News & Musings
Happy New Year! January 2021
Well, you certainly don’t need me to tell you anything about 2020!
New Year, however, is a time for looking forward and I’d like to look forward with hope and positivity.
During our first Yoga with Jools class this year, we focussed on 3 affirmations:
- I am enough
- I am strong and resilient
- I am hopeful for the future
Affirmations (or sankalpa) are a simple way to help bring about positive change. We use them during Yoga Nidra practice but really whenever we like. Research has also proven that it helps to repeat an affirmation 3 times. You can choose any affirmation which resonates with you in the moment. Your statement just needs to be these 3 things:
- Personal
- Positive
- In the present
Why not give them a try?
Many of us have more time than usual – We could put it to good use, looking after our own health and wellbeing and, if possible, offering some support to others. I was a brownie (many moons ago) and we used to promise to do a good deed every day. I think one of the easiest ways to feel better is to do something to help someone else feel better!
Sometime soon we’ll able to start to go back to living our lives, and, more than anything, I hope that we can learn from this strange experience. Let’s learn to really appreciate things that we may have taken for granted in the past. Making a note of, even really little things, which we feel grateful for can help us to focus on the positives.
Finally, remember, each day is getting a little longer and the nights are starting to get a little shorter. Step outside and notice that some of the spring bulbs are already starting to emerge from the ground. Happy New Year!
August 2020
The return of Face to Face yoga
I’m delighted to return to face to face Yoga with Jools classes!
The pandemic has been so difficult for so many people but the process of unlocking continues to present challenges. We’ve seen changes to the loosening of restrictions but individual people and organisations are also choosing to go at their own pace – I fully understand and respect the decisions that that they make. This does mean that I’ve not been able to go back to my timetable just as it was but, with the kind help of some friends and contacts, I’m now able to teach 3 face to face sessions a week at St Peter’s Church Hall, Paradise Lane, Formby. These times and days are temporary and we will have restricted numbers due to social distancing requirements but I think it’s great progress! I’ll also continue to offer some online classes via Zoom and we will evolve.
I’d like to say a big thank you to all of my students who have kept in touch and continued to support me throughout – where would I be without you?
July 2020
These are very strange and challenging times. However, they have given us the opportunity to pause and ask the question “What matters most?”
The clear reply! People, not things.
The pandemic has made such a difference to all of our lives. I don’t think any of us would have believed it if, last year, someone had described how we’d be living in 2020! Over 100 years ago, during the Spanish flu pandemic, my Nana was just 21 and working as a pharmacist’s assistant in Ramsgate. The pharmacist was very ill with the flu so, even though she wasn’t qualified, she continued to run the shop and dispense the medicines!
My heart goes out to the people who have experienced hardship, illness and bereavement and the all the front-line workers who must be afraid to go to work, yet still carry on. So much sadness, so many heroes and so hard for all of us to be separated from family and friends.
It’s changed the way I live and work. Obviously I can’t teach my face to face yoga classes but I’ve learned how to teach online and we’ve even managed some Yoga with Jools sessions in the park. My husband is also working full time from home and a property renovation has slowed down as we can’t always get hold of materials. I signed up as a GoodSAM volunteer which has mostly involved “check in and chat” telephone calls and I’ve also been shopping for neighbours who’ve been shielding.
On the plus side, I know I’m very lucky to have a home with a garden and amazing neighbours who I’ve got to know even better. We’ve had socially distanced chats sitting at our gateposts almost daily. Passers must think that we’re nuts but they don’t know that most of them have been
given nicknames!
One of my neighbours has completed a lovely project, photographing us in front of our homes and collecting our views about what the lockdown has meant to each of us. The photograph and the words at the beginning of this piece are my contribution. We hope that it will capture what will become a piece of our history.
We’re all short on hugs so I’d like to finish by sending you a great big virtual hug!
Until we meet again,
Jools