Confessions of a bar(re) lover!

Barre? Yes. Barre lover? Oh yes! I am the type of girl who gets bored so easily by monotonous gym equipment and constantly long for variety and human interaction for work outs. For those people who has relentless urge to stay fit and doesn't care how may not really understand my point. To me, fitness is 50% obligation and 50% fun, grin.I am happy about inheriting a lot of things from my bloodline like wheatish skin tone, love for food, kanchi saris, gold, stringed jasmine flowers, etc. There's one thing I totally hate is inheriting stubborn fat in my love handle. Hi-5 to all those who agree.

So under the "obligation" I started working out in 2008 and I must say I loved the way I felt after shedding a few kilos. But the "machine" routine got me boring. I should give it to my grandma who used to wake me up every morning at 6 am to get me going to gym and when I refused to wake up she will start yelling from the kitchen complaining about how I'm wasting the money I paid to the gym. Grandma problems I say. I then spent more money and enrolled in a gym which has variety of group exercises like aerobics and yoga which really thrilled me. I remember waking up with extra energy to attend those classes. Later I moved abroad and explored many more types like Zumba, Insanity, Tabata, Spinning, Kick boxing, Boot camp and Body Pump. All these I have listed are really great alternatives to the regular routine and they vary a lot from each other. Zumba, Insanity and spinning are great cardio routines by building the stamina. Body Pump helps in building and toning all the muscles . Tabata, Kick boxing and Boot camp are killer routines which is a mix of cardio and strength training. I really mean it.

I don't have a great health record and I struggle a lot in the above mentioned killer routines where my trainers would constantly be calling out my name to motivate me. Recently, I got introduced to Barre workout which is based on ballet moves. I have 2 different instructors and one is manageable while the other one challenges us. After doing this for about 6 weeks (twice a week) I definitely see noticeable difference in my legs. The first class was really funny where I heard the terms plea and releve for the first time. For starters, these are ballet moves/positions which I had no idea about and still trying to understand. Most of the moves are done on tippy toes which is called 'releve' but we always have an option to stand on our full feet. The class starts with warm up exercises which is then followed by arm using weights and leg workouts using the bars. It usually ends with a couple of core exercises after which our body pleads for rest. But again, having a great instructor is the main motivating factor for any activity. I look forward to my Friday morning ballet classes mainly because of my instructor who has a son (18+ years old), an amazing body, stamina, personality and knows the art of teaching. And I have an additional advantage of a good company, my colleague who motivates me as well. Both of us cry in pain when we do those pleas, oh god. But at the end of the day we feel really fresh and good for doing something nice to our bodies. So what are you waiting for?

Love, 
Bri

The Queen in me!

Have you watched the movie Queen? The movie in which Kangana Ranaut played the role of a young woman from a small city who goes on a lone trip to Europe to get over the trauma when her ex-fiance calling off their wedding. Well if you haven't, go read the remaining plot on Wikipedia, :-D 

Anyways my point is travel really has the power to heal and transform. I was born in South India and I have toured 3 other states apart from mine, thanks to my parents. I was going through an emotional trauma when my parents were refusing to accept my then boy friend (now husband) into our family like any other orthodox middle class Indian parents.Cant blame them, honestly. It went on for about a year and a half and nothing was changing except my father was becoming more stubborn and so was I, after all same blood huh ?!. It is then I got the opportunity of traveling to London for work. Omg, that was the best thing that has ever happened to me (only next to my husband, cheesy). 

My "first ever" visit outside India and I was filled with mixed emotions like anxiety and excitement. I got to stay with a Srilankan (by birth) family who rented out one of their bedrooms in their beautiful house. Loved everything about the house starting from the rectangular sash windows, subtle hues on the wall papers and that apple tree on the backyard. They welcomed me like their own family and made me feel at home. I had to cook for myself on regular basis which I was not used to, started making simple dishes and found comfort in having them with wine. It was July I believe so the weather was just perfect. The first weekday morning I reached my office with a colleague of mine. My desk at workplace was overlooking River Thames and the O2 arena located on the other side of the river. I met some really interesting people at work, to quote a few - one female who wore a nearly perfect make up daily, a female who dressed like a bombshell, an old man who kept staring at everyone and asked me out once. 

I had to get on tubes to reach my office, which was pretty bad during peak morning hours. People literally pushed fellow passengers just like the scene back home and some even tried to open the automatically closing doors so that they can squeeze in, hahaha. Otherwise it was fun being on the tubes with the map in my hands. I started exploring the city on my own, with some input from my landlord and the tube map. No, I dint use google maps at all. I never felt lost or scared in the hustle, rather I felt confident and super good. I did visit places like Tower Bridge, House of Parliament, London eye, etc but my favorite was Oxford street which was adorned beautifully around Christmas. It was a white Christmas, my first ever snow which was mesmerizing to watch. The city obviously had umpteen number of food and fashion choices which most of the times intrigued me.

I must say my daily rides, my cooking stories, my lovely landlords, my colleagues, random people I met, the city as it is played its role in transforming me into a confident woman and gave me all the strength to face the challenges life has for me. So here's to the queen in me, Cheers !

Love, Bri