Blog - BraveBodies - Strong to the core. Supple to the fingertips.

13Jan 2022 by Barbara No Comments

SUPPLE SILVER – INTELLIGENT EXERCISE FOR SENIORS

Calling all seniors in Woolston, Sholing, Bitterne, Netley and Weston! After almost two years of intermittent lockdowns, your body and soul may need a restart! Come and meet our friendly 60+ group and get moving again. You probably need it more than ever! SUPPLE SILVER, intelligent exercise for seniors in Woolston, Southampton TUESDAYS 10:30 – 11:30am St Mark's Institute, 37a Victoria Road, Woolston, Southampton SO19 9DY (view map) First session £3, walk-in £7, block of 6 classes £36 SUPPLE SILVER is for those who are 60 and better! It is especially tailored to help seniors increase their flexibility, balance, general mobility and coordination. It is a fusion of yoga, Pilates and gentle body conditioning. If you have a medical condition that prevents you from join a more vigorous and faster-paced…

05Mar 2017 by Barbara No Comments

HOW MUCH DO YOU VALUE MOVEMENT

Brave Bodies

"Movement is life. Life is a process. Improve the quality of the process and you improve the quality of life itself." -- Moshe Feldenkrais -- Let's face it; ours is not a very healthy society. The NHS is caving in under the strain of our collective un-wellness. Many of us are overweight and succumbing to less than ideal food choices every day. We spend most of our waking hours sitting, and the majority of us cannot do a single press up. We have a body that allows for a fabulous variety of use; the actions it can perform are virtually endless, but we use a fraction of that capacity. We deteriorate from under-use. How did we get to this place? I normally talk a lot about the activities of early…

17Oct 2016 by Barbara No Comments

MINDFULLNESS AND MEDITATION IN WOOLSTON

Brave Bodies

Mindfulness & Meditation St Mark’s Institute, 37a Victoria Road, Woolston, Southampton SO19 9DY (view map) MONDAYS 7:40 - 8:30pm Are you looking for a way to take control of the incessant churning of thoughts in your head? Perhaps you need better sleep, or less stress, or just a tool to be able to switch off from the busyness of everyday living. Perhaps you've heard of the benefits of meditation on brain function, but you may not know that regular meditation actually helps physically alter your brain, in very desirable ways. As a result, regular meditators tend to: Cope better with stress and anxiety than those who don't. Be less impulsive and in greater control of their behaviour. Have better memory, and be able to focus for longer periods of time.…

04Mar 2015 by Barbara No Comments

IN PAIN AFTER A YOGA CLASS. READ THIS.

Brave Bodies

For those of you who may be wondering if you have overdone it in class and how to deal with the aftermath, I have recently written an article for Yoga Class Near You. Especially if you are new to yoga, you will want reassurance that pain is not something that will become your steady companion during practice. Here is an excerpt from the article: "If you are not careful, the potential to do too much when you are starting out is actually quite high. You might develop aching wrists, pain in your lower back, or even aggravate your existing condition, whatever that may be. Please do not blame your yoga teacher or yoga in general. Your teachers have an entire class to handle, and as much they may try, they…

07Dec 2014 by Barbara 6 Comments

THE MANY BENEFITS OF MASSAGE

Backs, Health, Wellness

I am a huge fan of massage -- it's one of the most pleasant things one's body can experience. It's safe, effective, and decidedly good for you, with only positive side-effects. Those who know me have probably heard me say that massage is one of the three "musts" for a happy back and optimal musculoskeletal health, along with exercise, of course, and spinal manipulation and bodywork such as chiropractic or osteopathy. I am often surprised how many people I meet who have never had a massage in their life -- folks, you have no idea how much you're missing out! So, to introduce massage to those of you who would like to give it a go, I interviewed Siobhan Balfour, a massage therapist based in Southampton, about the benefits of …

26May 2014 by Barbara No Comments

WELCOME TO BRAVEBODIES

Brave Bodies

29Jan 2014 by Barbara No Comments

SUCCESS. IT’S IN OUR DNA

Brave Bodies

What is your self-talk like these days? Who do you think you really are? And what do you think you can accomplish in your life? Is your vision of yourself small, or is it bold and powerful? If you ever suffer from low self-confidence and self-doubt, you have to look no further to lift your spirits than to the fact you are HUMAN. You might be proud of your family or even your country, but are you ever proud of being a human being? Do you realize what our ancestors have had to overcome for us to be not only just hanging out around here, but thriving? There are about 6 billion of us on this planet. This fact doesn't make us feel particularly special. Drowned in these numbers, we…

15Jan 2014 by Barbara No Comments

HOW TO CHOSE THE RIGHT YOGA MAT

Fitness, Pilates, Yoga

There are hundreds of yoga and Pilates mats out there and, when starting out with either yoga or Pilates, it's hard to know what to look for. You want to make sure your mat fulfils the following criteria: 1. Has the right level of cushioning (standard yoga 4mm, yoga plus 6mm, Pilates between 8-10mm) 2. Is non-slip 3. Is the right length for you Many people turn up in a yoga or Pilates class with a karimat, or in a better case scenario, a regular gym mat. I cringe when I see this and rush to take it away from them before they even roll them out! They might look similar, but these types of mats are COMPLETELY UNSUITABLE for the work you're about to do. They are a recipe…

14Jan 2014 by Barbara No Comments

IS YOGA FOR MEN

Brave Bodies

Is yoga for men? I sometimes come across those who think yoga is more a domain of lycra-clad bendy ladies. Their notion of yoga is a "girlie workout" -- and we cannot blame them, as the media's image of a yoga practitioner is often a lithe woman sitting in a lotus pose with a serene expression -- surely she is a vegan too and does detox every month! Men also fear the would be severely out of place in a yoga class full of women, so decide to stick to their tried and tested fitness routine -- that is, if they have one. But they are missing out! If you are one of those men who think that people who practise yoga are not willing to do a proper “tough”…

25Nov 2013 by Barbara No Comments

RUBBISH BUSINESS TIPS FOR YOGA TEACHERS

Community, Teachers, Yoga

I can't quite shake the impression that there is still a great deal of hypocrisy in the yoga world today regarding the money-making side of things. Aspiring yoga teachers need to be prepared to spend anywhere from £2,500 for their basic 200 hour training, which is, upon graduation, followed closely by authorizing bodies' membership fees, charges of listings on yoga search engines, hall or studio hire, website hosting, insurance, equipment, CPD courses costing a small fortune and so on. But when I searched Google for some useful information on how to actually make a living as a teacher, I came across some very questionable advice. There was a former yoga teacher who stopped teaching and returned to her 9-5 job so that she could “enjoy yoga without having to depend…