alarming low amount of fuel we had left, we inched our way painfully into the breeze which was rapidly building again into our frustrated faces.
At 10.45 we finally tied up at the marina, where once the boat secured I fell asleep with the soft clean pillow approaching my salty unshaven skin, but I was in no mood to care, it could be washed later!
The boat is safe and I'll be back next when the wind direction has a N in it!!

Strength, fitness and flexibility

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!

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.

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 40º 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!).

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!

Namaste