Some people are convinced that yoga is religious. Some try to prove legally that it isn’t. I think it's better than that. It trains your mind to be present and grateful, and it trains your body to be up for the challenge. Physical life gets harder and harder but we have a duty to be grateful for what we have, keep the body MOT’d and keep the positivity and energy going,

“This is such a spiritual time of year” said a yogi. The muscular statement took me by surprise. And yet, goodness me, it’s such a spiritual time of year! Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice frame a time of spiritual traditions, festivity and special foods all over the world.

How are you? Coming to class? We start the Friday class with a short meditation – just 10 minutes. It is, after all, one of the Eight Limbs of yoga which includes Yamas and Niyamas/Dos and don'ts, Asana/posture practice, Pranayama/breathing exercises, and Dhyana/meditation. Full Eight Limbs here.

I was brought up with the idea of merit: making merit, accumulating merit and performing meritorious deeds – even transferring merit to departed loved ones who need our help to be reborn into a better life. Well! I always pictured this as some sort of bank account that you build up and up by performing good deeds. You get something back from this bank account – you get a better next life! Not so!

Well, Kythera is a memory for another year. Kapsali’s gorgeousness retreats into the past for another year: its double bay and Aphrodite’s rock, its deep blue sea churning and kicking up September foam, its tavernas and cafes, cotton wool clouds and warm air, my morning run up to ‘the capital’ picking figs to eat along the way. We’re doing our retreat next year! Definitely!

I've been listening to YouTubes by Patrick McKeown, writer of The Oxygen Advantage. Wow! There’s so much information that this Friday Email is becoming part one of two posts! He’s really worth a listen! I've been listening to his Atomic Focus Breathing workshops part 1. He starts by saying: 'This is not about mindfulness. This is about going beyond it'.

As I write this I am wearing a bracelet for visiting the Lying in State. Mum had seen Churchill’s Lying in State so, as we came out of the Great Hall and looked back at the Palace of Westminster last night, I asked Mum for her impressions. She couldn’t remember being in there!

Norman Blair, a senior Yin Yoga teacher, (I’ve written about him before when he released his book) has weighed in to the cost-of-living-crisis debate with an article, Headbanging/Headstanding, about the earnings of yoga teachers. He gives his own accounts and it’s interesting!

This week I taught an impossible and phenomenal posture… for most bodies, for most energies, for most normal people, it’s an impossibility. Yogis, however, love a challenge! The posture is Visvamitrasana, named after sage Visvamitra who also liked a challenge.

Did you know that many yogis organise their practice around the lunar calendar? The phase of the moon tells them whether to practice or not practice. It is said that the energy of the moon is so powerful that we need to use our own energy accordingly and match the moon cycles.