DVDs have arrived!

I returned yesterday from a teaching trip to Scotland and this morning, as if it was 'meant to be' a card arrived through my door to say my yoga DVDs were at the Post Office ready to pick up.

The trip to Scotland, incidentally, was wonderful.  We (David and I) were in Edinburgh which is a beautiful city and full of relaxed, chilled, polite and friendly people.  We taught a barefoot running workshop on Saturday and our students were fabulous - keen to learn and unphased by the fact that every time we went outside to do practical work, it poured with rain. 

We spent most of our time up North talking to various people about running and very much hope to make it back up there for the Scottish Barefoot Run.

Anyway, back to the DVDs.  There are 12 of them in all, along with a calendar and a nutrition guide.  I'm instructed to take a 'before' photo, which I will dutifully do, and then hopefully there will be a visible transformation in my 'after' shot!  Day One involves the 'cross train' DVD, a HARDcore session (for amazing abs!) and ten minutes of meditation.  Meditation is the part of yoga that so many people gloss over or even leave out.  This is entirely the wrong approach, since the foundation of yoga (I've been reliably informed by an experienced teacher) is the meditation practice.  The poses were developed to enhance or facilitate the focus of the mind.  Within this 108 day programme, the meditation section increases gradually to thirty minutes per day.  I wasn't expecting this but recognize how important - vital - it will be to the whole process.  The instructions that came with the DVDs tell me to 'find a quiet, calm place in my house' for this - that could be a little tricky as my cats usually want to investigate the minute I lay my mat down and frequently end up lying on my chest when I'm stretching or twirling underneath me when I'm trying to concentrate on 'Downwards Dog'.  However, I will find space and some kind of routine so this becomes something that fits in smoothly...

There are other more general suggestions, such as taking a day out to help somebody else without expecting anything in return and also taking a day to 'de-clutter' the space in which I live.  One day to de-clutter might be pushing it (try one month solid) but I can see how this will all add to my journey. 

Now, I was thinking that Monday 1st July would be a great day to begin this journey, but I'm super keen to start so tomorrow looks like being my first day. 

I'd better finish that bottle of wine in the fridge then...:)