Fitness

[MumDuck]

Hi,
Does anyone know of any good yoga classes in South East London (Blackheath,Lewisham) area. I really need to get fit and have a few momnets to myself as a lack of slep for 1 1/2 years is taking it's toll.Nothing too expensive please.

Thanks

Sorry I also wanted to add that same sex classes would be ideal...?NO SLEEP makes me so forgetful.

Hello mumduck. As an experienced yogi myself I have to say that yoga is not that great for fitness (in terms of cardiovascular fitness at least) although it is a fantastic thing to be doing obviously and great for having some time to yourself and for a sense of wellbeing and also for fat burning, so if you want to shift some weight then yoga is great.

I don't live near you so I'm not sure I can help out with classes but I would go for one of the more active styles such as Sivananda or Ashtanga - they are more of a workout than e.g. Iyengar where you tend to tend to have to sit in the postures for an age and you won't go through many postures in a class. I'm not the world's biggest fan of Iyengar style classes, I have been doing yoga since 1999, my teacher is a US yogi who is taught by some of the most highly respected teachers in the world and am a former dancer and the Iyengar yoga centre wanted me to start in the beginners class with their system - so I found it a bit patronising and totalitarian to say the least (can you tell I have a bee in my bonnet about this? ) and I was pissed that they weren't prepared to challenge me physically at all. I would avoid.

I have to say, I started jogging round the park recently, I just do once around the park at the moment, starting and stopping (I am not very fit in cardiovascular terms), it is about a mile and half setting off from home. It is making the world of difference in terms of how I feel and my tummy feels more pulled in without me pulling it in iykwim and that is after only a few days. It is also free of charge. I am not a jogging type at all, I thought I would feel embarrassed but no-one bats an eyelid at you however crap you are.

What about trying a bodybalance class? It's a mix of tai chi, yoga and pilates, suitable for all fitness and flexibility levels and good for all round fitness as there are some dynamic tracks and some more pose based tracks. They're at a lot of private gyms. You can search on the Les Mills site.

Can't help you more than that on location specifics though. Have you cross-posted to your MN local and health and exercise?