Stretching our creative muscle

Flo in action...

Last month we offered to take you up The Shard in exchange for your feedback on our e-news. Call it what you will; valued client reward scheme, clever marketing or just plain bribery, but it seems many of you couldn’t resist the temptation.

Congratulations to John Mitchell from Cushman & Wakefield, who is our lucky winner. We hope you and your lucky guest enjoy the view!

Over all we had an amazing response, so thank you to everyone who left their comments. You have spoken and we will listen! Expect a few changes over the coming months as we take on board what you’ve all said and make our e-news the best it can possibly be.

One thing you wanted was more of an insight into our personality, therefore we thought we would share our Friday Yoga lesson with you, Downward Dog and all (be careful what you wish for next time!).

Always keen to try new things, we invited Katie’s yoga teacher into the studio to loosen up our rickety bones and pull us away from our desks for an hour - Katie had been singing her praises so we couldn’t resist.

Flo is an experienced Vinyasa Flow yoga teacher who runs her aptly named Flo Yoga lessons in and around London. She has a mix of studio and private lessons where she offers her students a thorough workout (as we discovered the next day as we struggled to lift a cup of coffee!).

The guys in action...Can you spot the difference?

Before Flo arrived, Katie told us to check out one of her online workouts, and regaled us with tales of how she makes yoga fun and accessible to all levels. We would later realize that Katie had been lulling us into a false sense of security…although we can confirm Flo was lovely.

As the clock struck 12.30 we all changed into our most yoga appropriate outfits, pushed the sofas aside and prepared to awaken our inner gods and goddesses by getting in touch with our chakras…or something like that anyway!

Glenn admiring Ben's downward dog...

Flo got us started with a few gentler moves where we stretched our arms and warmed up our spines, it was all very calming. However, it seems this wasn’t our actual workout and Flo soon moved us on to the Sun Salutations. For any none Yoga readers, this is a series of lunges, planks and other stretches guaranteed to make you huff and puff with the best of us! We of course managed to keep our composure throughout...

Flo demonstrates the next move, however the group don't seem to notice...

Flo demonstrated each pose, giving us plenty of instruction and guidance to improve each move, and offered variations for those more or less experienced. Whilst the yoga newbies threw themselves into it, there was no chance of us getting our own legs as high above our head as Flo’s, and thankfully there was no pressure to do so! She also explained the thinking behind some of the moves, and the benefits of doing yoga, especially if you spend all day at a desk.

Even though it was tougher than most of the office expected it was great fun, I think we saw each other in a different light (some more favorable than others depending on the angle…), but we’ll definitely be seeing Flo for some more Eka Pada Rajakapotasana or pigeon pose for those whose Sanskrit is a little rusty. And of course we offset all this goodness with Friday Beers a few hours later…

Our end goal.

A little info on the lovely Flo in case you’re interested! She teaches at Embody Wellness in Vauxhall, as well as some Virgin Active and Gymbox branches. If you’d like to find out a little more or fancy seeing if she can teach at your offices then feel free to drop her a line, we’d highly recommend her!

floyoga.mail@gmail.com
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