What is yoga?

The word "yoga" comes from the Sanskrit root "yuj," which means "to yoke" the spirit and physical body together. Yoga has evolved over thousands of years to embrace a wide range of styles and disciplines and it’s a popular activity for athletes, children, and seniors. Yoga can be modified to suit all levels of fitness. Yoga has been proven to lower blood pressure and increases strength and flexibility. Yoga energizes our bodies and calms our minds. Remember, your body is your best guide. You don't have to stick to one kind of yoga, just do what your body needs!

What are the benefits of yoga?

Prevent injuries

Spending hours working out and training can cause overuse injuries of the knees, backs, quads and hamstrings. We love yoga for its stretching and strengthening properties.

Strengthen your core

Yoga’s focus on flexibility, finding the edge and staying balanced builds full-body strength. A strong core “holds it all together” and provides the power to push through personal limits.

Connect to your breath

Yoga teaches an inward focus of the mind (and through this, deep awareness of the present moment) by bringing awareness to our breath. When we are able to clear our minds of distraction, we can really fill our lungs and sprint.

Clarify your vision

Studies have shown that the power of visualization really works. Building relaxation and mental clarity by practicing yoga is a powerful tool to harness that focus and visualize success (like a double fist pump when we cross the finish line first.)

for us, connecting with our community is a powerful thing.

HOW WILL YOU BENEFIT FROM JOINING OUR SESSIONS ?

You will be passionate about building and nurturing relationships that elevate your community. You will embody the three pillars of what we call the sweatlife — sweat, grow, and connect.

Dr Alison shares her personal experience with music bowls therapy, and why it's important to begin your own.

As a Medical Doctor, Dr Alison may not be the image that springs to mind when considering music bowls. She formally discovered the practice in 2020, and yet—despite a background in high stress—she realised that mindfulness had always been central to her life.

“When I look back, being mindful has been a constant,” says the 62-year old. “Learning to control your heart rate during drawing blood from patients is a form of meditation. Even stitching procedure can be mindful—you focus on breathing and get a sense of clarity. Meditation takes many different forms and is accessible to everyone.”

Read on for Dr Alison’s incredible story, as well as expert tips and ideas on how to get started.

What is meditation?

For me, meditation involves three main processes: breathing exercises, allowing thoughts to come and go without attaching to them, and finding some clarity at the end. I normally meditate at home every day for between 10 and 20 minutes, but you could also meditate on a train journey or while cooking—it doesn’t have to involve sitting down cross-legged. The practice always leaves me with clarity, whether that’s a sense of peace, or simply understanding what I need to do.

What are the basics that everyone should know?

If you’re a complete beginner, the 7/11 breathing technique is great. You breathe in for seven seconds and out for 11 seconds. Two minutes of this makes you calmer so you can make rational decisions.

I also practise breath cycles, where I take 30 fast breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth, then a big inhalation and exhalation, followed by a breath hold. I repeat this three times every day and often do it lying down—if I’m feeling overwhelmed or just need time to myself, this gives me a structured way to reground.

What are the health benefits of alpha sounds generated from music bowls?

Alpha sounds generated from music bowls can take you from the sympathetic (stressed out, fight-or-flight response) to the parasympathetic (calm, rest and digest) system. The psychological benefits are huge—it gives you mental clarity, keeps your ego in check and provides fuel in the tank for when things go wrong.

How is it different to mindfulness?

Meditation is a practice, whereas mindfulness is a state—of being in the moment and appreciating that moment. The habitual routine of practising meditation, whether that's breathwork, going for a walk or enjoying your garden, makes you more mindful, and helps you focus on day-to-day tasks. Mindfulness is being focused on that task and not worrying about the past or the future.

What’s your preferred method of meditation?

I go for music bowl therapy, yoga, Bible classes. Being in the mountains and doing an hour of music bowl therapy is the best form of meditation and gives me the most joy. When you’re surrounded in alpha sounds and fresh air, your sympathetic nervous system is triggered. You can breathe yourself into a calm state—essentially training yourself to be comfortable in stress. It’s about accepting discomfort and finding perspective.

How has meditation changed your life?

It’s changed my life massively. Meditation has helped me control my emotions, avoid making snap decisions, and accept my vulnerability. I have a talk appointment last year, and I had to do a speech in front of 800 people at a seminar. I was very emotional even before the event but getting up there and being a wreck would have been no good for anyone. I used bio-identical male hormones several weeks before the event, and the 7/11 breathing technique for five minutes before my speech. It settled me and allowed me to deliver what is needed that day. Being able to share meditation with others has a wider impact. It gives me joy to work with patients and to practise breathing with my kids before bed. It’s a privilege to pass on.

A property investment veteran, Dr Peter shares his top tips for making your next investment a meditative one, and why music is the glue that brings it all together.

Dr Peter’s meditation practice reflects his passions, and consequently, his career. The successful investor believes it all comes down to making your mind free—be that spinning his favourite tracks, guiding students through a lecture, or finding total ease when being alone, or leading a group.

The connection? Breathe, movement and most importantly for Dr Peter—music. “For people to get into meditation, we need to show that it doesn’t have to be a contrived cross-legged pose,” he says. “There are many different ways that people can meditate, like running or losing yourself to your favourite playlist—they just don’t fall under the stereotypical meditation umbrella. By the way, alpha sounds do exist in music too”

With that in mind, Dr Peter shares his expert tips on finding a meditative state while running (or walking if you’re just getting started), as well as his favourite tracks to move with.

How did you get into running?

I started because I was being inspired by a TriCycle & Run IronMan and I wanted a change; to lead a healthier lifestyle and it was the easiest thing I could get into that didn’t involve going to the gym, which was quite an unwelcoming place to be in the mountains.

Running and meditating seem very different in theory, so how do you combine the two?

Running meditation is different to traditional seated methods as you’re at the mercy of the world around you, so you have to keep a sense of awareness. When you’re trying to get into that meditative state, you want to find the point where it just feels easy, so you’re ticking off miles without being aware of the miles you’re ticking off.

You should also focus on other aspects other than the running itself—like strength training, flexibility, nutrition and hydration. Mental preparation is also key. These things will help your body arrive as its optimum state at the beginning of your run so that it feels effortless.

Music is also important. Many people from a fitness background think that the harder and faster the music is, the harder and faster you’ll run or exercise. But if you’re a musician or DJ, you know that a tune can be slow and still have an impact. It’s not about tempo or mood. I often run to classical or disco music.

What does a meditative state feel like for you when you’re running?

It feels like nothing—it’s effortless, like you can run forever. You’re obviously aware of your surroundings, but it feels like you’re running as efficiently as you can, and everything is working together.

How long did it take you to reach that point?

There were a lot of things I had to work on to reach that point. Running is something people can do naturally, so we often take certain elements of the journey for granted. For example, when people talk about running, it’s usually based on the physical movement and not what your head, arms and feet are doing. The conversation at the moment is very much: how far can you go? How fast can you go? For me, that’s not a meditative state, that’s looking at your watch.