If I said “engage your pelvic floor”- who knows what would happen. You might squeeze the front as if trying to stop yourself from peeing. Or you might squeeze the back as if trying to stop a sneaky fart. Or you might squeeze the whole caboodle- everything from the waist down, (Like driving down a country lane praying that the oncoming lorry won’t squish you. You clench like crazy, hold your breath and shut an eye too)
So, which is it? The front? The back? The middle bit? Something else?
Read moreBack in the late 1990s, “Core Stability” started getting popular. Studies found that people with back injuries and chronic lower back pain had wonky timing in their trunk muscles, basically, their muscle coordination was off. This got researchers thinking -maybe strengthening certain muscles, like the transversus abdominis (TrA), could help fix this and prevent pain and injury. They came up with all these exercises: the "tummy tuck", “trunk bracing” and the “core stability” craze grew.
Read moreLove is such a big topic. But what sparked this week's musings isn't the fact that next week is Valentine's day, nor me hearing Tina Turner asking 'What’s love got to do with it?' or even Dolly Parton / Whitney Houston promising to always love me, but Arthur Aron, a 20th-century social psychologist, who came up with 36* questions designed to gradually make 2 people fall in love.
Read moreMy premise here is ‘do yoga, it’s good for you’.
I could leave it at that, but I think you might feel a tad short changed. Instead, I’ve gone to the opposite extreme and have sought out evidence: research papers, yoga texts, and even cues from nature as proof for 4 alleged benefits of yoga.
Read moreI set out to craft a piece extolling the benefits of yoga. I began by outlining the benefits and then proceeded to research PubMed and Google Scholar to find substantiating evidence. However, in this process, I soon realized that I had fallen into the confirmation bias* black hole. Allow me to explain.
Read moreMeditating with a mandala can be a transformative and calming experience. Here's a simple guide to try.
Read moreAs we massage the feet, I realised I couldn't remember a single thing to say about the feet, except they are 'kinda useful'. (In my defence the whole class was a last minute decision and feet are kinda useful.)
So to put that right, here are somethings I could have said...
Read moreAccording to Harvard Health Publishing, individuals committed to daily gratitude practices report a 25% increase in happiness levels. (Let’s be honest -who wouldn’t want to be happier?)
Read moreOur knees are remarkable joints, like bridges connecting two mighty structures - the thigh bone (femur) bone and the lower leg (tibia). Unlike the skull or pelvis, there are no big bony walls in the knees, instead, they rely on ligaments, tendons, muscles, and fascia.
Read moreI feel I may have to write ‘spoiler alert’ if you are planning on watching the documentary on how to live longer as I am about to break it down and give away all the secrets.
Read moreAs a child, making friends was easy. You'd walk up to someone in the playground and say, "Will you be my best friend?" They said yes, and Bob's your uncle*, you had a hopscotch* partner for life. However, it gets a little more complicated the older we get
Read moreYou’ ll find a slew of studies. Just to share one I looked at was a review of 10 studies involving a 967 chronic low back pain patients. The results showed strong evidence that yoga can provide short-term relief in terms of pain, back-specific disability, and overall improvement... More and more studies are raving about the benefits of yoga.
Read moreAnd although all these benefits are fabulous, the main thing I want to say about inversions is that they are fun.
I defy for anyone to tell me they didn’t have a whale of a time as a kid trying to do a cartwheel, handstand, wheel, rollie-pollie…
Read moreHave you ever felt at odds when you heard yourself answering the question ‘What have you been up to’? That realisation that you thought you would have answered differently, but the reality takes you by surprise?
Read moreWhat do Marilyn Monroe, Oprah Winfrey, Camilla Parker-Bowels all have in common?
What do the Dutch call knobbel op de grote teen, the Portuguese joanete and the French oignon?
From my ‘extensive and highly scientific’ research on the humble bunion, do more yoga and loving your feet more is the way forward. I can help you with the first part, you have to do the second part.
Read moreThe emoji on my phone representing yoga is someone in a lotus position. If you ask me I think Warrior 2 is a far better choice. I feel it's a more popular pose, accessible to most people. It’s a deceptively simple pose, which can make even the hardened yogi cry for mercy.
Read moreNot all meditations are the same.
Not all meditations are right for everyone.
But meditating is good for everyone according to the neuroscience...
Are you someone who could count your heart beat without checking your pulse? Or someone who has no idea what's going on that even if you had a heart attack, you wouldn't notice?
Read moreOne thing I will say is that sleeping well, isn't always about just sleeping well. It's not just about lavender sprays and dim lights…
Read moreAfter just 2 minutes in this pose, hormonal changes can configure your brain to either assertive, confident and comfortable, or really stress-reactive, and feeling sort of shut down.
Read moreEvery night when we go to sleep the interfaces between our muscles grows 'fuzz'. In the morning when we stretch, this fuzz melts. That stiff feeling in the morning is the solidifying of the tissues. Just like a cat stretches every time it awakes from a snooze, so should we. This 'morning stretch' melts that fuzz that is building up throughout the whole of the body.
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