‘I want to do the splits between two moving trucks like Jean-Claude van Damme’ – Tessa Coates has high hopes for her yoga journey
It’s been my ambition to do the splits since I was a teenager. My last attempt, at a Christmas party, didn’t end well. I had to be physically carried off like a sack of potatoes and left in a darkened room with nothing but deep regret and a bag of frozen peas for company.
I can’t do that again, so either I have to stop showing off or I’d better get more flexible, and, if we’re being completely honest, the second one is easier. Given the number of women doing the splits up a mountain on Instagram while talking about their #yogajourney, I figure yoga is the place to start. My week begins with some deep diving into YouTube and I discover Yoga with Adriene. She’s funny, a good teacher and – best of all – she doesn’t speak with a wispy, breathy voice.
Next, I buy a 30-day unlimited class pass from my local yoga studio. This allows me to try lots of different classes throughout the week, ranging from an absolute beginner’s introductory session and a slow-paced and gentle yin class to a more dynamic vinyasa flow class. Four days in, I even pluck up the courage to try a hot yoga class, where I entirely underestimate how hot and crowded the room will actually be.
I tell one of my teachers that I want to be able to do the splits between two moving trucks like Jean-Claude van Damme and she laughs in my face. But I remain undeterred. I’ve even downloaded an app called 1 Second Everyday that nudges me to record a daily video. The app then stitches the footage together so I can see my progress. (It mainly reveals how I’ve pretty much been wearing the same workout gear day in, day out).
One week in, I’m not even close to my splits ambition, but that’s OK. It’s nice to get into a routine – even if it’s just 10 minutes of yoga first thing in the morning or last thing at night or, better still, the odd yoga class during my lunch break. Plus, everything they say about yoga boosting your energy is, unfortunately, completely true. I’m sleeping better and crashing less at work. And I think I might be becoming unbearably smug. Guys, hold on tight, I’m on my #yogajourney.
‘I feel like my mind’s been on a micro-spa break’ – Jimi Famurewa gets his head around meditation
Meditation has always been one of those things that I have mentally filed away in a box marked “Sounds Nice But Not For Me”. Yes, I would theoretically love to experience its purported calming and energy-boosting benefits, to briefly hit pause on the frantic whirl of work and social obligations and the corralling of two young kids. But I could never justify it to myself. Gifted with a free hour I will happily head off on a long, mind-unknotting run, play tennis or even, creaky 35-year-old knees be damned, hop on a skateboard. But, just, sitting there? Doing nothing? Ridiculously wasteful.
So, it’s fair to say that I approached a week of guided meditation with a degree of apprehension. And my first day – firing up a newly downloaded mindfulness app at the start of an overwhelmingly busy seven days – is only a partial success. I perch on the edge of the bed mid-morning, shut my eyes, follow the soothing instructions and try to focus on my breath. But my mind keeps snagging on all the things I’m meant to be doing and/or pondering how much voiceover actors get paid to do a mindfulness app.
But then, on day two, something clicks. I open my eyes after a three-minute session (which I’ve now made part of my pre-shower morning routine) and I feel transformed. Rested. Calm. Vaguely atingle and utterly blissed-out. It is as if my mind has been on a micro-spa break. My pile of tasks is still there but, somehow, it doesn’t feel as insurmountable. And it occurs to me that, in contrast to the somewhat stressful logistics that precede a game of tennis or even a run, this is a quick, easy emotional battery charge I can always fit into my day. All that and the prospect of fewer embarrassingly acquired skateboarding injuries. I feel calmer already.
‘Swimming in my own lane feels good’ – Elizabeth Uviebinené on getting into a new stroke
In Slay in Your Lane [the self-help book Uviebinené co-wrote with Yomi Adegoke], I write about the self-confidence gained from working out your own version of good and your own version of success, free from the expectations of the world. This is the advice I find myself turning over and over in my head on my way to my local leisure centre one morning. I’ve decided 2019 is the year I’m going to swim more, starting with this week, when I intend to go swimming three times. That’s three more times than I’ve gone in the past 15 years.
There’s something about the prospect of gliding through water that elicits a child-like glee in me, but as I emerge from the changing rooms and glimpse the intense blue of the pool, my excitement is replaced by a creeping anxiety. I haven’t swum in a long time. I’m not a beginner by any means – I reached level 6 in my school days – but despite the pool being quiet, I feel intimidated. After a couple of deep breaths I lower my body into the shallow end of the pool and tread water for 10 minutes, but I can’t quite muster up the confidence to swim. I leave.
On my second visit, the pool is busier and just before I get in I see a swimmer doing a beautiful butterfly stroke – I used to able to do that quite effortlessly too. I linger by the changing room doors until the swimmer has gone. Once they leave, and before a new set of people appear, I decide this time I just need to go for it – I haven’t come all this way to just tread water again! I submerge my body into the pool, and propel myself forward with a kick, alternating my arms. My anxiety evaporates, my body acclimatises to the lukewarm water and my muscles relax. I lose my balance slightly, but I persevere. I manage a few, somewhat scrappy but determined strokes to get to the other side of the pool and then come up for air – I haven’t felt this energised for as long as I can remember.
Later that week, I return and my confidence grows even more. Swimming in my own lane feels good. But I’m beginning to realise that carving out this time in my week is giving me so much more: space to reflect on the whirlwind few months I’ve had since publishing Slay in Your Lane, and time to reflect on my next move as a writer. Bring it on.
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