I set up my company- City is my Playground- back in 2011 as a means of overcoming a knee injury and not being able to dance anymore. I therefore created a fitness and mixed movement method which would essentially keep the body strong and flexible in a playful and adventurous way, without placing impact through any one joint.
The result is the signature training programs of Free Your Spine and Flex in the City, which ultimately I lead with the mission of releasing peoples backs and hips out and unleashing the inner child which exists in all of us, but gets buried as we grow up.
Ironically, although CIMPLAY is embedded in promoting the importance of maintaining a sound mind in a sound body and vice versa, my mental health has somewhat suffered. I have weathered some storms as you would expect from building a vision up and have come to the realisation after many years of putting my physical health first and mental health second, that it is now absolutely imperative to take the “brain to gym”, through practices such as meditation, affirmations, sleep regime and redefining what success means to me.
Weathering these storms such as heated and heartbreak clad relationships, my dads diagnosis with brain and lung cancer and the insanity kicks of launching quite a different kind of fitness business had taken its toll. However, respecting the eight hours of sleep i understand I need for my cognitive functioning and best practice of being able to serve others has been a strong lesson, especially over the past year
Sleep should definitely not be underestimated. It can be the difference between insanity and sanity!
Nicola Cher Geismar
Founder of City is my Playground