Backseat Positivity
"Able to make serious topics lighthearted and fun - I even laughed at some points!"
Get your bi-weekly dose of positivity in this fun podcast with Dr Dawn Barlow, who helps you navigate all of the weird/best/worst parts of life!
Dawn takes you on the self-improvement journey you didn't realise you needed... Bought to you by a doctor who hasn't had life as sweet as many of her comrades. She knows firsthand just how rubbish life can be, yet has managed to turn her life around for the better!
From relationships to mental health to happiness, make sure you buckle up twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays) the join her and her guests for candid self-improvement. Don't forget of the course, the "weird thoughts" segment, where Dawn and her guests share weird thoughts from their lives.
Dawn says:
Sometimes life reminds me of being in a washing machine. It's a bit spinny and turbulent for a while, but then it stops and gives you a little break before spinning you into oblivion once more. It feels like the washing machine wants to wash something bad out of all of us... positivity.
Some might EVEN say that positivity is shouting from the backseat and no-one wants to listen to it... [backseat positivity] More than once a week, but less than 4 times a week, you can shove me in your auditory canals and listen to me chat about L.I.F.E., self-improvement, mental health and anything else that my little monkey-mind paws can grasp onto.
Sometimes other humans actually dare to join me.
It's candid, it's fun. Woo!
Backseat Positivity
Enhancing Your Yoga Journey: The Ultimate Guide to Mats + Accessories
Imagine starting your day with a serene yoga session, feeling grounded and ready to conquer anything. How do you choose the perfect mat and accessories to complement your practice? In this episode, we unravel the secrets behind selecting the best yoga mats, accessories, and clothing to elevate your yoga journey. From the convenience of travel mats by Complete Unity Yoga to the supportive benefits of yoga blocks, I share my personal experiences and insights to help you make informed choices.
Finding the right accessories can transform your yoga experience, especially when they are eco-friendly and stylish. We dive deep into the world of yoga bags, comparing options like the Mindful Jungle and Meadow of Enlightenment bags, which combine functionality with a commitment to sustainability. Additionally, we explore meditation essentials, such as pillows and blankets, and discuss how creating a dedicated meditation space can enhance your practice. Tips for maintaining proper posture with the help of yoga blocks are also provided, ensuring that you stay comfortable and aligned.
Does practicing yoga with a larger body or limited flexibility feel daunting? Fear not—I share practical solutions such as using yoga straps and selecting appropriate attire to make your sessions more effective and enjoyable. Morning yoga in tranquil outdoor settings, coupled with cardio routines, can offer a holistic approach to fitness and mental well-being. As we wrap up, I reflect on how yoga has significantly boosted my mental health and confidence, leaving me feeling strong and empowered. Join us for this enriching discussion and get ready to embrace the transformative power of yoga.
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Hi, do you remember me? I've been gone a little while, but we'll get to that in a minute. But today I wanted to do a deep dive into how I do yoga properly. I've been really into yoga at the moment. I have been abroad and done it. I know that's kind of where I've been, I must admit, and I've done it in like so've done in so many places.
Speaker 1:God, what a cringy introduction. I am personally not one of those like leggy skinny am I allowed to say that yoga people? But that doesn't mean I don't like it, but it does mean I find it a bit more challenging, if you know what I'm talking about. Tummy gets in the way a little bit, but heck in hell. I've got three yoga mats. One of them was kind of decimated during lockdown but I've got two left. And today I wanted to talk about products. Time of day, yoga is the best Place. Instructor types, stretchy versus fitness yoga, and then clothes.
Speaker 1:I'm doing a deep dive into all things yoga. I'm going there and I'm very sorry if I'm a bit rusty on the old podcast situation. I haven't podcasted in a long old while and I'm hoping I'm hoping we're just gonna go for it. Also, I am potentially gonna throw up. So I've got a. This is my sick bowl here. This is actually a saucepan, but basically I don't know what's going on, but I feel like I'm gonna throw up. And I had really, I'm not really bad, I'm so exaggerating. Um, I had tummy pain earlier and I keep getting waves of nausea, so it's hit and miss as to whether I'm going to make it through Exhibit eight. Okay, so we're going to try. I basically I had a plan for today. The plan fell apart and, as it always does, apparently, I just can't seem to stick to like what I have written down that I'm gonna do. So I'm gonna try and get through it all.
Speaker 1:Okay, right, let's quickly talk about products, because you, you know I'm a. I'm an all the gear and no idea kind of gal. No, I'm not, I have all the ideas. Guys, I have been into fitness basically since I was like 11 and I'm now 29, so I have done all the exercise you name a sport. I've pretty much done it, apart from like fencing and that might be it. I've done everything. So I've done a lot of yoga and I've been around the block. So, products I actually recently acquired a new mat it's actually a travel mat and I've talked about it before.
Speaker 1:The company that I got it from it's um, I don't want to get it wrong, wait there. I don't want to get it wrong because I said it wrong last time. Um, I said community unity. I think it's complete unit, yeah, complete. I remember I got it wrong and then I was like, oh fuck, so it's complete unity yoga. I said community unity because I think it rhymed, rhymes and I was like community unity, but no, it's complete unity yoga. Now they are one of two, uh, the other one being, um, what's? The other one called Ecotex? Okay, there are other yoga mats, but I would say there are two outstanding yoga mat creators. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, complete Unity Yoga gave me a mat. They gave me one of their travel mats. Now they have two types Number one, a normal mat it's four millimetres and number two, a travel mat, and that is two millimetres Now in thickness, not in like length. Obviously, I love having my own yoga mat. I feel like I'm really completing yoga when I do it Like I like I'm really leveling up in the world.
Speaker 1:There are a few more yoga things that I want to acquire now. I have got a yoga block. I would thoroughly recommend. To be honest, would I recommend getting a yoga block? I would recommend using one. That doesn't mean you need to own one, because the thing that I've noticed is if you go to a yoga class, most of the time they have the blocks there, because most people don't have blocks and they're also quite big to carry around. Now, unless you're like super fussy about having your own blocks and having matching ones and having certain sizes because there are different sizes, then I probably you know, unless you're like absolutely I'm fucking into yoga, I probably wouldn't bother because I have one and I must say that I often use the ones at the gym. But actually, what I've really been kind of vibing is the cork um yoga blocks that you can get. They're sexy, I really want some, and cork is like super light as well. So, uh, complete unity yoga do actually do them, uh, keen, but, like I said, I just use the ones at the gym. So it's not something that I personally feel like I need to buy and carry around with me.
Speaker 1:But a mat is like plus plus, essential for me. I like to, um, firstly, I don't want to have to clean it, so you know, when you go to the gym you like clean it, maybe before and maybe also after, um, whereas when it's your own, you don't really need to, especially if you don't get sweaty and whatever. I'm just like it's fine, I'll just pick it up and roll away, continue with my life, but I just, I just like having my own mat. I don't know what it is, I don't know what it is, but I just love it. So now, the thing I found with this yoga mat that they've sent me is and I will say they have sent me it, didn't buy it. I just want to make that clear now they sent me the um travel mat because I was going on a yoga retreat in Indonesia and I took it with me. I did, I took the travel mat with me.
Speaker 1:Now, if you look at the size difference, it's actually like pretty much double the size, and the travel one that I have is actually quite heavy already. So I dread to think how much the four millimeter one is. But that's fine. I think it's so much grippier than the lighter kind of foamy ones that you get. Literally. I feel like this thing could be used in what they're called escape, not escape rooms, escape lanes. I feel like they could be used in escape lanes when, um, when cars can't slow down down those massive hills, you just put one of these yoga mats in there and it will fucking stop a big old lorry from crashing into the bottom. Honestly, they're so grippy and even when you're sweating it's like not slippy.
Speaker 1:The thing that I found with the foamy ones that you get yes, they are significantly lighter and they're made out of just crap, to be quite honest, like plastic or whatever, and I'm kind of eco-conscious the thing that I found with those is they get really slippy and you're bloody sliding about all over the place and you don't want that. You want to be strong, you want to be a strong warrior, quite literally. One thing I don't have, which I'm pretty keen for, is one of those yoga mat straps that you put your mat in and then you can like just carry it around on your shoulder now. Now, let's get into that, because the reason why I haven't got one and there is a reason is because I've been checking out the bags on Complete Unity Yoga. Oh boy, they're sexy.
Speaker 1:I really want the Mindful Jungle one They've got. Ooh, they've got a third print. Now They've got a yoga print which they didn't have before and it's basically graphics of people doing yoga. But I really want I don't know, do I want the meadow of enlightenment or do I want the mindful jungle? I think I want the mindful jungle. I can't decide.
Speaker 1:Anyway, it's basically made out of. What's it made out of? Please tell me? Okay, I can't find it. Do you know what I can't tell you? There's no information. Guys, sort that out. There's no information about what it's made from. But it fits the yoga mat in it and it also fits like phone etc. But also it's got a strap, but also it's eco-friendly, but also it's sexy, but also it would fit like water. But also it's eco-friendly, but also it's sexy, but also it would fit like water bottle. Now the thing is, with those straps that you can just hook over the end of your yoga mat, they don't. You can't like it's not a bag, you can't fit your water bottle and your phone and stuff like that. And then I just ended up having like a thousand things that I'm holding in my hands. They're falling everywhere and it's a complete disaster. So I have been holding out from getting one of those yoga mat slippy over the end, hook, carry, strap things for getting a bag. Now, I was recently poor until my recent tax rebate, so maybe that's on the list of things to buy. That would be one of my products.
Speaker 1:Because you want to arrive to your yoga class in style. I'm telling you, you want to arrive in style. You want to arrive with your mat. You're like, yeah, I'm ready, um, minus blocks, unless you know that's your vibe, unless you already have them. Um, you want to have your super grippy mat and you fling it out and you're like I'm here and I'm ready and you get out your bag and also okay, the other things that I've really wanted to buy but haven't are a meditation pillow I don't know if this is necessary. I've seen it online. Meditation pillows if this is necessary, I've seen it online.
Speaker 1:Meditation pillows, meditation towel, blanket, whatever you'd call it. To be honest, at the end, when you do the Shavasana if that's how you say it I recently learned that that is apparently Sanskrit Sanskrit. I don't know Sanskrit. Whatever, I recently learned that that is another language. I just thought they were making up funky names like Shavasana and what are the other weird yoga words that they use? I don't know. The only word I can think of is Tutankhamun, which I know is not Sanskrit Sanskrit, but whatever. I've seen it.
Speaker 1:You know when you're doing this shavasana, you don't I just put my jumper over the top of me. I don't know that you really need a meditation blanket, like I just don't know if it's up there on my priorities. I already have enough items in my life but I don't think I need more. The other thing meditation pillow. Now, when I sit down to to meditate, I actually do shavasana lying down because that's my vibe, but you could meditate sitting up on a pillow. I don't know again if I need a meditation pillow to do it in. I often meditate right before I go to bed, which is questionable, to say the least. But I guess if you're meditating, if you're like, seriously into meditating I know that people create like zones if you're going to create a zone like a yoga zone, a meditation zone, do you know what you go for it and you get meditation pillow.
Speaker 1:Because how much is it? Let's see meditation cushion. It's quite a lot of money. You know, 60 quid it's. It's not not that cheap. So what's it got in it? That's what I want to know. Oh, my stomach pain is coming back.
Speaker 1:I guess the one thing that you do get is like posture resetting. Um, the thing that I find is if I sit with my legs crossed, those legs are going numb. I cannot sit there. They're getting like pins and needles. They're going numb, they're complaining. So I either sit with them out or I do sit on something. Sometimes that is like those blocks that you can get, the yoga blocks and I'll sit on those and but generally the thing that sorts me out is just sticking my legs out. So if you don't mind looking like a toddler, then you'll probably be fine.
Speaker 1:But if you are totally into getting that like full Zen yoga position and getting your yoga corner set up and your meditation corner set up with candles and incense and all sorts, you go, people. I say you go, girl, but you go for it, you know. Get your meditation pillow. Do you know what? Get your gear, sort it out. I would. I'd be well up for that. Get your meditation blanket, because sometimes when you just have all of that like set up, you you're ready for the moment.
Speaker 1:You know, and I am really into getting eco-friendly stuff. So, like I said, um, I you can just Google like eco-friendly or eco yoga mat or eco yoga products and you would find, um, some really good brands out there. Um, I do actually have some links for community. Oh fuck, why do I keep saying community, complete unity yoga. I can't get like what is wrong with me. It's because it rhymes come. No, I nearly said it again complete unity yoga. I do actually have some links for it. I'll leave them in the description below.
Speaker 1:Anyway, now that we've kind of covered, do you? You know what? What I didn't cover in products is acupressure mats, but I actually want to do a whole episode about them on their own, because I think they're the whole nother entity. They're not really in yoga as such, but I have written it on here so I will get into it. So we've talked about mats, types of mats, bags, mat holder, meditation pillow blocks, straps. We didn't talk about. Ooh again, right. So what do I mean when I talk about straps? I don't mean this bag holding strap, I mean the ones that you like hook over your legs so that you can grab your like leg. Basically, I do you know what?
Speaker 1:When I was a bit chunkier, I found some of the positions really hard to get into. I couldn't reach my foot, for example, just because there was size in the way you know fat or whatever, maybe not flexible enough, maybe not fit enough, or, you know, other people might have other reasons why they might not be able to reach it. Anatomically your arms might not be that long or your legs might be quite long, etc. So I do actually find straps really useful. What you can do is just like hook it over the end of your foot if you can't touch your feet, um, hook it like if you're doing one from behind and like pull it up from behind, because sometimes I can't grab it, or if I can, I basically get cramp and I'm like ah, so it would be nice to like have a strap.
Speaker 1:Now, some yoga studios do have them, but a lot of them don't. When I go to hot yoga, they have them on the thing. God forbid, I mean, god only knows who has sweated all over those. So that is the problem. And if I have my own like yoga bag set up, it's not in my current um. Currently my priorities are paying off my credit card, so I need to do that before I go and buy more stuff. So when I'm next in my buying cycle I will look at buying straps, and I do want to buy eco-friendly ones, of course, you know, not ones with like plastics in, ones that will break down, but ones that will hold strong. For I don't know the next. However long I'm going to do yoga for 50 years, you know, till I'm 80 or something, who knows?
Speaker 1:I guess now would be the apt time to talk about clothes. Now I always wear leggings. I don't wear shorts. Shorts are not a vibe when I do yoga. Because you want to avoid slippy leg syndrome. This is a new thing that I've made up. It's not real, but I'm going to call it slippy leg syndrome. Basically, when you need to like bend your legs over things either each other, or bend them up or whatever position you need to get into what happens is when you get sweaty especially when I did this in a hot country your legs just end up fucking sliding off of each other and you're like trying to hold them up, but there's like it's like a death slide off each other and it's like whoa, whoa, whoa. So I actually do prefer to wear full length leggings, or at least three quarter lengths, even if it's hot, because I don't want slippy leg syndrome. It's easier to grab onto your legs as well when they're not skin on skin, hand on skin. So I do prefer either full or three quarter length leggings.
Speaker 1:Sports bra I pretty much wear a sports bra all the time. I'm literally wearing one right now, even though there is no impact. I you know, if you're going upside down, boobs are going to fall out of a normal bra. I'm telling you top on or off? That is the question. Now. Mirrors may make you hate yourself, and that is fine. So you know, if you're going to be contorting yourself into some horrendous roll you know, stomach roll, muffin top positions then you may want to keep your top on and I personally like to go for one that's like tighter up here and then a bit looser down here, like one of those nice like a frame ones I'm going to call them, and sometimes I take it off if I'm feeling really crazy. So sometimes I do take it off. I personally don't go for like fully tight clothes because you know you get a little like I get. I have a roll here and I'm just I'm not really. You know, if there's mirrors, there's like, oh, not vibing that at all. So right, oh, my God, I've talked for so long. Come on Right Time. Oh my God, I've literally written OMG.
Speaker 1:Morning yoga outside is the one I'm telling you. Sunrise yoga I've done it so many times. It is the one the birds come alive, the sun is rising, the dew is evaporating. It's the most fucking beautiful thing you can ever experience. I'm telling you, take your yoga mat outside, go to like a one of those yoga retreats. Omg, I've done the best yoga sessions I can think of off the top of my head have been beautiful sunrise dawn yogas, and I've done it in Indonesia and I've done it on Dartmoor. Oh my god, that was so good. There was like a stream. Dartmoor is like a national park in the UK. Um, for my non-UK listeners, there was like a stream and the sun was rising and it was. Oh my god, it was so beautiful. I literally can't cope.
Speaker 1:So the other times I like to do it. I like to do it are late evening, like right after like a cardio class, for example, for like a relaxy time and like one before bed. But I like a nice relaxy yoga session rather than like a high intensity yoga. And I also like to do it after a cardio class for like a stretch and a cool down, because often I'll do like a 30 minute yoga class I'm sorry, a cardio class I won't feel like it's enough. And then I want to do like stretches after, but I often won't do it on my own because I'm lazy, apparently, and so I will just go into like a yoga class which, yes, yes, it's like an hour, so I mean it is an hour and a half of therefore, exercise, which is good, but it is time-consuming. So you know, it's nice to do it as like a stretch and a cool down at the same time. So I'm getting flexible, fit and you know my mind is having a good time Place.
Speaker 1:Generally I do it in a yoga studio. Obviously I do have yoga mats and I do do it at home sometimes, but I think outside is like generally the best place to do yoga like, in my opinion, if it's obviously like nice weather, it's a nice location. You're not going to do it like on the pavement in London, for example, um, so either do it like outside watching the sunrise oh god, I can't, I honestly I can't, I cannot, I can't, I can't stress it to you enough like please try it once. And I nearly didn't do it when I went to Dartmoor because I went to this like um conferency, retreat thing, and then one of the girls in my room was like sleep on your dead dawn. And I was like, yeah, fair enough, because it was like obviously 6am. So I was like, oh, and I went and did it and I did not regret it and often you don't, but it's like hard getting out of bed. You're like the good.
Speaker 1:The good thing about going to Asia and doing it is you're often jet lagged, especially if you come from the west to the east. So getting up at 4am and 5am and 6am was not difficult whatsoever. I was like I'm ready, girl, let's go. So the other thing that I like to consider is instructor type. Now they vary significantly. I would say most instructors are, oh, do you know what? I've had quite a variation.
Speaker 1:But if you go online, I think most of the yoga instructor types I've seen are kind of those like hi guys, let's do like a nice yoga session. Maybe they're like Australian, um, and they're often very slim and female and kind of, I want to say, like wishy-washy. But I've had some other types of yoga instructor. Now when I went to Asia, I had male, like male, asian. They were obviously Indonesian, um yoga instructors. I've never had a male yoga instructor until I went to asia and I was like, is this a thing, maybe? So yeah, we had two of them there, like I don't think I ever had a female yoga instructor in asia, so coincidence, I don't know, but I don't mind if they're male or female, doesn't bother me.
Speaker 1:What I like is the yoga instructors that tell you what to do, but don't make you feel shit about yourself for not being able to do it. Now I I don't mean they're like you're fucking shit, you're rubbish, go out of my yoga class. But it's that like. There's often yoga poses that you can't do. Maybe you know you're not a professional yoga instructor and therefore you do feel like I'm. You know, especially in my mind, I'm like oh, I'm not pushing myself hard enough, I can't do it. Oh, I'm rubbish, oh I'm crap, and like I've had we.
Speaker 1:I currently have this one yoga instructor that I've been using not using, I've been using her, but she's at my gym and I really like going to her classes because she's so like. You know, this is your session. You do what you need to do. If it feels good for your body, then do it. If it doesn't, then do something else, go into child's pose, whatever. If you don't like child's pose, just have a seat. Just you know this is your session and that's the way I personally like to do it, rather than being like you're not doing, like getting the feeling like maybe they're not saying it, but it's like getting the feeling that I'm not doing exactly what you say. Therefore, I am failing and I don't know like how to distinguish that necessarily, but it's just a vibe you get. Okay, that's just the vibe.
Speaker 1:So I've had some kind of strict personality yoga instructor types. I've had some very relaxing ones and also the other type is like types of yoga class. Now, when I go onto YouTube and I want to do yoga, I want to do high intensity weight loss yoga. I don't know why it happens. Now that means I don't know how, but it's really hard and you get out of breath and you're like that was hard work for 30 minutes of work. Now the difference is the ones that I go to after my, you know, cardio classes for like nice relaxy times are relaxing, stretchy yoga, not physically that you know, like I don't get out of breath, not physically too exerting, but also you feel like you've done something. Now the difference is cardio kind of fitness yoga is often a lot shorter, doesn't tend to be an hour long. Stretchy, relaxy yoga is often like an hour long.
Speaker 1:Now I have done Bikram yoga. I don't necessarily agree with Bikram because I think he was like I can't say the word but he was not so good to his female clients, let's put it that way. But having done the yoga ethos, the Bikram yoga ethos he basically the yoga poses that he did you have to hold for like a minute and it's really challenging, let's put it that way. You're trying to hold like dancers pose for a minute and it's hard, you know, because it, whilst you're not like moving, you're really straining. Your. Your heart rate's going up, you are trying to balance and it's not like you're jumping around and doing loads of cardio, but you're still kind of out of breath, you're still kind of sweating. So yeah, all in all, what I'm kind of vibing at the moment is having my own yoga mat and doing cardio exercises for like 30 minutes, like an exercise class, and then going straight into yoga for an hour. It's like totally a vibe.
Speaker 1:I thoroughly recommend it. It's great for your mental health. It's great for your mental health. It's great for feeling like you've done enough, like I often go to the gym and don't feel like I've done enough, but when I do that I feel I feel like a queen. Anyway, guys, I hope you've enjoyed my deep dive into how I do yoga properly. Um, and if you did like, then obviously give it a like, comment, subscribe, etc. And go check out Complete Unity Yoga. I've finally got it in the description and the comments below Love ya.
