yoga

I have been doing yoga regularly now for 3 years. I had toyed with it a little before then, and then in September 2007 my then employer told me I had to take my holiday before Christmas. Well I had nowhere to go with no-one. The one thing I did have was some savings to spend and I decided to go impulse holiday shopping. Less than 48 hours later I had booked onto a week's yoga retreat on the South Turkish coast. Picturing myself stuck with some true yogi's I expected to die. But everyone was of mixed ability and I had the most amazing time.

 

There were about 10 of us and we stayed in a hotel on the coast (fairly basic but with a pool and on the beach - all you needed) and every morning we'd walk 1.5 miles up the hill to the teachers house for our morning class. This was followed by the yummiest, healthiest homemade food. We'd then walk back down the hill have a swim, snooze and sunbathe, back up the hill for afternoon yoga/meditation and more yummy dinner and a glass of wine and then back down (that makes 6 miles walking a day) for another drink at the bar and an early night.

I've never felt healthier in body and mind.

I now do yoga once a week - rather sporadically, sometimes I miss a class, and sometimes my teacher does more than one class a week - which is great - and I lap it up. It's tricky to find a good teacher but well worth trying different classes until you find the right one. I don't know what I'm going to do when I leave this part of London and have to find a new one.

Sometimes it can be frustrating, I still can't do a headstand or the bridge, but I'll get there eventually. For me the biggest benefit yoga has been is helping me with my depression and stress. It hasn't cured it but definitely HELPS ENORMOUSLY. Even the relaxation and breathing exercises - I do this weird breathing thing when I'm stressed when I hold my breath.

I hope and plan to still do yoga when I'm 90.