What: Roller Disco
Where: Vauxhall
Who: http://www.rollerdisco.com/
When: Friday, 3rd August 2012
With: Here come the girls!
Why: It would be veritably criminal to live so close and never go to the Vauxhall Roller Disco. Plus I haven't broken a limb in a while.
Tuesday 17 July 2012
Sunday 8 July 2012
Massage Course
This was another voucher purchased through Groupon - £39 for a 5-hour "Introduction to Massage" course, courtesy of Alkanation (http://alkanation.com/london-workshops/introduction-to-massage/). It was held at the Neal's Yard Meeting Rooms just north of Covent Garden.
It was a well organised course: it started on time; there was the right number of hand-outs; and they incorporated a lunch break into the schedule. It began with a short discussion about the participants' experiences with massage and the various benefits that it can provide. Fortunately, this didn't take the form of a lecture and was pretty useful as it allowed all the latecomers to arrive without missing any of the technique demonstrations.
We learned four techniques in the class. First up was a basic neck, shoulder and back massage. This was quite hard to get to grips with, mainly because everyone has different sensitivity, especially on their neck. From experience, I have a very high pain threshold, but I had to be super-gentle with my partner, as she couldn't cope with much more than very gentle pressure.
I'm not sure what I think about reflexology (where areas of the hands and feet are linked to different parts of the body) but the hand massage which we learned next was refreshing and the foot massage was heavenly. Luckily I don't have a foot-phobia and I'm not squeamish about toes; for the guys who were, they tried out an extra hand massage.
We finished with an Indian head massage technique. For me, this was the one I was most interested in, as working in an office, hunched over a desk all day, puts a lot of strain on your neck muscles, and staring at a computer screen affects all the muscles surrounding your eyes.
How good was I at the techniques? Hard to say. Some of them (foot and hand) came a lot quicker than the others, but I imagine it is the kind of activity that improves with practice. All I need now are some willing guinea pigs...
This is for you if...
If you're looking for something that does what it says on the tin - an introduction to massage. There was nothing extraordinary or ground-breaking, but the course provided a solid base - either for learning further techniques, or just to provide a bit of knowledge to use when you need a bit of relaxation!
Recommendations
If you go with someone else, make sure you're comfortable massaging them, as you work in pairs the entire time. The best top to wear is a short-sleeved T-shirt, as this avoids straps or sleeves getting in the way.
It was a well organised course: it started on time; there was the right number of hand-outs; and they incorporated a lunch break into the schedule. It began with a short discussion about the participants' experiences with massage and the various benefits that it can provide. Fortunately, this didn't take the form of a lecture and was pretty useful as it allowed all the latecomers to arrive without missing any of the technique demonstrations.
We learned four techniques in the class. First up was a basic neck, shoulder and back massage. This was quite hard to get to grips with, mainly because everyone has different sensitivity, especially on their neck. From experience, I have a very high pain threshold, but I had to be super-gentle with my partner, as she couldn't cope with much more than very gentle pressure.
I'm not sure what I think about reflexology (where areas of the hands and feet are linked to different parts of the body) but the hand massage which we learned next was refreshing and the foot massage was heavenly. Luckily I don't have a foot-phobia and I'm not squeamish about toes; for the guys who were, they tried out an extra hand massage.
We finished with an Indian head massage technique. For me, this was the one I was most interested in, as working in an office, hunched over a desk all day, puts a lot of strain on your neck muscles, and staring at a computer screen affects all the muscles surrounding your eyes.
How good was I at the techniques? Hard to say. Some of them (foot and hand) came a lot quicker than the others, but I imagine it is the kind of activity that improves with practice. All I need now are some willing guinea pigs...
This is for you if...
If you're looking for something that does what it says on the tin - an introduction to massage. There was nothing extraordinary or ground-breaking, but the course provided a solid base - either for learning further techniques, or just to provide a bit of knowledge to use when you need a bit of relaxation!
Recommendations
If you go with someone else, make sure you're comfortable massaging them, as you work in pairs the entire time. The best top to wear is a short-sleeved T-shirt, as this avoids straps or sleeves getting in the way.
Sunday 1 July 2012
There's the rub
What: Introduction to Massage course
Where: Neal's Yard Meeting Rooms, near Covent Garden
Who: Alkanation
When: Sunday, 8th July 2012 at 10am-3pm
With: Myself
Why: I enjoy going for massages and so would like to learn more of the techniques. Plus, Will thought it was a good idea, for some reason...?
Where: Neal's Yard Meeting Rooms, near Covent Garden
Who: Alkanation
When: Sunday, 8th July 2012 at 10am-3pm
With: Myself
Why: I enjoy going for massages and so would like to learn more of the techniques. Plus, Will thought it was a good idea, for some reason...?
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