Interview with Vivienne Sharman-Lewis (Part 1) (December 01, 2009)
Vivienne Sharman strikes me as one of the key members of Welsh society, often seen at chic society and charity events, always looking impecible, glamarous and the look completed with a wonderfully open and engaging smile. She is passionate about physical and mental well-being (travelling extensively in this regard), commentates on newspapers for BBC Radio Wales and has been involved in theatrical productions, plus running a PR company (Visons PR).
Cymru Culture decided to introduce our readers to Vivienne, as she'll be one of our regular contributors in forthcoming editions.
CC ...Fitness, health and well-being seem very important to you, why is this?'
Well, bitten by the fitness bug that hit London in the 80's, it was really the only way a grown woman, who should have known better, could act out her frustrated ballerina or action heroine fantasies, and strut her stuff in matching pink leg warmers and headbands, or (sheer bliss!) head to toe fluorescent purple Lycra, and not be certified or arrested!!
Seriously though, allergy-triggered asthma and chest problems, prompted one of those crossroads scenarios at university, I either continued on the same route into a fatigued and unfit middle age, or I embraced a healthier lifestyle as the buzz-phrase was fast becoming. It was not an easy option, after a relatively sedentary adolescence, but I grew weary of always feeling weary, and, although never over-weight, felt dissatisfied with my shape and tone. However, it was a new design job in London, with the fast pace of perpetual deadlines and long hours, that really took its toll, and I quickly realised I had no alternative but to embrace a fitter and healthier lifestyle, and learn how to handle stress, if I was to keep abreast of my work and still have energy to party! So I resolved to change, and take control. I studied nutrition and fitness, experimenting with my diet and exercise routine, until I found something that worked for me.
CC ...You always look amazing in your photographs, how do you stay in such shape and any tips for our readers?
Thank you, but I believe I was blessed with some good genes from my parents. However, by experimenting with a vegetarian whole food combining diet, and introducing exercise, i.e. jogging, I noticed huge improvements in my stamina and tone. Then, while working as a graphic designer/visualiser in London, the Fonda-inspired fitness boom hit, and I dived headlong into the new and very glamorous London dance and exercise scene, taking up Sivananda yoga, aerobic and dance classes.
Such fitness regimes inspired me, unlike the gym and team games which had left me cold at school, and were therefore easier to maintain. I studied, and took all sorts of courses, until I could teach, and started my first fitness business back in Wales at the newly- launched Fredericks at Miskin Manor Hotel. My fitness aspirations culminated in the management of a pilot scheme for GP Referral in Berkshire, then ownership of my own health club, Athenia, on the West coast of Tenerife. My speciality was bespoke classes in postural re-alignment, stretch, tone and sculpt, the perfect routines to re-design and re-proportion your body. I think maturity helps as you have a sense of what works for you and thus become more comfortable in your own skin. It suddenly dawns on you that size 0 is neither clever, or attractive, and that toned womanly curves can give shape and femininity to your evening gowns. Clothes can then become an extension and a personal expression of the you, that you have become familiar with.
I do think it is important to find a fitness routine that fits in with, and complements, your lifestyle, time commitments and interests, and one that inspires and motivates the mind first. Nothing is more destructive than boredom!! Know yourself, what turns you on, and what your goals are. Are you a team player who enjoys the social interaction and camaraderie of a group activity, e.g. a salsa, belly dancing, yoga or aerobics class, or a loner, who would prefer to swim lengths, or do you enjoy connecting with nature by hiking, pole walking or jogging? What type of music gets you going? It has been proved that you will invest more effort when exercising to music you find motivating. Pleasure is vital, enjoy yourself, the body you live in, and the clothes you wear. Be kind to yourself, choose outfits that complement and flatter your new shape, colouring and style. Don't be intimidated by the 'fitness police', and feel that unless you can invest 5 hours per day of muscle wrenching work-outs, 'à la Madonna', there is no point in even trying, as fitness is relative to your lifestyle and needs, and the best definition of fitness is 'to have enough stamina to carry out your daily tasks, but with something left in reserve for personal development and hobbies'. As my mother wisely commented, as I blindly threw myself into yet another mad-cap routine, 'everything in moderation'. She was always right.
CC... What do you do to relax?
I love being close to water, walking along the banks of the River Usk, that winds its silvery way through the heart of Abergavenny, where I now live, or on the coast, where I have recently acquired a holiday home. I achieved my ambition to live within earshot of the sea in Tenerife, where my apartment balcony overlooked a palm tree lined beach, and my health club was a mere five minute stroll away along the coast. I find the sounds of water so relaxing, whether it is the waves washing the shoreline or a river dancing and prancing over pebbles. To practice yoga within earshot of the ocean has to be the ultimate in relaxation.
CC ... Do you have a favourite restaurant?
Dining out for me is as much about ambiance and good company as the food itself. When in Tenerife, where I still have very good friends, and which I visit often, I love dining al fresco in the warm balmy tropical evenings, overlooking the beach, savouring the intense flavours of tapas dishes and lots of vino tinto, or a simple dish of fresh fish and salad. The Spanish have the 'Art of Life' sorted and prepare the best salads!
In Wales, I tend to favour restaurants that offer healthy Mediterranean cuisine. I enjoy Italian dishes at 'La Brasserie Italiano' in Abergavenny, 'La Trattoria' in Talbot Green, where they also run Italian cookery classes, and the Bay Brasserie at Atlantic Wharf. I also enjoy exotic vegetarian Indian dishes, especially at the Sunbarbon Restaurant in Abergavenny and the Mughal Emperor near Cowbridge, while I recently discovered Lebanese food at a party held at Maroush Restaurant in London. Fresh, simple, healthy and so tasty.
CC ... What is your favourite film and why?
I love big epics, with casts of thousands, that tell tales of super-human endeavours and real passion, like Braveheart or Rob Roy. I love 'all or nothing' characters, who give their all for their beliefs, like those portrayed in Alexander, The Gladiator and El Cid, with the amazing Charlton Heston. I also enjoy real life, 'feel good' films that are well done, and not too corny. Calender Girls was weepy, but heart-warming.
CC ... Are you reading a book at present and why this particular text?
I read more when younger, my main reading now is connected with my work, and on behalf of clients that I represent in my marketing and PR business Visions PR. I am currently ploughing through a book entitled The Deadly Harvest, by Nutritional Anthropologist Geoff Bond, who was the keynote speaker at the recent Anti-Ageing Conference which I attended at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. It looks at the most conducive diet for human health. Geoff e-mailed me from his home in Cyprus, before leaving for a lecture tour of the States, and asked me to meet up with him in London later to discuss work, so I thought it wise to gen up on his book first. A book that moved me to become a vegetarian was Only one Earth, which highlights the moral, as well as the health reasons, for adopting a vegetarian diet. I also enjoy historical biographies about the lives of people who lived, loved and died. I remember Katherine Swyford, a romantic tale of the mistress of John of Gaunt, the son of King Edward lll, who, although married to a Spanish princess for political reasons, had a lifelong passion and love for Catherine, and by whom he had many children. A different love story, The Persian Boy, a tale about Alexander the Great, but told through the eyes of the young boy who loved and served him. I still enjoy Thomas Hardy, especially Tess of the D'urbervilles for his magical scenic descriptions, and at present I have on my bedside table both Genghis Khan - another larger-than-life character portrayed by John Man and Out of Africa by Karen Blixen, a romantic, but adventurous tale.
CC ... Do you have a signature dish which you serve at home to dinner guests?
I must admit, I fell out of the habit of cooking when living in the Canary islands. Prior to that, the British climate did encourage comfort eating and warming dishes, and I did host dinner parties for family and friends. My then partner was master of the Cardiff Masonic Lodge, so, as the Master's Lady, I was expected to play hostess.
I enjoyed cooking vegetarian dishes, whether Italian pasta dishes, vegetable stir fries, or spicy Indian food, such as Chicken Jalfarzzi, for my then partner. However, in Tenerife, dining out was such a pleasure, and was so much part of the lifestyle, that my cooking lapsed, and the climate dictated a much lighter, healthy and fresher cuisine, so, even at home on our balcony, it was always a huge fresh salad, a selection of Canarian cheeses, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, tuna or freshly grilled fish with lemon and olive oil and copious amounts of wine. Bliss!!
CCC ... If you were to host a dinner party and you could invite 6 famous people (alive or dead) who would you invite and why?
Neil Armstrong. At age 13, the NASA space programme captured my imagination and I longed to be an astronaut!! Maybe to a young girl, with many flights of fancy, it felt that the only way out of my small Welsh village, hemmed in, as I was, by hills on all sides, was all the way up!! I stayed up all night to watch the lunar landing, and Neil Armstrong, with his 'One step for man, one giant leap for mankind' was an all time hero, calm, emotionless and totally in control. I would love to ask him him it really felt like to look back at planet Earth from the moon, and tell him about my dream interview, which I covered for Living Tenerife magazine at the Global Warming Conference in Fuertiventura. I not only interviewed Nobel Prize Winners and their wives, but Michael Lopez, a real life NASA Astronaut, about his observational role in Space, studying desertification, the shrinking of the polar ice caps, Lake Chad in Africa and the caps of Mount Kilimanjaro, and how his body was used as a human laboratory to study the long term effects of space travel. I recall a golden moment when I advised on and demonstrated a developmental stretch routine for him to help alleviate his short habit muscles after spending too long in space. He emailed me from Florida to say it was rare to meet a journalist so knowledgeable about fitness, and sent me photographs, taken with his own hand, of Tenerife and its Mount Teide from outer space. As a Spanish-born citizen who had grown up in the USA, and who had never visited the Canaries, he remained fascinated by Tenerife seen from outer space, so I was thrilled to be able to arrange with the President of Tenerife to invite him and his family to a VIP welcome as a home-coming hero, when his schedule allows.
Bruce Lee, whose physical, and mental discipline and dedication I admired, to represent my interest in martial arts. I took up Kung Fu rather late, during a mad single phase, when I threw myself into it - literally - and took courses in both Paragliding and Windsurfing in the Brecon Beacons. I was introduced to Kung Fu, or the kick boxing version, Lau Gar, when I met, and was greatly impressed by, the then British champion, Jason Crabtree, and trained with him up to my blue belt.
I was later greatly honoured to have, at my health club in Tenerife, Raúl Gutiérrez López, a 10th Dan in Kenpo, and a kick-boxing and action film director, running his martial arts club for young Canarian men and women. Raul - from Chile, and now based in Madrid - had discovered Tenerife while shooting a movie there, and believed it to be his spiritual home. He had not only acted in many films, especially in Spain, but had been an action film director in Hollywood, choreographing the action film sequences for Koran the Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Raul was such a gentle and soulful man, belying his physical accomplishments, and, despite his super-human abilities, he honoured me by attending my classes in stretch and relaxation. He has honoured me further by asking me, and my business Visions PR, to represent him for his international seminars to the UK. I would also love to introduce him to my close friend, and Tai Chi/Chi Gong Instructor, Marie Carr, with whom I studied in Tenerife.
Richard Ernst, the Swiss Nobel prize winner that I had the greatest pleasure of interviewing. Richard had invented the MRSI brain scanning machine, now known as the 'Ernst Principle', that can detect human emotion, but when I asked him what he believed to be his greatest achievement, he replied: 'meeting my wife, Madeline!!' He was a true romantic, Renaissance man, gifted musician and a collector of Chinese Art, as well as a world renown scientist, and believed that scientists need to connect with their human nature before they could truly help humanity.
Dr Nyjon Eccles, with his double doctorates in medicine and pharmacology, as I have so much to discuss with him concerning our imminent working partnership at his Chiron Clinic in Harley Street, London, for which I will be setting up Galvanic Natural Face-Lifting and Age Defy Spa treatments, and promoting and driving his new product launch of evidence- based complementary nutritional treatments and supplements that promote well-being and recovery. For more information, see his interview on 'This morning'', show-casing the amazing infra red imaging machine that detects the early stages of breast cancer, on www.chironclinic.com
Leonardo Da Vinci, the ultimate Renaissance man, to discuss my love of Italian Renaissance Art, and his many inventions. He would have much to discuss with Neil, Richard and Nyjon.
Margaret Thatcher for her passion, enthusiasm and commitment. Many may not have agreed with all she did, but you have to admire that probing mind and energy! She would be a catalyst for all the other guests.
Carla Bruni as a glamorous, very health-conscious and independently-minded lady at the centre of world events. As I am invited to review the news on BBC Radio Wales from time to time, I could gain much insight from her into her visions of world events.
Part 2 of interview posted in seperate article.
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