Practice, Practice, Practice

Practice, Practice, Practice. I say that a lot to my clients and I also practice what I preach. For about a year now, I've been trying to concur Forearm Stand or Pincha. I'm there balancing on my arms with my feet dangling down behind me towards my head but my feet aren't touching my head. It's driving me crazy, knowing I can get there and want to get there but my body isn't quite ready yet. So keep practising, bending everyday. One day I'll get there into full Pincha scorpion.

The other thing I constantly think about practising is my calendar. Now there are two ways to look at this. Usually our calendar is full, especially with 2 children having friends parties here there and everywhere. Sometimes I look at it and think 'oh great where can I fit so and so in' etc. But then I had a thought, what if I looked at my calendar from a different perspective. What if I looked at it thinking' Ta Da, I've achieved this today' or 'great I've got all this done today'. It really does change your mindset about how you view things differently.

Every morning, I wake up and practice just 5 minutes of yoga. Like most people, sometimes I can't be bothered, especially in the depths of the deep cold English winters, but I make myself get up and step on my mat and flow to what my body is telling me. To me, this is my practice. My little 5 minutes of inner peace, allowing my mind to float off and just go inside my body to release the stresses and strains of my day or whatever I am thinking. I know that my mat will always be my saviour. It will always be there when I need it.

When a client asks me, 'How do you do that' (I'm in headstand for 5 minutes) I always say to them, it's just practice and knowing one day you'll get there to if you keep at it. Also a more common one is heels to mat in DownDog. This physically took me 2 years. Most people say 'What 😳 wow that's a long time' and yes it is but with practice and perseverance, you will get heels to mat.

Yoga has taught me a lot of things about myself and one main one is to not get so stressed about things that are out of our control. So when I look at my calendar and see we're booked up weeks in advance every weekend with plans to meet friends for picnics or children's birthday parties, I know I can now look at it in a different way and say Ta Da, we've achieved this, this weekend or we've achieved this, this week and look back at the memories from that week. Good or bad, you can process them and move to the next week. Enjoying your life week by week, day by day.

If like me you feel you are working a lot and not enjoying your life (this was me before we took 7 months off to backpack around the world) then really look at your calendar and figure out when you can schedule in some very important 'me time'. Its totally needed for your mind, body and soul. You will feel refreshed and alive if you just schedule in half an hour to one hour a week of 'me time'. It will give you clarity.

So next time you look at your calendar or diary, just think 'what have I achieved this week?'

I hope you find this post helpful.

Let me know!

Have a blessed day!