I am lying on a yoga mat on the floor of my sitting room and renowned yogi Nahid de Belgeonne is standing over me, issuing me with instructions on how to rock my body.
The trick, she explains, is to start at the heels, and let the up and down movement undulate through the body, prompting the knees and then the spine, and finally the head to follow suit. I suppress the urge to giggle and do as instructed, allowing my form to gently but consistently give in to the motion, my heels encouraging each wave of movement.
I’m here to try Nahid’s new Restorative Rocking class. If anyone but Nahid had asked me to try rocking in a bid to reduce persistent stress, muscle tension and anxiety, I’m not sure I’d have bothered. It seems too elementary — but Nahid is famous for this sort of work with clients including Gemma Arterton and, reportedly, Alicia Keys. She founded The Human Method, which she describes as a holistic way via gentle movement classes “to reboot the communication from brain to body; to release muscle tension and affect the emotions.” It’s her back-to-basics antidote to our fast-paced culture.
Now, she’s taking it to the next level with rocking, and I, as an exhausted Londoner with all the woes of living here during desperately uncertain times, am keen to reap the rewards.
As I rock my body up and down, Nahid plays an app to assist with rhythmic breathing (“Breathing App” — free, easy to use, would recommend), and I rock and breathe and rock and breath and, in honesty, feel nothing but utterly ridiculous.
At that point, the melody for Rock Your Body pops into my head and I find myself pondering what Justin Timberlake meant by “the air is thick, it’s smelling right”. I devote around twenty cycles of breath to this ridiculous line of thought. Keen meditators will know that this resistance — the mind jumping all over the place restlessly — is part of the process. It’s frustrating nonetheless. In any case, I nearly tell Nahid that clearly I am resistant to the effects of restorative rocking when she tells me to stop and take stock of how I’m feeling.
That’s when it happens. My body feels like it’s being poured onto the yoga mat, spreading under me like batter in a cake tin. I feel warm, soft, soothed. There are no two ways about it: the rocking has absolutely switched my mind and body down a notch. Thinking it would be nice to have a little nap now that everything is so very peaceful, I shut my eyes, but Nahid asks me to rock again, this time in a slightly different position so my body doesn’t get used to the effect.
We repeat the cycle, stop, my body and mind soften, and then we begin again. The urge to nap never leaves, and I feel deeply soothed by the end of the session.
Despite my relaxed state, I’m teeming with questions for Nahid, and start by asking how she discovered that something so simple could be so effective, to which she replies: “I’ve been teaching for 18 years, and have always known that oscillations are good for stimulating the cells and I actually set up Good Vibes, the first independent Power Plates studio in the UK, to make use of them to quickly build muscle. Equally, many traditions use it to let go of tension via, say, Qui Gong or Feldenkrais, which I am trained in.”
While I was as sceptical that rocking could really benefit me, it really does. I’ve since practised it a few times, and it never fails to quite literally shake the day off. Nahid says this is to be expected. “Rocking is so primal — think of a caregiver rocking a baby to soothe them, communicating through movement before we even have language. You can use it to transition from one physical state to another, because our modern lifestyle has made us very good at contracting muscles, but not very good at letting go.”
Rocking is so primal — think of a caregiver rocking a baby to soothe them, communicating through movement before we even have language
That last bit really chimed with me. I’m besieged with suggestions of exercise routines every time I open Instagram, forever being told that muscles are the key to avoiding myriad issues — and while that’s true, and exercise is essential to maintaining good physical health, Nahid’s conviction, that somatic movement (i.e. where the focus is on the internal experience of moving and what it feels like) is hugely beneficial, makes me wonder if this rocking business is something I should be adding into my routine.
When I look into it further, I’m convinced I should. The pros are far greater and more diverse than simply reducing stress (though it does this very effectively via the parasympathetic nervous system, which is activated by stress and can lead to increased muscle tension, heart rate, and breathing).
Practise rocking for a mere five to ten minutes and you can expect any number of benefits: tension release, calming an overstimulated nervous system, promotion of balance, a cascade of endorphin release, reduced inflammation, improved circulation, deeper sleep, better lymphatic drainage, stronger bones, and even less lower back pain (thanks to engaging core abdominal and thigh muscles).
Does that sound like a tick list of everything a frazzled city-dweller might need on the regular? I thought so — and, after trying it, I felt it was the perfect antidote to city living; think yoga, but no need for flexibility or a lengthy session to get the benefits — and no cost associated. Phew.
Want in? Here’s your step-by-step guide:
1. Lie down somewhere comfortable with a pillow under your head.
2. Start by breathing slowly. Try using an app if you find you tend to lose the rhythm or forget to breathe deeply.
3. Push your heels into the ground and release, sending your body into a rocking motion.
4. Stop when it feels right to (I found I usually did after five to 10 rounds of breath).
5. Slightly switch position (you could lie on your side, with a hand on the floor in front of your chest, for example), and repeat.
6. Rock for at least five minutes, though you can of course do it for longer.
