WEBVTT - Getting Fiddle Leaf Fit 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:04.320 Over the past few months, the way we do everything 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:09.200 has changed, including our workouts. Gyms and fitness centers closed 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:13.200 their doors, leaving us this perfect excuse to pause our memberships. 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:15.920 And while I'm sure some of you have kept training 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:19.680 for those marathons, for an indoor cat like me, I 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:24.759 quickly took to the more sedentary life binging Netflix, mixing 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:28.240 up mock tails with my kids, cooking up large pots 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.960 of delicious foods. And while the coziness gave me this 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:35.800 certain type of comfort in these stressed times, it hasn't 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:39.360 done wonders for my paunch. So I've been trying to 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.000 figure out how to slip a little exercise into my world, 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:44.440 and how do I do it without it feeling like 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:48.120 a chore. Lucky for me, I've heard that gardening can 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:52.480 be a great substitution for spin classes or that breakdance class. 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:56.000 Ruby keeps trying to convince me to take our new 0:00:56.040 --> 0:01:02.000 come on, come on, let's do right dancing class. Plus 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.399 the commute to my backyard. It feels like when I 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:10.840 can manage Hey there, I'm Mongays Articular, a co host 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:13.240 of Part Time Genius, one of the co founders of 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:17.880 Mental Plus, and this is Humans, Growing Stuff a collaboration 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:20.640 from my Heart Radio and your friends at Miracle Grow. 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.880 My goal is to make this the most human show 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.840 about plants you'll ever listen to, and along the way, 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.640 we'll share sweet, inspiring stories, tips and tricks to nurture 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.679 your plant addiction, and just enough science to make you 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:39.080 sound like an expert. In today's episode, we're examining gardening 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:42.920 is a form of exercise, from targeting specific muscle groups 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:46.399 to burning calories to stretching your body. So put down 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.400 your kettlebells and pick up that shovel. We're about to 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:56.360 get biddle leaf bit chapter eight, Growing Plants and Muscles. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.880 As a kid just bouncing a basketball on the driveway, 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:06.480 it was like a bat signal in my neighborhood. You'd 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:08.960 go onto your driveway, dribble the ball around a little, 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:13.000 and suddenly you'd see window shades part little eyes would 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.359 peer out, and any kid who could sneak away from 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.840 their homework or their chores, which show up to play 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:25.720 and in an instant games would just materialize. Weirdly enough, 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:27.800 that isn't how it is. As a four year old, 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:29.920 I can sit on my stoop with a soccer ball 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:32.400 or dribble a basketball on the sidewalk, and no one 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:35.440 my age is running over to play. The truth is, 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.840 unless there's a game involved, I'm a little lazy about 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:43.639 going to the gym. But there's something wonderful about incidental exercise. 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.560 If I happen to get fit from doing things I 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:50.200 want to do anyway, well, I'm all for it. And 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.919 it turns out gardening can be just that. You didn't 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:56.680 hear this from our conversation last week, but when I 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:59.960 was chatting with Jim Gaffigan, the comedian and writer and act, 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:03.240 he told me about how gardening has actually helped him 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.720 achieve fitness goals on his Apple Watch. I have an 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:10.440 Apple Watch, me mentioning it on this podcast, they should 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:14.560 send me a new one which keeps track of energy 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:17.920 burned and calories burned and all that. And when I 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.480 was doing gardening, I was burning a lot of calories. 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.480 But I felt what was really kind of weird was 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:26.080 at one point I kind of injured myself and I 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.240 was like, am I the first person to ever get 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:32.440 injured gardening? You know, It's like it's like, where, how 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:34.600 did you get injured? While I was running a marathon? 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:36.640 How did you get injured. But I was trying to 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:43.840 plant some tulips and it's but yeah, I do reach 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:47.680 some of my fitness goals by gardening, which is great. 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.240 And he gets you outside so you get the vitamin 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:53.040 D and all that stuff, so there is some exercise 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:57.880 value in it. Jim's right. Over the course of the series, 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:00.120 I've read that gardening is good for the body. In 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.240 just a couple of hours, you can burn two hundred 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.360 to six hundred calories through a mix of work. And 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.560 that's because gardening is a whole body exercise that impacts 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:13.560 large muscle groups like your legs, back, shoulder abs. Tasks 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.680 like mowing and raking leaves are more intensive and have 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:20.400 a better payoff increasing your heart rate with repeated rhythm 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:25.719 of activity, but smaller tasks, things like pruning that targets 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:29.239 smaller muscles like deltoids and the upper and lower trapezis 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.200 or adults and traps. For all your gym riots out there, 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:35.920 so much of being a busy working adult is managing 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.400 your time, and I think sometimes for me at least, 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:43.000 I get caught up in the idea that fitness or 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.960 working out has to be a separate activity entirely that 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:50.360 if it isn't an hour of focused exercise distant from 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:54.320 my family, it doesn't count. But clearly the opposite can 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:57.440 be true. I want to dig deeper into this idea, 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:00.840 so I called up Any Daily. He's a Brooklyn based 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:04.120 journalist and the author of a new book, Destination Wellness. 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:07.839 In it, she explores various health and well being practices 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:10.400 from across the world. But I wanted to ask Annie 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:14.359 specifically about her article in Women's Health does gardening really 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:18.760 count as exercise? And learn more about what her reporting uncovered. 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:25.880 Hey Annie, Hey, how's it going. It's nice to be 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:29.160 chatting with you. You too, So I've been reading your 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.960 upcoming book, and I am fascinated by this idea that 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:36.800 we're obsessed with fancy gym memberships and trendy workout classes, 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:41.120 but in reality, wellness is all around us. Can you 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:43.799 tell me a little bit about what you've learned? Sure, 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.960 you know, as a journalist you get sent all of 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.839 these products all the time, And it was one of 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:54.400 those things where I realized that wellness is not really 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.520 about all these products. It's not really something that you 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:01.799 can buy. It's more something that of within you. And 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:04.280 I am also a travel journalism. So I've been doing 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.719 all this traveling around the world, and I noticed that 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:12.840 this whole commercial wellness culture isn't really like that in 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:16.480 other places in the world. They don't have these insane, 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:21.240 crazy boutique fitness classes, and they don't have these you know, 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:24.039 expensive smoothies and all the lotions and the potions and 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.160 the powders and the tinctures. It's it's more just baked 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:31.520 into the general way of living. And so I sort 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:34.880 of adopted that belief for myself and tried to live 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.200 that way in New York, where it's harder to do 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.480 because you're surrounded and just inundated by all of this stuff. 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:45.960 But once you realize that it's not really about that, 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.400 it's easier to just get back to the basics and 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:53.000 get back to a more simple way of going about 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:55.599 your day in a healthy way. I mean, it's pretty 0:06:55.600 --> 0:07:00.200 easy to do. It's like walk outside, eat some bull 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:04.680 healthy foods, hanging out with your friends. Social connection and 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.800 communication is a huge part of all this. So it's 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:10.120 really just about getting back to the basics, and we've 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:13.320 just gotten so far away from that. But once you're 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:15.800 conscious about it, it's actually easier than you think too, 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:20.360 sort of adjust your lifestyle. So I saw that you've 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:23.480 written a piece of while back on house plants that 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:26.560 are easy to take care of, and I was curious 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.360 our gardening or or taking care of plants a part 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.000 of your sort of wellness practices. Oh, for sure. I 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:38.320 definitely am a plant mom, a member of plant parenthood, 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:43.280 all of those plant jokes, that's definitely me. I think 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:45.800 at one point in my I think in my Twitter 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.600 bio or some social media bio, I had that I 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.320 live at home with my husband and our fifteen house plants, 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:57.360 because that's the thing is that you have to think 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:01.240 of them as living, breathing the things. They take a 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.080 lot of work to make sure that they stay healthy 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.679 and strong, and I'm always thinking about watering them. Our 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:10.600 living room is a absolute jungle. Another thing that I 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.640 talked about in my book actually is when you plant 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.840 a seed and watch it grow, that actually watching something 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:22.320 grow from nothing into something just reminds you so much 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:26.000 of your connection the mother Earth. And then when you're 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:29.920 reminded of that connection, it just strengthens your mental health 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.680 overall because you know that you're part of something so 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:37.800 much bigger than yourself. And that's different from just watering 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.560 your plans. I'm talking about actually like planting a seed, 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:45.520 like growing something, as opposed to just keeping something going. Yeah, 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:48.160 that's really beautiful. You know. One of the things that 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.520 we've been talking a lot about is just how surprised 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:56.599 we are that gardening is talked about as exercise, and 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:59.559 you've actually written a piece on this, uh kind of 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:02.720 question whether or not gardening is exercise. Would you talk 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:05.800 a little bit about your findings there, Oh? Sure, So 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:08.480 that piece, I believe. I wrote it for Women's Health, 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:12.480 and I used to write these stories about the studies 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:14.760 that had just come out, and so this piece was 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:17.880 a study that had just come out from South Korea, 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:23.560 and essentially researchers had they had given a bunch of 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:27.000 trackers to college age students and told them to perform 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:31.720 all of these various gardening tasks, and then they measured 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:35.480 them at the end, and they found that the tasks 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.559 that they had asked them to do actually did qualify 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:44.360 as moderate to high intensity physical activity. So the task 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:48.440 that came in as the highest intensity was digging, and 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:50.439 then the other tasks that they asked them to do 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:59.400 were raking, weeding, mulching, owing, sowing, harvesting, watering, mixing, and 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:04.600 then the lowest intensity one was planting transplants of other plans. 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:07.600 I think that the overall theme of that study is 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:11.080 that these are things that people don't necessarily think of 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:14.040 as quote unquote exercise in the way that a lot 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:16.640 of people think of exercise today, getting back to the 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:21.880 boutique fitness studio trend, but that these are all things 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:24.400 that are so baked into your day that if you 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.760 just go about your day in a more natural way, 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:31.600 then these things get worked into your day and you're 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.960 exercising essentially without even thinking about it or without even 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.640 doing it so intentionally. What can we do that that 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:42.320 sort of mimics a regular workout routine out there? Is 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:46.240 there anything that you think of that that specifically sort 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:50.200 of mimics what we do in a fitness class In 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:53.480 terms of gardening, I mean, I honestly think that so 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:56.560 much is just being out there. I think that we 0:10:56.640 --> 0:11:00.800 tend to focus on the physical aspects a lot in 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:05.120 our society, and yes, while we're gardening, like maybe you 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:08.280 could do some extra digging. Since that study found that 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:12.400 digging was the it was the thing that was found 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.960 to be the most the highest intensity workout. But I 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:18.000 don't know. I feel a little bit weird about giving 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:20.960 that as my advice, just because that seems to be 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.880 a little bit of a free for the forest. But 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:28.120 I tend to go for the forest more. And I 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:33.560 would just say that getting out there and recognizing your 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:37.600 connection to nature and gardening is such a great way 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:42.679 to help you do that, and actually planting something is 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:47.320 just such a big, huge and easy way to remember 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.599 that you're a part of this natural life cycle and 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:52.880 you're a part of something so much bigger than yourself. 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:55.199 And I know that this is just taking it in, 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:58.680 like turning into a much heavier thing than just like, oh, 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:01.320 brake for thirty seconds. It will help you burn calories, 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.600 But I just I don't know. I'm not I just 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.080 can't really subscribe to that idea as much as I 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:11.000 can to the fact that gardening is such an easy 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:15.080 and primal way to remind you of your connection to 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:20.160 the bigger universe. If you go into gardening and you 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:22.680 try to think of it like I'm only doing this 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.199 so that I can burn like t k x x 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.679 amount of calories so that I can then go have 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.200 that thing, it's like you're missing the point. Just it's 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:32.680 so important to me to remember that these are things 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:36.559 that have been around for generations. Think of the Hawaiians. 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:41.560 They have always taken care to respect their relationship to 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:45.680 Mother Earth. The Rasa's in Jamaica. They believe that planting 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:49.720 something reminds you of your connection to your greater whole. 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:53.320 It's like these things, these are so deeply ingrained in 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.360 our history. Ay, thank you so much for being here. 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:59.640 I really appreciated our conversation. Oh, thank you so much 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:01.920 for having me. This was so fun. Now I feel 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:08.440 like I need to go water my plants. Gardening, like 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.320 any form of exercise, can be intense and take a 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.679 toll on the body, and in the heat of the moment, 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:15.880 it's hard to remember to keep your back straight like 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:18.520 your mom always told you, and to hope with your legs, 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:21.800 which I'm sure she also said. Here are four quick 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.280 tips to make sure you don't tweak your back or 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:29.160 get sidelined for the whole harvest. Stretch it out. Like 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:32.160 any physical activity, the keys to avoiding injury are to 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:37.040 stretch beforehand and maintain your posture while doing so. Warm 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:39.360 up before you get out there for five to ten minutes. 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.600 Touch your toes or give it your best shot. Stretch 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:44.880 your calves and hips to make sure your body feels 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:47.600 loose and limber, and do that before you pick up 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:52.120 that shovel. Use your knees, bend your knees, and keep 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.960 your back as straight as you can while lifting anything heavy. 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:57.440 If you're going to be dumping big bags of soil 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.120 or mulch to and from your yard, you absolutely have 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:03.800 to use your legs and keep the way close to 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.439 your body. If you try to use your back alone 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:09.440 or hold heavy objects away from your body, you put 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:12.240 more pressure on your shoulders and back, which can lead 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:16.560 to injury. Don't arch your back. If you need to 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.240 reach something far from you, move closer to it and 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:22.360 squat down. Arching your back puts your body in a 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.680 compromised position, and the movements you make can cause strain. 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:31.080 Pace yourself, stay hydrated, and take lots of breaks. If 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:34.400 you feel sore, tired, or in pain, take a load 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.400 off and sit down. Your garden is not going anywhere. 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:39.720 The worst thing you can do is push through a 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.760 muscle egg. You can lead to greater damage and to 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:54.120 a longer recovery. Period humans growing stuff will be right 0:14:54.160 --> 0:15:03.480 back after a short break. As a lot of us 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:05.800 find ways we can work out in and around our home. 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.520 I've noticed that a lot of my friends have ditched 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:11.640 those heavyweights for yoga mat which makes a lot of 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:14.560 sense given the time we find ourselves in. And that's 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:17.600 because yoga is as much about the connection of mind 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.560 and body as it is about sweating out last night's 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:24.200 pints of beer or ice cream. You're breathing aligns your 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:27.360 body and mind and ways that contribute to your body's 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.640 well being, and it creates a calmness in your thoughts, 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.560 which is basically what gardening does for me. But what 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.080 if you can double dip and find extra peace and 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:41.560 tranquility by grounding your yoga practice in the garden. From 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.440 what I've read, garden yoga can create a more positive, 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:47.320 fulfilling connection to all the work you've done in the 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:51.640 yard while challenging your body in new ways. That uneven 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:54.880 terrain can help you push through your yoga plateaus, and 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:58.200 it can create a new challenge in your practice. And 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:01.560 instead of listening to a playlist of ambient nature sounds, 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:04.280 you get to listen to the sounds of real nature 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:09.280 in person. Plus all those stretches can help you strengthen 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:13.440 muscle groups like your core to make you less prone 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:17.040 to gardening injuries. Later, I wanted to learn more about 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.200 this partnership of yoga and gardening, so I wanted to 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:24.320 call up Naomi on Naomi wrote the book Yoga Emmanuel 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.880 for Life, and she's the founder of Yoga on the 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:31.080 Lane in East London. She's also hosted a virtual practice 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:39.760 for the Royal Horticultural Society called Yoga for Gardeners. Hi Naomi, Hi, 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:44.080 how are you doing so well? So this is very 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.600 much a gardening show, but we try to make it 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:50.400 as human as possible. And I was curious, what are 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.680 some of the changes you've seen in your students when 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:58.480 they practice yoga? Oh well, yeah, I noticed ships very quickly, 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:01.960 because once you aside to do yoga. The thing that 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:04.280 I think is quite curious about this is it often 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.159 takes people, i'd say, on average, like two years of 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:12.320 thinking about doing yoga before they turn up in a class. 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.399 It's a long time. You know that it's been on 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:19.960 their New Year's resolutions for a while, and then another 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.680 year passes and then they just kind of lose their nerve. 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.560 So when people do finally show up, one of the 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.440 things that I notice is they really show up, and 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:34.080 you know, that's that's the willingness is a huge part 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:36.919 of the practice. Um. And then I just kind of 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:41.320 guide them through hopefully accessible ways to access their bodies 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:45.119 and you know, they they relax. I mean, it's really 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.919 it's really nice to see people relaxing. That's that's the 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:51.600 thing that I love more than anything. And just to 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.240 remind them that resting takes practice, UM, and I think 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:59.840 that's something that isn't necessarily taught in our school system, 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:04.280 and they are really discussed, never really discussed, and it's 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:08.960 a huge part of being alive. It's a huge part 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:12.879 of where you know, our immune system is is really 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:18.440 banking on us resting, not just doing doing doing. Yeah. 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:23.040 So I notice people their nervous systems over time, but 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.439 are just much more elastic. You know, they're able to 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:29.720 bring themselves back that they do experience all the normal 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:33.399 varied emotions which are really important, you know, anger and 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:36.240 frustration and all these things as well, but they're able 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:40.080 to bring themselves back to their kind of baseline steady breath, 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.280 you know, a little bit quicker so yeah, I see 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:45.879 that happen in people's lives as well as on the 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.000 yoga mat. Do you feel that there's a connection between 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:53.800 yoga and nature? Absolutely? Absolutely, I think you know, when 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:59.560 I meditate, it very much shifts the way that I 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:03.440 see the world in that when I close my eyes 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:05.600 and I sense into my body and I'm breathing into 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:10.439 my body with my inner landscape is hugely is vast, 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:14.639 and it's diverse. And you know when I reopen my 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.120 eyes and I look into a green space, I can 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:22.880 see more. I think, Um, it shifts how heightened your 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:28.320 senses are, so sense of smell, taste, um, touch, how 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:31.679 you see. You know, there are so many poses in 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.199 yoga that are named after plants and animals. Do you 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:38.280 feel a difference when you're doing these poses surrounded by 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:41.080 real nature? Like, what's it feel like to do a 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:45.000 tree pose when you're surrounded by actual trees? Oh, my goodness, 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:47.960 it certainly does. If you're in a in a tree 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:50.120 pose in your hands or in your chest, and then 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:52.280 you're reaching up and you're feeling that you know that 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:55.320 wide open sky above you and the ground beneath you, 0:19:55.440 --> 0:20:01.119 it's it's very is very transferre warming. Actually, you know, 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:03.359 you're suddenly you feel like you're more than just a body, 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:08.359 that you're part of this fantastic mystery. Who knows what 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:10.760 on earth are we doing here? You know when you 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:12.720 reach up to the star and you feel the ground 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.840 beneath your feet and you feel like there's some kind 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:19.280 of yeah, there's some kind of connection with it all, 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:23.919 rather than just moving around like a pedestrian, which is 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:26.040 what we do most of the time. So yeah, I 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:29.760 think and feeling more animal. That's certainly in Mary Oliver 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:33.679 the Beloved Poets. It's amazing and she talks about like 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:36.160 the soft animal of your body, and I think it's 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:39.639 in the Summer's Day poem, and um, I love this 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:43.040 idea of like tuning into the soft animal of your body, 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:45.040 so you know, when you're in then it's like the 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:49.000 softness of it rather than like rigid again pedestrian human 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:53.399 stick that you can actually feel some like juice in 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:55.800 your joints. I don't know if that makes sense, but 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.280 it really speaks to those words really speak to me, 0:20:58.280 --> 0:20:59.959 and I think about that a lot when i'm practice. 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.520 Think that you know, we noticed on Instagram that you 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:06.080 have a lot of plants both that you're going lane 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:09.480 and in your own home, and we're wondering, how does 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:14.760 caring for plants impact your help? Well, hugely, hugely, And 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.160 people when we when we put the plants into yoga 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:21.520 on the lane, the response was amazing. You know, people 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.200 really not this, and particularly those plants that kind of filter, 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:28.560 like the lilies, the piece lilies, and we've got a 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:31.760 passion fruit vine growing up the window and just it 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:36.280 you know, it really put a smile on people's faces. Um, 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:39.359 so yeah, I mean taking care of them is lovely. 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:44.680 The studio is very much a collective responsibility, so we 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:46.840 have an amazing team of people that are kind of 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:48.720 in and out of the space and we all give 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:51.280 the plants quite a lot of love. But yeah, I 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:54.200 have I have a fair amount of plants at home. 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:57.879 And also we have a garden and we actually pulled 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:02.199 up some Jerusalem artichokes yes to a which was just 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:04.719 to get my hands in the soil and to like 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:09.399 pull with all my might these beautiful, like big, like 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:13.320 knuckle shaped vegetables out of the ground and roast them 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.080 in loads of butter. I was like, this is so 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:20.040 good for my mental health. It is joyous. Yeah, I'm 0:22:20.080 --> 0:22:24.159 curious about what's in your garden besides the Jerusalem chucks, 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:28.560 But what what do you enjoy from gardening? So we 0:22:28.640 --> 0:22:31.280 have we've inherited a garden in the you know, the 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:33.919 people that we bought our house off. But we have 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:40.040 really amazing little cherry tree which brings a lot of 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:42.840 joy every spring so my kids, Yeah, I mean we 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:46.800 picked over a hundred cherries this year, really juicy. We 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:51.120 also have a plum tree, and I'm sort of chuckling 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:54.000 because last year it seemed to be an apricot tree, 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:59.720 so it has some like identity issues, but we don't 0:22:59.720 --> 0:23:03.960 mind whether it was apricots. Were delighted um and then 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:07.359 we grew peas with the kids. This year we've got 0:23:07.520 --> 0:23:11.560 rosemary and sage basil, and then in terms of flowers, 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:14.040 we've got things in pots that we've done, like camelias 0:23:14.119 --> 0:23:18.919 and cosmos and like little daisies in our front garden. 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:23.760 When people walk past on our fairly busy Hackney street, 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:26.640 they're always asking what is this? What is this? Because 0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:28.439 it's a real show off of her plant. It's an 0:23:28.440 --> 0:23:35.160 accounthus it's it's like a medieval plant, and I'm sure 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:37.960 it's got some medicinal quality, you know. I bet it, 0:23:38.000 --> 0:23:41.120 I bet it goes back. I don't know the origins 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:44.119 of it, but it's really it's got these big, lush 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:48.960 green leaves and then quite spiky, kind of like tendrils 0:23:49.119 --> 0:23:52.520 with seeds in the middle. It's really it's look it up. 0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:55.920 It's a real show up. Yeah. I love the idea 0:23:55.920 --> 0:24:02.680 of a medieval show off. Me too. What kind of 0:24:02.760 --> 0:24:07.639 yoga poses would you recommend for gardeners? So mainly, um 0:24:08.560 --> 0:24:12.320 I noticed, particularly with friends who garden me even more 0:24:12.359 --> 0:24:15.880 than me, is just this tension. And for my mom 0:24:15.920 --> 0:24:18.680