Tuesday 23 September 2008

Yoga

I have been a trainee yogi on and off for a number of years and have normally enjoyed the classes that I have been to (except for that one Iyengar class in Edinburgh I tried!) but recently I have discovered it again and I don't enjoy the classes, I love them.
Despite initially being put off by the surly receptionist, I tried calling the Yoga Tree Studio again a couple of weeks ago and went along to 'a gentle introduction to yoga' class. I am so out of shape right now (and have never been a pro ;)) that I thought it was probably the best option. I was not wrong. One month later and I'm totally hooked. I had wanted to get into Pilates with the studio next door and had even booked private lessons to do it, but comparing the two there is no competition. It's yoga all the way. I cannot recommend this studio enough. Although I might regret it when classes get busy and there's no space for me…I can already see the numbers increasing as people start to come back after Ramadan.
One day I hope to be able to do this!

Saturday 20 September 2008

Facial

When you think of having a facial, how do you imagine you'll feel? Relaxed? Tranquil? Sore? I just cam back from having a thorough, if somewhat painful, facial. It started out well enough with the therapist asking questions about my medical history and what I hoped to get from my treatment, all while I was wrapped in a duvet on a therapy bed. I could answer those questions with ease. Although she did make me feel like a naughty schoolchild when she told me off for not drinking enough water every day.
She cleansed my face which turned out to be how she found out about all the 'problems' under the surface of my skin. Next came the steam. I was just starting to relax and it felt very calming when she put patches on my eyes but she didn't warn me to expect hot steam to be blasted all over my face and up my nose. Thankfully, she left me alone in the room so I could wiggle about and peel one of the eye patches off to have a look at the contraption. Suitably satisfied that it would not melt my face off, I tried to breathe normally until she returned.
Well, I'm not sure that I wouldn't have prefered her to have stayed away because when she came back, she blinded me with a magnifying mirror and said, 'I'm just going to do some extraction, OK?' What she actually meant was 'I'm just going to squeeze all the spots I can see on your very spotty face and make you squirm on the bed.'
To be fair, she didn't actually pick the red spots that I already had. She electrocuted them! I couldn't see from my prone position but if I had to put money on it, I'd bet you could see blue sparks flying between face and machine.
Instead of massaging my face (because I have the type of skin to breakout at the slightest touch), she massaged my shoulders. She spent quite a long time trying to work out the knots in my shoulders but I'm pretty sure they were only there due to the stress of having the facial.
Anyway, I've already booked my appointment for next week…masochist or what?!