I love this time of year when the snowdrops are open and the days are drawing out. I may have made (and probably not kept!) resolutions and the dark January days send me into a kind of hibernation, but now I can feel truly motivated to open the door and step outside with a spring in my step.
In the words of Thomas Dewar – “Minds are like parachutes, they work best when open”. With the longer daylight hours there is more opportunity to open our eyes – not only in the physical sense for the sunshine to help our Vitamin D absorption – but to really see and be open to experience the natural beauty surrounding us which can be so uplifting emotionally. This in turn can help us tune into our inner experience, take stock of what needs attention in our life, what we need to put behind us so are ‘open’ to look at future opportunities and challenges.
Alexander Graham Bell said, “When one door closes, another opens, but we often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us”. His experience of having a mother and wife with hearing impairments, inspired work which led to his invention of the telephone.
Mandy, a skilled and perceptive Yoga teacher, encouraged us in our first class back after Christmas, to open up our bodies. We, gently but with ‘intent’, stretched our muscles, which have often been ‘hunched up’ and tight when it’s cold and we’ve perhaps been less mobile. We did focussed breathing exercises to encourage oxygen into the furthest recesses of our lungs – the alveoli –where the actual exchange of nourishing oxygen and waste carbon dioxide happens. This very refreshing exercise both relaxes and energises.
‘Opening up’ has tremendous physical and emotional benefits and if you need support in helping to stretch out winter-tight muscles, phone me to book a Touch Therapy massage.