I was always skeptical of mindfulness. Every time I tried to switch my mind off, it seemed to start working twice as fast.
So, it was with wariness that I attended my first yoga class.
One of our fabulous contributors, Ali Henderson, started to run free yoga classes at lunchtimes, and my friend and I decided to go and give it a try.
Like anything new, it was nerve-wracking.
I’ve never been very bendy, and I’d always found balancing hard, even though I used to go to dance classes up until my teens.
I thought I was going to make a huge fool of myself.
This could be the one to work for me
But after that first lesson, I finally understood this whole mindfulness thing.
It wasn’t enlightenment or anything like that. It was just a glimpse of the relaxation and escape that mindfulness could provide for me.
I knew that, with practise, this could be the one to work for me.
Having been a dancer, it was a novelty to realise that it wasn’t a competition. There is no pressure to perform at all. If you can’t touch your toes, it’s fine!
Eventually, I learned the names of all the moves (yes, downward dog is a real pose!), and I could lose myself in the flow. By the end of each session, I’d walk away feeling so light and airy, as though I could take on the world.
Maybe that was helped by the fact that classes were usually held in the vista room at the very top of our office building. The views of the city are stunning from up there.
Photograph by Abbie Phillips.
There are so many stressors these days. Modern life is a lot to keep up with!
And this year especially has been riddled with all sorts of anxieties. Having something in your tool kit to help ease that can be so helpful.
What about you? Let us know if you practice a form of mindfulness over on Twitter! Namaste!
For more posts on health and wellbeing from “The People’s Friend”, click here.
Abigail Phillips Abbie is the newest member of the fiction team at the "Friend." She loves how varied the role is - every day is different and there is always a new story to read. She is keen to work closely with established writers and discover new writers, too.
