Fun class today with Christmas exercises: 'Santa with his sack', 'the Turkey' and 'Stirring the Christmas Pudding'. Glad they only come around once a year, especially the 'Turkey'! Ouch!
...and afterwards mince pies and cookies and chat!
Lots of reminiscing...Ahhh the good old days…the classes in the fisherman’s lodge at Great Shefford, behind the Green Door in Newbury, in the doctor’s surgery at Hermitage…Esther is amazing and she certainly used to get around. The funny thing is how her students speak with such love of the days when studios wireless than salubrious.
The Green Door was above a dental technician’s and you had to pass shelves of teeth to get up to the studio. Once up the ceiling was so low you could hardly stretch your arms above your head and if you needed the loo you had to go back downstairs, out the front door around the side of the building to the back.
The lodge was damp and cold and there was no door on the toilet-only a bead curtain. Moisture ran down the walls and students would try to dry their mats by the gas heater, steam billowing around them. It was so small that the students had to cram in like sardines. That is why the section of stomach exercises we do in the centre is called sardines now: from everyone lying together in a neat row so they could all fit!
In Hermitage a doctor so believed in the benefit of the exercises she gave Esther the lobby of the surgery rent free and she ran classes there between surgery sessions!
Funny. Some of the fondest memories are of these days. Who needs posh studios with wall to wall mirrors (Lotte didn't like mirrors in studios anyway) and smart lobbies?!
Esther during the Christmas class in her quirky, warm, dry and light filled Hungerford
studio (with high ceilings as well!). Her students are so spoiled!
A little exercise to see you into the New Year:
Stirring the Christmas Pudding
1. This is a 'No Escape' exercise so usually would be done sitting on the floor under the barre with your back firmly pressed against the studio wall, both arms pressing upwards on the barre, chin on your chest, head curving forward to ensure your back has maximum support. If you do not have a well-fixed barre then sitting like I am in the photo above is the next best thing. This is the position teachers use to lead this part of the class.
2. With your legs lifted off the floor, knees bent just more then slightly, toes pointed, balancing on your bottom, imagine that you have two christmas puddings in bowls beneath your feet. Circle both feet inward as if you are stirring the pudding (the left foot clockwise, the right foot anti-clockwise). This should be as if your calves/feet and toes are a wooden spoon as the main motion is below the knees.
3. Now repeat this, rotating your toes/feet/calves outward. Quite often students find one way harder than the other. Holding this 'No Escape' position works the deep core muscles of the lower abdomen, an area that can be hard to work.
A very happy holiday season to you all!
May your 2012 be joyful....see you then!
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