Natasja King

Yoga at Dulwich Picture Gallery

Yoga in an art gallery! Another first for me and definitely yoga in a funky location! I would never have thought of looking on the Dulwich Picture Gallery website for a yoga event. Who would?! To make this even more appealing, I would be viewing the Rembrandt’s Light exhibition. I studied History of Art (and ceramics) in High School so this event combines my newfound love of yoga with my art background.

I got up really early on Sunday so that I could leave the house at 7 am to arrive at the Gallery at the requested time of 8:30. My journey from North West London to South East London consisted of a bus ride, two changes on the tube and another bus ride. When I left the house it was only 0 degrees! Morning yoga classes in the British Winter requires some real dedication!

Start time mix-up

The ticket and events page expressly asked everyone to arrive at the gallery by 8:30 for registration, and the yoga would be from 8:45 to 9:45. I got there for 8:30 and was welcome by a member of staff and asked to wait near the cafe. By 8:35 everyone – roughly 50 people – had arrived but we had to wait around until 8:45 before the doors of the gallery opened. There, all 50 of us had to queue to sign disclaimer forms. We all pulled out our phones to show that we had tickets for the event, but the staff were only interested in getting us to sign the disclaimers. I thought this was strange, but I signed the form and went to find my place (more about this later). By the time everyone had found their places and we were ready to begin, it was 9 am – 15 minutes later than advertised. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in this. I had travelled far and had made the effort to be there at 8:30 as instructed, and then the gallery kept everyone waiting.

The yoga

As you enter the Soane Gallery you are struck by morning sun streaming through the skylights, filling the long gallery space with a beautiful soft light.

I put down my Lululemon Carry Onward mat under “St Jerome and Giralamo Petrobelli”. St. Jerome is the bearded man in the pink wrap. An interesting fact about this painting, which I only read on my way out and had not realised as I was downward dogging next to it, is that it is a fragment of a much larger altarpiece circa 1563. The hand on the left, the hand of the devil at the bottom left corner and the lion on the right, were painted over and only revealed when the painting was cleaned in the 1940’s.

The class started at 9 am. It was a basic Vinyasa Flow class with lots of focus on breath and not many repeats of the flow. It was definitely suitable for beginners. In fact, intermediate or advanced yogis would get frustrated with the slow pace – unless you were there for relaxation and/or enjoy breath work. I would say I’m at intermediate level and I didn’t feel like I had worked at all. I did however like how the instructor explained that when our feet are facing her, it would be “forward” in stead of “left” or “right” because there were people on both sides of her.

When the class came to an end at 09:45 we were told that we had to queue again to claim our tickets for Rembrandt’s Light exhibition – it’s at this point that you show proof of purchase of the yoga event ticket. And here is another annoyance: the event description says “[….] and is followed by early access to Rembrandt’s Light.” and “yoga session followed by private view”. In reality our tickets allowed us to view the exhibit in a 30 minute time slot which started at 10 am – exactly as it does for anyone else who wants to view Rembrand’s Light on a Sunday. There was no “early access / private view” to Rembrandt’s Light for us. We did have early access to the Gallery’s permanent exhibition because of course we were all milling about waiting for our allocated slot to open up, and that is a privilege that members of the public did not have, but it’s not what was advertised.

Rembrandt’s Light exhibition

The exhibition celebrates 350 years since Rembrandt’s death with 35 of his iconic paintings, etchings and drawings including three of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings of women: A Woman Bathing in a Stream, A Woman in Bed and the Gallery’s Girl at a Window all hanging together.

I found the exhibition very well thought out with many special touches that really brought home the idea of light v. dark. I especially loved the display of “Christ and St Mary Magdalene at the Tomb” where the lighting on the painting shifts from dark to light, emulating the break of dawn.

By 10:30 it was time to head home, but not before I got a coffee from the the Gallery Cafe. I’ve been to yoga events before which included private viewings of exhibits (at the Design Museum London and Natural History Museum), but this is the first time that the ticket price also included a hot drink. It’s a really nice touch. And the coffee was very good.

My verdict

I was disappointed in the event organisation and advertising, and the yoga was too easy without modifications for those at intermediate or advanced levels. Maybe these things wouldn’t have bothered me as much if I didn’t have to get up so early on a Sunday and travel in the freezing cold, but I did. I feel I could have spent my £25 on a Triyoga drop-in class near my home and still had money left over for a latte and croissant. But, saying all of that, it was still a nice experience to have done yoga in an art gallery surrounded by Rennaissance masterpieces. The experience would just have been more enjoyable, had the admin side of things been better.

Instructor: A member of the British Wheel of Yoga. I didn’t catch her name.

Location: Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road, London SE21 7AD

Time: Advertised as 08:45 – 09:45, actual start time 09:00

Price: £25 which includes a hot drink from the Gallery Cafe and entrance to Rembrandt’s Lights Exhibition

Date attended: Sunday, 19 January 2020

Yoga mats provided: Some were provided but we were asked to bring our own

Yoga intensity: According to my Fitbit Inspire HR, I burned 92 calories with average bpm of 84 over 52 minutes.

Good to know: The DPG website states that you can get the P4 bus from Brixton station and alight at “Dulwich Picture Gallery” stop. However the entrance to the Gallery is not in the street where bus stops at the Main Entrance gates, but around the back of the building.

Something I learned: The Lululemon Carry Onward travel yoga mat is brilliant. It was very easy to carry it around with me on public transport, it was grippy, it’s long and the microfibre texture feels lovely under foot. The star of this yoga in a funky location, was my Lululemon Carry Onward Mat.

If you like doing yoga in quirky places, outside, or in iconic London buildings, check out my list of Funky places to do yoga and pilates around London.

Terrific Tuesday #9

On a Monday morning I’m rearing to go and to take on the week, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on a Thursday I feel good for making it this far and on a Friday I can taste the weekend.

But what about a Tuesday? For me Tuesdays are the hardest day of the week to exercise. I’m usually tired from the manic Monday and midweek might as well be a year away.

If you feel the same about Tuesdays, my Terrific Tuesday posts will provide motivation, a reminder of why we exercise and words of wisdom to make us feel inspired and turn Tuesday from terrible to terrific.

The best abs exercise is 5 sets of stop eating so much crap Lazar Angelov quote

“The best abs exercise is 5 sets of stop eating so much crap” – Lazar Angelov, Online Personal Trainer

Apparently weight loss is generally 75 % diet and 25 % exercise. Ouch! An analysis of more than 700 weight loss studies found that people see the biggest short-term results when they eat smart. On average, people who dieted without exercising for 15 weeks lost 23 pounds; the exercisers lost only 6 pounds over about 21 weeks. (Source)

You’ll be exercising very hard for very long to burn the calories of a Mars bar, so you might as well eat only half it and save yourself the aggravation.

Vegan diet can boost gut microbes and lead to improved body weight and blood sugar control

New research suggests that a 16-week vegan diet can boost the gut microbes that are related to improvements in body weight, body composition and blood sugar control.

Changes to the gut microbes were associated with a reduction of body weight (an average of 5.8 kg due to the reduction in fat mass and visceral fat) and increases in insulin sensitivity. The authors say that fibre is the most important component of plant foods that promotes a healthy gut microbiome.

Source: ScienceDaily, 16 September 2019

Terrific Tuesday #8

On a Monday morning I’m rearing to go and to take on the week, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on a Thursday I feel good for making it this far and on a Friday I can taste the weekend.

But what about a Tuesday? For me Tuesdays are the hardest day of the week to exercise. I’m usually tired from the manic Monday and midweek might as well be a year away.

It’s not always easy, but it sure is always worth it.

This is a very hard truth. Getting up at 05:30 to exercise is not always easy. Some days I jump out of bed ready to go, but not always. Other days I have to remind myself that I will feel better afterwards, that I will be proud of myself for doing it, and that it feels damn good when I can put on my “thin” trousers and they fit.

It really is always worth it, but sometimes we need to remind yourself of that because there will be days when the easier, (but not better!), option is to just stay in bed.

Qigong at Triyoga

I was at a qigong class on Sunday evening – a first for me! I read that qigong is “Chinese yoga” and wanted to give it a try for my reviews of yoga in funky locations. I know qigong is not a funky location like Tower Bridge or the Walkie Talkie building, but it’s a new and different yoga experience for me and that’s enough to warrant a review on the blog.

What is Qigong?

According to the National Qigong Association, qigong (pronounced ‘chee-kung’) can be described as “a mind-body-spirit practice that improves one’s mental and physical health by integrating posture, movement, breathing technique, self-massage, sound, and focused intent.”
The word is made up of Qi (“subtle breath” or “vital energy”) and Gong (“skill cultivated through steady practice”) so loosely translated it means “vital energy cultivation” or “mastery of your energy”.
The goal of qigong is to increase and balance your vital energy by opening up the flow of energy in the meridians.
Just like yoga, qigong uses slow fluid movements which provide focused stretching, strengthening, and health maintenance.
Qigong is the foundation of both Tai Chi and Kung Fu as well as being considered both part of, and precursor to, traditional Chinese Medicine.
There are only a few simple rules: always move from the center, don’t lock the knees or bend the legs deeply; and arms remain neither limp nor rigid.
All movements are done from a standing position

I discovered qigong when I looked at all the different types of yoga classes on offer at Triyoga. They offered qigong at their Camden, Shoreditch and Ealing branches. I attended the Sunday evening Ealing class.

Triyoga Ealing studio

I’ve never before been to a Triyoga studio, but if all the studios are even half as nice as the Ealing one, I want to go to Triyoga studios more often and stay there much longer. No wonder they have a shop and cafe because who would want to leave immediately after class when the space is so calm and beautiful? I will be returning to Triyoga Ealing in a few weeks for a Warm Vinyasa Flow class, but maybe I’ll join Triyoga and make it my go-to yoga and pilates spot..? #verytempted

So, is Qigong the same as yoga?

I would say a typical yoga class is 80% focused on the body and 20% on the mind: at the end of a yoga class my body feels strong and my mind centred, but the physical aspect is definitely larger than the mental or spiritual. In fact, if it wasn’t for the last 10 minutes of Savasana and/or the intention setting at the start of the class there wouldn’t be much of an spiritual aspect. (Of course, yoga is a way of life and built on Hindu principles with a spiritual core. What I’m speaking of here is an actual 1 hour class, not yoga as a whole.)

To me qigong felt the other way around with 20% focus on the body and 80% on the mind (energy or spirit). At the end of the class my mind was centred, I was relaxed and I felt totally zen. It was clear that the purpose of all the movements I was performing in qigong was to re-balance and clear the energy, whereas with yoga the purpose of the asanas is to make the body stronger through controlled movement.

I therefor won’t say qigong is “Chinese Yoga”. It’s similar in the sense that it’s a “softer” exercise than for instance HIIT, weightlifting or a spin class, but it’s not the same. Just as yoga isn’t pilates, qigong isn’t yoga.

The video below gives a very good idea of what the class was like. We performed about half of these movements over 75 minutes. (I don’t think the class needed to be 75 minutes long, it could easily have been done in 45 minutes.)

My verdict

I don’t think I will continue with qigong. It was nice to experience it once and it has many benefits – in fact I think it will be especially good at times of stress to calm the mind if practised regularly – but I didn’t get enough out of it to warrant a regular practice. Yoga provides me with just the right amount of calm, challenge and centering that I need, and when I want to push myself harder I log onto Sworkit for a strength training workout with dumbbells.

Instructor: Hanna Luna

Location: Triyoga Ealing, Unit 30, Dickens Yard, Longfield Ave, W5 2UQ

Time: 16:45 – 18:00

Price: I paid £12.50 for my class because I took advantage of the 2 for £25 offer. One day passes at Triyoga are £18.

Date attended: Sunday, 12 January 2020

Yoga mats provided: No need for yoga mats as Qigong is done from standing.

Yoga intensity: According to my Fitbit Inspire HR, I burned 136 calories, with average bpm of 93 over 78 minutes.

Good to know: If you sign up for the Triyoga 2 for £25 offer, remember that you have to do your two classes within 30 days, and the 30 days start the day you take up the offer, i.e. pay the £25, not the day you attend your first class.

Something I learned: The qigong dynamic movements are used to balance the qi by redistributing the energy from areas with too much to areas with too little, and the static movements are used to harness qi.

If you like doing yoga in quirky places, outside, or in iconic London buildings, check out my list of Funky places to do yoga and pilates around London.

Terrific Tuesday #7

On a Monday morning I’m rearing to go and to take on the week, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on a Thursday I feel good for making it this far and on a Friday I can taste the weekend.

But what about a Tuesday? For me Tuesdays are the hardest day of the week to exercise. I’m usually tired from the Manic Monday and midweek might as well be a year away.

If at first you don’t succeed, fix your ponytail and try again. It’s the female version of fixing your tie. You know we mean business when the ponytail is tight and every hair in its place!

It’s never too late to start exercising

Older people who have never taken part in sustained exercise programmes have the same ability to build muscle mass as highly trained master athletes of a similar age, according to new research at the University of Birmingham. The research shows that even those who are entirely unaccustomed to exercise can benefit from resistance exercises such as weight training.

“Our study clearly shows that it doesn’t matter if you haven’t been a regular exerciser throughout your life, you can still derive benefit from exercise whenever you start,” says lead researcher, Dr Leigh Breen.

Source: ScienceDaily, 30 August 2019

Terrific Tuesday #6

On a Monday morning I’m rearing to go and to take on the week, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on a Thursday I feel good for making it this far and on a Friday I can taste the weekend.

But what about a Tuesday? For me Tuesdays are the hardest day of the week to exercise. I’m usually tired from the Manic Monday and midweek might as well be a year away.

As we enter the last day of the 2010’s this is my wish for you all: be kinder to yourself, be kinder to others.

If you are making any sort of progress, be that in how you manage your money, what you eat, how active you are, or if you are working on spiritual and emotional growth, you should feel good about that! Slow progress is better than no progress.

Why am I so hard on myself?

It’s Saturday morning, the 28th of December. I’m in bed reading a book and enjoying my second cup of coffee. I’m planning on doing a workout this morning before my husband and I go out to lunch. I didn’t do a Sworkit yesterday, in stead we went to the local mall and walked 2.46 km, burning 495 calories, just by popping into the stores to look for work shirts, perfume and sunglasses. Such is the nature of post Christmas sale shopping.

Last night I decided to do a dumbbell workout this morning to work off the take-away dinner we had when we got back from the mall, but now I don’t really feel like doing anything. I’d much rather just stay in bed and read my book. I say this to my husband and he, very reasonably, reminds me that I always feel better when I’ve exercised. He’s right, so I decide to do a yoga workout in stead of the dumbbells. On a whim I go to Youtube to find a yoga workout, and discover the Boho Beautiful channel. Wow! The locations and the quality of the videos, not to mention the really great yoga!

There are so many videos to choose from, but I go for Intermediate Power Yoga to tone, strengthen and challenge yourself.

At the end of this 18 minutes yoga I had burned 30 calories. And that’s when the thoughts come: I hadn’t done enough. I wasn’t sweating enough. It was only 18 minutes. I should have tried a harder, more intense workout. Why hadn’t I done the dumbbells?

WTF?! Where do these thoughts even come from?!

My body felt that it had done enough, but my mind didn’t. As I was walking out of the living room, I saw the printout I had made of how to ease into Crow Pose with the help of yoga blocks. (I had received a yoga block and travelling yoga mat from Lululemon as a Christmas gift from one of my bosses. So lovely!) I got the printout, got the yoga block and tried to do crow pose. It sort of worked, but I wasn’t in the mood to push myself or, more importantly, to be playful about it and explore what my body can and cannot do.

I packed up and got in the shower, still feeling disappointed in myself. But as the warm water was washing over me and I felt the comforting lather of my shower gel I started to feel better. I realised that I had a choice and I decided to get up and exercise despite not really being in the mood. I could have stayed in bed. I could have stopped the video half way through. I could have chosen an easier video. I could have not tried to do crow pose. But I still did it!

I’m proud of myself for showing up to the mat. I shouldn’t be so hard on myself.

(I wonder whether seeing “only” 30 calories burned on my Fitbit HR was what triggered, or at least exaggerated the self-deprecating thoughts… Maybe I’m too fixated on calories burned and not on enjoying the practice and noticing how good any exercises makes my body feel?)

Writing this blog post has made me feel better. Better about having done yoga this morning, better about being hard on myself, and better about spotting the early signs.

I’m going to be kind to myself today, starting with red lipstick, my favourite perfume, and going to lunch with my husband.

fitness girl hands lifestyle — Photo by Burst on Pexels.com

Terrific Tuesday #5

On a Monday morning I’m rearing to go and to take on the week, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on a Thursday I feel good for making it this far and on a Friday I can taste the weekend.

But what about a Tuesday? For me Tuesdays are the hardest day of the week to exercise. I’m usually tired from the Manic Monday and midweek might as well be a year away.

Some days you have salad and work out. Some days you have Christmas lunch with all the trimmings. It’s called having a life.

Tomorrow is the last Christmas of the 2010’s! Enjoy every bite of your Christmas lunch. And the left overs on boxing day. And the Christmas Eve snacks. Christmas comes only once a year so experience it fully and appreciate the time spent with friends and family ♥

Just strong

I am proud to share the news that I am an ambassador for Juststrong, an active lifestyle clothing brand with a very empowering message to women: you are not strong considering you’re a mother of 3 or strong for a woman. No! We are strong and we just happen to be female. And of course strong is not just physically strong, but also mentally strong, resilient and encouraging of others.

Seeing a few muscles and being able to lift the groceries out of the boot of the car with ease, certainly helps you feel extra strong but being strong is so much more. And women are just that: strong.

If you agree with the Juststrong philosophy, feel free to use my code NATAKI10 to get 10% off at the Juststrong online store www.juststrong.com

Yoga for skiers at Savage Schloss

When I came across a yoga class for skiers and snowboarders held in an ski chalet themed rooftop, there wasn’t a snowballs’ chance in hell that I was going to miss out. I don’t having the inclination, ability or intention to ski or snowboard, but if this doesn’t count as an event worthy of my list of funky locations to do yoga, I don’t know what will. I had to go.

Shred Ready Yoga is a series of Friday morning classes designed by Emily Harding of The Yeh Yoga Co. to help build functional strength (in other words super strong core and legs) and flexibility to get you ready for the slopes. As is fitting a ski themed event, it is held at Savage Schloss, an Austrian Après Ski Bar rooftop bar. In London. I mean really. How cool is that?!

The venue

Savage Schloss is part of the Savage Garden rooftop bar of the Double Tree Hilton – Tower Hill. It looks out onto the Gherkin but once you step through the doors, you are transported to a different world, complete with red gingham table cloths, animal skins, lots of wood and even the odd moose head.

As if being inside a “ski lodge” on a Friday morning in London wasn’t enough, we were blessed with the constant soothing sound of rain on the roof. You don’t need a Spotify playlist when you can listen to the rain.

And to add even further to the sensory overload there were animal skins…. The events team of the hotel had mislaid Emily’s yoga mats so we improvised and did yoga the way our Austrian forefathers would have done it – on a yogamat-animalskin. We had the smell of the wild in our noses every time we went into Downward Dog, and the feel of fur under our feet. I really loved our yogamat-animalskins – they made the whole ski chalet experience more real and I love how we all turned a problem into a I-will-remember-this-for-ever positive.

The yoga

I only signed up for one class and did wonder whether I’d be able to keep up, considering this was a series of classes to gradually build up strength. I imagined a lot of Chair Poses would be involved (I was not wrong) – would I be able to keep up with the regulars who really do have a ski trip planned and have been coming to Emily’s classes from the start? In Emily’s very sweet email setting out the logistics for the day, she actually said “And one last thing…. We want to foster an inclusive and loving community spirit so all we ask is bring your biggest and best smile and get ready to start your day off in the very best way as we delve into our most intense week yet of building strength for skiing and boarding”. Yikes! But also, aaawh how lovely! 🙂

I needn’t have worried. Emily’s teaching philosophy is simple – keep it fun, welcoming and inclusive (as quoted form her About Me page) and I really experienced this. It was a fun and challenging vinyasa flow class and Emily made everyone feel at ease. If you couldn’t bend that way, or lift that high it wasn’t a problem at all – Emily was there to give a hand and to suggest modifications.

I can really see that if you do have ski or snowboarding trip coming up, prepping your body with this weekly class will really benefit you on the slopes. With a strong core to keep you balanced and keep you safe from injuries, and legs & glutes in top shape (chair pose!!!) you’ll definitely be Shred Ready.

My verdict

I truly felt transported to an Alpine ski chalet and actually felt a bit disorientated when it ended and I had to get back to real life. Ski lodge + animal skins + staring at The Gherkin + challenging vinyasa flow = magical mindf*c$. I can’t wait to go back for more.

Instructor: Emily Harding of The Yeh Yoga Co.
Location: Savage Garden Rooftop, Floor 12, Hilton DoubleTree, 7 Pepys St, London, EC3N 4AF
Time: 07:20 to 08:20
Price: £11.37 (£10 plus the eventbrite fees)
Date attended: Friday 20 December 2019
Yoga mats provided: Yes if you email to reserve a mat when making the booking
Yoga intensity: According to my Fitbit Inspire HR I burned 304 calories in 53 minutes with an average bpm of 125. That’s one heck of a yoga workout!
Good to know : When you enter the hotel walk straight ahead past the reception desk and turn right. The lifts to Savage Schloss is on your left at the end of the passage. Floor 12.

Something I learned: Animal skins look great on a floor, but they are not grippy enough for a successful Downward Dog

If you like doing yoga in quirky places, outside, or in iconic London buildings, check out my list of Funky places to do yoga and pilates around London.

Limiting mealtimes may increase your motivation for exercise

A study published in the Journal of Endocrinology suggests that a surge in levels of appetite-promoting hormone, ghrelin, after a period of fasting prompted mice to initiate voluntary exercise.

Dr Tajiri comments, “Our findings suggest that hunger, which promotes ghrelin production, may also be involved in increasing motivation for voluntary exercise, when feeding is limited. Therefore, maintaining a healthy eating routine, with regular mealtimes or fasting, could also encourage motivation for exercise in overweight people.”

(Note that these findings are based on animal studies and more work is needed to confirm that this ghrelin response is also present in people.)

Source: ScienceDaily, 19 October 2019

Yoga at Sweaty Betty Chiswick

In September I shared with you my review of a free yoga class at Sweaty Betty, Richmond branch. (You can read about it here.) I enjoyed the class and wanted to see how a class at a different branch would compare. For my second free class at a Sweaty Betty branch, I chose to attend a yoga class at the Chiswick branch.

The booking process is the same as for the Richmond branch class. Classes are released up to 10 days before the event on instabook. If the class you’re interested in is fully booked, you can add your name to a wait list. As I said in the Richmond review post, I found the wait listing super stressful. Being on a wait list does not mean that you move up one place when someone cancels and eventually, if enough people cancel, you’ll automatically join the class. No, everyone on the wait list stays in the pool and once someone cancels, we all have to fight it out to get that spot. So whether you’ve been on the wait list for 10 days or 10 minutes, if a place opens up everyone has to act really fast. In fact, that’s the title of the email that Sweaty Betty will send you: “Act fast! Your class has a spot”.

I gave the wait list a miss and just checked instabook every day until I saw a Sunday yoga class at the Chiswick branch open up. Easy peasy.

The Chiswick branch of Sweaty Betty is smaller than Richmond which means fewer people in a class – 9 at Chiswick, as opposed to 14 at Richmond. With the fewer students and smallish floor space the class felt intimate and the instructor was able to give everyone personal attention during the Vinyasa flow.

I was able to keep up with all the poses but found it really difficult to keep my eyes closed during Savasana. How could I not stare up at the fun Ski Shop leggings and tops hanging all around me? That’s the only drawback about classes in a Sweaty Betty store – you just can’t keep your eyes off the gear! I don’t plan on doing any skiing (although I am going to do a yoga class on Friday in a rooftop ski lodge… watch this space), but by the end of class I really wanted a ski base layer pair of leggings. Those bright blue ones are so cute!

Speaking of leggings – remember my yoga in the Walkways of Tower Bridge? The day I realised my leggings were much too big for me and had sagged so far down my crotch I looked like ballsy bloke? Well, the pair in question is now part of Sweaty Betty’s recycling scheme and I have a £10 voucher to spend on a purchase of £50 or more. Score! It feels good to know that my dodgy grey leggings is going to be rehomed or recycled to make a new pair of much better fitting leggings.

I’ve been ~~asking~~ begging for a Sweaty Betty gift card for Christmas – and with my £10 voucher it will go even further. Fingers crossed I can buy a pair of Super Sculpt High Waisted Yoga Leggings in 2020!

Now that I’ve done yoga at Richmond and Chiswick, I think I will return to the Chiswick branch – the biggest reason being that it’s closer to my home, but also because it feels nice and intimate.

My verdict: if you enjoy yoga, if you like being surrounded by Sweaty Betty workout gear and if you like a freebie, visit Sweaty Betty instabook and book yourself a place at a free in-store class. I’m definitely doing it again!

Location: Sweaty Betty, 62 Turnham Green Terrace, Chiswick, London W4 1QN

Time: 9:45 – 10:45 (the store opens at 11 am on a Sunday)

Price: Free

Date attended: Sunday 8 December 2019

Yoga mats provided: Yes

Yoga intensity: I forgot to activate the yoga exercise on my Fitbit Inspire HR until about half way through, but it still showed that I had burned 75 calories in 20 minutes with an average bpm of 104.

Good to know: Getting a space in a weekend London store class can be difficult. Figure out when the class you want to attend becomes available on instabook, and book your space quickly. The wait list system is a bit of a hassle.

If you like doing yoga in quirky places, outside, or in iconic London buildings, check out my list of Funky places to do yoga and pilates around London.

Terrific Tuesday #4

On a Monday morning I’m rearing to go and to take on the week, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on a Thursday I feel good for making it this far and on a Friday I can taste the weekend.

But what about a Tuesday? For me Tuesdays are the hardest day of the week to exercise. I’m usually tired from the Manic Monday and midweek might as well be a year away.

“The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow” -Arnold Schwarzenegger

If you’re going to be quoting fitness experts, it might as well be Arnie.

Bitter sweet facts about sugar

I really don’t eat much sugar. I don’t have breakfast at all (I do 16:8 intermittent fasting), I drink coffee and tea with unsweetened soy milk and no sugar, lunch is a tortilla wrap with lettuce, carrot, cucumber and cheese / roasted sweet potato & feta / tuna / boiled egg and in the evenings a vegetarian dish. If I want dessert I have 80% dark chocolate or hot cacao. I really very rarely have sugar – I don’t miss it, I don’t crave it.

That was until last week Thursday. At our office Christmas party I had Christmas pudding with custard for dessert. At the time I didn’t think much of it, but I now realise that that festive pud had actually set a series of things in motion. Over the course of the following weekend I had toast with jam. Twice. Monday I bought Christmas mince pies and ate two. On Tuesday I broke the 16:8 fast by having a croissant for breakfast and I had another Christmas pudding at a second office Christmas party.

The kicker is that through all of this I was feeling bloated, constipated, anxious, extremely tired, didn’t want to exercise at all, I had a nasty pimple just above my eyebrow (WTF?) and I craved more carbs and more sugar – even though I suspected it was the sudden intake of sugar that made me feel this way in the first place. I kid you not, I had a dream about croissants!

Isn’t that a sign of addiction? You feel compelled by a force stronger than you to have more even though you know it’s bad for you? Yes it is. And sugar can be addictive. In 2008 researchers from Princeton University found that just like drugs, it causes you to binge on it, feel unable to resist it and then show withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop.

In experiments, the researchers have been able to induce signs of withdrawal in the lab animals by taking away their sugar supply. The rats’ brain levels of dopamine dropped and, as a result, they exhibited anxiety as a sign of withdrawal. The rats’ teeth chattered, and the creatures were unwilling to venture forth into the open arm of their maze, preferring to stay in a tunnel area. Normally rats like to explore their environment, but the rats in sugar withdrawal were too anxious to explore.

Feeling unusually tired on the days I was having a lot of sugar also wasn’t my imagination. A study from April 2019 by scientists from three Universities showed there is no such thing a sugar rush and in fact, sugar will make you more tired and less alert. So on top of the addictive qualities of sugar I was experiencing, I thought that I had to have more sugar as a pick-me-up to counter the tiredness, when in fact sugar was the cause of the tiredness and incapable of giving me an energy rush.

The researchers found that 1) sugar consumption has virtually no effect on mood, regardless of how much sugar is consumed or whether people engage in demanding activities after taking it; 2) people who consumed sugar felt more tired and less alert than those who had not; and 3) the idea of a ‘sugar rush’ is a myth without any truth behind it.

These facts are shocking, but what shocks me even more is that for years I was feeling anxious, tired and bloated day in and day out and eating sugary snacks to help me feel better. Little did I know that what I thought was the cure, turned out to be the cause.

I’ve now been back to my usual way of eating for three days and I’m feeling much, much better. But it’s only because feeling unwell is so unfamiliar to me now, that I was willing and able to cut back on the sugar again. A year ago, I would just have continued to eat sugary snacks, trying to find other reasons (excuses) for feeling tired. I was trapped in a bitter sweet spiral of ill health and had in fact gotten used to feeling tired and sluggish. No wonder I struggled to get up in the morning – never mind getting up extra early so that I could exercise! My “normal” was actually a very abnormal way of living to which I had become accustomed. Sadly in Britain most people consume almost 3 times the recommended daily sugar intake. That’s a whole nation of tired, bloated, anxious (and diabetic) people.

I just wish more people would try giving up on sugar so that they can experience how good “feeling good” really feels. Once you do, you’ll never want a sugar laden snack ever again. The NHS published a great guide on how to cut down on sugar. It’s basically just a case of swapping out the sugar laden foods with something less sugary. And if in doubt, read the food label. If the swaps are done gradually – don’t go cold turkey otherwise you will suffer withdrawal symptoms – you will soon start to feel more energised which will keep you motivated to stick to the less sugary foods. For life. Before you know it, you won’t even think about sugar any more.

And when Christmas comes around and you have a mince pie, stop at one. Don’t let the sugar addiction take hold!

Terrific Tuesday #3

On a Monday morning I’m rearing to go and to take on the week, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on a Thursday I feel good for making it this far and on a Friday I can taste the weekend.

But what about a Tuesday? For me Tuesdays are the hardest day of the week to exercise. I’m usually tired from the Manic Monday and midweek might as well be a year away.

I don’t sweat I sparkle.

My hair might frizz, my nose may run and I sound like a Pug, but sweat? No. I sparkle.

Exercising before eating breakfast burns more fat

According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, health scientists found that by changing the timing of when you eat and exercise, people can better control their blood sugar levels.

The six-week study found that people who performed exercise before having breakfast burned double the amount of fat than the group who exercised after breakfast. The increased fat burn is mainly due to lower insulin levels during exercise when people have fasted overnight, which means that they are able to use stored fat as a fuel.

Source: ScienceDaily, 18 October 2019

Terrific Tuesday #2

On a Monday morning I’m rearing to go and to take on the week, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on a Thursday I feel good for making it this far and on a Friday I can taste the weekend.

But what about a Tuesday? For me Tuesdays are the hardest day of the week to exercise. I’m usually tired from the Manic Monday and midweek might as well be a year away.

“If you’re persistent you’ll get it. If you’re consistent you’ll keep it.” – Harvey Mackay

When it comes to exercise and weight loss, you need to get into a habit of exercising and monitoring your calorie intake – that’s the persistent bit – and if you continue to do the workouts and eat sensibly – that’s the consistent bit – you’ll keep that lean and strong body.

Physical activity may protect against new episodes of depression

Increased levels of physical activity can significantly reduce the odds of depression, even among people who are genetically predisposed to the condition, according to a new study from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The team reported that individuals who engaged in at least several hours of exercise each week were less likely to be diagnosed with a new episode of depression, even in the face of high genetic risk for the disorder.

Source: ScienceDaily, 5 November 2019