This month we've been catching up with Abi Adams, expert Budokon instructor and friend of Radiance. We talk the mind-body connection, raw emotion and empowerment.
So, Abi - our clients would love to know a little bit about your backgrouond, and how you came to where you are today.
Massage was where it all began for me! I was very lucky to have the support of my London born and bred family who sent me to study massage in the heart of London (Wardour Street to be exact). My fascination was sparked with the body and how it worked and how to make it work healthier. I travelled various places around the world learning deep tissue and facial release, Thai massage and Thai abdominal massage to name a few, before getting into yoga. In 2010, I became a yoga teacher under the guidance of Brian Cooper of Union Yoga as an Ashtanga teacher and then, in 2012 I went to India to study under Yog Vishvketu, learning Hatha, Hatha Raja, Kundalini and restorative yoga. Most of this I did whilst still working up in the West End and City as a PA (studying yoga whilst maintaining my social habits ended up breaking the camels back and nearly ruined the relationship with my now husband). But it wasn’t the postures that was my main focus, it was the movement into them.
After a traumatic end to 2016 (nothing like a bit of trauma to kick you up the arse and put you back in focus), I booked myself a place on a one month MMA intensive at Budokon, Miami. Studying with Koncho Cameron Shayne and the most amazing group of open minded people I’ve ever met has changed my perspective and life. Studying the art of calisthenics, yoga, martial arts, grappling, animal locomotion and mobility has proven that movement is the key to health, balance and joy.
Budokon Yoga is still fairly unknown by most - can you tell us why it's so special?
Koncho Cameron Shayne founded Budokon over 20 years ago. Coming from his love of movement, Budokon is about striping back the person you limit yourself as, allowing physical expression and exploration to pave the way to your most incredible life. I’ve been on many spiritual journeys and spent time with many wonderful spiritual people, but these movers I met in Miami were the most inspiring I’ve ever met. Not afraid to fall, hurt, cry, get pulled up on the drama they created in their day to day lives. I feel privileged for that experience.
Can you tell us a little bit about that experience in Miami?
We had to move 8-10 hours a day: Running and martial arts the morning, Mind Science, Budokon Yoga (inspired by martial arts), and a solid 4 hours of movement in the evening which included mobility/animal locomotion, sparring/boxing, finishing with grappling. Come 10pm at night many of us couldn’t speak, but still we had to clean the dojo and kitchen before hitting the sack. Emotionally drained the majority of the time, you began to see just the person you allowed to show up back home. We were broken down and built back up again, and I loved every minute of it because I realised how I was responding to life. I’ve never felt so emotional, the perfectionist coming out in me wanted to scream and run, but we did it and those tears that fell were like a damn bursting. Pure, raw emotion draining out of me. Budokon has been one of the most amazing, life changing experiences of my life (second to being blessed with my husband and son).
As a qualified life coach too, what's the link between yoga and life coaching - why is this important to you?
The old school way of treating head and body as separate entities is slowly phasing out. The body is a physical expression of everything you are thinking and have experienced. You can’t just talk yourself out of depression and anxiety, the body holds the tension from the mind. It's a bit like its dumping ground. If you keep dumping with no creative outlet or expression, it builds up and physical disabilities start to manifest. This is why for me personally, counselling doesn’t work. Words, thoughts and feelings have a movement to them and this is what I establish with many of my private clients in elevating mental and physical imbalances.
Tell us all about the Mind Body Transformation Retreat in June - what can we expect to see?
Mind Body Transformation Retreat is about open minded women looking to understand their mental and physical strength. To enable them to become the women they keep looking elsewhere for. It’s about getting down and dirty, emotionally, mentally, physically and with other women supporting them, like family. For 2.5 days we’ll live by the beach, our days consisting of yoga (Budokon, Vinyasa and Ying), runs to the beach, progression strength training to support your yoga practice (Calisthenics), learning why we react to life the way we do as we understand how we were raised and the blueprint it left, all supported with organic food (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks included and freshly made on site) cooked up by our amazing plant based chef Rachel Dring of Crop Drop. Guided meditations will close our days empowerment, leading to a restorative nights sleep.
You’ll leave this workshop feeling empowered, inspired and tapped into the uniqueness of what makes you, YOU.
You can book onto Abi's Mind Body Tranformation Retreat here.
