GROOMING STRETCH YOURSELF
Stuart Brumfitt strikes a pose and tackles his “negative energy” at the new Triyoga centre in Chelsea…
Already with centres in Soho, Covent Garden and Primrose Hill, Triyoga has just added a new branch to its stable on King’s Road, Chelsea. It’s a big, bright, purpose-built space with three studios, three treatment rooms, an organic café, juice bar and shop. Open 364 days a year and with an astonishing number of daily classes for all levels, it’s little wonder they lay claim to being “Europe’s leading yoga centre”.
With some previous yoga
experience, I decided to try out Ashtanga: a faster, flowing regime that isn’t as full on as ‘hot yoga’ Bikram, but still gets the heart beating. In the whitewashed, big-windowed room, teacher Joyce asked us all about our injuries, taking note of my dodgy lower back and advising me how to avoid pushing things too far. Joyce began the class with some meditative chanting. Vocal ‘Oms’ out of the way,
we began the movements. My lack of flexibility rendered Joyce’s beautiful poses pug- ugly. The front row, which included another yoga teacher and some expert yummy mummies, nailed the postures, but the beginners struggled and looked embarrassingly bad. Joyce encouraged with tips on breathing and alignment. Whilst I’d gone into a class which was clearly too advanced for me, I was still warmly welcomed and, despite my frustration in getting my muscles, tendons and ligaments to do as I asked, a thrill lay in the potential for improvement. Watching the brilliantly bendy classmates was inspiration enough to stick with it and someday transform my body.
When they went into a
shoulder stand, Joyce remembered my injury and told me to sit it out. There’s a good teacher for you. I joined in for the final few poses before we lay down, covered ourselves in blankets (the body cools down very quickly once you’ve stopped) and a profound relaxed, tired heaviness descended upon me. My mind was clear and my body was relieved. Even though my postures were beyond bad, yoga had still worked its magic.
The list of treatments at
Triyoga is vast, everything from acupuncture to hypnotherapy and facials to ‘emotional freedom technique’, so I wasn’t sure what I’d be getting. It turns out therapist Roland is a Traditional Maya Healer, a title he acquired after studying under Shaman Lauro de La Cruz Martinez in
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Mexico in the 1990s. When he handed me an egg from a corner shop carton, I thought it was a prank, but had to force a straight face when I was told I was about to be given an “egg reading”. After rubbing it on my head and across my body before making me hold it for five minutes, Roland cracked it into a glass of water before telling me that the rising egg white and bubbles meant I had plenty of energy. Good? Not entirely – it was too spread out... my energy didn’t have any focus. And there was a thin cloud of white hanging over the yolk: my negative energy! Meanwhile, Roland had been doing a pulse reading. My pulse was too strong, “a bit like an over-inflated balloon”. Oh! The feedback made me feel even more negative than I apparently was, so I figured it was Roland’s job to help sort me out. He began cleansing me by releasing my negative energy. And when Roland does this, Roland starts to burp. The first few belches were muffled and polite. But then
more burps, and louder. He explained: “I’m burping to get rid of the negative”. I can’t say I found that part
of the treatment very pleasant – but Roland worked more on releasing the tension in my neck and on my injured lower back. He pummelled; he cracked... the noises sounded divine. Despite the egg and the belching, it was a great deep tissue massage, relieving pain and pressure in my weak spots.
After a blissful afternoon
at the Triyoga centre, I think I could cope with a little ‘re- centre-ing’. Whilst it’s easy to get depressed about the state of your flexibility and strength early on in yoga or similar therapies, there’s the hope that by continuing, you can be better in mind and body.
Prices: Yoga and Pilates on mat: individual classes £12ph/£15 for two hours/drop-in basis. Pilates equipment classes require advance booking. A session with Roland Torikian starts at £70/45 minutes.
www.triyoga.co.uk
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