Well-being
well-be·ing (noun) - state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous; (synonym) satisfaction, comfort, content, contentment, ease, enjoyment, happiness, pleasure, pride, repletion. [Webster’s Concise Electronic Dictionary, and Collins English Thesaurus]
Prosperous I’m certainly not, but after last night I am in a state of well-being again. It goes like this: I’ve been practising yoga on and off for many years, but in the past year I have been going regularly to a very nice class in a local village hall. I was very happy with it, but then the yoga teacher left to live in Spain (as you do), and couldn’t find anyone to take over the class.
For weeks I looked around for another class at a convenient time, all the time feeling my body stiffening up. Yes, I know I could practice at home on my own, but it’s really not the same, particularly when you have the willpower of the average toddler. Then last weekend I foundâright under my noseâa whole health centre called The Yoga Garden. They have all kinds of classes involving different styles of yoga, but I plumped for a form of yoga called ‘Astanga’. It’s a fast, flowing and athletic styleâadjectives which never leap to peoples lips in connection with me.
It was wonderful. The idea is to flow between the different postures with your breath, and it’s surprisingly strenuous and intense. The teacher, Sarah, also sang her breathing instructions (“Inhale… Exhale…”), which as she has a lovely pure voice, was rather like getting your instructions from a Tibetan Singing Bowl. After the session I felt light and relaxed, and after the free sauna and a (very brief) dip in the icy plunge pool I felt positively radiant. Thursdays are going to be fun from now on.
