Yesterday was International Day of Yoga! Yogis from all over the world bent and breathed in public places to celebrate this amazing activity.

I started yoga to improve flexibility for my pole fitness. As well as this, I’ve found improvements in core strength (when you’re wobbling about in a wide Warrior pose it’s surprisingly abs-strengthy) and I’ve also found it helps practise Mindfulness – shocker. My favourite move for this is tree pose, standing on one leg, perfectly still, arms above your head, it requires so much concentration you forget about what you’re having for tea or what you did at work today. It completely clears the head.

Becoming more aware of your body, or every toe and every little ligament and sinew puts you more in touch with you as a full body, and less of a head attached to a body. That’s a weird thing to think about but I read a study that said people who think  in that way are happier. It brings more self awareness, more self love. The pictures above are from a long weekend in Snowdonia we just took to celebrate the hub finishing his PhD thesis. As well as these photos taken when out and about, I took a few moments to practise yogic breathing barefoot in the grass in our campsite in the early morning with noone around except for birds and bunnies. It was so peaceful.

My normal yoga practise is on Mondays at Loveday Yoga, but in the name of Yoga Day, my colleague Katie and I took a cheeky trip up to our roof garden to take some pictures!

❤ yoga!