On this fine day…

So after running my first Park Run this morning, my beautiful day of ikigai continued. I decided to fill this precious first day of the year with things that would make me happy and feel good.

I’d heard about a film called Walk With Me, a journey into mindfulness about Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, which immediately made me think of one of my friends who has been studying mindfulness, so I met her and we went to see the movie. It was really interesting, and by the end we agreed we felt like we’d been in meditation for a couple of hours (and I don’t even meditate). 

My friend suggested we follow the movie with a yoga session, so off we went to see my favourite yoga teacher who happened to be running a class this evening. It was a lovely session, longer than my usual class which is crammed into a lunch break, and it was just what my body (and mind) needed. I find the Hatha yoga that I practice is very flexible and easy to adapt to how you are feeling on any particular day, and although I’ve only been practicing for about a year, I can’t imagine life without yoga now. 

My teacher often instructs us in a move and says “see how your body feels on this fine day” and that’s a phrase I tend to leave the room with. Each day is different, but on this fine day I have to say I’m feeling pretty good!