When you practice yoga, especially amid the hustle and bustle of modern life, I think one of its most profound effects is on your nervous system. It really is amazing at telling your body everything is okay. If there was an emergency you would probably be running or hiding, rolling out your yoga mat is an unlikely strategy. So when you take this time away from your email and daily demands, your body is returned to the present.

In our day to day lives we are not always able to listen to our bodies. You may be tired when your alarm goes off but it might not go down so well if you tell your boss you are going to come in later. If you have children, especially young children you have to care for them as their wellbeing is in your hands. Sometimes this is extremely hard and somehow you find it within yourself to get done what needs to be done on, on a day to day basis. 

Hopefully you also find some time for yoga or whatever helps you to unwind. As you tune into your own breath and start to actually tune into your body, you start to sense how it actually feels. Sometimes you feel tired or there is some emotion that you didn’t want to acknowledge that suddenly comes up. Most of the time we are left with a lovely, blissful feeling, but sometimes we are left with a realization that we need an early night.

Yoga is a physical challenge but is also calming. I find people sometimes feel tired during or after yoga and think that it is the yoga itself. To a certain extent maybe it is, ashtanga yoga certainly is a physical challenge. My experience tells me that yoga is often where we embody our own experience more fully and so we notice if we are tired mentally and physically.

Let’s take an example from my own life today. I did some running intervals earlier in the day and I worked hard. As far as my nervous system is concerned it probably thinks there was some urgent problem, after all who would push their body hard just for fun? Well, me! When I do yoga this afternoon, it will be harder because of the run, not just because my body will be tired but also because I will be slowing down and reconnecting with my body. Honestly, I will probably start my practice a little amped but as I breathe and connect with my body, I will return to a parasympathetic state, which will help me recover from my run.

The idea that we store our emotions in our body and that that they can return to us has become popular in recent years. I have certainly experienced this and have nothing against the concept but I wonder if this happens because we are in a safe enough space to acknowledge how we feel. I don’t think there is anything wrong with putting aside how we feel to get something done. Maybe it’s not ideal but I think it is part of being human. I also think it is important to tune back in when we can to give our body time to recover.

Let me know if this resonates. Helen

Are you trying to rebuild fitness or some other aspect of your life. Do you feel frustrated as you try to re-build? I hear you because I am right there with you. But we are not going backwards, we can only go forward in time with the lessons we learn along the way.

In 2020 I decided to stop practicing second series and focus on practicing primary series. There were multiple reasons for this, 2020 was quite a year for us all, I am sure. Partly I just wanted my practice to a calm meditative place for me and it was. When I was younger, I was quite driven to get further into the ashtanga sequences and despite what I feel popular belief is I am not naturally flexible. I worked hard to get to the end of second series over many years being given the poses gradually from my teacher. I got to the beginning of 3^rd series and then honestly wasn’t sure I wanted to go any further.

Now I find myself ready to practice second series again. I am finally in a place mentally and physically where I feel it is something I want in my life. Except it is not there. The body I used to have is no longer here. Today’s body can not do many of the poses that I worked so hard to be able to do.

Honestly, I have found this hard. It feels like going backwards, not by weeks but by years. I didn’t think I cared about this anymore, yoga is primarily a mediative practice for me after all.  

What I have realised, is it is not whether I can do the poses that matters. What matters is that by trying to do the poses that I can not do, I am confronted with myself. I am confronted with my doubts, am I too old? Am I going backwards? It is through this meeting with myself that I see and love myself more fully.

How can I get back to where I used to be when it feels so far away?

The answer is I can’t. I might be able to do full second series again but it will not be the same because I am not the same. And if you are in a situation where you are trying rebuild some part of your life from the past, you can’t go back there either. Unless you have a time machine? Let me know! We always go forward because the Helen working on second series now isn’t just older, she has far more experience and knowlege..

One of my key learnings recently is that in order to change we must accept ourselves as we are. Through loving ourselves as we are we can start take steps towards a future version of ourselves.

In order to even begin this journey to rebuild my second series practice, I have to accept my body today. I have to accept and respect the decision I made in 2020 to stop. If I can not, I will not be brave enough to confront it, because it is with today’s body that I practice with all the blessings, challenges and learnings that came before. The past is gone, I don’t know what the future holds. What I am grateful for is a practice that challenges me so much I have to rethink myself and what it is to be human.

Let me know if this resonates. I love hearing from you.

Assessing your own progress can be challenging as your goals likely matter to you and it’s easy to let your emotion and passion blind you. Overcommitting can be a real issue. When we want to change an area of our life we can create a plan that is unrealistic or unsustainable. The opposite could also be true, if you can achieve your goal easily then is it really a goal or just something you are doing. So we need to find the middle ground for your current life situation. One meaningful way of doing that is to work out what you think you need to do to achieve your goal and then look at your life and work out when you could take these steps. 

My own goal setting process is to set goals every 12 weeks. If you are interested in per-suing this approach I highly recommend the book ‘12 week year’. I think we all have lots of unspoken goals. Things we want or think we should be doing. I like to be clear in my own mind what my priorities are. I only allow myself to have a maximum of 3 main goals each 12 weeks, this helps me prioritise my decisions day to day. 

I think an essential part of the goal setting process is setting out what you are going to do to get there. So we make a plan. Then we need to check in to see if we are following the plan. If you are not following the plan, then we need to ask is the plan realistic? Maybe you need to write this out or talk to a friend or coach about it. I like to write a few sentences about how each goal is going every week. If you are stuck, do you need help, more knowledge?  If you are lacking time is there any way you can find more time by cutting back somewhere else or is there a way to make progress with a smaller time investment. Compassionate evaluation of your situation will help you work out what your road blocks are.

If we are working on an area of ourselves that we have recently neglected. Let’s take someone returning to exercise for example. If this person was doing no exercise and starts doing 10 minutes of movement every day this is huge progress.  This is easy to see when we think of someone else but often we expect more from ourselves. This can be great motivation to challenge yourself as long as your all or nothing approach isn’t limiting you. 

Where does yoga fit into all of this. Besides building strength and flexibility in the body yoga also offers you time and space to meet yourself where you are. This honest acceptance and relationship with yourself helps you to enjoy where you are, whilst exploring possibilities in the adventure of life.

The last few years have been both challenging and rewarding. As I have fought hard to keep my small business afloat, I have never felt so clear on why I do what I do and my love for teaching and sharing yoga. Taking things away it seems is a great way to help you realise just how important they are. Community and connecting with others, finding time for self care and activities that enhance your health and wellbeing are all things I value greatly. I am blessed to be able to share yoga in the city of Liverpool and now with the expansion of my online offerings, worldwide.

When we went to Tenerife the first time, we cycled up Tiede – a volcano on the island. As some of you may know I have a strange passion for cycling up hills. Indeed I used to race up them in hill climb time trials, I know it’s a little niche. This hill however was unlike anything you will find in the UK as it is a lot longer and higher. The gradient is consistently uphill which means you are consistently cycling uphill for hours, it takes me about 4 hours to get to the top. Even cycling down takes me about 2 hours and presents its own challenges.

Back in 2019 this was challenging adventure in the middle of a lovely holiday exploring the island by bike. I made it to the top and felt accomplished and proud of my perseverance. As we planned our return this year we planned to go up this hill again. The difference was I was less fit. Sure I have kept cycling throughout the last few years but longer working hours and coming back from my own illnesses have made this a challenge. But I trained and over the winter I built up my endurance on my indoor trainer as I hid from the British winter.

When I got to Tenerife and started cycling, I was so grateful for that training. Small but consistent steps I had put in as it meant I could enjoy riding in the Spanish sun. 

When the day arrived for me to set off up the volcano though I was scared. I was not sure if I could do it and I was afraid to fail. Eventually I set off. As I rode my doubts continued, I told myself it didn’t matter if I reached the top, that just being here was enough, that I could just go up as much as I felt like. I thought about the challenges I had faced, had overcome and I told myself that it was amazing that I was there at all. Of course this true, the top of the climb is just an arbitrary target, being active, enjoying the outdoors these things are so much more important. 

Yet I continued to climb up and up and up and up, did I mention that it kept going up? I let go of the target of reaching the top and yet I kept going up and up and up, there’s a lot of time to think when you cycle uphill for 4 hours. Eventually when I had let go of the goal completely I realised I could do it. With renewed faith I cycled on. As I reached the top I felt so happy that tears came to my eyes, this felt like such a moment. 

I remembered the amazing views at the top from 2019 as I cycled through them, I remembered the challenges I had faced and yet here I was cycling to the top of a volcano. I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity and for my body and mind’s willingness to persevere with my crazy adventure. So much has happened in the last few years and for some reason reaching the top of that hill was so incredibly healing for me. Yes all that happened and here you are still cycling to the top of seemingly impossible hills.
What lessons did I learn that I take with me into 2023. I can do more than I think, keep going… Find joy in the little things. Small steps add up to help you climb mountains….

Happy new year! I hope you get to the top of whatever mountain you are on and when you get there, remember to enjoy the views.

Atomic Habits- an Easy Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear

Achieving our goals has so much more to do with the simple tasks we do in our day to day life than what we do every once in a while. James breaks down the research and gives great tips for how to build the habits you want in your life as well as how to stop doing the ones you don’t.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

This book explores the research into introverts with some really interesting findings. If you are an introvert it will help you understand yourself, your strengths and your needs better. The world can be very biased towards extroversion, which I had never really thought of before. If you are an extrovert it will help you understand the introverts in your life better. A fascinating read.

The Passion Paradox: A Guide to Going All In, Finding Success, and Discovering the Benefits of an Unbalanced Life by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness

I found this book pretty mind blowing. The authors explore how following ones passion is not always a positive thing. They then offer some great advice about how to navigate your passions in a healthy way and make the process more conscious through mindfulness and reflection. If you are someone who is very passionate and dedicated/obsessive (putting my hand up) you will find it helps you reflect on your choices and understand yourself better.

Period Repair Manual: Natural Treatment for Better Hormones and Better Periods by Lara Briden

This one is for the women and is different to the others but as I have recommended it to two women in the last week, I have decided to include it here. Lara is a naturopathic doctor who specialises in women’s health. This is a great book and explores some ways to improve this rarely discussed topic of women’s health.

Mindset – Changing The Way You think To Fulfil Your Potential by Carol Dweck

This book explores the concept of fixed and growth mindset. A fixed mindset is when you think you have a fixed ability in something, whereas a growth mindset is when you think that you can develop your ability in something. I wrote a separate blog post about this book here.

These are just some of my favourite books that I have read this year. Have you read any of them? What were your favourites this year?

Baumeister et al have done a number of studies on decision fatigue and “ego depletion”. The term “ego depletion” is used to describe the phenomenon of reduced self control after decision making. They have found that people with the most willpower structure their days to conserve their willpower and use it when it is most needed.

Why is this important in your life?

We each have to make thousands of decisions each day and if decision making is a limited resource then we have to be mindful that we make our decision making count.

I know in my own life that I achieve the best results when I keep things simple. Consistent habits are easier to stick with than the latest fad or shiny new plan. If I think too much about what to do, I get far less done – we call this procrastination.

Some tips for reducing decision fatigue in your own life

1. Create systems and automations

What in your life are you able to do consistently the same, to achieve success and eliminate the need to decide what to do. Morning and night time routines are great examples of this. For example, I eat the same breakfast everyday (overnight oats) which I usually make in advance and I read first thing in the morning when I am still waking up. These are great habits in my life but I do them automatically which frees up resources and energy for other things.

2. Choose 3 key behaviours and make a plan

Choose 3 things you can do every day that will make your life better. Examples including having a healthy breakfast, exercise, meditation, relaxation, what you eat for lunch. Make a plan in advance how you can make all these decisions easier.

3. Do the most important task first

If you have control over your workflow, do your most important task that requires the most willpower and decision making first, when you have more willpower and are better at making decisions.

4. Pre-plan your exercise

Make decisions about how to live a healthy lifestyle in advance, what exercise are you going to do, when, where, how? Use your willpower to execute your plan rather than create it.

5. Take a break

Our best ideas often come when we take a break, either to do some exercise or even to have a shower. This is thought to be because we literally give our brain a break from having to make decisions thus replenishing it’s resources and leading to better decisions.

Consistency is key

It’s easy to think that results will come from some new exciting method that we have just learnt about. In my experience the greatest success in life comes from completing often simple tasks consistently. I am often described as resilient, dedicated and tenacious. In certain contexts I am, the trick is to be consistent, keep things as simple as possible and use your willpower for the things most important to you.

Set your goals, then work out what you need to consistently do to achieve them. Do you think that decision making is a limited resource? What habits do you have in your life that help you to achieve the life you want. 

If I don’t know how to do something or about something and I want to, I often read a book and I learn. So I definitely have a growth mindset some of the time. As Carol points out, and as I discovered through reading the book though, is that we all have a mixture of both.

The book is great and I recommend you read it, if you haven’t already. It has been one of those books for me that has changed the way I view the world and continues to do so.

I find if I getting stuck or frustrated, I have probably slipped into a fixed mindset. Sometimes I don’t know how to learn or grow in a particular way or I find myself slipping into a familiar pattern of thinking and or behavior that leads me to think, I am no good at this. If you find yourself in this situation, ask yourself how can you can get better? Sometime you need to ask for help or find some new information or approach. Of course no one is good at everything. The point isn’t to be amazing at everything – the point is you could be.

 In the age of social media other people’s highlights are visible to us daily. It’s easy to look at someone else’s strength and compare our own ability in this area and feel that we fall short. No-one is good at everything.  We each develop in the areas we give focus and effort. Sometimes we think someone is naturally good at something without realizing how hard they have worked to get there. So if you find yourself comparing, instead ask yourself what it would take for you to have that in your life and if that cost of effort and time is worth it to you.

I have noticed  that other people sometimes have fixed ideas of who I am. I have to be careful not to let that influence my view of myself and remember that nothing is fixed. If you were once good at something, you can become less good at it if life circumstances take you away from the activity.  Focus on getting better than yesterday rather than comparing yourself to the best you have ever been, when your life circumstances may have been entirely different. To help other people to change and to grow, we each have to be aware that we are all capable of change.

Have you read the book Mindset? What are your thoughts and reflections?

Principle number 1 – It’s not about going to your absolute maximum

Some people take each stretch as far as they possibly can. I know this because if I go to assist someone like this I can feel they have already hit their maximum. The biggest problem with this is, it is difficult to relax when it is so hard, as your body may tense up to protect itself. Potentially an even bigger issue is that doing so can risk injury. Taking small steps consistently in anything fitness related is generally much better than pushing too hard and then having to rest completely.

Principle number 2 – Accept where you are. 

You may want to be more flexible than you are, but you can’t will yourself into a different body. It starts with working with the one you have today. If you are fighting with yourself, it’ll be less fun and hard to relax – it’s just your flexibility, it doesn’t define who you are. So find the stretch, be there, relax into it. This is much like life. Yes! If you are not where you want to be then you can work on it, but you have to start where you are. Suffering occurs when you think reality should be different to how it is, you can thank the Buddha for that one.

Principle number 3 – use the breath, it’s your friend

The breath will help you with both principles number one and two. If you are struggling to breathe then you are not following principle number one, and are probably pushing too hard so it’s a good feedback provider. It will also help you relax into the stretch and accept and be where you are. Breathe deeply, but not so deeply that you push too hard.

Principle number 4 – The real magic happens when you let go

As you stretch you should feel something, it just shouldn’t be excruciating and a difficult place to be. Once you are in the position, accept where you are, use your breath to help you to relax, and pay attention to the sensation. If you are in that sweet spot of a nice stretch and you are not tensing up, then you may well find that the sensation of stretch disappears. Listen to your body and if the sensation disappears go deeper and find another sweet spot. You may find this a little challenging at first, but listening in will help you develop a deeper awareness, which is one of the real magic benefits of yoga.

I hope this helps. Comment below if you have any thoughts or insights you would like to share.

Last year was a year of big change for me personally and I feel I have gotten much better at working towards and achieving my goals. There are lots of reasons for this but one of them I feel is really well expressed in the second chapter of the book we are currently reading in Liverpool Yoga Book club which is Essence of the Upanishads: A Key to Indian Spirituality by Eknath Easwaran.

I love how ancient wisdom can be applied to our modern lives, it shows the timelessness of the human experience, that what we struggle with has a timeless element to it. In the book Nachita seeks out the King of Death Yama in order to learn the secret of life and death. Nachita’s lessons begin by Yama explaining to him that humans have at any one moment a choice of two options preya and shreya. “preya is what is pleasant: shreya is what is beneficial.” Eknath Easwaran.

When we approach our own goals in life first we have to be clear on what they are. If we are not clear then we will mostly choose preya because that will lead to instant gratification. Sometimes shreya and preya are actually the same choice but often they are in conflict. Often the thing that will move us in the direction that we want to go is not the easiest path or else we would maybe already be there. Sometimes we have to do things that are often unpleasant in the short term in order to achieve what we want long term.

Hopefully those of you that practice yoga enjoy it, I certainly do. But if you practice for any length of time then there will be days where you don’t want to do it. On those days where you would rather watch TV, search the internet, chat online with friends, etc. you have a choice. Sometimes you have to practice when you don’t want to in order to get the longer term benefits you are seeking be that increased wellbeing, mindfulness or increased mobility and strength. 

In order to achieve my goals last year I have often had to do tasks that put me outside of my comfort zone physically or emotionally. Sometimes I have had to do tasks that are just a bit mundane, the goal itself is exciting and interesting but often achieving it means repeating simple tasks again and again and again. Sometimes the actual work is not particularly glamorous or exciting. 

There are always choices about what we do with our time and our resources. For me looking at my goals and then looking at my task list and working out what my priorities are has been an important and life changing routine. The goals are exciting but sometimes the tasks are not. I am not saying you always have to the hard task some treats and rest is good for balance too but always remember you have a choice and that small actions add up to make big changes. 

I think we often look for the one big thing that will change our lives but often in my experience it’s the small actions that we take consistently that make the biggest changes.

What have your biggest learning’s been from last year. What are you planning on doing different this year.