The view from this mat

Oh yeah I have a blog

Life huh?  Busy isn't it?  Work has been hectic and my gym classes have suffered because of it, I've kept attendance up as best I can but it's fair to say my routine has been sketchy at best for the last month or so.

One of the classes I attended last week was yoga, always one of my favourites especially on a  Friday evening as it sets you up perfectly for the weekend.  Well it used to until more and more people were packed into the class and there was no room to swing a cat.  Cue skank footed man.

The first time he set-up in front of me there really was no room so we were all a bit close for comfort, during cobra pose my face was alarmingly close to his rough AF peeling skinned feet.  It was horrible and ruined the class but it's one of those things so *shrug* I tried to put it behind me until last Friday when he set-up in front of me again.  Gah!  The trouble was there was plenty of room for him to move somewhere else and give us both the room we needed but he didn't. then class began and he put he skank feet on my mat.  NOPE.  I had to leave the class for a moment if I didn't I probably would have punched him in the face, which of course is not very yoga.

Time for a change

I've been doing my current gym routine now for about a year so really it's time for a change and this was the prompt I needed to do that so next week Sarah and I are going to give spinning a try.  I've heard it's pretty brutal but I'm really excited to give it a try, the bonus is it's at the gym just around the corner from me rather than all the way across town so that's a win.

#fudgeitfatclub

Taking an holistic approach

I've been pondering this health and fitness thing recently, specifically my reluctance to diet.  My first thoughts were that I had to take a mind over matter approach to my own laziness and that my reluctance to diet was weak willed.  Upon reflection I think my reluctance stems from the knowledge that diets are short term, you shed the weight, you feel amazing, you tell yourself you will never go back to how you were before and yet... Diets are often event orientated (slimming for a wedding or holiday) but once those events pass it is easy to slip back into old habits.

This is why step five is going to be so key, mindfulness.  Being mindful of the long term goal of a healthy and fit lifestyle, knowing that you're not aiming for a short term fix but a lifelong change in habits.  

Lightbulb moment

At work a couple of weeks ago as part of a staff festival event Sally Gunnell came to give a presentation about healthy eating and I had a real light bulb moment.  For years I would reach for the weight watchers cereal bars or bottled smoothies thinking I was making healthy choices, and don't get me wrong in comparison to eating a Mars bar usually you are making a healthier choice but the simple answer is to try and eat food that has not been processed at all.  PING!  Oh yeah, I can't believe that hadn't sunk in until now.  So instead of pasta or gnocchi have rice or sweet potatoes (not all carbs are the devil), instead of fruit leather just eat the fresh fruit!  Duh.

Calorie crew?  Fitness friends?  

Whatever term best suits, but basically surrounding yourself with people who will challenge your choices and keep you on track.  I have a friend at work who when she sees me reach for a snack or contemplate a biscuit she will challenge me on it. Because of her actions (and my own willpower of course) I am building a habit around questioning each food choice rather than mindlessly grabbing the free pastry or biscuit just because it's there.  My friend Sarah and I keep one another on track at the gym pushing one another to attend when we might be wavering, it helps that on a Friday before yoga we get there early and take stupid photos and selfies to track progress!

What habits or tips work well for you I would love to know? 

The view from this mat

The trouble I have with yoga

I am a yoga fan, the benefits to be gained from having a yoga practice are immense - I'm so much more flexible then I used to be, I'm calmer, able to cope with life better and I feel it making me stronger.  All of these things are very practical benefits.  You don't need me to tell you that yoga has developed from an incredibly spiritual core and aligns itself with earth energy and chi and stuff like that (I am no expert obviously) and this is where my trouble with yoga comes in.

Should I have a practice that focuses purely on the fitness and stretching elements of yoga and dismiss the spiritual side of it because it makes me uncomfortable?  This question was raised for me on Friday when our normal teacher was away and we had a different lady covering the class who takes a very different approach...

Crack open the crystal water

So to give a bit of background the lady covering our class on Friday was witness to me getting wound up by Pat the Twat (you can read about him here) she is tight with Pat so I'm not flavour of the month with her.  Throughout the class she was casting me some shade which is fine I'm not her number one fan either but it's when she fetched the spritzer bottle from her bag and started spraying 'crystal infused water' in the air to cleanse the room and bring energy to the class that I questioned why I was there.  I'm sorry, I just can't get down with that, it feels like nonsense to me which raises the question - can you have one without the other?  Is it my place to pick and choose the bits of yoga I like and dismiss the bits I don't?  I really don't know, but I would be really interested to hear your thoughts on it in the comments!

Well that's distracting

Anyway whilst lying on our fronts deep breathing in our class on Friday I couldn't help but notice that there were an awful lot of pasty crumbs on the floor of the studio.  I had to chuckle to myself because the very presence of pasty crumbs on the floor of a room that has been cleansed with crystal infused water just seemed ridiculous!  Very different worlds collided in that class on Friday on more than one level.

#fudgeitfatclub

But I don't want to Om

Yoga has fast become one of my favourite classes each week, but to begin with I really struggled with the yoghurt-weavey nature of yoga.  I'm not very spiritual, even putting my hands in prayer during postures made me uncomfortable but the benefits of having a good ol' stretch every week have been immeasurable.  As part of #fudgetitfatclub I want to chart my progress with yoga so before class begins (i.e. there is no one around to see Sarah and I taking photos of ourselves) I'm going to take a photo of my downward facing dog pose to see where I can improve and what progress I've made.

Hamstrings of pain!

Week one (not technically week one of doing yoga but week one of charting progress), need to work on straightening my back which means working on my oh so tight hamstrings and hips.  Week two - time to move those feet closer if I can, and keep at those tight hips, happy that I can get my heels to the floor though when I started yoga they were way off so that's a good improvement.

Thought monkeys

One of the things yoga teaches you is to reign in those 'thought monkeys' (as our teacher labelled them this week).  Thought monkeys are those thoughts that pop into your head and jump around distracting you from your practice, here are some of mine:

• There appears to be a dust stalactite hanging from the ceiling, if that falls it's going to land in my mouth, horror!!
• (when doing any pose that involves looking at your feet), I neeeed to sort those trotters out before summer no one should have to witness them.
• Is that my phone?  Oh crap, am I the person who didn't put their phone to silent?  Shit bags I am!!
• I wonder how many people have used this mat before me?  If I put my face on it am I going to get spots?
• Don't fart, don't fart, don't fart, don't fart, don't fart.

What are your thought monkeys when exercising?  I can't be the only one with this nonsense swimming around my head can I??