by Katie Morrison
I have been working with the Fitter London team since the start of the company a few years back.
I’m a qualified group fitness instructor with a huge passion for everything and anything that is going make me drip with sweat, get me fitter (the fittest I can be!!) and inspire me - running, kettle bells and HIIT training are preferable as they are so interchangeable and the capabilities to ‘shock’ your body and keep challenging yourself are endless.
Fitter London delivers amazing classes like this week in, week out (I run the HIIT Spin + kettlebells class on a Wednesday morning and get involved in pretty much all other FL classes).
After years of training this way, I started to feel that my schedule always being high energy (whilst I was getting fantastic results) was missing something. Everything I was doing was super intense (with 1 or no rest days!) and I was starting to gain muscle mass where I didn’t want it as well as constantly feeling tight/ fatigued. People constantly recommended that I should try Yoga (to which I’d roll my eyes and think of another slow mundane class based around ‘stretching’ or ‘chanting’ that I'd tried before and just not enjoyed).
3 years ago I discovered (during a bit of a difficult time in my life) Vinyasa Flow Yoga, introduced to me by a close friend and through her, an amazing teacher. It’s after this introduction that I realised the many, many different styles of Yoga and the benefit of learning from a teacher that you ‘connect with’.
This discovery has led me on a personal journey that so far, has been full of hours and hours of self practice and Vinyasa Flow classes and also to this point where I am now about to embark on the second half of an intensive Vinyasa Flow teacher training course.
I have completed 100 hours so far and the experience was so incredible during the first 100 hours, that I wanted to share the next part with you; hopefully enticing you to try some of this amazingly creative, physically challenging, and beautifully complimenting style of Yoga.
Tuesday 26th July 2011 After a packed and brutal Fitter London class (I managed to deadlift 40 KG on each arm...that’s 80KG OMG!)I packed to set off on a very different journey; the second part of my 200 hour Vinyasa Yoga teacher training at Yeotown in Devon.
I have stocked up on enough Clean Greens and Sun Warrior to last me 10 days as the aim as well as getting my qualification is to have a good detox as well. I will endeavour to have 1 green drink pre 2 hour yoga class and a Sun Warrior shake afterwards - eating nothing until lunchtime. The food here is amazing, nutritious, clean veggie food cooked by my culinary heroine Julia :), which I will get eat at lunchtime and dinnertime. This will be totally different to the high protein diet I've been used to lately.
ALL I NEED FOR 2 WEEKS! :)
Its GLORIOUS sunshine when I arrive in the picturesque Devon countryside. Straight to the meet and greet with the incredible Mercedes Ngoh - a briefing and intro to the group before dinner. Delicious vegan (extra spicy ) Thai curry made with organic coconut milk, followed by gluten/wheat/dairy free shortbread and pomegranate fruits.
20 minutes in the sauna...cleansed. BED. Already I’m feeling refreshed...as Annie would say...I think I’m gonna like it here!!!
Wednesday 27th July
Woke – green drink
2 hour intense yoga session...literally WOW. I’d forgotten just what an amazing teacher Mercedes is. Challenging to the ninth but also encouraging enough to enable students to make it into poses they only dreamed of.
One of my physical goals before arriving was to make it into a strong forearm balance...today I made it into both Ganda Bherundasana (side of face formidable posture) and Sayanasana (relaxing pose – trust me there is nothing relaxing about this!) which then made forearm balances seem easy. Classic Mercedes style was building the class up through creative vinyasa sequencing, related postures and Krama’s all leading into the penultimate poses, preparing the body for its highest achievement that day. I feel physically and emotionally incredible.
Sun Warrior shake and shower.
Thursday and Friday (28th and 29th July)
Morning sessions followed a similar pattern, although each and every class was made different depending on the feeling and desire of the group and led up to a specific ‘peak pose’. Thursday Astavakrasana (Sage Posture) and Eka Pada Kaundinyasa (One leg Sage posture), and Friday (single leg flying crow) and then from figure of 4 legs tripod head stand back into pose, with the inclusion of doing this in Lotus (images to follow in the next instalment of this blog).
These are all postures which I only dreamt of doing, but with breath, focus, inner strength (I’m not talking muscle), and an amazing guide, I was able to. The only one I struggled with was lotus and this is largely anatomical, and will come with patience.
"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus" Bruce Lee
Already at least one stage on from forearm balancing, almost getting into handstand scorpion on the second day!
After each class we broke down the sequences (which flow like a beautiful dance) to understand why we were focusing on certain areas of the body. This is something that I find fascinating and something we all need to do more - understand why we do certain things with our bodies; the cause and the effect. THOUGHT = ACTION = RESULT. The connection needs to be there - it changes everything.
I have practiced only Yoga this week and my body is really thanking me for it, it needed a different kind of treatment and complete break from the norm, not to mention the mind release and refocus that has also taken place.
So far I have remained tightly on a clean diet of mainly veggie food and vegan protein shakes, that coupled with Vinyasa is really paying off. My alignment and all over body conditioning has vastly shifted and improved.
However, it’s more than just the physical body with Yoga, it’s about the bringing together of the mind and body, the spiritual connection, the ‘yoking’ together of the mind and physical body. The next part of the blog will focus on this stuff – don’t be afraid, it’s truly fascinating...and actually quite scientific!
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