INHALE AND SEXHALE: GYMBOX'S NEW TANTRA BREATHING CLASS
Gymbox – the Queen of quirky fitness classes – has announced five new arrivals to keep gym-goers interested over the summer months when, let’s face it, we’d all rather be sweating in a pub garden than a gym after work. We tried to out the tantra breathing based Sexhale class designed to embrace your sexual energy and harness self-love… We weren’t quite sure what to expect from a gym class called Sexhale – but don’t worry it’s actually got nothing to do with Ps and Vs. Despite what you might have heard, tantra is not about sex. It’s actually about harnessing positive energy, spirituality, breathing and finding centeredness with mind body and soul. Yes, you can use the practice for hotter more intimate sex but that’s not its primary function. Tantra is a spiritual practice that focuses on energies or chakras within the body. Sexual energy is based in the solar plexus and root chakras (pelvis, hips and lower back area). When it is blocked, it becomes difficult to experience pleasure and feel like the true sex goddess you are. At least, that’s what tantric practitioners believe. In the class, which is flooded with hot pink light, our teacher led us through a series of fast flowing graceful poses designed to release the energy in our lower spine, hips and pelvis through poses such as downward dog, wild thing and happy baby. There was lots of focus on heavy breathing, sometimes with chanting, stamping and vigorously ‘shaking out the energy’ while being encouraged to ‘get over any heartaches’. While this may not be for everyone (and it certainly helps if you have a background as to why you’re doing the movements, so you don’t feel like a buffoon) it left us feeling energised and nicely stretched. All conducive to feeling sexy, no? WHAT ELSE IS NEW? Other new classes to try include Digital Detox, a 45-minute class, designed to disconnect you from the digital world and reconnect with mind, body, and soul using sound baths, low lighting and essential oils with yin yoga practice and meditation to literally bring you back to your senses. Rolling with My Yogis introduces the yoga wheel into your practice. Whether you’re a beginner looking to perfect and strengthen your poses or a seasoned yogi hoping to roll deeper into your inversions, this versatile tool will help open up your chest, get those hips flexin’ and align your spine with the rest of your body. Bolt focuses on the basics of the Olympic Lifting Technique with a little help from some cutting-edge technology. Using a PUSH device, members can record the speed of each lift as well as track results and watch how their performance progresses week on week. And Sucker Punch is your chance to square up to the Spar Bar – a relentless boxing training tool that puts your reactions, your defence and your pride to the test. Tried and tested by Anthony Joshua, Conor McGregor and Sugar Ray Leonard, mastering the Spar Bar is the key to reaching peak boxing performance.