V For Victory – Health & Beauty – BlackBook
There’s a very good breakfeast buffet at the new St. Regis Bal Harbour. It has lots of sausage and little muffins. You can also avail yourself of a bottomless chafing dish of bacon.
Since I had done that many times during my stay there, I thought it would be best if I tried V-Art of Wellness, the fitness program devised by Christopher and Tracie Vlaun, an exceedingly toothsome couple, and offered at the St. Regis fitness club. Our session began with a half-hour of Aeroga on the beach. Tracie led us through sun salutations as the sun rose. Sweat began to stream down my forehead and I engaged mula bhanda. Aeroga, to me, seems a lot like a quicker version of yoga, with an uplifting techno soundtrack. At one point, we launched a flurry of uppercuts as Tracie squealed around us enthusiastically. I don’t know if it was zen, but it was fun.
Chris was up next. The guy has a big wide smile and a neck as thick as a Corinthian column. He has his own philosophy called the BeFit method, which is outdoor circuit training with a focus on joint stability. We started running along the beach barefoot. “Can you feel the negative ions?” he asked. They supposedly come from the water and engage my hippocampus. I huffed that I didn’t know if I could or not, but I could feel my legs and my butt burning. Jogging on the beach in the soft sand is really, really hard but it builds core strength. Chris bade me sprint, which I did. Early-morning fishermen looked at us like we were crazy. Then he got out the boxing mitts, set up a ring with cones on a wide stretch of sand, and we boxed as the Miami sun worked its way higher into the sky. And then, because I was at the St. Regis, I wiped down with my gently scented post-workout moist towel.
