Shadwa Instagram:
https://instagram.com/shadwa.ismail__?igshid=12s6i684gpf0d
welcome to this episode of the project and I am joined the yoga instructor who, I don't know her first or last name, but I do know your Instagram name. It's the same person. Yes. And that's how you make me look like an idiot. That's cool. Thanks for coming on the show. And especially to talk about yoga. I think you were saying earlier that it's a very hot topic, right? I mean, is it goose, is it booming right now? Kuwait?
Full show notes here:
https://www.temi.com/editor/t/AK74_6m_JblW3GXfVHysopvx-2J5FXoqjRNUFJkrzPpqB1PfPBJ8rJ-KBs7jNJEnhtkBfb4EtOAhV-eHNH9vCgc7WMM?loadFrom=SharedLink
Shadwa Instagram:
https://instagram.com/shadwa.ismail__?igshid=12s6i684gpf0d
welcome to this episode of the project and I am joined the yoga instructor who, I don't know her first or last name, but I do know your Instagram name. It's the same person. Yes. And that's how you make me look like an idiot. That's cool. Thanks for coming on the show. And especially to talk about yoga. I think you were saying earlier that it's a very hot topic, right? I mean, is it goose, is it booming right now? Kuwait?
Full show notes here:
https://www.temi.com/editor/t/AK74_6m_JblW3GXfVHysopvx-2J5FXoqjRNUFJkrzPpqB1PfPBJ8rJ-KBs7jNJEnhtkBfb4EtOAhV-eHNH9vCgc7WMM?loadFrom=SharedLink
You did, you worked out listening to the project, Kuwait to the project Kuwait where we stop at nothing to bring you the right backs on health, fitness and psychology and featuring some of the world's most experienced professionals. So you can learn with your host, dr D C I don't like the wall because people get way too comfortable with the law. So first thing I do, I take people away from the wall so that freaks them out even more. Ashtanga is the toughest style in yoga and it's where people get most injuries by the way, if they're not doing correctly. So I would tell people get familiar with yoga first, trained for it properly, and then go to Ashton. After I came back from my course, I said no, I was a bit afraid of teaching cause I wasn't sure if I was teaching bright correctly and people should have a purpose before they start to teach. If you want to become a yoga instructor or CrossFit trainer or personal trainer, what's your purpose behind the Twitter project? About what's your product about or service? So I had to find my purpose. So once I found it, I didn't want to be selfish. Just share it. That's what that was the, that was the main goal. Um, you need to find a purpose. You're trying to purpose of teaching all this and more in today's episode,
Speaker 2:buddy, welcome to this episode of the project and I am joined the yoga instructor who, I don't know her first or last name, but I do know your Instagram name. It's the same person. Yes. And that's how you make me look like an idiot. That's cool. Thanks for coming on the show. And especially to talk about yoga. I think you were saying earlier that it's a very hot topic, right? I mean, is it goose, is it booming right now? Kuwait?
Speaker 1:It's really boosting right now in Kuwait. Yes. And I think everybody wants to include yoga in their daily routine because if you do it correctly, it should compliment like your workout and your daily routine.
Speaker 2:No, it's okay. Big giant spotlight right on you. Yes. It's the first time I show up to something that I don't do any yoga flows or poses. Just sit down and talk. Hey, that must be a relief though, right? Oh, and I show up with no tights. That's amazing. And address. So were you like, Oh my God, today I don't have to wear tights. No. Amazing. It feels so good. And I get to wear shoes. Yes, not barefoot. You wait. But do you enjoy wearing shoes or do you enjoy being bare with yoga? I mean in general. In general. It depends. If I'm going out nice, I would dress up. I'd like to have some nice shoes on her heels. Or are you a feet person or no, not really. You're not, you're not like, Oh, the feet have to be grounded. And it's
Speaker 1:nice if you're on the beach. On the sand. Yes. And if had grass. Yeah. It's nice to get a feel of the environment around you so we can blend into it. Yes, I don't mind. But if I'm out in a nice restaurant or
Speaker 2:on a date somewhere, I'd like to have some shoes on. That's awesome. So you're not a crazy Yogi. Alright. I eat meat, meat, meat. We were just talking about that. So you eat meat. Do you eat beef? Yes. Alright. And you eat chicken obviously and fish? Yeah. All right. And we were talking about eggs and eggs and animal products. Milk chocolate. There we go. See that's what I'm talking about. A yoga instructor that actually eats me. Thought vegan.
Speaker 1:No, no. But when I went on the course, I had to be a vegetarian for a month to understand their philosophy behind it and why they exclude meat from their diet protein.
Speaker 2:How has that experience?
Speaker 1:I felt very drained, honestly. I no lost a lot of weight because I'm already slim. So I was slimmer. I felt lack of energy didn't focus so much the last couple of weeks. It was for like a full month and I was never full. I didn't feel full even after every meal I'd still want. And I noticed that you eat more carbs once you're hungry because you can't go to the protein, you can't go to meat. So it was fun. It was a different, it's a different approach for things, but I would not be doing it for a while.
Speaker 2:So the game changer affected at work on, you know as we were just talking about that. Well it's probably because you were lacking iron, vitamin B, you're probably lacking creatine. Like those are essential things that your body,
Speaker 1:I know it is, it is. I just, it's their philosophy. I respect it and it's there. This is where they come from. So I totally respect and I had to follow it. And it was a struggle by to go back to eating protein. It was a struggle because you would get bloated. Sorry, you would get bloated. I had to force feed myself because I'm just not used to it for a month change. Oh wow. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So no two vegans. Good luck going back to protein. We don't want you back. So then, all right, so you had to do that. And was that, you knew that going into the course, I'm assuming right? It was part of the dealer had to sign on. Oh wow. So what made you want to become a yoga instructor then? Cause, I mean for me I'd be like, dude, I can't have mate. I've got gotta walk around barefoot all day. What's going on here?
Speaker 1:Okay. How much time do you have for the story? No. When I went on my course, it was, it was not intention of teaching. I just felt a disconnection to the world and to things. So I kept researching and I tried to figure out how to rediscover myself and connect back to things and people and earth, whatever it is. So I signed up for the course after asking around some of my friends, they went on, they went to this place for yoga and as soon as I went there, I dropped my, the bus dropped me and I was there standing in front of a name because the school and then I was like, what the hell am I doing here? The hell are we doing here? So, and then I just went to the room. I slept six in the morning, we had a class and I was there doing a yoga flow. I didn't know what was a downward dog. Upward dog. What the hell am I doing here? Yeah, and a first week it was nice. There's a lot of, I learned a lot of new things spiritually, mentally, so the purpose of me going there was for the mental side. On the spiritual side, physically I was already training, lifting weights, getting into the fitness field, but yoga was something that I would always stay away from classes and stuff. So for me to do a yoga flow for three hours, by the way, practices in Thailand or anywhere else in India is three hours.
Speaker 2:So you did all, you didn't go to classes before, you never went to a class
Speaker 1:and they they, they don't know that until now. We're there.
Speaker 2:But that is awesome. That's smart. That's very smart. Because you weren't influenced by other trainers in the way they ran a class, so to speak.
Speaker 1:The reason was mentally I wanted to see what's behind yoga mentally and spiritually. The physical part, I knew I would get it. The Isana, which is the flow, the yoga flow. I knew I would get it because I was already into fitness lifting, so I said, what's the big deal? Let's show up and do yoga flow. But I wanted to understand the philosophy behind it. Yeah. That's why I signed up for the course.
Speaker 2:That's it. That's pretty cool. That's actually really cool. I think the coolest part is that you weren't influenced by a class. You used to do it on your own and that you had that spiritual connection. What's the spiritual connection like? Because I've talked to a lot of people that have tried to explain it, that they just feel more connected with themselves going through a flow.
Speaker 1:I have my own definition about yoga. So there's the common, what is yoga, but for me, you get a self-acceptance. Self-acceptance. Really? Yes. So you reflect on the inside should reflect on the outside. So when you show up to class, people come into your, as a trainer, as a yoga instructor. So people come into your class, they have this negative energy all day. They don't know what they're doing. So as soon as you walk in, they feel my energy. Okay. There's self-acceptance. So the except my energy that for me to, to be able to do that, I need to accept myself from inside. That's pretty cool. Yeah. This is my own definition about you.
Speaker 2:That's, that's pretty in depth. Now when you get new students or new clients coming in and they're like, so what is yoga? How do you explain it to them?
Speaker 1:One word, two words, self-acceptance. I don't use the, because people need simplicity too. Yeah. People need what's, what is it in a simple word? And for me to be able to put you to train you for a headstone that would say I need to at least get to you mentally through your head. Because once your head is upside down, your body freaks out. So if you're not calm and you don't have a person you trust right next to you assisting you, you won't be able to do it. So that's another thing that I do.
Speaker 2:So that's, that's a pretty good approach cause I do cross. So obviously handstand is something we do. You probably laugh at us and say they are doing it completely wrong and they're going to get hurt. They've got scorpion legs and using the blower back. Oh yeah. I've seen that. See, and that happens with me a lot. I use my lower back during a handstand walk. I've gotten better with it. Stabilizing your shoulders are just not, yeah, flexible. Probably somewhat. When you're walking, when you're walking 25 feet on your hands or 50 feet on your hands, you really don't care about what your shoulders are doing. It's like, I want to get to the other line, but I've gotten better with my hands. Stay on walks and my lower back has felt a lot better lately. But that trust, when I see people that are like, Oh, I'm afraid to kick up. I used to do gymnastics when I was a kid, so I did handstands, but that fear. What are some of the tricks that you use to get over for clients to get over that fear? Besides having someone they trust? Like what if they're practicing on their own, would you say use a wall?
Speaker 1:Oh, see, I don't like the wall because people get way too comfortable with the wall. Because when I first taught inversions or headstands or handstands, yeah. They were like, okay, go to the wall and do it. I hate it. So first thing I do, I take people away from the wall, so that freaks them out even more. But I took a long time to understand how to assist people in these poses because that's all they need. Someone that they know that[inaudible] is hands on, she won't let me fall, but sometimes I measure the fall and I make them fall so they can overcome their fear. Does that makes sense? Yeah, it does make, so basically you would teach them how to fall first? Yeah, for them to be able to do the pose without fearing it. Some of them I would make them, but I would measure it. So if they fall to the side, if I catch them, it would hurt them more. So I just let them fall into it. That's one of the things I do. I talk to them through it. What are you afraid of? What's wrong? Sometimes it's more mental than it is physical. Sometimes we were never in a headstand. We don't know what we're doing and some of them say we don't know the measure the risk, and they say, okay, what if I do this and I fall like this? What's going to happen to me? It's just fear. So I tell them, use fear to push you.
Speaker 2:All right. That's pretty good. That's pretty cool. I mean with my son with monkey bars, first thing I taught him to do was fall, fall. Once he learned how to fall. Okay, got it. Let's say it was like, Oh, it's that easy. I'm like, yeah, you just fall onto, you know when fall on the ground, make sure you just have your hands and fall so you don't hurt yourself. Measure the fall, make sure that he's not gonna break or hurt. There's always a 10% of injury. There is always, always there. You're right. No, you're right. And my wife was like, what are you doing? Like let the kid learn how to fall. She's like, but from four feet up, I'm like, yeah. I was like, you'll thank me later. And sure enough, he fell to the ground, his feet hit first, and then his hands braced down. He's not afraid anymore. Then he's not afraid anymore. Two days later he's going back and forth on the monkey bars and I was like, I know. Right? Yeah, it's a good technique. It is. You got some pretty good teaching approaches. So what are some of the health benefits to yoga when you get people like myself and other guys who are bodybuilders who have zero flexibility?
Speaker 1:I'm going to say that I get a lot of bodybuilders that compete. Last year I caught a couple, they were actually one of my best clients. So these people is, they lack mobility. So my approach with yoga, it's less flexibility, more mobility. So I would open up their shoulders, open up their hips. So they come back with feedback. Like our squats are better, our pull-ups are better, our deadlifts are better. So I try to compliment these workouts. I get people with long jobs on the desk, uh, bankers, CEO's, these people have really lower back pain. So we try to release that a little bit.
Speaker 2:So what are some of your methods for that? Cause I sit, sit behind a desk for eight hours a day and I drive for an additional three. So I'm pretty much sitting 12 hours out of the day and then I'm going trying to do a two and a half hour CrossFit workout. So like my shoulder mobility is shit. My range of motion is shit until I get an hour and a half to two hours into the workout. So what are some of the tips, health benefits that I could sort of practice during the day?
Speaker 1:What I was taught through lifting lower back pain to activate the glutes. So I would use just to bend to get the glutes working. Um, for shoulders. There are some workouts for yoga, but I use them as mobility. I don't let them hold because it's so painful. If you have very tight shoulders, a downward dog, it's really painful. They don't enjoy the workout, the pose, and they're not doing it correctly. So there is a different approach I would have to demonstrate, but I can't do that right now cause I'm sitting,
Speaker 2:we're sitting. So that, that's actually a good point. I'm going to bring you back on the show and we're going to do like a live thing. All right. Can we do a life thing and I'll, I'll go through a yoga flow. I'll go through a yoga flow and I'll tie butterfly. I'll wear tight Stu. Thank you. No, I'm not wearing tights. You have to, I'll wear shorts with tights underneath. Is that a good enough deal? Yeah. All right. And I won't wear shoes. Like I'll definitely do a yoga flow. Cause last time I did, it was a couple of years ago and I really wanted to get into it, but it was so difficult. Why? I'm pretty strong, but it was just difficult. It sucks. We don't know how to do. Yeah, because lifting makes you work on the big muscles. We work on the tiny ones and it's easier for me to overcompensate with the muscles that aren't active. So that's why yoga was a lot. I mean it was,
Speaker 1:and it's about the breathing also through the movement. So if you breathe wrong, you're not really activating the small muscles that I'm talking about. Okay. So it's using your core with every inhale and exhale. So you really need to find a flow between the breathing and the movement. That's yoga.
Speaker 2:So how would the breathing go?
Speaker 1:Uh, it would show more when, when? When you try it, demonstrate it. Because it's just about, I feel like the breathing with your inhales and exhales, you use the force of the range and the movement. So it completely puts you, it, it helps you connect more to the mat and the moment because that's, that's yoga. It's a, people say meditation. I need to sit down and focus, no meditations and everything we do. So if you bring yourself to the present moment right now on the mat, that's yoga. And then you practice the flow through it. I believe that's my personal opinion about it. It's just meditate. Meditating is, we do it in everything. It's just we don't dwell over the past and we don't overthink the future. It's just now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that make dude, that makes, that makes total sense. It's, it's your catharsis. It's whatever's cathartic for you at that moment. Um, it's to me for, for me it's going to play baseball or doing a CrossFit wad. That's my meditation. That's my release, so to speak. Yeah. So I mean now that we got into that, we talked a little bit about the bodybuilding and what are some of the common misconceptions about yoga? And you already talked about the flexibility and the mobility, but what are some of the other common misconceptions? I mean guys, for instance, I'll, I'll tell you what, guys will say, Oh, I can't do yoga. That's for girls first thing
Speaker 1:or I'm not too flexible to do yoga. I believe also there is a third one where if you have an injury, go do yoga. I agree. Only if you do it correctly, especially with the lower back and the shoulders, you need to be very careful of the technique that you're doing in each pose that you choose in yoga and flexibility comes with time. I can't tell you to do me a wheel pose and just bend your spine all the way back. That is a very uh, advanced pose. I would train you for it. I would you more mobility, activate your muscles more and through it you get the flexibility you need. Okay. All right.
Speaker 2:That's pretty, I mean that's, that's pretty cool. Now when you talk about gaining that flexibility over time, what is the timeframe for someone like myself for you? What are some of the benefits that I could see carry over into CrossFit? If I'm a competitive CrossFitter, well your headstones are going to be better. Like hand stands for CrossFitters are a joke. I don't even think they can actually hold a handstand. I think they can all walk. I don't think they can actually hold it. No, maybe. I dunno. We're going to do that. Also. I can hold it. I've learned how to hold it, but Hey, on my wife, she used to practice hand stands all the time. Your arms would be a bit out
Speaker 1:and your legs would be just, you know, cross. It won't be straight. Nice posture.
Speaker 2:No, my posture is actually pretty decent. The posture is not that bad. And even my coach has said it to me before, he's like, Oh, you're, you know, your legs aren't too wide. I don't do the scorpion Kay. And that's part of my problem. Guys doing CrossFit. I think enhanced dance is the Scorpio. Yeah. I don't even think I do that. And I honestly, I think my legs are a little bit open, but I don't think I do the scorpion that much. We'll see that. I don't know. I'll show you the video after this. I'll definitely show you the video after this and then you can, what are some of the other misconceptions that you've seen?
Speaker 1:Uh, let's see. Hmm. It's a mental, mental side also. Uh, people find it very hard to connect to these poses and they don't understand. They get, they just don't understand the concept behind it. That's a misconception also for them because they say they show up for a first day in class and they're like, okay, well that's not for us. We don't like this. Give it a chance. Give it a chance. Try it for a couple of times. Give your commit to for a couple of weeks. It's the same thing as workouts. They go for the gym for first month and they don't see any weight dropping and then they leave disappointed people. Patients.
Speaker 2:All right, so patients, let's teach people a little patients. What is Vinyasa? What are these weird names that I've seen?
Speaker 1:Vinyasa, it's just a S a yoga flow that a yoga instructor would put together for a class. It's so it's called a Vinyasa flow. Ashtanga is pretty popular too, but Ashtanga, it's, it's like a series. Okay. So you take it and you teach it. You don't improvise a lot.
Speaker 2:All right. So is it built up over time? Like you start with like level one and level eight,
Speaker 1:power yoga. Uh, we put together because it's would be faster. It would be a fast flow and it would, I would it, it would have a little bit of core stuff, I believe.
Speaker 2:So that's, that's your CrossFit yoga right there. That's what you asked.
Speaker 1:I mean people would, a lot of people would enjoy the power yoga because it's not slow. And then you have the, uh, the slow breathing yoga. A lot of people attend these classes just to breathe and relax.
Speaker 2:Those were the ones that I used to go to, believe it or not. I did, I actually did it. It was like at the end when she'd be like close your eyes and just, you know, think of nothing. Those would be like the most real, that would be the most relaxing five minutes of my day. Really? Yeah, it was, it was definitely relaxed.
Speaker 1:I would last for an hour. That's it. And I would be pushing it because I like fast flows. I enjoy it. Yes. I would add a little bit of a five minute breathing and meditation towards the end of my class. But um, I want people to leave classes, um, with a good workout sweat and uh, core is working, everything is activated and then towards the end I would take them through a nice, how to use their core with breathing and trust and how to inhale and exhale and then relax. So they would leave the class happy and satisfied.
Speaker 2:All right. Okay. So what is like what, when you talk about the breathing, people like me, I don't know how to breathe. We got so used to breathing from our chest. Yes, yes. So what are some of the cues you give people in yoga class so that they can kind of, cause for me, one, one of the worst parts about yoga was the complication of breathing, you know, like free this way. And I'm like I can't
Speaker 1:cause you, you're used to holding your breath with weights. You would inhale and then hold a yoga. You need to apply today's also inhales and exhales. So you would inhale from your, uh, chest, taken all the way down to your core and then hold and then exhale using your core also. So I, I do believe most bodybuilders also, and CrossFit and people that live, they preach so much from so much from their chests and um, and Hey, some people in lifting also, they, they don't hold their breath. It's true. Well, once I tell them, because when you lift, you hold your breath. They're like, no, we don't do that. I'm like, okay.
Speaker 2:I know. Cause that's the way I was taught. Yeah. Yeah. I never used to hold my breath until, Hey, I became a power lifter and like I w I wouldn't hold my breath. I just wouldn't take. Now I take a deep breath and brace a lot more. It's just things that I've learned over the years to different job. Huge job. Jump on my squat. Huge job. Well, we're talking about 25 pound jump on my squad. Easy. 25 pounds.
Speaker 1:I know. I didn't know. That was the trick when I was thought. I'm like, Oh, okay, so add more weight.
Speaker 2:I know, right? I know. It's like now we're again, it's, it's w I. L that's what I love about the internet. I love it. And I hate it because for younger people that education is all at their fingertips. Where me growing up it was like you were lucky if you got it in men's health magazine. Yeah. And even with that, it was like you were getting the boosted up steroid workouts and it'd be like, yeah, you'll get this and you know, two weeks here, right dude. Yeah, it's true. I would take social media, I would take the positive side of it and just try to ignore the negative side of it. But how can you do that with, with a novice person like myself with yoga. Okay. I know nothing about yoga. Say I want to learn it. The first place I'm probably going to look is Instagram. So what would I look out for to stay away from something that would hurt me and be detrimental versus something that would benefit me and help me on my yoga journey. What are some of the red flags to look out?
Speaker 1:You mean in accounts or in,
Speaker 2:in general, like things not to watch.
Speaker 1:I would say start with the basics. Look for basic. So what's your goal? First of doing yoga? So I would say you've CrossFit background and power lifter. Uh, you would want more mobility. So you would look for someone that lifts and does yoga at the same time because this person would know what she or he is doing. I wouldn't choose a yoga instructor, pure yoga only background and just at those flows, nothing else. Because yoga itself is not enough. You need other workouts with it. So I would look for that category. All right. If I just wanted more breathing and more spiritual, spiritual and mental sides, I would go for a person that's very pure yoga and just those, um, three thing classes and yoga slow, uh, holding poses, stretching. So you just need to know what you're looking for. And most people don't. So once they come to my classes, I would say I find them a bit lost. So I would try and talk to them, what are you looking for? So they would give me their goal and then I would recommend or I recommend these classes for you or I commend you sticking with me and help your workout grow, whatever you're doing. Is it CrossFit, is it lifting, is it an injury? So you, we, we direct also as a yoga instructor.
Speaker 2:Okay. That's pretty cool. I love that point where you said only doing yoga is not as not enough, so now you're pretty jacked. All right. So you lift weights also? No. Do you do powerlifting or is it bodybuilding focused or have you ventured into CrossFit at all? Yes. Stay away from it.
Speaker 1:Not my thing, but I do lift. Uh, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I don't know if I would say power lift. I just lift for the health and it's satisfying mentally. So
Speaker 2:you like to lift heavy. All right, that's fine. There's supervision with your tray because you need to be careful with the techniques. Yeah, yeah. Very careful with it. You know, like sometimes, actually I posted a video I think a week ago cause I knew it would stir up. It would stir up shit. That's, that's what I'm known for on this show is stirring the pot. And it was me doing it like a quarter squat or three quarters because I got the powerlifters coming and saying, Oh you're not even hitting depth. And I said on there, I was like hit a PR with decent depth according to the guy to my right and I got so much backlash and they're like, you need to hit depth, do you need this? And my dams were blown up and I was just like, dude, you don't need to, you don't need to hit depth every time. You can still gain the same benefits from quarter squatting like a lot of athletes do. LeBron James, so for there is carry over to it and there was a study done in 2016 on athletes who were doing a three quarter squat versus a full depth squat and they're vertical Joe. I'm not a basketball player. All right, let me just put that out there, but my point was I want to see how many know-it-alls would sort of jump on the bait that I threw out there. It was pretty nice of having a connection to your account. Yeah, I mean it was a pain in the ass. They always say with squats says drop the weight and go deeper with your squat. I honestly think it depends on the person. Like if you, why would you squat through pain? But if you hit a point of pain technique, it could be technique or it could just be your bone structure. It could just be, and I've had physical therapists to decree everyone's squats differently. I think every human being is built completely different. Everybody's that to me, and I've had countless physiotherapists on here that have said the same thing. Now I could go to a full depth squad. I could do a Hindu squat with my legs together. But does that necessarily mean that's my strongest point because I'm hyper flexible there? No. You know, there's that fear factor when I am squatting of where are my points of pain? Let me stay away from it because I'm not going to get bang for my buck at this point, if that makes any sense. I can command it pretty well. The physical therapist, I immediately did have a physical therapist that sent me a DM saying, yes, everyone's built differently. Don't you? Shouldn't give a shit about what anyone's saying. And I said, I don't, you know, clearly. But I just thought it was funny that trainers all of a sudden jumped. Yeah. They attack to the, we know it all. You got to go to full depth. No, not in every single case. Um, you had a very interesting point. Everybody has his own. And that to me, same thing with yoga. My downward dog can be different than your downward dog. That doesn't mean you're doing it wrong, but looking at your anatomy and looking at your
Speaker 1:background, I wouldn't really focus on putting your, keeping your lick straight. So I would tell you, bend your knees a little bit because you should have tight hamstrings. It's not bad having tight hamstring. I keep my hamster. I don't, I don't stretch my hamstrings so much because I do dead lifts. So yes, everybody has his own anatomy. Same thing. It goes with yoga. Yoga is customized as per your anatomy, so I agree with that.
Speaker 2:I liked that part. Thank you. Thank you for agreeing with me. I really do appreciate that because I'm so sick of when I go to a class, a trainer's like, no, no, you have to do it that way. In yoga. I got that too, where it's like, no, no, you have to do it this way, but it hurts like it hurts. Not a good half to customize something around that. How do you see that? How can you pick that up with your clients? Can you pick it up based on their movement patterns of okay, maybe this movement isn't built for him to necessarily do it exactly how it's prescribed.
Speaker 1:Um, it depends. Uh, so this is where I would talk more to the client. So would, what kind of training do you do and some people take it that I'm asking personal questions. I'm just trying to understand your background. So I, I, cause I can see you going through pain, doing a downward dog or holding an upward dog or a warrior one because they can see your hips are very tight. So I would walk through it and check, observe first class, and then maybe talk a little bit. And then if I ask him, if you're going to show up again to class, let me know. Just drop me a DM if you want, if you want to work on some things and give me a background of what kind of training or workouts do you do. And then through it. And when he says I lift. Okay, makes sense. So you, your hamstrings are tight. What, what are you doing? Are you doing dead lifts? Are you training for something and they send me more details about it. So I work closely with them and some of them end up taking'em one-on-one yoga session. So because they see that they get good results. So I would take it from there.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Now what are some of the biggest health benefits besides the mental health part of it? Like physical health parts. Like does yoga, lower blood pressure for instance? Like does it, can you get those benefits from it? Less stress, less stressed? What about like cardiovascular?
Speaker 1:Yeah, through power yoga, my flows are pretty fast, so I do a little bit of cardio. So my hour is designed to have a first 10 minutes of muscle activation and then 20 minutes I take can take it up to 30 minutes of a fast flow. Or I can do a slow, slow pace, but very strong movements. So you're breathing, you have to control your breathing. So it's sort of a, um, it gives you a good workout and then through it I you into stretching and breathing and Shavasana, everybody loves the Shavasana. It's a sleeping pose at the end. Yeah,
Speaker 2:that's, that's, that's my five minutes at the end where I could close my eyes. That's the best part. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. They're like, okay, Shavasana now moment. Yes. Okay. So now what would you say to someone like me to come to one of your classes? Cause I'm still a bit fearful. I'm still a bit like on the side of
Speaker 1:cue into telling, advancing your handstand and then you get interested in,
Speaker 2:Oh there we go. Okay, I'll come in next class I'm registering. So how could I advance my hands and I'm trying to walk up the stairs to the handstand walk. Let's work on the posture and technique and then you can go ahead and do whatever you want with it. Yeah, I'm going to skip that splits while you're at it. Okay. Yeah, that actually might help me balance. So how would you describe the, I almost said CrossFit community, the yoga community here in Kuwait because it's evolved over the last four or five years. I would say both so much in the past couple months I would say really? Oh wait, I have a better question for you. Sorry, this just popped into my head. What are some of the crazy modalities that you've seen popping out of yoga right now? Like there's the aerial yoga, which I'm like, where the hell did that come from? Like come on. They weren't doing this 50 years ago.
Speaker 1:No, they weren't doing it. I'm not sure where it came from, honestly. I tried it, but I look, I respect people that do it, but I did not really enjoy it. It's, it's a fun class. It's a different kind of piece of yoga. I wouldn't do it for results. I wouldn't do it to get something out of it to enhance my workouts to, I wouldn't do it. I tried it a couple of times, but no,
Speaker 2:just by looking at your face. So it's gimmicky. Alright. You don't have to say it. I said it for you and didn't say anything. You just say a word. He said it. The yoga community will not hate you. They will hate me. That's fine. Cause like, I mean when I looked at when my wife was like, yeah, I'm going to try yoga, aerial yoga, it's fun. Um, I was like, dude, they weren't doing this. They weren't, you know,
Speaker 1:Sangha. If their people, uh, love really love yoga, I would always recommend them to try an Ashtanga is the toughest, uh, style in yoga. And it's where people get most injuries by the way, if they're not doing correctly. So I would tell people, get familiar with yoga first, trained for it properly, and then go to hashtag. So how would they train properly for it? No. Their alignments, no their poses. And because it's very, it's jumped back into downward dog, upward dog handstand. And then do that. So you need to be very fast yet good with, so that's a tough yoga. It's tough.
Speaker 2:So, all right. So if I want to start yoga, I would start with Vinyasa first. Just start with basic basic flow. Okay. So Vinyasa into power, yoga, maybe power yoga. And then just stay there a couple of a good year because get you a someone that knows the alignments of warrior is there upward dog and downward dog getting the mobility because if you're not doing a darn dog correctly, your shoulders aren't going to be more tight. Cause I went through that phase. I went, I suffered because I was trying to find a balance between lifting cause I love lifting and yoga. So we went through a lot of challenges. Me and my trainer. Oh really? Yeah. Yeah. My hamstrings were too flexible a cell. My quads were too tight because of my posture. I have a strong arch. Yeah, it was very challenging. Very challenging. So I would say get you someone that knows what they're doing. So what are some of the things that you did to overcome these, these challenge? I wouldn't, for example, my hamstrings, I don't stretch them out that much. Quads I do, I have to because a, it's usually very tight. So he was like my problem. Like my quads are always tight. I'm always lifting, doesn't it? Like, I always see like I'm in the office talking to like one of one of the guys I work with and I'll have my leg, we're doing something wrong. And he's like, why do you have your legs stretch out? Quads are tight. And he's like, you're weird dude. I'm like, you love me. I know. That's what I, that's I know. He's like, yeah, you're the weirdest person in here. Cause I'll like grabbed my desk and I'm like, happy. I'll have my arms behind my back, stretch it out my shoulders. What are some of the challenges that you had? More challenges like the tight hamstrings. The core four. So I would show up because we would all do these backbends so what does backbends to tell the core is not locked. So I thought the core is not luck. That's it. The core is working. No. So we ha we went through this phase of I'm too mobile with my lower back. Okay. So that would cause my core to be very beak, lower abs specially. So that's one of the challenges. I always have to remind me. I don't do a lot of backbends. Honestly because it's just stretching the hell out of your spine. Yeah, I can imagine it's all the way and I'd like some core to be tight all the time and engaged. That makes sense. That definitely makes a lot of sense. Yeah. No, so the community here at Kuwait, we are getting on that. We bought off an art. I suck at that by the way. Sometimes I'll like go all over the place. Okay. It seems like today's one of those days. I know, right? I know. Hey, the thing is I was podcast last night at nine o'clock, so I literally went, went to bed, woke up, came back, came back, my podcast, the heart this weekend. So no, the CrossFit community, a yoga CrossFit community is amazing. No, but is it boosting? It's boosting off. Yeah. No, the CrossFit community is great. It's jumping up here in Kuwait, which is amazing. Okay. For some of the right reasons and the wrong reasons, the wrong now the wrong, I think there are too many fitness enthusiasts trying to become athletes such as myself. Like I try to be an athlete, but I love to compete. That's just how I was born as a kid. You loved the challenge. I do. I do. Even if I'm going to get my ass kicked, they were like, all right, I still want to join this competition and see where I stand. But I think it's getting to the point where now we have too many athletes and coaches and less uh, clients that, that makes any sense. It's kinda like you guys are yoga right now, right?
Speaker 1:So you get these people come into class and they're trying to give, you know, I do it like this. Okay, cool. No, you're going to do it my way. No, but I think this is right, but I'm going to become a yoga instructor.
Speaker 2:And they're like, Oh, I already got my certification. I bought it off a couple of months and you're probably like, dude, I went to a whole thing for a month.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I took, like, after I came back from my course, I said no, I was a bit afraid of teaching cause I wasn't sure if I was teaching correctly. And people should have a purpose before they start to teach. If you want to become a yoga instructor or CrossFit trainer or personal trainer, what's your purpose behind the twists, your projects about what's your product about or service? So I had to find my purpose. So once I found it, I didn't want to be selfish. Just share it. That's what that was the, that was the main goal. Um, you need to find a purpose. You trying to purpose of teaching.
Speaker 2:That is absolutely amazing. That's so true. That is so true. And that's why a lot of teachers become teachers because they want to have a purpose like that or at least a lot of teachers that I've talked to, you know, talking like normal school teachers, not, you know, the fitness,
Speaker 1:it's another skill. By the way, that's true. Teaching is another skill because you need to be able to connect with the person in front of you mentally. And some for them, me talking about yoga, it's, it might sound G bridge for them. So I need to be able to understand them in order for them to understand me. That's another skill that I had to learn.
Speaker 2:Okay. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So speaking of connecting, how can people connect with you? Easy, easy. Instagram.
Speaker 1:I do that for them. I do that for them because uh, I like people to take a break when they come to my classes are trained with me, so I make it easy for them to understand me.
Speaker 2:All right, that's awesome. And how can they connect with you online? Like do they just DM you? I was going to say what box do you work out? You can tell I have a lot of CrossFit, CrossFit people. All you've been doing all week. I know, right? How can they connect with you and what gym do you work out of or what? Showman, what do they call the studio? They already know. I'm like shopping. You're probably like, alright, I know you're like, this dude is definitely a CrossFitter. If he said Shawbin that's like an American Indian thing. So
Speaker 1:[inaudible] add that asthma studios that's in Chubb. Okay. Most of my classes are there. I used to teach in a couple of places, but now it's just one place I give private. Also, people find it more beneficial to take private with seniors to go to the borough. Right. I taught there a couple of classes.
Speaker 2:Yes. Yeah, I remember seeing your name. There are a couple.
Speaker 1:Yes. I taught there. I was a, yeah, I couple years ago. Was it two years ago?
Speaker 2:Yeah. That was the first recommendation I had for you. Oh really? So it was like, Oh, you need to go try yoga was shadowing. I was like, okay. She's like, I just got introduced to yoga two weeks ago and I didn't even want to do it. Like, I mean my cousin, she booked a yoga instructor to come to the house and she was like, we need six people and Hey at the time was like into yoga and so was my cousin. I was the sixth person and I was like, all right, fine, whatever.
Speaker 1:Another good thing about yoga, you can do it anywhere. You can do it anywhere and it's for everybody. You don't need anything. Yeah, just a mat or you can just use the sand or the grass is going to be very hard. But yeah, it's, you can do it anywhere.
Speaker 2:So if you do yoga without a mat,
Speaker 1:like what, how hard is it? Oh my God. Because I did a lot of, most of my shoots, I wasn't by the beach on the sand. If you don't really comfortable with falling first, that's gonna be a problem. And it's just very hard to do a hand or headstand on sand if you're not, if your core is not that strong and[inaudible] can you just head set on that rock right there on the corner? Okay. You know the rocks at the NBA. Just do a backbend right here. We'll just going to get the hold for one minute. Okay.
Speaker 2:[inaudible]
Speaker 1:so yeah, I wouldn't recommend beginners or at least intermediate. You have to be advanced because I don't want to go what I went through. I would not recommend people to go through, but it's nice to do on grass send it connects you to the environments around you energy.
Speaker 2:That's pretty cool. That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming onto the project. We definitely really appreciate it. We'll definitely bring you back on and we're so doing, I'm so coming to one of your classes and do any yoga flow please. I mean we can do a video of that. We can share it on your CrossFit account and a hundred a hundred percent we'll share it on the projects account. All right, I'll, I'll share it on my account too. And you could, you could literally, I, I bet you if you get my shoulders to open up and if I can get into a good swab, if I can get my elbows up for clean, give me a couple of, you'll probably get a couple of good clients. Cool. Because when I clean right now, like I'll get the bar up to here and my elbows are still pointing at the ground. So you really need them all. Yeah. Yeah. So pretty much through the lats and stuff, but all right. You'll get some phone calls after that if you can, if you can do that. Yeah. If you could do that, if you could get me to do a proper clean, you'll get some vocals. People will be like, she's a magic worker. I'll take it to you. That's awesome. That's so good. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thanks for listening to this episode. If you enjoyed it, please head over to iTunes to subscribe rate and leave a review. You can also find us on Instagram at project Kuwait. Thank you. And join us next time.