Welcome to this week’s Newsletter. I hope you are having a good start to your Sunday as you take a break, so sit down with a cuppa and read on.

I found myself losing track of time this week… causing me to run a bit late of course from time to time. However, we can lose track of time and the consequences won’t be detrimental to anything else. In fact, losing track of time can be a fabulous thing. I have occasionally done that when I’m teaching, being lost in watching and coaching everyone with their movement and then realising we still have to work on the other side. But basically, losing track of time can be a beautiful thing… I investigate why in Your Whole Self.

I damaged my ribs on the left side of my body last week — unfortunately playing with my youngest granddaughter — having a bit of a wrestle, lifting her up and as I leaned over to put her back down, I felt a ‘pop’ on my left side. 

Suddenly everything then was painful uh oh! I had physio the next day (part of my ongoing back and hip work) and speaking with him he said that unfortunately these kind of things happen once you have had a musculoskeletal issue in the spine, with a resultant knock-on weakening in other areas. He reassured me that my body wasn’t breaking down, but simply rebalancing and realigning. 

Other than the pain and discomfort with just about every movement, my balance has indeed been affected… testament to this in my Morning Movement class on Saturday. It’s worth a watch to see me struggling 🫣

But this week’s Exercise of the Week is a balance sequence, which I will be practising a lot over the next week. Balance is key to our health in so many ways, and research has shown that we start to lose balance from the age of 35, so it’s vital to keep working on it at every age.

All classes are running as normal this week, both Face-to-Face and Online. 

Remember that everyone who is a member of Face-to-Face classes has access to all Online classes as well. If you have lost your password for access, just message us for a reminder.

As I mentioned above, last week I found myself losing track of time. Have you ever had that moment where you suddenly realise you haven’t been checking the clock because you have been so engrossed in something… a book, some music, baking, gardening, crafting…? You suddenly look at the clock and think how can it be that late already? It can be surprising, disorientating sometimes, but when you stop and think, those moments are often something quite special.

It usually happens when we are fully into something, completely absorbed, and fully present. We aren’t thinking about what’s next to do, what’s just happened, or what we should be doing, we are just there, in the moment.

The reason it can feel so beautiful is because in those moments the mind settles, the noise quietens, the sense of pressure eases. We aren’t rushing, we aren’t multitasking, we aren’t thinking about everything all at once, we are simply being, and when this happens it can be incredibly restorative. It’s giving the brain and body a little reset, without even trying.

We don’t have to force these moments, they tend to happen when we least expect them, but we can create the conditions for them. We can give ourselves these opportunities to slow down, be absorbed in something we enjoy and step away from the distractions. This allows us to be fully where we are, for however much time we want. It’s about not chasing time, managing time, or squeezing more into it… but giving ourselves permission to lose track of it, finding moments to be present, engaged and connected so that time simply slips by… not lost time, but time well spent.

I love it if class participants say to me at the end of class wow, that went so quickly! because that tells me they have been moving with awareness, connecting to their mind and body, stepping into that space of losing track of time, briefly, quietly and sometimes that is exactly what we need.

In a world where we are often watching the clock, checking the time, planning the next thing… don’t you think it is a lovely place to be when you are lost in your surroundings, and everything else quietly fades into the background.

Gift yourself this opportunity this week.

Have a positive week everyone — keep looking, moving, and feeling good.

With love and support,

Jane xxx