Monday, May 23, 2011

Be wild, do it outside!

Mad, mad two weeks of work!
Now that is great of course but as I lolled in front of the TV at 11pm the other night, (I only ever watch for Brothers and Sisters, the greatest show anywhere, ever) hypnotized by "Made in Chelsea" (OMG!!!!! Will Caggie get over her lost love...who cares?!!) whilst stuffing my third chocolate bar of the day and barely able to keep my eyes open I suddenly had a realisation: bad TV, bad food, bad sleep habits and I have not done a yoga class for myself for the last couple of weeks. I need to get back on the mat and save myself!
How can you profess to be a good yogi and yoga teacher if you don't take time to develop your own practice and be inspired by other teachers.
After a slap on the wrist, and the last bite of my chomp bar I headed to bed on the promise that I would make time for class. Now of course if I was a really dedicated yogi I would be unrolling my mat in my sitting room at 6am every morning and taking my yoga journey on my own, but to be honest with you, I love my bed too much, my sitting room is barely big enough to swing a cat and I am not very disciplined!
However I can get up to go to work or to catch a plane...what does that say about me? Lets not dwell on that question!
Thursday came and I juggled my schedule to make it to lovely Julie Bealey's class at lunch time. For those of you not acquainted, Julie is my total yoga inspiration. Offering challenging 90 minute flowing classes across South Bucks she teaches with care and precision, a sense of individuality and humour. With Julie, you float easily into poses that you never imagined possible.  Her Thursday class is at her house, with a select group of women who are all very dedicated to their practice and approach each class with positivity and elegance.
Julie's house is beautiful and always immaculate too. I mean if you laid in savasana in my kitchen you would probably be too distracted by the cobwebs on the ceiling or spots of Ketchup on the kick boards to be able to relax and breathe! This week the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day on Thursday and when I got to Julie's the patio doors were flung open (she has the kind that concertina across the whole of the back of the house like a Grand Designs house). "Yoga in the garden today" announced our guru. I was sceptical as although the weather was gorgeous, the ground was slightly uneven and I was worrying if my new mat would get muddy-sad!
Well, it was AMAZING! I know that word is over used but the only other word worthy is AWESOME and then I will have to kill myself!
We did a wonderful Jason Crandell inspired flow full of Cobra and side plank in various incarnations. It seemed that each time I got into a side plank and was struggling with my deepest expression of the pose, a breeze blew my hair back and lifted my chest and I was able to bring my foot higher in vasistasana with Vrkasana or extend my leg a little longer in Vasistasana with side extension. And when we took a generous wheel toward the end of the practice, again, the perfectly timed breeze filled my body with energy and light and I floated up into the most satisfying version of this gorgeous pose that I have ever experienced. For our final relaxation we hopped to the shelter of her glass roofed kitchen and, lavender bags in place, we basked in the warmth of the sun as we floated in the glow of our practice.
So if you get a chance, fellow freedom lovers, throw your doors open this summer, or take your class to the park or the beach and get your yoga on in the great outdoors. It may hold new challenges but it will also hold fantastic wonders!
Here's to being back on the mat and to a summer filled with new adventures in yoga!

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