#20 Yogi vibes
Good vibes for your mailbox!
Donna, Delph and a few friends in activewear… doing yoga.
Hello girls,
Last week's newsletter on Pubes went down pretty well and opened up a conversation about pubic hair! After waxing for decades, one of my friends has decided to sacrifice herself to see if, after 6 months, it would grow back to "normal”. She described the current situation as patchy. She got told by an older friend that, when you are past a certain age, your vajajay starts to sag like your booty and boobs! The lips or something like that... When that happens, you're happy to have a bushy downstairs operation to bring some cover and camouflage to the area. My friend’s words, "I will tell you how the growth goes so we can warn our millennial sisters!" Now, that is sacrifice!
On another note, we're stoked to have found the best(est) Personal Trainer around to help us with our new fitness section. Lynne Allen will help us understand what is good for us as we get older. Send us any fitness questions you want us to address! This week we start with a Yoga question.
Until next week, stay cool!
Delphine and Donz
Crush of the week ❤️
Lynne Allen Personal Trainer 💪
Lynne brings her 20 years of experience as a personal trainer, a pelvic floor exercise specialist, pilates business owner (and instructor) to our newsletter. A self-confessed on-going education junkie, her passion for getting her clients stronger, future proofing their bodies, be more educated with how their bodies move (and breath) and building confidence in their own abilities means she wants to get all of her clients to the point that they don’t need to train with her, they train with her because they want to.
Her personal training business, Lynne Allen Personal Training is based out of BodyFix in Christchurch. Her ‘sister-brand’ LA Pilates NZ is runs from her home studio. She also is the strength and conditioning coach for a high school rowing squad.
She’s a bit of a superhuman… waking up at 4:15 AM every day for her fitness class but also a mum to a 7 and a 9-year-old and two big dogs (the bigger the better she says), a cat, a husband. Lastly she has a black coffee addiction (yeah, those 4 AM starts I am guessing!) and is Scottish. Since Donna and I know very little about Fitness, Lynn will be able to answer our questions, sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Welcome to HitPause Lynn!
🤔 Why are there mostly skinny people at Yoga classes?
I love this question. When Delph asked me to write about it, I may have snorted a tad (I’m very lady-like). I’m going to answer the questions the other way around: Do I need to go to yoga?
Eeeeeeee, well, yes and no. As we age, we can’t get away with things anymore. Remember those nights when you could go out drinking until 3 am and still get up and function as a human being? Well, those days are gone. It works the same with fitness, I’m afraid. Now, as we age, we need to work at it to maintain and/or increase our strength/flexibility.
Getting back to yoga—disclaimer here—I am not a Yoga person. I want to be a yogi; I’ve tried so hard. I have the image of me getting up in the morning with the birds, unfurling my beautiful yoga mat on the deck, becoming one with myself, then having an Insta-worthy green matcha whatever and being peaceful and graceful. I am NOT this person, unfortunately. I’m a get-up, skull some black coffee, and head to the gym kind of gal, so my thoughts on yoga might not line up with the more namaste among you.
When I’m talking about Yoga in this post, I’m talking about the physical benefits of it, the flexibility it brings rather than the holistic aspect. Yoga is so much more than stretching. Yes, we need flexibility as we age, we need mobility, and we need to do it consistently.
Does yoga help with this? It sure does! Could we just stretch at home and get the same benefit? Sort of, but it’s unlikely you would balance it as well as a trained Yogi could. I firmly believe in staying in my lane when it comes to that, and I know how to stretch, but there’s no way I could do it as well as an instructor trained specifically in that area.
If stretching isn’t your thing, it is a million times easier to book yourself into a yoga class where you are forced to stretch for 45-60 mins rather than saying you’ll stretch when you get home, when you get up in the morning, before you go to bed but you never do. Hands up if that's you because it sure as hell is me.
So my answer is no, you don’t NEED yoga. BUT if you can’t get up off the floor because you have tight hips, you constantly have headaches because your shoulders and neck are tight, your posture is getting worse and you feel tight and stiff, then yoga will be super beneficial for you.
Now, I ‘poke the bear’ because well why not? The group of people that I would say would benefit from less yoga (in a stretching capacity remember?) are the kind of people that adore yoga. They are incredible at yoga, they fold themselves over, they look like graceful swans and they do it all with a serene look on their face and can breathe the right way too (witchcraft I tell you). You may know the type, the hypermobile among us who can make themselves into pretzel shapes and have always been able to do it.
Our bodies need strength and mobility, but we tend to gravitate to what we enjoy and more importantly what we are good at.
So, I’d say that those of us who like to lift weights, don’t slow down, and have no chill will get huge benefits from yoga. But also, those yogis out there who can touch their chest to their knees could also benefit from lifting some tin and adding resistance training into their lives.
So with that cat amongst the pigeons, let’s move on to…why do you see mostly skinny people at yoga?
Ok, first of all, the term ‘skinny’ makes me twitch. Body shape does not determine capability. As we age, we want to be strong, fit, and mobile. If you came in to see me for personal training and you said you want to be skinny, then I’d probably be showing you the door.
Yes, I understand that we’ve grown up in such a messed up body image-obsessed society (Kate Moss and heroin chic anyone?), but it needs to change. Being skinny with minimal muscle will not benefit us as we get older; it’s bad news, and I’m doing everything within my power to make sure my clients know that.
Muscle is the key to longevity, but that’s for another post. OK, back to the question:
Well, skinniness/leanness is an image thing, right? It’s an Instagram highlight reel.
It has more to do with marketing than practice instruction. On social media, you very rarely see anyone who is overweight or struggles to get into a certain pose in yoga because that’s not what they want to promote. But if you go into yoga classes, you will see such a comforting array of shapes and sizes.
Yoga is all-inclusive; it isn’t just for the skinny/lean people. But also, doing just yoga won’t make you skinny/lean.
Yoga is for every shape and size, and although it can be intimidating going to class if you don’t fit the ‘ideal’ yoga body size, remember that you are doing something that will improve how your body moves. It will future-proof your body, and it may mean that you can still sit on the floor and play with your grandkids right into your golden years.
So screw what people think. If you feel uncomfortable, do it for you and your 60/70/80-year-old body.
Lynne x
Non-review - Aerial Yoga
There have been numerous trends in the world of yoga, with a few standout examples like Paddleboarding Yoga (yoga on a paddleboard, I kid you not). However, today we want to ensure you're aware of the existence of Aerial Yoga. Except… it’s not really yoga-yoga!
It's a fitness mashup, blending HIIT, ballet, barre, and hanging around from the ceiling like a glamorous spider monkey (and yoga!).
Now, if the idea of hanging from the ceiling sounds a bit too Cirque du Soleil for your taste, fear not—there's a yoga swing for that! Aerial yoga is the zen cousin of the acrobatic circus, offering stress relief without the drama.
If like me (delph) you hate being upside down… this may not be for you! For those who have or will try, send your photos!
An actual review by Donz
Once you have posed on one of these bad boys you will never go back to a KMart Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) mat for $6.
Although some cork mats are over 10 times the price of their PVC counterparts, the extra $55 is worth it I reckon as you are saving the planet as well as looking cool and treating yourself.
Cork Yoga Mats are generally pretty eco-friendly, and durable providing you with a non-slip surface for practice. Cork is suitable for all styles of yoga.
For most cork matts the top side is made of 100% natural cork for a non-slip grip and the bottom side is made from 100% natural tree rubber which provides maximum stability and ensures the mat does not shift as it grips the floor.
Some good options:
The plant base Natural tree mat, on sale for NZ$100
Rebel Sports Simply Clean Cork Yoga Mat - NZ$69.99
The Tik Tok break: #yoga
Popular - YES ! with over 40.4B views #yoga has taken Tik Tok by storm.
TikTok has a plethora of Yoga moves, challenges and poses from reputable Yoga teachers and “Yogis “ to “ Yoga with Max” who claims with 10 minutes a day ( doing XYZ pose) you can get rid of 2-year-old mucus (not sure where all this mucus is coming from but it doesn’t sound great!).
A few non-yoga challenges that came into my feed:
@msmelissaneill If you can get past Melissa prancing around in a bikini with a 6 pack (and we are not talking beer), she has some great tips for women over 40.
Less glamorous but gets the job done @winilinguvic
Speed reads
➡️ I remember a ski trip where I was so sore I needed some stretching videos. I came across the YouTube channel for Cosmic kids Yoga - so good! It is (obviously) accessible to people with low attention spans like me (delph) and videos are roughly 15 min long. If you hate Yoga but need a stretch, right here right now - this could work for you! You could be Betsy the banana, Arnold the ant or one of the most viewed (9Mil), Sonic the Hedgehog. Fun times!
➡️ New year, new you, new athleisure wardrobe! From colours, print, materials and accessories, be in the know!
➡️ Fart stories are often associated with yoga. Well, it’s not random! Relaxing your body, and especially your bowels and intestines, can help you to pass gas. Here is an article on how to fart with yoga (if you are bloated for example)! And here, how to avoid farting at yoga!