Introducing Steve, one our long-standing, Strength for Life members

Hiya! I'm Steve, 62 and I’ve just recently retired from the Aerospace industry.

I’m originally from Goole in East Yorkshire but am now living in Penyffordd, North Wales since 2011. I live with Dave; the 4-foot corn snake; yet another pet inherited from my son! I have two grown up kids, Clare, 31; a primary school teacher and Matthew, 29; who’s a sound technician.

You’ll find Steve online in the morning core strength classes; and most other online yoga classes, as well as at physcial classes in Hawarden and Chester. He’s got very into his yoga journey over the past few years, which clearly shows in his progress. He’s the tall, very Yorkshire one!

Follow him on Instagram @steven.linklater

When did you start your yoga journey and how often do you practice yoga?

I started the yoga journey around seven years ago, by accident really, as I was having an issue with my shoulder. My physio, at the time, suggested I consider giving yoga a go, as all the exercises he was asking me to do, to resolve the problem were actually all yoga postures! I found Emma's class by chance as it was the first one on google search and the rest is history.

When I first started I was doing just the one in-person class, per week. This changed during the pandemic when Zoom took over everyone's lives and this gave me the opportunity to do more classes per week. I'm now doing most of the online classes along with a couple of physical ones plus the core drills.

What's your favourite class?

I wouldn't say I had a favourite class but I do enjoy the Ashtanga Primary Series on Tuesday evenings and also the Ashtanga Second Series, even though most of it is impossible!

The weekly online technical yoga classes, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, are excellent!

Why does yoga / the core classes help you?

Yoga/Core along with cycling, walking and paddle-boarding seem to tick most of the boxes for me. I tend to find the more yoga you do, the more you want to do. Attempting to chase that next little element of the posture, unfortunately this can be frustrating but it also provides the motivation to try to continually improve. 

What's your least favourite yoga pose/core drill and why? 

Least favourite postures would be chest-openers and backbends as I'm quite tight in my shoulders which restricts the range of movement, this however, is improving, so as they say, it’s a work in progress!

Yoga goals?

The Yoga goal would be to finally achieve a handstand without the assistance of the wall as I think being able to support our own weight, in your hands, opens up numerous other benefits to your practice. Jump throughs and pike headstand is also on the list, along with being flexible enough to get into lotus.

Plans for the future is to concentrate more on practicing the drills/postures I struggle with rather than the go-to easier options you think you can do.

The aim is to continually improve my overall practice. If that happens, who knows what you’re capable of achieving! 

Last meal on death row? / Your fav meal basically! 

Food-wise I do eat loads of fish, so probably go for any fish dish, possibly barbecued, on a beach, somewhere hot!