The Lady

Stretching by the Sea

Women in sedentary jobs take heart, says Beverley Byrne, who learns how to get her body in shape during a special exercise holiday on Turkey's beautiful Lycian coast.

'That's your hotel,' says my cheerful Turkish taxi driver pointing skywards as he negotiates another hairpin bend. Looking up, I see what appears to be a small village of red-roofed cottages clinging to a natural amphitheatre in the mountain. Below, the flat plains of the valley are bordered by a half-moon beach and turquoise sea.

In a canyon above the village of Turunc on the Lycian Coast of Turkey, the family owned Dionysos Estate blends in perfectly with the surrounding area. But I'm not here to spend a week by the infinity pool. I've come to the Dionysos to stretch myself slim, courtesy of a revolutionary form of exercise called the Method Putkisto.

Prior to flying to Turkey, a copy of The Body Lean & Lifted, written by Marja Putkisto, the originator of this unique method of exercise, is sent to me. A finnish-born dance and movement specialist, Marja developed her technique while working at the Sibelius Academy and the Finnish National Opera as a movement and dance teacher. Her book explains how the Method Putkisto "slots in happily alongside other established method such as Pilates and Yoga, designed to lengthen the tight muscles of your body."

Marja is a glowing testament to the efficacy of her method. During our first meeting, she and her assistants, Lynne and Annie, outline the course structure and we introduce ourselves and any physical problems,. Mostly we're a group of middle-aged professional women who have spent too much time behind a desk. Before sunset we meet on a wooden deck overlooking the ocean and Marja and her assistants set to work. We warm up and perform simple stretching exercises while Marja exhorts us to visualise the body's interior.

"Attend to the detail in your body. Imagine your shoulder blades are a map of Africa and the lower point is Cape Town," she instructs. Working with a partner, we must overcome the British reticence to touch a stranger's body so we can discover exactly how the shoulder bones slide up and down as arms are raised. We ease legs and arms in their sockets, separate vertebrae and engage diaphragms.

"Imagine the space between your internal organs, your muscles and bone," Marja croons. "Concentrate on what you hear. Listen to the bird song and the breeze in the leaves. Feel where you are."

On day two Marja reveals some frightening statistics. "Muscle loss through sedentary work is the body's greatest enemy," she warns. "At this rate, in 20 years' time, our buttocks will disappear completely!"

With this frightening image in mind, we concentrate on posture, trying to mobilise our ribcages and rotate our hips.

"You do not plod. You must glide and roll and I don't mean that flouncy skirt walk!" she says, emulating the unnatural gait of a catwalk model.

Day three, and in front of the mirror, I can see that I am definitely trimmer and my stomach is flatter. My fellow students report similar results - amazing, considering the amount we are eating. After every two-hour session, I take Marja's advice and listen to my body. Usually it's crying out for food, which the hotel offers in huge and wholesome portions.

This morning's session finds an exasperated Marja. Apparently, we are a mass of tension and cannot cope with leaning backwards over a ball.

"This is what you look like," and she mimics our furrowed brows, taut lips and gargoyle-like grimaces. Then she ponders for some moments before declaring that we are to spend the next hour at Face School, exploring the muscles and structure of our face. Suddenly, I am aware of the incredible complexity of anatomical variants which comprise the human face. After the ear-tweaking and eye-dancing, we return to the exercise that caused so much trouble - and our spines curl compliantly over the ball.

What these exercises illustrate is both the daily damage we do to our bodies and the relationship between brain and body. It is liberating to visualise how we are constructed. Even the aches and pains seem positive.

The following day, Marja tells us we are not engaging our brains fully and our bodies are not responding. The pressure is on. Swinging our limbs, we control our posture and suck in our belly buttons, and it feels good.

After all, no one wants to say goodbye to their buttocks, do they?