hen I look back on the summer of 2013, I will remember it fondly as the time that I took on a yoga challenge. I wrote briefly about this in the last issue. The challenge was a yoga programme, called “Ultimate Yogi”, devised and taught by renowned teacher, Travis Eliot, lasting 108 days. 108 days of yoga, no rest days. On top of that, there was a simple nutritional plan to follow and a meditation session scheduled every day. I also decided to write a blog for my journey (which turned out to be the toughest part of the commitment!) in the hope that it would inform and inspire would-be yogis who are considering taking the plunge. When my DVDs arrived, I joined the facebook group full of other yoga practitioners at various stages of the programme. On the whole, I don’t spend much time chatting on facebook but I found this particular group to be supportive and inspirational. Some of them
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were writing their own, very honest blogs which were useful as well as very amusing to read. When I was younger, in my early twenties perhaps, my impression of yoga was that the people who practised it were long-haired hippy types who only ate lentils and carried with them a faint whiff of patchouli oil mixed with sweat. I’m not entirely sure where this image came from but I suspect the media and general stereo-typing had something to do with it. As I became more immersed in the fitness world, I met many yoga teachers and practitioners who were the complete opposite – all wearing the latest exercise gear and looking super fit, well turned out and obviously using yoga (successfully) to stay in great physical shape. I was still blatantly missing the whole point of yoga, but I’ll come back to that. Anyway, in my world that consisted of hard cardio workouts I decided I’d try a bit of yoga to see if I could improve my flexibility. I got hold of
Autumn/Winter 2013
a couple of videos (yes, it was a long time ago) and tested them out. I remember that one of them just took me through some traditional yoga sequences at speed and left me feeling like I may have pulled or torn something. Another was set in sand dunes and practised at a slower pace, but still challenging. I enjoyed it – I mean, I did it more than once so I must have done to a certain extent – but the inner cardio fiend in me was always trying to take over and the ‘mindfulness’ was a mystery. I didn’t shun it – I just didn’t understand it. And the videos didn’t really teach me. So then there was more time spent in the world of fitness, networking and doing courses. I became a Pilates teacher, which at the time suited my body better. All the yoga I had done was very static (sometimes in a cold room, so it just hurt), whereas Pilates seemed a more fluid practice. My interest in yoga was sparked again when I began barefoot running. I’d been continuing to
Barefoot Running Magazine