week 1
The first class I tried was Iyengar yoga with Claudia – and it was challenging but really good. I felt really tired before starting, but finished feeling energised. I was struck at how much detail the teacher went into in making sure that the poses were done correctly. This made me trust that I wouldn’t leave the class injured.
Certain poses did feel a bit awkward, and like I was doing something wrong, but it wasn’t clear what. I had a strange pain in my Achilles in certain poses which worried me a bit. Although Iyengar wasn’t quite as fun as more fluid or faster classes, it felt like it was doing some good. The pace allowed me to really work on how my body assumed the necessary poses. Claudia, was great fun and really helpful and observant.
On Wednesday I tried an Ashtanga yoga class with Joyce. This class really differed from the Iyengar. In some ways it was a lot more challenging because it’s non-stop fluid movement. This I actually really enjoyed, as I prefer to leave a class feeling like I’ve worked up a sweat ,which I definitely did. Although because of the nature of the class, there wasn’t much possibility for alterations or looking at the ways in which you might be doing the pose wrong. The class was also very very busy so it would be impossible for her to check everyone. I felt like she was as attentive as she possibly could be given the situation. However I did feel like I did some moves incorrectly, and I have quite a lot of pain in my hamstrings now afterwards, which I think is due to overstretching. It’s not a good kind of pain where you’re feeling it because you’ve worked your muscles hard, it’s a bad kind of pain.
On Friday I tried a general open level yoga class. The class and teacher were good but I didn’t really find it challenging enough. It was only an hour long and that didn’t really feel like enough time to be challenged with the type of work we were doing. However I understand that the idea of a class like this is that it’s gentle and inclusive. The teacher was really nice too, but I would probably choose a different class next time.
The Iyengar class with Sissi I did on Sunday was fantastic. It felt so calm and yet precise and thorough. Sissi was watching us all like a hawk to check if we were doing things right. I really appreciate being adjusted and being observed, as it seems so easy to do something incorrectly and injure yourself in yoga. Unlike a lot of other yoga classes I have been to, I really felt like I had learnt something in this class. And I also left with a real tranquility that I hadn’t arrived with.
week 2
Throughout week 2 I focused on Pilates. This was my first ever Pilates class. I found the class easy to follow, and the instructions were clearly given. There wasn’t a huge amount of individual adjustment in the class but I generally felt like the movements weren’t too difficult to get right – I didn’t feel like I was damaging myself. At the end of the class the teacher said that I did really well, which was a nice and encouraging thing to hear. I found some of the exercises a bit boring, but I liked the intensity and quantity of the ab work, which is something I would like to work on. I didn’t leave the class with the feeling of calmness that I sometimes feel after yoga, but I did feel like I had done some really precise and healthy movement.
Class 2, and the teacher was a really lovely and warm person who smiled a lot which was nice. The class started slowly with a lot of breath work to get the body ready. This was I know necessary to warm up the body but I was pleased to get into the more challenging and intense parts of the exercise. Again, there was a lot of ab work, which was difficult. And like the day before, I left feeling like I had done some really good precise and healthy exercises. But I guess I would have liked it to be a bit more intense and challenging.
I didn’t really understand what was dynamic about the third class I did (dynamic Pilates), as it was just like a shorter version of the two classes I did on Monday and Tuesday. However, it was a good class and there were some challenging moments, but I would have liked a bit more difficulty.
The fourth class I tried was Pilates for Sports, and this class was good. It was a bit more active than the level 1 – 2 classes I did at the beginning of the week. But the description of the class said it amps up the intensity of regular Pilates, but I didn’t really feel it was much more intense. But maybe I have the wrong idea of Pilates and it is never going to be the intense workout I want it to be. I kind of want to leave a class feeling like I’ve worked to my limit and I am going to really develop as a result.
week 3
I took Pilates level 1-2, the same class I was in last week. Again, I found the teacher really warm and friendly and helpful. I like the precision and the care with which she teaches. Although maybe I am not patient enough for it, I found myself wanting a bit more of a workout. But I do think that with repeated visits to her class, I would gradually strengthen in a healthy way.
I also decided on a hot yoga class which I was quite apprehensive about because I’ve done a lot of buckram before and I really kind of hated it and found it quite unhealthy and competitive. But this felt different. The heat wasn’t as intense, which was a good thing. And I just felt a lot more tranquil. Also the poses felt healthier. In a lot of the hot yoga classes I’ve done before, you’re encouraged to push, which I am suspicious of, and I often ended up injuring myself. But this class didn’t feel like that. However, I did have a few nasty head rushes where I felt faint, and I often felt like I needed to sit down, but I managed to get through the class without doing so.
I went for a ten mile run on another day and decided on a restorative yoga class which was great, as I was able to warm down. It was quite hard to get the props set up right, but Michele was really helpful in coming round and making sure everyone was aligned correctly. I fell asleep during a lot of the poses. I can’t say that I felt that the class defiantly did a world of good, but it certainly didn’t do any harm, and I left feeling relaxed.
Check back here to see how Joe gets on throughout weeks 4…
