A Moving Passion

Shall we try walking? But with a difference this time. Start with a slow and steady pace and focus on your breathing. Toning that diaphragm and expanding those lungs, as you go. x

Walking is one of the nicest exercises that you can engage in, without worrying about whether thing’s may hurt or ache. It’s one of the most natural ways, that our bodies move.

Your quadriceps, hamstrings and gluteals, really get a work out if you are really using them properly (as do your obliques and abdominals, if used correctly). What does that mean, I hear you ask? Walking is just walking right? Erh… no, if your feet are lopsided and ungrounded, challenged somewhat, or you have a tendency to ‘flat feet’ or fallen arches , like me, then you are just pounding down on the ground. Your poor feet have so much work to do, that the fall back ripples up the chain of command, so to speak.

I feel another Scenario coming on here…… x

Tell me this – imagine, that you are getting ready for bedtime. It’s time to sleep, right? There’s a certain ritual that goes alongside this. It may be (and in no particular order) – brush teeth, brush hair, shower, moisturise and cleanse face, use the toilet, change into night clothes (or no as the case may be for some xlol), get into bed, turn lamp on, read for a while, fall asleep. oh, turn light off x

The point I’m trying to make is that we have rituals for a lot of things in our lives to accomodate ‘moving towards a more balanced body and lifestyle,’ and yet there is little or no preparation for these amazing achievements we set for ourselves and go through daily.

If I’m about to go for a run, swim, bike ride,yoga, etc my body needs time to warm up and prepare for what I’m about to suggest that it does. In order for my body to serve me in the best way possible, I must lay the foundation of movements, by way of subtlety, whenever possible and of course replenishing with good and nurturing fresh food. Pushing and pulling and forcing the body through it’s nth limit, I find, much more limiting and injurious, than gently suggesting and being kind to my body.

Injury however, has been my greatest teacher. Infact, I recall a very wise Yogi and teacher, Gingi Lee at the Sangam Centre in Battersea (now the shala), saying to me, as clearly as if it were yesterday, one morning in September 2003 during an early morning yoga self-practice, that ‘you must treat your hamstrings like a baby.’ ‘Only go to your edge and no further, when you get there, come back and keep listening to your body and every now and again test your edge.” What a wise man and wonderful teacher! It was so important that 6 years later I remember it clearly. x

Do you know, I took that piece of advice with me and never looked back until the next time I was injured , when I had paid less attention to myself and more attention to what someone else thought was better for me! Everytime I acquired an injury by pushing my body over and beyond what it was prepared for, I recalled, Gingi’s words, “you must treat your ‘injury’ like a baby…..’’

I also recall a physiotherapist looking at me in an appalled fashion when I told him that with due care and little or no medical intervention, my torn hamstrings healed within 8 months. Of course now I know better, but at the time, I needed to go through the process of relearning and rediscovering the limitations that I had enforced on my body by pushing it too hard.

To get to a place where you are comfortable in your skin is a real joy. Knowing that your body will take care of your needs for the day, whenever you dance, go to a Pilates class after work, a yoga class, a meditation or relaxation retreat,is one of the best feelings in the world. And one that I highly recommend you all aim to achieve for your lives. As the body becomes more comfortable and more balanced, so does the mind simultaneously. Sometimes one has to go through the physical, in order to experience the spiritual and sometimes it’s the reverse for some of us.

Today, I have continued with the water/fluid challenge:-) as my early morning lemon juice (or home-made lemonade) was such a refreshing start to my day and a clear reminder that I am consciously and constantly moving towards balance, whilst being a work in progress.

So if you happen to be in Dulwich, one early morning, join me in a Dynamic Power Walking class.

Have a lovely evening. x

Many blessings

The night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand.

Frederick L. Knowles

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