Yesterday I sweated my ass off with a bootcamp trainer. The trainer made us run on the soft sand and so several exercices on the beach. Originally I’m a swimmer and I’m not a great fan of running. Don’t know, it’s not really my thing.
But competitive as I am, I push myself. And after 3 rounds, I was exhausted. And the trainer pushed me to do one more around. Aaahhhh. I went over my own limits and finished it.
Great job, said the trainer. But is it?
With sports, with life, it’s this aliquant balance between pushing yourself and sometimes holding back and taking care of yourself. It’s yin and yang. Yes the balance between soft and gentle yoga (yin) and pushing yourself in the surf (yang).
When I was younger, I pushed myself often too hard and I got a lot of back problems. There were days where I could hardly move my back, would crawl over the floor, because my back was hurting too much. And then I need a physiotherapist to me back in shape.
With a nice yoga routine and a careful balance between doing sports and taking enough rest I found the cure for my back problems. It’s this precise balance between strength and flexibility in your core. Almost every morning I do my yoga exercises. I have a whole routine with a meditation, some asana’s, a foam roller and 2 tennis balls. And that works, it really does.
But I think the most important lesson here is to take care of my body and to listen to myself. When Is it too much and do you need to take a step back? And when do you want to push yourself even further and go for that extra mile..
Interesting right.
I really find it a great privilege to feel fit and in shape. Take care of your body and feel more alive. And to have energy to do whatever I’d like to do.
In the next master class we ‘ll talk more about energy and feeling alive.
