A WOKINGHAM-based TV presenter known to millions of sports fans is celebrating the release of her first fitness DVD.
Alexandra Legouix, who has broadcast from every continent on the planet, been a model and appeared at local venues such as The Acoustic Couch with her band The Sunflowers has just released Yoga Made Simple: For Beginners & Improvers.
But life has not been all about travel, glamour and success. She said that it was serious physical adversity that ultimately set her on the path that leads right up to the DVD.
“When I was growing up I had major bones issues,” Ms Legouix explained. “When I was eight I had my first prolapsed disc and finally at 16, after years of considerable pain in my back, I had an operation where they dissolved the disc.”
Serious ankle pains had blighted Ms Legouix’s life and extensive tests revealed that she had extremely rare benign tumours in both ankles leading to simultaneous operations on her back and ankles.
“The pain returned and until my 30s I suffered daily with either back or ankle pain, or both,” she said.
And a skiing accident saw her add a damaged knee to the injury list. It was following this incident that she trained and qualified as a fitness professional.
But that was not the end of Ms Legouix’s health issues: a relatively innocuous fall while dancing resulted in a broken spine, severely dislocated pelvis and three prolapsed discs that were pressing hard on the spinal cord.
“The reason I had broken so badly turned out to be because I actually have a degenerative disc disease and facet joint disease,” Ms Legouix said.
“Every disc bar one was crumbled and distorted.
“The outlook wasn’t very good, but this is when yoga became my life, and it really has saved me both physically and mentally”.
The new DVD sets out core principles for people wanting to understand yoga.
“It does what into says on the tin”, explained Ms Legouix. “It truly is for people who have may never have done yoga before or they need a bit of extra confidence before starting a class, or for those who need a refresher or perhaps getting active again after injury and need some help”.
“I am extremely passionate about yoga, it has made a massive difference to my life and continues to play a central role in keeping me fit and healthy, so having this opportunity to share it with a global audience and bring the benefits to others is a dream come true”.
Yoga Made Simple; For Beginners & Improvers by Alexandra Legouix was released on Boxing Day and is available from stores and online. For more details, visit www.imcvision.co.uk
