I Get By With A Little Help From Yoga

Yoga was always something that I’d always wanted to do however my initial reason for trying it out over 10 years ago at the infamous Pineapple Studios are very different to the reasons why I love it today.

Despite the relaxing effect it had on me and my friend in that studio all those years ago (we fell asleep!), I never quite cottoned on to the power and empowerment of yoga, I just saw it as something that was good for me to do during my days as a dancer to help keep me limber and strong, which is probably why I never kept it up as I completely missed the point of what yoga is really about.

However over the past few years I have found myself questioning so many different aspects of life and paying a lot more attention to the way I respond to life. So as a way of exploring this and finding balance and inner peace, in January 2014 as one of my new year’s resolutions I vowed to start my yoga journey and it all began with a £5 class which I had no idea would eventually play such a huge role of support in my life.  

Sadly only after a few weeks the class was cancelled and for a while I tried out a few other classes but I never quite connected the way that I did with my first instructor.

By the summer I felt like I had started to fall apart as my tank was on empty and I needed to slow down and as a result of overworking and neglecting myself in more ways than one I began to experience a lot of anxiety. I knew that what I was experiencing was simply a mind over matter situation and I was determined to restore myself in a holistic way. So I contacted my instructor and gave her the rundown on what was happening and booked myself in for a private session, but before diving straight in for a yoga session we agreed that I we would have a Reiki session that would help to understand where my issues were coming from and what areas we needed to focus on. This was and still is the most powerful spiritual healing experience I have ever had. It was the first time in what had felt like months that my mind found peace, even if it was only for a few seconds at a time because let me tell you, those few seconds felt like heaven (or at least what I imagine heaven would feel like.)

These sessions were the start of gaining back my control, managing and understanding my mind and emotions at a deeper level. Since then I have continued with my yoga and meditation practice and have had some really great experiences. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to some yoga classes where I’ve left and at the end said to myself “what the fuck was that all about”, and I’ve been to some where my body has had a better work out than my mind and spirit, but I’ve also been to classes that have left me in tears, or have unblocked whatever may have been preventing me from feeling grateful, happy, loved or free. My latest experience involved being turned on during a session!! Which I assure you, was as much as a surprise to me as  I think may be to you! The instructor did have on some insanely little tight shorts and he did also had a beautiful voice, but after having a quick chat with my instructor back home she assured me that it was completely normal and that he (the instructor) clearly acted as catalyst for whatever was going on in my body. (Horny hormones! HA!! Can’t believe I just wrote that!) Lol, no seriously yoga has all kinds of ways of awakening your subconscious feelings, energies and emotions. Especially at times when you least expect it, you can experience all kinds of emotions.

Yoga isn’t for everyone but for me it one of my top wellbeing activities that keeps me centred and grounded in this crazy western world. Since moving to Lisbon I’ve been exploring different classes to find my right match while I’m here which I think may have finally found. What makes it even sweeter is that it’s outdoors and it's free!

If you’re in Lisbon and would love to do some yoga check out the video below!

Or if you’re at home and don’t have the time to get to a class but really want to have some kickass guided practice, check out Yoga with Adrienne! She is amazing and I regularly do her sessions via YouTube. She’s fun as has a great way of making you feel at ease with whatever level of yoga you’re at. She also has a great 30 Daysof Yoga programme which I’ve found as great way to start the day.

Follow @yogawithadriene

Enjoy and  feel free to share any yoga stories or tips!

Love Sara. xx

Finding a New Path

Can you believe that my first month in Lisbon has already gone?

So how did it go? – Well to be completely honest the first 2 weeks were pretty bad as I experienced the worst homesickness I’ve ever experienced in my life. I’ve always been one to get homesick but this time it felt like it was never going end which made it even worse. Immediately I stated making plans for my return home to England and how I would just carry on with my life as it was. For a while this was comforting but then after returning home for a week for a family event and spending time talking really openly with my family and two besties about what I was feeling, I began to remember all the reasons why I made the choice to move to Lisbon and give myself a break and live life in a new place for a while.

Taking myself out of my comfort zone and starting over the way I did was such huge thing to do and I clearly underestimated the impact that it would have on me, as I had gone from having a super busy job, friends, family, and social life, to having no job, plenty of time and just me myself and I to keep myself company. But as awful as those few weeks were, I got over them (thank God) and was able to start putting things into perspective, like the fact I am living the my favourite city in the world with endless possibilities!

Now a full month in I can say that moving here for the summer (or maybe longer who knows) was definitely the right thing for me to do because although I change my mind as often as Rihanna changes her hair, being here and having time alone has given me the chance to start thinking more about what I want from this new blank chapter of life, what’s most important and how I can achieve it. And yes, it’s likely that I will change my mind a gazillion times before I get to the place that I’m supposed to be, but I’m happy to say that this is a start, and for the first time in a while, I think I may be on the path that was designed just for me.

Love Sara. xx

Epiphany of Change

Last week I had a long overdue lunch with one of my mentors, who always manages to add some sunshine to my day.

Over the past few months I have experienced complete and utter exhaustion, being overwhelmed and anxious to the point where even I at times didn’t recognise myself!

Now a few months down the line I’m nowhere near ‘cured’ or free of the above, but I’m definitely on the path to a much better place.

Earlier this year I had a car accident, which in hindsight was the straw that thankfully broke the camel’s back. Unfortunately in this life its takes a negative and frightening experience to slap you about and tell you to wake the hell up to reality and that’s exactly what that accident did for me.

For almost the past 2 years of my life I have allowed myself to become so involved in my professional life by trying to keep up with those around me and what societies idea of what a young professional female should be, that I forgot about the most important person in my life… me! Sounds silly I know; how can I forget about me when I spend every single day with me? But this is easily done when you become so consumed with the day to day tasks of work and life that sometimes you forget to stop, breathe and take the time to take care of you. Well I had been doing that for longer than I can remember and when I finally realised that this is what I’d been doing, everything began to change.

As they say change is good, but what I have had to learn is that change is also flipping hard, especially when the change is so big that you know that every relationship in your life will change as a result of the changing of the relationship you have with yourself. This has been no easy ride and changes by the day, sometimes even by the hour. But with each day I have learned to understand it all a little more and accept it a little more, but here is what I learnt and understood last week with the help of my wonderful mentor.

With change there is always a loss and this is sometimes why change can feel uncomfortable. I also learnt that throughout life we have ways of doing things that have always served us well, but sometimes these things no longer serve us and this is ok. But when these things that we do and may have done for our entire lives, or the last decade of our lives no longer serve us, it’s ok to let them go, because there is no point in holding on to something that no longer works in our favour. Sometimes this can mean letting go of something that has become a part of you, but this doesn’t mean that you a losing yourself or even compromising who you are. It just means that you are making space and opening yourself up to something new that will serve you and will allow you to evolve, grow and develop in to the person who you are destined to be and that will help you flourish in your next chapter.

This is simple and deep down this was something that I already knew, but through having this casual lunch with my bubbly and supportive mentor, the penny finally dropped. By letting go and cleansing myself of certain habits and ways that I have always had does not mean that I am losing myself. It means that I am giving myself the permission and acceptance to grown into the person I need to be for the next stage of my life and I should not, regret, mourn or feel anger or fear towards this, instead I should embrace it and let it be.

These are just some of the lessons I learned last week that I wanted to share with you… There plenty more where they came from so I’ll do my best to share them with you when I can.

Love Sara. xxx

F.R.I.E.N.D.S Do we Really Need Them .... Hell Yes!!

Last week was a very trying week and my friends simply were my saviour.

Sometimes in life you need to be told about yourself, not in a nasty way but simply because you’re being too hard on yourself and sometime you need someone to talk to help you make sense of the things in your life that you just can’t figure out alone.

You should know something about me that I have only really discovered in the past year… I am an utter control freak and being the control freak that I am is currently ruining my life! Ok that was a little dramatic… It’s not ruining my life it’s just making my life harder than what it needs to be.

You see my problem is this, I know the beauty of living in the moment because I spent the better part of 2013 doing just that, but I also have this thing that I do which is called being overly ambitious. This is not a bad thing, but this usually leads to me setting my sights on something that I want to be or do, working my arse off to get it and then once I have it, not exploring it and then setting my sights on the next big thing. In short this means that I live a lot in the future which equals major anxiety. This is something that I am working on and at times I’m better at it than others. However for the past few weeks I have been failing miserably and this is where the help and support of good friends come in.

Over the Christmas my good amiga came home from uni and we had a blast! So much of a blast I didn’t realise how much I’d missed having a friend around who gets me in every way possible and best of all, is as honest as f*@#! Some people hate that, but I love it! It sets the real apart from the fake and there is nothing better that having friends that call it like they see it and believe me, that is exactly what she did.

To put it simply, my dear friend verbally shook some sense into me and helped me to remember that there is nothing wrong with having ambition and goals in life, but sometimes I just need to give myself a flipping break and acknowledge all of the great things I have already achieved and be proud of them. She also reminded me to live in the moment and to stop spending so much time worrying and trying to control the things in life that ultimately, I have no control over.

All in all, having great friends in life is a must! And I mean real friends, one’s like my good mate that I’ve just spent the last 400 odd words talking about. Friends that never judge you, friend that will still be your friend regardless of the choices you make so long as you remain true to yourself whilst making them, friends that will not only just listen to your problems, but friends who are down to help you find solutions to your problems even if means telling you to get your head out of your arse, but above all, friends that you can be your complete and utter self with and have a good old fashioned laugh about everything and nothing all at the same time!

 

Image sourced from http://easy-safe-weightloss.blogspot.it/

Value you friends lovebugs… good ones are hard to find.

 

Love Sara (A little Lady with a Kick Ass friend called Arti!). xxx

Monday Motivation

Hey there lovers!

I hope you’ve been having a great Bank Holiday weekend.

The past few weeks for me have been great but also very trying. I’d started to feel like I was losing my sense of self and inner light as my new job, which I love but is also very intense, had started to seep its way into almost every aspect of my life… even my sleep, and if there is one thing that I don’t play around with, it’s my sleep. So as you can imagine when this happened it was time for me to take action and regain control over my life. This hasn’t been an easy task to do because as much as I tried with all my might, my laptop still found itself in my backpack for a weekend away from the office to casa del Sara. But as an attempt to remember and restore all the other things in my life other than work that are important to me, particularly my dreams and aspirations I’ve started reading Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Alchemist’ for the second time.

If you have not read this book before I strongly suggest that you make it a priority to add it to your collection because this is a book like no other.

Sometimes in life we get so caught up in the here and now and the rat race, that we forget what it is to have dreams. ‘The Alchemist’ will restore your faith in the good of the world, the people in it and the dreamers who are brave enough to believe in and seek the euphoria of their dreams.

If you are anything like me … a bit of a dreamer and spend a ridiculous amount of time in your head fantasising and mapping out all these fantastic ideas about what you would like your life to become, but then procrastinate when it comes to making them happen, then read ‘The Alchemist’. It may just be the push you need to realise that your dreams can in fact become your reality.

Have a good week lovers and remember to always believe in and pursue your dreams no matter how big or small.

 Love Sara. xxxx