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Recession Rut
Get moving... cheaply!
The festive season may have left you feeling inflated from overindulgence and you may currently be despairing at the lack of money in your pocket.
Then of course, the long recession has really held a wet, dull blanket over the country. Young people are struggling to be seen and heard and are slipping through the cracks - into depression, anxiety, overweight and unemployment! Does this sound familiar?
If you are in your teens or early twenties and struggle to maintain your weight, now is the time to take action. An alternative that not only works on your waistline, but also instils peace and calmness is yoga. No worries if cash if an issue though - Open Mind Yoga studios on Pearse Street, central Dublin, offer affordable yoga classes at a rock-bottom €8 - €10 per class. They also have at least one ‘Donation’ class per day and if it’s your first time at Open Mind Yoga, your first Yoga class is FREE!!! There are also other yoga shalas and studios around Dublin and other cities with similar offers, so just do a little digging! Stepping onto the mat and taking your first class could start you on the path to health and wellness.
Besides yoga, many gyms have slashed their prices to get people through their doors and exercising again, but if their rates are still out of your reach, there are cheaper options out there.
Many community centres around the country offer a range of youth-focused classes at very cheap rates, to encourage young people to exercise and engage with their community instead of hanging around the streets or getting involved in alcohol, crime or drugs. Ballybough in Dublin’s inner city is one such community centre. It opens six days a week (some evenings until 10 pm) and their facilities include an outdoor All-Weather pitch, Youth Service offices, computer rooms and a café. They also run FAS back to work programmes and youth services, as well as aerobics, soccer, martial arts, Pilates and Yoga classes.
Jessica Rogan (19), an out of work make-up artist and resident of Ballybough, does Pilates, aerobics, yoga and Weight Watchers and she highly recommends her local community centre. “It is good for the community because it keeps young people off the streets and gives them something to do,” says Jess. When asked about the benefits of the centre for the unemployed, she said: “It’s great because you get to meet people and have something to do instead of sitting at home worrying about money. The classes are so cheap also. I think people can stretch to €4 for [an] aerobics class once or twice a week”. Jess also struggles with her weight and said that she “lost around a stone” from the combined classes she had taken in the centre and that it had been “very good for [her] confidence, because if you stick to it, it works!”
Karl Henry, personal trainer to the stars, suggests in his book ‘Real Results: The Ultimate Health and Fitness Guide’, that when you are in your teens, you learn habits that will be with you through your whole life. The more active you are now, the less likely you are to have weight issues as you go into your thirties, which is the time when your metabolism starts to slow down and it becomes harder to shift the pounds!
Now, tell me that does not motivate you to stick on your leggings and runners, grab your yoga mat and head for the door!!
By: Lorraine Flood
