 Hei, fy fan. Weltym yn meddwl â'r cwlad. Felly yn cael ei fan hyn yw'r chef ddawn i Ladonya. Mae'n amlwgol honi. Mae'n adjusteol i llwybenau yn gyffredig, mae'n meddwl ammlwgol a'r gyffredig, mae'n meddwl a'r ysgwrdd yn cyffreadig psychologaeth ac mae'n bydd o'r cyfrifm bryd yn dod ar y swyderau. O'r bydd yn oed i'n gwaith bod yn ysgwrdd. Mae'n arwad o'n fwy cwlad ac rydw i roi. Hey, it's Lewis. Welcome to the podcast. Enjoy our conversations anytime, anywhere. And we're live. How you doing? I'm doing well, thanks. How are you? Yeah, not too bad, not too bad. Had a crazy experience a couple of days ago. I got mugged for the first time. Oh my gosh, that's awful. What happened? I was walking home about nine o'clock and a couple of guys on the Mayfair drove past and then turned around and then drove past me again. And they were like shouting something. So I thought I wanted to ask them for directions or something. Yeah. So I was like, yeah, what do you want? Anyway, one of the big guys at the back, hopped off, came over and he was like, give me your watch, give me your watch. He was probably quite flattering because obviously he thought I was a guy wearing my watch, but I don't wear anything. So I was like, sorry mate, I don't have a watch. So he was like, what have you got, what have you got? So I gave him my phone. And then luckily he didn't get violent. Oh my gosh, I'm really glad you're okay. Crazy. It's quite scary. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm surprisingly calm though. It's quite fun. Yeah, yeah. Just like... You just accepted it, but that's the best way to be, isn't it? Yeah. Just accept it, move on, it's not worth it. Yeah. And you can't get into the phone anyway. Yeah, yeah, what they're going to do with it. It's 256 bit encrypted. Yeah. Can't love you anymore. Yeah. So you've got your new phone now. So I've got a new phone. And you're all safe. All safe. Good, good. Set up story to tell. Yes. So it's cool. What have you been up to? Wow, I've been really busy at the minute. Doing, running lots of sessions. Doing lots of one-to-ones, working a lot. And relaxing a lot as well. Cos I like to do a bit of both. Nice. So you're doing yoga? Teaching yoga classes, fitness classes. Doing coaching workshops. And delivering training for young people and professionals. So a bit of everything. Super busy. Yeah. And what are you doing for young people? I'm managing a health service which supports young people to have an awareness of sexual health. Relationships. Yeah. That's relationships, sexual health. For young people sort of 13 to 25 I mainly work with. Nice. So they're in schools? So within schools, youth clubs, hostels, basically anywhere where young people are I can go. Nice. And do they join a group? So usually what I do are kind of, we have some groups but I mainly do standalone sessions. So it will be like a specific session on STIs or a specific session on consent. And it will be either based on what the organisation like the school or the youth club are looking for. Or if there's been any issues, for example, there might be a school who's had a lot of issues with inappropriate touch. So they'll ask me to come in and deliver a session on consent for example. So it's really varied. Nice. Are you interested with the kids? Yeah, they are. And I think they like having someone who they don't know to come in and they can just kind of ask any questions without that awkward thing of oh I have to see them again the next day or oh they're my maths teacher or something like that. So we get a good response. Nice. And are you doing also another stuff like health? Yeah. So I deliver sessions on sort of anxiety and stress. So sort of mild to moderate mental health and then of course physical health as well because I do the fitness and the yoga. So it's really mainly the combination of the physical health and the mental health that I work with and the sexual health. With kids. Yeah. With kids and adults. Yeah. Both. And you're finding because obviously a big like issue with health generally in the country. Yeah. You're finding that kids are getting more healthy or they're doing it more in school or not? Well in terms of how things are changing there is change coming at the moment for example sexual health is not mandatory in schools. Only biology is. So young people will have the birds and the bees but they won't have those conversations about relationships about screening about STIs necessarily. Really? Yeah but which is so unfortunate in 2019 the legislation is changing that all schools will have to deliver relationships and sex education. So it's being changed from SRE which is sex and relationships to RS relationships and sex because God forbid we talk about sex first. Yeah. And that will be for primary schools and secondary schools. The wage? From reception onwards. Really? Yeah. It's like five years old. Yep. Interesting. So that will be talking about things like boundaries, appropriate touch, how to say no, public and private body parts and then all the way up to pornography and things like that in the older secondary school years. Awesome. Yeah. And this is going to be mixed right in mixed schools. Mixed schools. Yeah. They'll be taught to get the same together. Yep. So the way I do my sessions best practice is generally to teach them together but if there's an issue where it'll be safer to separate them then I will but generally mixed sessions all the way through. Interesting. And on the relationship stuff is that also group sessions? Generally group sessions. I do also run women's groups as well separately so that women have a space to express as well. So what do you cover with the kids on relationships? There will be things like boundaries, maybe social media. Consent is a real big one because there's a lot of blurry lines about what consent means in the context of relationship or just friends with benefits or other sorts of things. So we'll talk about that. We'll talk about the law sexting which is a big thing now. I mean it's everywhere. It's a common part of many young people and adults relationships but there are lots of laws around it and there's lots of things that young people need to know about. I mean keeping themselves safe, avoiding risky behaviour. So those are kind of the main areas that we cover. Harvey Weinstein missed out on that massively. Yeah, yeah. And then on the diet and what about on the diet stuff? Yeah. Are they like learning at school like what's good to eat, what's not? Yeah so with the nutrition side of things I mainly work with adults. So I'm not really in schools doing the nutrition and diet but there are little bits that are coming in terms of what food is provided in schools. Vending machines are getting a little bit more healthy but I think we've still got quite a lot of work to do in that arena to be honest. Yeah but it probably also comes from the parents because when we were growing up I think there was a lot less on diet. You know we're eating lots of sugar, carbs, all this kind of stuff. So it's been changing. Yeah. There is a lot of awareness about diet now especially with new movements like veganism and things like that. But then at the same time it's not always necessarily focused on health so some of it is focused on ethical reasons. Veganism is more ethics. That's the thing because then there can be lots of very unhealthy vegan food. That's true. Yeah. And you're vegetarian? I'm vegetarian yet. Vegetarian but non dairy so a colleague of mine calls it vegan. And was that like health reasons or moral? So I've been vegetarian since I was a child and rather I would say it was more like spiritual reasons. I love animals and I want to practice non-violence really so it was more a spiritual path for me. Okay but you have fish there? Yeah I have well I recently unfortunately was a bit poorly so I started adding in fish every now and then. And I stopped everything when I was seven. You stopped everything present? As in meat and fish. And then recently I've added back some fish. And do you find you like still like energy levels are high? Yeah I do so I did try a period of going full vegan for about four months but unfortunately it really didn't work for my body. My energy levels were low. My iron levels went down so when I introduced the eggs again. Occasional fish if my body craves it I won't deny it. Flawtio eggs though? Well if you watch a lot of the documentaries unfortunately sometimes or most of the time the chickens aren't kept in very nice conditions. So I do feel bad but also I want to try and balance in terms of looking after my health as well. But if you knew that the stuff you were consuming like the eggs chickens whatever are kept in really nice conditions. I'd feel a lot better so if I had a pet chicken that gave me eggs I'd feel very comfortable with that. But you wouldn't eat the chicken? No I still wouldn't eat the chicken. I think I'm going to get the opposite. I want to eat more meat this year. Do you? What's the reason? We're omnivores like humans so we've grown up as hunter-gatherers right? I think vegetables and moving hunters and meats in my opinion are super healthy. The richest bit is the liver and I feel great eating meat. Like it's loads of protein, the right kind of meat you eat, good fat. Along with vegetables and stuff I think it's perfect. I feel really good on it. And everybody's different. So I've cut down a lot on my calves. So I've tried to go kind of ketogenic. So high fat, relatively high protein and then just cut my calves. And I've tried to just go for anything with the nutritional value in the back. So I've gone for stuff that grows in the ground. Whole foods, very clean. I just feel like it's how we were meant to be eating how our ancestors would have eaten. I hear that. On the moral side, I eat kosher. I think the animals are kept well and not fed before like the steroids and stuff. So I feel good on it. The morals are about the morals of the person because there can be some vegans even though they're vegan, not very nice people. Some meat eaters are absolutely wonderful and that is the case. Sometimes I find the vegan stuff, they really like evangelise. Yeah, sometimes it's a bit meat-shamy. So rather than it being for health reasons, it's like moral higher ground type stuff. You rarely see meat eaters doing it the other way around. And there's no reason any of us should be having a moral higher ground over anyone. Absolutely. You do what's right for you. Exactly. It doesn't matter what other people do. I think genuinely that good advice on health is needed because obesity and diabetes is the biggest drain on the NHS. And definitely people need help. And I think what happens is, I mean I guess there is a lack of information that is definitely a factor but also there's a lack of belief that we are in control of our health. It's always like that kind of white coat syndrome. The doctor will tell me what to do, the doctor will heal me and it's like the healing ability is within ourselves. So I strongly believe that. True. What about do you do much exercise? I do. I do weight training, I teach dance and I do yoga every day. I love my yoga. You do yoga every day? Every day, yeah. When did you get into it? I got into yoga I would say about five or six years ago by accident. I kind of stumbled across a class, thought it would be like this easy, peasy breathing thing and got in, sweated like more than I could possibly imagine, moved in ways that I never knew possible and I just absolutely loved it and then just went from there. Which one did you start with? So I started with fitness yoga. So I was in a gym, it was just fitness yoga. It was purely for fitness purposes. I wanted to get flexible, I wanted to try something new and really my only idea about it at that point. And at the time are there mostly women in the class? Yeah, it is mostly women actually still now. Really? Yeah. What percentage are you finding? I mean the classes I teach are women only anyway. Right. And when I attend classes it tends to be I would say 95% women. Interesting. Yeah. Why do you think that is? I think the way that yoga is portrayed in the mainstream media is an image of a young, usually white female. So that's who people identify with. And so we just get the repeat of those same people coming. It feels like a bit of an exclusive space, which I don't really like unfortunately. But then you do see the yogis in India like men? Yeah, they're men, yeah. I know. You can tell that because a lot of the postures are actually suited to a male body. Are they? Things like feet together in a standing position, which for a woman with hips is very hard to do. True. But for a man it's quite easy and there's a posture called shoulder stand, which if you've got boobs is really hard. So it was kind of developed by men for men at that time. Interesting. But in India, presumably more men do it there than men here, right? Yeah. Because that typical white female, is that a Western thing? That's a Western thing. Yeah, that's how it's kind of developed in the North America and Europe. So it's really quite different from the traditional yoga and the ancient spiritual practices. What's done in the UK and Canada and the States is like I would say maybe like 10% of the real spiritual practices. I mean what's the less postures? Well, the full yoga is more like a philosophy. So I would say it's something akin to Buddhism. It's a whole philosophy with scriptures and practices and there are eight limbs of yoga and the physical postures are only one of the eight limbs. So there's other factors that someone would follow if they wanted to follow a yogic lifestyle and that traditionally in India is what is known as yoga. The postures were just to make you strong, supple and give you a good way to sit for meditation traditionally. And do you do meditation as well? I do. I do. It's so like fidgety. Do you? I tried it like once or twice. What did you do? I got pins and needles. Oh, did you? Couldn't sit still. Yeah, it's hard. We've got busy minds. Yeah, I was like so busy because they were like clear mind. I'm like just so many things were going on in my mind. I was sitting cross-legged and like I just got... Yeah, it happens. But yoga though, I've also been doing for probably on and off for a bit longer. I started with, I think I started with like bitcraft. Hot yoga. Hot yoga. Yeah, that's a challenge. It was great because I was doing a lot of running. Yeah. And then I just needed to really like have a good stretch. Yeah. And I was quite flexible before. But she really wanted a good like hour and a half. And so I got in the hot yoga and it was like I sweated like a bitch. Yeah. An hour and a half. Yeah. Great stretch. Felt great. And then so I got into like a little on and off thing now. And then I tried it through other yoga. Yeah. And I did like... What's the other one? I don't remember what the other one's known now. Maybe Vanessa Florent? Yeah, Vanessa Florent. Yeah. But then when I started hot yoga, I was probably like one of a few guys. But then I found that more and more guys are doing it. Yeah. Hot yoga is quite one of the most popular one for men to try. Okay. How did it make you feel being the only guy in the room or one of the few? You know, it was fine. Yeah. I didn't care. Yeah. Like I was just sweating. Yeah. And I was just like it's hard enough just to grind you the poses. Yeah, exactly. Like I don't mind who is watching me. Yeah. You know, like you just, everyone's in there sweating. Yeah. It's really hard. I like putting myself in uncomfortable situations. And it's a really uncomfortable situation. Yeah, it definitely is. And so when I afterwards I felt so good. Like just sweating it. That release. Yeah, just some really amazing. And I think it's getting more popular with guys. Yeah, definitely. Although if I think about my mates. Not many. No. Not many are doing yoga. But it is changing in general. So I'm hoping. So many new places are popping up. Exactly. Studios everywhere which is positive. And classes online and things like that. Yeah. Why is that more? What's the strength that you do? What's the strength and conditioning? So I'm very much in the weight training. I like free weights. That's my favourite type of strength and conditioning workout to do. And a bit of body weight as well. Yeah, mixed. So calesthetics and stuff. Yeah, yeah. I love it. It's a really nice addition to the yoga. I love the strength and the flexibility together. I think it makes a really nice balance. Because I found before I started yoga. I used to do all strength training. Very tight, very stiff. Naturally flexible. Which didn't have the same mobility as I have now. So I love them both together. Do you have the mobility from the yoga? I think I got the mobility from specifically training mobility actually. Because I had the flexibility and the strength. And then with the mobility training. I like to just move in lots of different ways. Whereas yoga is a bit back and forwards on the mat only. So I like to sometimes take it off the mat. And just move around in space now. Which is what I had to do? What did you do for mobility? So I just do my own workouts really. I just... So say for example you come into a lunge position. And that would be quite a static movement. So I've got the strength to hold myself in a lunge. And the flexibility to open my hips and my quads to get there. Mobility might be moving back and forward in the lunge. Or side to side. To work deeper into the stretch. So it's like the flexibility and the strength together. Which is what I'm sort of working on this year. Nice. And then the dancing ties everything together? Yeah dancing is just where I started. I just love it. I love teaching my girls. And yeah just love to dance. Love to move. And what dance do you do? So I mainly teach Latin in Caribbean. And sort of R&B as well. So like world styles. Anything with a good beat. Reggaeton, dancehall, reggae. Yeah. And then you do an hour session? Do an hour session. And you teach them a... Yeah so I teach them either zumba or just choreography. Nice. Yeah. Nice. So did you do dance when you were younger? Yeah so I was always kind of in between. So when I was at school I did my traditional GCSE. And my humanity subjects. But on the side I also studied dance, BTech. And then when I got to college it was the same thing. It was like half of my A levels were creative. Half of my A levels were more humanities, social science. And then when I got to university I had to make the choice. So I chose to go down the route of psychology. But I couldn't leave my passion for movement. So then I studied a train to become an instructor on the side. And then kind of just always been doing them simultaneously ever since. Nice. And then how did the mental health stuff? So that came when I finished my degree. I then went and did a post-grad in life coaching. And started working as a high school counsellor. With sort of mild to moderate mental health with high school students. And so did that. But then still taught my classes in the evening. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Nice. What's your favourite bit? I think my favourite bit is seeing people progress from A to B. So the classes that I teach for example, they're all in community locations apart from one. I teach in libraries. I teach in community centres. And they're my sessions. So I get women who feel that generally they wouldn't be able to exercise. They're not the gym goers. They're women who want to try something new. Who may become for social reasons. And then when they get there and they work with me and we build on their strength and their cardio. They become new women. They become people that they thought they could never be. And that's what I really love about it. How do you get more people involved in it? Do you know what to be honest? In all my years I've never marketed. I've never marketed. We need to get more people genuinely into like... Moving. Help. I know. I think we need to make it less exclusive. So my classes are quite cheap where I can I get funding. So that making it that people aren't priced out of the market. It doesn't seem like something ridiculous. I mean the typical yoga class in London is £17. So I mean I think it's expensive and it's exclusive. So I think we need to kind of demystify it and just make it seem like something normal. A round of drinks in London is like you can spend 100 quid. A lot of people say it's too expensive. And for like a bunch of people for sure. Like 17 quid for an hour. But then there's loads of people I speak to and they say it's too expensive but then they drop 100 quid. That's true. That's a good point. It's a mentality shift I guess isn't it? Hugely. Because at some point you have to invest in your health. Whether it's now or massively. I think a lot of people are just lazy. The hardest thing is getting off the couch. It is and it's the mental fatigue. They say at the end of the day I'm tired after work. I don't have the energy to go and move. But if you move you will have more energy. It's the mental fatigue. It's not physical. If you've been sitting at your desk all day you're not physically fatigued. So I think there's a knowledge bit there as well. Hugely. But also the mental health and the exercises is hugely linked. Such a big link. For me I feel so good after doing exercise. I did CrossFit. I told you I spoke about it last time. How's that going? Yeah I love it. I love it. A lot of people don't like it. A lot of people like it. I mean for me just movement in general is amazing. It's better to be doing something than not. Exactly. For me I really love CrossFit because it's a group exercise. And I work much harder with other people. And then there's a coach. And then I'm learning new skills. Being fit is great. But being fit and learning new skills is even better. Exactly. I sing on the cake. So I'm doing gymnastics. Olympic weightlifting. Which I've never really done before. I used to just run. So yeah it's been really good. I've done it for coming up to three years now. Nice. Yeah. Which has been really cool. Yeah. I've not tried CrossFit yet but it is on the list. Get involved. Yeah. Get involved. It's been really great. Awesome. I think we've done half an hour or so now. Cool. Yeah. Thank you very much. That's okay. Yeah. Anything else you want to chat about? No I'm done. Yeah. Thank you. See ya. Well it's been so good to chat with you. Thank you so much for having me today. I really enjoyed it. It's a pleasure. It's been great to have you. Yeah. So you can check all your stuff out on the movement of Donia. Instagram. Yeah. Website. Facebook. Facebook. Yeah. All the usual social media outlets. Perfect. Awesome. Okay. Thanks again. Thanks so much. See you soon. Take care. Bye bye. Hey folks. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to subscribe in all the usual places.