I disclosed my new thing wit h a hula hoop. Well, I did something else recently I’d not done before, or thought I’d never do… Something I decided I was keen to try and understand.
I did yoga.
It’s odd. I know many female friends who are into yoga – and who swear by it. But not many blokes I know do it. For me, before, I had a view that it was a little like ‘soft’. Breathing and positive thoughts… Meditation. A bit hocus pocus. Magic. Not anything real in terms of fitness. Good for the soul, maybe, but not real strength fitness blokes stuff. Not for real blokes like me
Goodness, how wrong I was. How wrong I was…
I was in Borneo. I put my truck into a container and sent it off, with a smile and a wave, to KL. I headed to London to see my two wonderful oldest kids. Then I arrived back into KL, with the truck still a week away.
What to do?? I thought, southern Thailand. Not Phuket – I’m not interested in drinking or partying there (I know… that growing old thing). I was curious about yoga, so had a look around. I found a retreat on Koh Samui, so hopped on a plane and there I was.
I went to a 5 day live-in retreat at the Vikasa Yoga Retreat. I didn’t know, but there are different kinds of yoga. This brand suited me very well. The morning would start with a ‘Complete’ – a bit of everything for 2 hours. Yoga has no impact activities – well, Vikasa yoga, anyway. Or cardio. But it does give you a hell of a workout. I challenge any luddite bloke like me who thinks yoga is ‘soft’ to do 2 hours of ‘Complete’ Brutal!! It is all about stretching – pushing the body into angles that I hasn’t previously done. That are not easy. That test and stress you. Brutal is a good description. Testing understates things. Satisfying also really understates things.
I’d have the day to unwind after the Complete and then do another session at 5pm. I loved the Chill – less less intensive, still testing, but lots of time to lie and reflect. Now, I’ve made no secret of some personal baggage I am trying to lose. This Chill session shifted a lot of stuff for me. It didn’t fix me, but goodness it was a good start.
This resort had healthy food – v healthy. Thank goodness I could eat meat. They made a great coffee. The wine list was small but European and high quality. I was scared I’d be eating tofu and drinking guava juice… I was so happy that they celebrated a bit of balance in one’s life.
Finally, the resort. It was so southern Thailand. I’ll add a photo or two, but seeing is believing. Waking up to these views every day was better than all the great food and all the wonderful discovery yoga was for me.
Should you do yoga? Not necessarily – up to you. But maybe we should all take a stab at trying something new – maybe once in a while. I love yoga, I can’t wait to do some more and, being the controlling kind of guy that I am, for goodness sakes stop being a dickhead and give it ago.