'Tis the season to be merry!'

But equally there's a good deal of stress around so we need to allow ourselves the time to take care of ourselves. My yoga classes are designed to develop strength, balance and flexibility and through the process of moving from one posture to the next, the mind is focused on the body, the breath and the movement. Mindfulness.

In our yoga practice we are putting the body into physical stress and using the breath to release the nerve receptors in the muscles and tendons. This creates a behaviour pattern. When we are away from the mat and dealing with what life throws at us, we then find our response to stress is measured and calm.

If you are interested in these techniques, come along to one of my classes and see for yourself.

How to get the best out of an Alpine break...

The annual pilgrimage to get the 'fix' of the white powder is starting soon and in life, preparation is the key to success, making sure the kit still fits, checking out the snow reports and getting the logistics sorted.

Some of us would even check out a gym and attempt to get the body in shape...

I got to thinking about this since most of the yoga I teach is about functional movement, core stability and moving efficiently. The public yoga classes I run are actually well suited for skiers so I have taken it a stage further and put together a really good sequence of postures. flowing movement that will prepare the key muscle groups for a bout of skiing or snow boarding. There is plenty about this on the internet, check out the snow+rock article. The sequence takes approximately 20 minutes, so practised about 3 times a week will strengthen the quads, hip flexors and core. Balance will improve, as will concentration.

I can teach this on a 'one -to-one basis to to a group. I will provide a handout to follow at home and some additional 'take aways' for pre ski and post ski stretches.

“I couldn’t do that when I was younger…..”

OK let me qualify that statement.. When I say ‘younger’ I mean my twenties, thirties, forties, when the body is fully fused and

Get a different perspective...

own and I was in relatively good shape.

The general acceptance across my generation is that we start to fall apart from a certain age, things get stiff and ache and our movement isn’t as good as it once was, of course this is a generalisation although quite often a subject of conversation.

Awareness, good diet, nutrition and exercise is probably more prevalent in our generation than that of our parents and we are probably in better shape as a consequence, but are we in the best shape possible? If we are relatively healthy and fit, is it normal that we might struggle to put our socks on in the morning, lift our grandchildren, bend down to retrieve something off the floor and expect to get up effortlessly , find it a challenge to sit comfortably and sleep soundly?

Perhaps it is. I must admit I fully expected that when I approach the golden years and retirement beckons, I would be in pretty bad shape, the early years of excessive living, and the intense physical training would have caught up with me. Despite this expectation, it never put me off living that life, I guess denial played a big part and an attitude of ‘what will be…’

If any of this resonates, then may I suggest you consider yoga. Please don’t be put off by any preconceptions you may have or by any stigma, the yoga I refer to is fully functional, relevant, dogma free and certainly not ‘woo woo’

Practising a few yoga postures that are linked together with some intelligent movement will move the body in all 3 planes of movement, as we have been designed, but often not executed. Holding a position whilst focusing on alignment, stability and how you are breathing will build strength and loosen tightness and calm the mind. Balancing the body and defying gravity will improve concentration and provide moments of euphoria, it will, it does, believe me!

Put all of this together into a 5 minute or 10 minute or longer sequence, depending upon your time constraints, you will start to recover your natural range of movement – results will soon become evident. Naturally it will do much more than this over time, which brings me back to the heading;

“I couldn’t do that when I was younger…..but I can now”

Preconceptions about our body limitations are just that, it is in our power to challenge these, where you think you may be restricted in later years, may not be the case.