In my attempt to finish this year noticeably lighter than when it started, I am doing all sorts of new things. One of these is yoga/pilates. I had seen posters around Padiham for a new class starting on 17th April just across the road at Katy's school. I decided that this was something I ought to try as I am already doing more aerobic exercise and felt I ought to balance this out with some controlled strengthening exercise. Yesterday was the first class.
I had mentioned this in conversation to my sister in law Liz, and she thought she'd give it a try too. So last night we trotted off, not quite knowing what to expect. We got to the school and there were a few ladies waiting already. The previous Zumba class hadn't quite finished which left us with a few minutes to sit and chat. The receptionist took us up to the room when it was ready.
At this point I would like you to close your eyes and just imagine what you think a yoga/pilates teacher looks like. Have you got it in your mind's eye? Well, we were greeted by a very red face, sweaty lady who looked to be in her early thirties with scrapped back brown hair and wobbly belly bits, in very typical chav exercise gear and saying in a strong Lancashire accent "welcome ladies, I'm very sweaty, I've got to go and change my top" (she had taken the previously mentioned Zumba class). The room itself was very warm from the sweaty bodies that had been in there before it. Liz suggested that we were starting off with a sauna.
When we were ready to start the class she explained what it was going to be, as it wasn't just yoga or pilates it was going to be a new fusion of the two as she had wanted to teach something more up to date and different so had taken a course to learn how to do this. She advised us to work in bare feet and kept saying that she liked to be in bare feet to feel the wood against her skin as it was a natural element and made her feel more connected and grounded (remember, this is all in a Lancashire accent).
The class started and it was very soon apparent that this was going to be quite strenuous. It wasn't long before I was "glowing" like a lady had never "glowed" before. Our trainers favourite word was "ladies". She must have said it over a hundred times in the hour we were there. "Now ladies, what we're going to do next ladies is....", for every movement we did for a whole hour!
We did one movement that involved having our arms pressed together from palms to elbows in front of us and then raising them up and lifting our chests. I think our arms might have been intertwined in some way also. Now, I'm a very short person and the distance between my neck and my ample chest is very short, and well, to be honest I almost strangled myself with this move.
I did actually surprise myself a little too. We had to balance on one leg, lift our other leg and hold onto our ankle, then we had to stretch our raised leg straight out behind us to 90 degrees and hold, and then stretch our arms straight out in front of us so that our whole body was out flat, and hold the position. Our teacher suggested that we use the wall for balance if we wanted to, but I decided to try and be hardcore and do it properly, and the surprise was that I did it with very little wobble and didn't lose my balance at all. Not bad eh?
So are we going back next week? I think I'll give it another go.
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