{"id":11805,"date":"2013-03-13T01:24:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-13T01:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/yoga-for-blokes-just-for-softies\/"},"modified":"2013-03-13T01:24:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-13T01:24:00","slug":"yoga-for-blokes-just-for-softies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2013\/03\/yoga-for-blokes-just-for-softies\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoga for Blokes. Just for softies?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Misconception #1: <\/b>Yoga is for skinny chicks who eat mung beans and don\u2019t wear lipstick<\/p>\n

Misconception #2:<\/b> Yoga is for \u2018girly men\u2019 who really just need to HTFU.<\/p>\n

You can just picture it can\u2019t you? Bronzed and buff tradies down tools for a quick chakra before smoko [OMM], then back to work with a nail gun blissfully attaching a cross beam like Arnie with an Uzi.<\/p>\n

Real blokes just don\u2019t do yoga. But why not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Paul<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Paul von Bergen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Paul von Bergen was a bloke\u2019s bloke. Cool as all get out, money to burn, fast cars, trendy pad and all the trimmings. Then something went wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent my twenties and early thirties living the London life, running a youth marketing agency and organising glamorous parties on yachts in Ibiza, getting paid very well, living in the penthouse, driving the convertible BMW and partying very hard. Yet it still wasn\u2019t enough money for the $2 million yacht I dreamed of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now what is wrong with this picture, chaps? It\u2019s everything we dream of. But even when we get it all, it\u2019s still not enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I sold my business and all my homes, put $1 million into a new business which was meant to make me richer and sexier – and I lost it all in 9 months! Yes, all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul did a little reassessment, actually a big reassessment. He went to Thailand and stumbled into yoga.<\/p>\n

\u201cI rented a beach house and lived down the way from a health retreat and learned about fasting, diet and health. At the same time my mum had become a chronic alcoholic and was numbing herself to life. She had all the material trappings too but still wasn\u2019t happy. I knew I would go the same way as mum if something didn\u2019t change.<\/p>\n

During that time, Paul\u2019s mum died after a messy battle with her demons. It was the catalyst he needed to make a radical change to his own life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got serious about yoga and it cured my ten years of chronic back problems and stopped my addiction to alcohol, cigarettes and recreational drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he and wife, Tory, bought land outside Sydney and created Billabong Retreat<\/a>, an 18-bed eco getaway that enabled Paul to practice his new expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Bush cabin<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Within easy reach of the CBD, it\u2019s a perfect location for busy city folks to de-stress over the weekend and return to work with a fresh perspective. Kind of a re-boot for the brain. There\u2019s healthy food, massages and lots of bush to just wander in. Heck, swim in the billabong too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Massages at Billabong Retreat<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Now for the tricky bit. Time for this middle-aged, portly writer to join a group of lithe females for a yoga session. I\u2019m feeling very self-conscious as Basia, our disturbingly blissful and smugly serene yoga teacher, sits cross-legged in front of us. The only \u2018cross\u2019 I can manage is a cranky look when my weary knees won\u2019t comply.<\/p>\n

Was I paying attention when Paul explained the benefits of yoga to our assembled group some hours prior?<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is important to define what we mean by yoga because most people have a completely incorrect perception,\u201d he said patiently, \u201cIt\u2019s not about wrapping ourselves into pretzel-like positions, it\u2019s about mastery of the mind and in turn, mastery of the breath, the body, the emotions and the senses. It is about living, as much as possible, an evolved life. The physical postures are merely one aspect or technique where we can practise self understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul also went into some detail about the history of yoga, the 195 sutras and the fear of death. But I won\u2019t spoil things by clumsily paraphrasing him here. Suffice to say that Western routines teach us much about physical preparedness, fitness of body, but sod-all about fitness of mind. That’s where the spooky Eastern stuff comes in, controlling thoughts, actions and habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Basia does tea<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Our class with Basia continues. We\u2019re breathing \u2013 in \u2026 out \u2013 and stretching (ouch!) \u201cJust hold it there\u201d <\/p>\n

Am I feeling any benefit? Well, yes, even if the initial pain is off-putting.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost blokes I know have back problems, way too much stress and while they might be strong,\u201d says Paul, \u201cthey\u2019re tight and inflexible. All these things can be addressed with yoga and gentle exercise.<\/p>\n

\u201cMen like to act all tough but deep down most men want meaning and purpose to their life too – the connection through yoga meditation gives us that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ironically, yoga was originally for men only. For 4000 years women weren\u2019t even allowed to do yoga and now within the 60-or-so years it has been in the West, it\u2019s all changed big time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe men have a habit of being pretty un-tuned to our bodies,\u201d says Paul with a look of authority that comes with experience, \u201cbut the danger is that we are numb to the damage we do to ourselves through drinking, stressing or getting angry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m wondering just how many of our top footy and cricket players are closet yoga freaks. With the kind of battering these guys get, yoga sounds like a \u2018secret weapon\u2019. I can just see Fatty Vautin and Sam Newman now in a lotus flower. <\/p>\n

So blokes, next time that 12th vertebra reminds you of that bag of cement you shouldn\u2019t have lifted or that little old lady changes lane without an indicator, breath in, breath out. Ommm.<\/p>\n

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The Good Oil:<\/b><\/p>\n

Billabong Retreat Sydney\u200e
41 McClymonts Road
Maraylya NSW 2765
(02) 4573 6080
www.billabongretreat.com.au\u200e<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Misconception #1: Yoga is for skinny chicks who eat mung beans and don\u2019t wear lipstick Misconception #2: Yoga is for \u2018girly men\u2019 who really just need to HTFU. You can just picture it can\u2019t you? Bronzed and buff tradies down tools for a quick chakra before smoko [OMM], then back to work with a nail […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[378,379],"class_list":["post-11805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-roderick-eime","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11805\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}