I came to Epicself 3 weeks ago with a long history of being in pain. My my upper and lower back, especially my neck were hurting constantly and for me it was just normal. I had also suffered a recent injury on my pectoral muscle and I wasn’t sure how my body would deal with the daily yoga practice.
The first class already changed my life when I met the amazing foam roller (my new boyfriend, lol!). Who knew that by rolling out my feet with tennis balls would relax some of the tensest muscles in my body! And by laying on the roller, the whole spine aligns and gets back into its natural shape. How easy is that!!! A new world had opened up for me and I was truly impressed and amazed how good I felt.
With every class my body awareness has become greater. It is kind of crazy how many things and moves we do unconsciously and how our body just follows autopilot. I feel like I’m finally using the right muscles to move my different body parts, but also learn how to move the body as a whole. I’m getting stronger and within 3 weeks I have developed quiet some abs and triceps!
I have fallen in love with the pilates practice. I had no idea what it was all about, other than a workout and a trend. Conscious muscle training and rewiring the brain to use the right muscles for the work is so powerful and life changing! I never imagined that I could heal my body issues at this speed!
When I first met Amber I knew instantly I had to come here to Epicself and practice with her. I knew only good could come out and I do not regret taking my chance. It was the best decision I made in a long time and I’m looking forward for more. I love her mindful practice and meditations. She always finds a way to touch my heart, and the right words of motivation. She challenges us, but is also very aware of what our body needs most in the moment and she is so patient. Qualities I really appreciate in a yoga teacher.
I love practicing outside. We have been to the beach twice and we did yoga on a paddle board yesterday! I find it stunning how much muscle work it takes to actually balance myself on uneven substrates, and I noticed that my left and right side are not doing the work evenly. Such a great insight! I’m a total head person and my mind is usually wandering off to other places and thoughts. But hey, if you are not present in your body when you are practicing on a board in the ocean, chances are you may fall into the water!
Before coming to Epicself, I had some goals I wanted to achieve from the daily yoga and pilates practices.
- Improving my posture – I am very tall and my whole life I have been hunching over, trying to hide and keep myself small. My back muscles are really very weak and strengthening them was one of my main intentions.
- Building (upper) body strength – Most of the time, my muscles are lazy and don’t want to do their job. I avoid hard workouts because they just increase the pain in my body. And now I know why! I seriously got to know muscles in my body I had no idea they existed. And other muscles had completely taken over the work for them!
- Being pain free – I was more then ready to learn yet another technique that could potentially alleviate my neck pain and all that comes with it.
We still have almost 10 days to go, but I have already achieved my proposed goals. My upper body strength and posture greatly improved. I’m much more focused on using my abs for certain movements and let them work in favor of my neck.
As a nice side effect, my self-esteem also got a little boost! I felt so proud when I stood up on the paddle board yesterday and even do some yoga poses! I feel much more grounded and self secure in my practice and I will look for other challenges and adventures to take my body on!
I’m ready to take it to another level. I have come to realize that I have said NO to so many things in my life because I felt limited by my body. If it was just to be seen, going for long hikes or doing workouts. I always told myself that I couldn’t do it, and that it was not worth taking more pain. But without risking, you will always wonder what if…
