{"id":5487,"date":"2011-03-29T20:11:45","date_gmt":"2011-03-29T19:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/?p=5487"},"modified":"2017-07-22T14:33:27","modified_gmt":"2017-07-22T13:33:27","slug":"jamie-will-fix-it-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/expedition-updates\/jamie-will-fix-it-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamie will fix it for you"},"content":{"rendered":"

Location:\u00a0Azul Yoga & Pilates Retreat,\u00a0Villaverde<\/p>\n

Team Fix It: Jamie, Karissa, Radhika, Annie, Jo and Adele<\/p>\n

Operation fix Steve: Setting up and running a charity and attempting to achieve a world record, though extremely rewarding, is stressful and definitely takes its toll on the mind and body.\u00a0\u00a0Steve has been battered and bruised after spending 235 days driving Martha 28,268 miles across five continents.\u00a0\u00a0Due to the ship\u2019s regulations we weren\u2019t able to travel with Martha this time, so while she was bobbing across the Atlantic (I miss her) the goal of the week was to rest, recuperate and work (FTFE admin) in a super relaxed environment before the final push back to London.\u00a0\u00a0The Azul Yoga and Pilates Retreat was the perfect place to bring Steve back to wellness, whilst attempting to straighten his drivers back, catch up on much needed sleep and give him the energy to get home without 14 cups of coffee and two red bulls a day!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Operation fix Amy: I don\u2019t like to grumble but being on the fire engine day in day out definitely takes its toll on your back, it really doesn\u2019t help if you suffer from sciatica too!\u00a0\u00a0When I first met Karissa at the Port I thought I was going to cry, we were so in need of a rest I just wanted to hug her.<\/p>\n

Jamie and Karissa of Azul Fit had very generously offered to take Steve and I into their retreat for a week to make us feel human again.\u00a0\u00a0Karissa said \u201cMy sister is just recovering from thyroid cancer and my dad is battling prostate cancer so I know how important it is to raise awareness!!\u201d \u00a0Their mission at the retreat is to improve the health, happiness and wellbeing of guests through the practice of Yoga, Pilates & Meditation.\u00a0\u00a0They put us on their incredible program which includes a mix of\u00a0pilates, yoga and meditation classes every day, a delicious and nutritious morning brunch and evening meals designed by nutrition adviser Jo.<\/p>\n

\"VillaAzul<\/a> Doing classes in the morning and evening gave us the opportunity to spend the day on all things that keep the Follow That Fire Engine charity going \u2013 liaising with charities and supporters, organising the route for the final stage, maintaining the website, FTFE accounting and sponsorship, PR and marketing, producing videos and arranging the home coming in Greenwich on 10th<\/sup> April (not long now!).\u00a0\u00a0Working for FTFE is like studying for your finals, you feel guilty if you\u2019re not working and no matter how much you do, it\u2019s never enough, the list just keeps growing.<\/p>\n

From the moment we entered Azul Villa we instantly felt calmer.\u00a0\u00a0The retreat has a wonderful energy and ambiance,\u00a0amazing views\u00a0that stretch out to sea and each room has an individual theme incorporating amazing colours and textures.\u00a0\u00a0Once you step foot inside you never want to leave the peaceful sanctuary they have created.\u00a0\u00a0And in fact we only left the villa once a day to walk two minutes into the local village to pick up lunch from the bakery!<\/p>\n

Our timetable for a typical day started at 8am:<\/p>\n

8am – Pilates<\/p>\n

10am to 12am – FTFE admin<\/p>\n

12:30pm to 1pm – lunch<\/p>\n

1pm to 4pm \u2013 FTFE admin<\/p>\n

4:30pm – Restorative yoga<\/p>\n

6pm – Guided meditation<\/p>\n

6:30pm – Evening meal<\/p>\n

7:30pm to 10pm \u2013 FTFE admin<\/p>\n

We managed to get more work done than we do on the truck and couldn\u2019t have asked for a more beautiful office space!\u00a0\u00a0My favourite part of our stay has been the amazing classes (and the food!), having not been able to do any real exercise for five months.\u00a0\u00a0Some of the benefits of yoga and Pilates include an improved sense of physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing, improved flexibility and reduced stress.\u00a0\u00a0Just what the doctor ordered!\u00a0\u00a0All the instructors as so enthusiastic and make the classes fun.\u00a0\u00a0I enjoyed working on improving postures, breathing techniques and increasing the energy flow to my body.\u00a0\u00a0Steve has a new found love of Pilates, spurred on by Head Pilates Instructor Jamie who told him it\u2019s for real men!<\/p>\n

So now recharged, relaxed and ready to take on the world again, we\u2019re very sad to be leaving Azul and Team Fix It!\u00a0\u00a0I would recommend Azul Villa to everyone, if you\u2019re a beginner you can work at your own pace and if you\u2019re more advanced you\u2019ll be challenged in a good way.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a fantastic place to make new friends, and meet some beautiful and inspiring people.\u00a0\u00a0As Jamie and Karissa explain \u201cThe Azul Villa offers guests a more focussed and exclusive yoga & pilates\u00a0retreat\u00a0experience combined with a variety of accommodation options, from luxury to options for those on a budget\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0I can\u2019t wait to come back next year, hopefully I won\u2019t be so in need of a rest and I can leave my laptop at home! \u00a0Huge thanks again to Jamie and Karissa for this amazing opportunity to revitalise!<\/p>\n

Check out\u00a0http:\/\/www.azulfit.com\/<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

Jamie rolling like a ball http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=K0Us5sm28Mg<\/a><\/p>\n

Now all we have do do is put Martha back together and drive 3,500 miles back to London by 10th April. \u00a0Easy right?<\/p>\n

Amy<\/p>\n

[flickr album=72157626256566057 num=30 size=Square]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Location:\u00a0Azul Yoga & Pilates Retreat,\u00a0Villaverde Team Fix It: Jamie, Karissa, Radhika, Annie, Jo and Adele Operation fix Steve: Setting up and running a charity and attempting to achieve a world record, though extremely rewarding, is stressful and definitely takes its toll on the mind and body.\u00a0\u00a0Steve has been battered and bruised after spending 235 days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-expedition-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5487"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5899,"href":"https:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5487\/revisions\/5899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.followthatfireengine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}