This morning I am traveling to Goa to do my 200 hour yoga teacher training.
This is post 5 that I’ve written to talk about that, without posting. I’ve written even more posts about yoga, none of which have ever seen the light of day. To say as a chef that I’m heading out of comfort zone would be an absolute understatement…
Yoga has become a big part of my life and a big part of where I am planning to take Cooking In Mind.
I found Yoga about 18 months ago but the last 6 months or so I have really taken it to my heart. I have always enjoyed running. When the busy summer season started this year I began running as an outlet for that stress, but found that it was pushing me too hard physically. I replaced this with a strong, regular yoga practice.
It was perfect. It gave me that release of stress and gave me space from the stresses of the kitchen but actually gave me even more. It relieved the tension in my shoulders, a problem I always suffer from when I work too much. My physical health never really suffered in the way it has in the past.
On top of that, I was learning breathing exercises which I started to find that I could use when anxiety hit. I have a memory I’ll never forget when one of the chefs working with me and I did a simple 3 part breathing exercise when we were under extreme pressure. The simple process of focusing on breathing through the belly, the ribs, the throat and then out again completely changed my mental state. This was I now know partly because I was giving my blood some oxygen and partly because I was stopping the snowball of negative thoughts.
I really believe yoga can offer something to everyone in the hospitality industry. Like myself, I know a number of chefs yoga has helped and I can see so many more. I would like to see businesses encouraging staff to try it as well as larger businesses running their own yoga classes for staff to attend. If it works for google, why cant it work for us.
If you’re interested and would like any advise as to how you could get into yoga, drop me a message. Otherwise if you’re in Ireland check out the Himalaya Yoga Valley Centre in Cork.