From the archive
This post was published in 2017. Details like dates, class times and prices may have changed since, so check the current schedule or get in touch.
When it comes to exercise, I’m fairly selective. As a friend and colleague in the wellness industry pointed out to me, my preferred form of movement is rooted in a thousands-year old spiritual practice. As a yoga teacher for the last thirteen years, I’m interested not only in working efficiently and effectively, but in learning from teachers who are as passionate about their work as I am about mine. I want to work with instructors who haven’t simply memorized routines to push blindly on whomever shows up, but who can see the individual bodies in the room and guide them safely into their fullest potential.
I started practicing at the Charleston Kettlebell Club in March of 2016. I didn’t have any real goals other than to move dynamically again. As a yogi, I have a good bit of mobility, as well as decent strength in certain areas. My balance is pretty solid, even when I’m standing on my head. I simply missed the feeling of being strong and explosive. As it turns out, the Club has helped far beyond what I knew I needed.
In the first few months of classes, I immediately began to feel a capacity to tap into hidden strength. With Mike, Brett and Chelsea’s guidance, I also began to find functional ways to support some of my hypermobility, and those changes have influenced my yoga practice in beneficial ways. Many of the cues I was given to help me swing better were useful in my daily life. “Do less,” everyone kept telling me. I have a tendency to try to muscle through everything rather than work with the circumstances. In other words, this yoga teacher still has control issues, and breaking that habit through the bells has been great for me.
The real turn of events came as we began to discover that my lats have been essentially dormant – especially the one on the right. I’ve experienced a noticeable – but only occasionally problematic – asymmetry, manifesting as tension in the right side of my neck, my shoulder and through my right arm to my wrist. The imbalance bothered me, but it didn’t cause much pain at all, and my body had learned to compensate. I can’t begin to guess how many hours I’ve spent stretching that shoulder, arm and wrist, trying to loosen them up.
If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that the body’s intelligence goes much deeper and is far superior to cognition. My body knew that in order to be safe and stable, I needed to build the underlying strength of my lats before it could release the pattern of support I’d cobbled together in my shoulder. As I’ve begun to turn my lats back on again, I’m feeling more symmetry than I ever have. They still fight me sometimes, but Garrison has been (compassionately but relentlessly) cuing me in classes so that they fire up properly in each and every exercise.
Kettlebell training is a great complement for yogis – from the powerful pop of the hips to the strength of the grip, and in many other aspects of technique and approach. But training at the Club is in alignment, rather than in contrast, with yoga in many ways as well. The team encourages body awareness, accountability, and use of breath. The emphasis is never on the numbers, but on integrity in every aspect of the movement practice.
The Charleston Kettlebell Club is my school of strength because they are committed to making sure that what you learn makes you a better, more adaptable human. Yes, it’s fun to swing heavy and kick butt in the gym, but it’s really about getting out there and being able to live as large as possible for as long as possible – and that’s a mission I can get behind.
Ashley Bell
ashely@reverbcharleston.com
www.ReverbCharleston.com