Victory's Flexible Friends

Posted by Nell Mead at 08:00 on 17 Aug 2011

For the past few weeks, as I’ve been working to turn Victory into a larger and more interdisciplinary practice, I’ve been having fun doing some “quality control” – making sure that the practitioners I want to be associated with Victory are at the top of their game. So, all in the name of benefiting you, the client, (naturally!), I’ve been swapping treatment sessions with Victory’s sports massage therapists, and with The Foundry’s trainers. I’ve not yet been disappointed, and I’m quite sure you won’t be either.

This past week, I’ve branched out a bit. Pilates teacher Laura Hogg used to work at The Foundry but has now set up her own, more spacious, centre just a few minutes away in Shoreditch. I’d been wanting to meet her for ages, so grabbed the opportunity when she rang to request some physio treatment, to ask if she’d be happy to swap sessions with me.

I’ve never really done much formal Pilates or yoga, though I’ve learned some of the basic exercises over the years as I’ve expanded my knowledge of physiotherapy and core control. But last week I Laura gave me my first Pilates lesson (which was excellent – highly recommended!); and this morning I also met her colleague Jo Lawson, a yoga teacher from New Zealand.

Both Laura and Jo are very bendy, which makes the shapes they can contort their bodies into really rather lovely to look at, and inspirational to try to replicate. But they’re also both very encouraging and sympathetic to those of us who are not quite as flexible. And – somehow – after repeating the moves a few times, I gradually felt myself becoming, if not quite graceful, then slightly less rusty!

One of Jo’s stretches, which we did when I mentioned an old shoulder injury, was completely new to me, and I thought it was brilliant so with her permission I’d like to share it with you. You may well need some assistance with this at first (I did!) but after a bit of practice it should get easier.

• To stretch your right shoulder, sit on the floor with your legs out straight in front of you and toes pointing at the ceiling. Pull your right foot all the way into your groin.

• Then reach your right arm out towards your left foot, making sure your right shoulder is inside your right knee.

• Next, twist your shoulder inwards so that your right thumb rotates anticlockwise towards the floor. Lean your upper body forward and reach your arm around your raised right knee, so that your hand reaches as far round your back as you can manage. You should feel an agreeable pull between your right shoulder blade and your spine, as your shoulder blade is pulled forward to accommodate your knee.

• Your next move is to reach round behind your back with your left hand, and try to grasp the fingers of your right hand with your left.

• Seen from behind, the stretch should ideally look like this.

• However, most of us won’t be quite that flexible, especially at first. So if your fingers can’t reach each other, you can hold a towel or strap in your hands, and gradually work your fingers closer together. At first you may need a helpful someone to place the strap or towel into your hands behind you.

Relax into the stretch for a couple of breaths, focusing on allowing your muscles to relax and lengthen. Then let go of your fingers, unwind and repeat on the other side.

When people ask me – as they frequently do – whether they should choose yoga or Pilates, I often respond somewhat glibly (and generally, I think, truthfully) that it doesn’t really matter which you do as long as you find a good teacher. Now, with Shoreditch Pilates and Primal Yoga round the corner, I’m delighted to be able to say that I think I’ve found excellent teachers for both disciplines, and I’ll definitely be going back for more: see you in class!

*Thanks to Jo for kindly agreeing to model at a moment's notice!