New Year
How many times have you heard someone say bring on 2021? To say this year has been challenging is somewhat of an understatement and I know we’re all hoping for a calmer, more positive 2021.
There seems to be a feeling that when the clock strikes midnight on 31st December, it’s a case of out with the old and in with the new. And not just this year, but every year. There’s often a sense of putting the past behind and starting afresh – new years’ resolutions, a sense of renewed hope and determination and a desire to forget the negative events from the previous ‘bad year’.  However, the start of a new calendar year doesn’t necessarily mean everything changes as if by magic at the twelfth stroke. Life doesn’t work that way. We often wish it would but, sadly, we can’t simply wipe the slate clean.
This is not to say we can’t have hope – of course we need to be hopeful and have faith that things will get better. It’s in our nature to have hopes and dreams for the future. But instead of looking ahead, wishing time away, or looking back and wishing it had been different, sometimes the most helpful thing to do is simply focus on the now. Accept where we are, accept our feelings about the past and the future and accept that it’s all just art of a cycle.  Just as we move through the seasons, we move through time. Sometimes things might feel a little tricky or uncomfortable. Sometimes we flow with ease and content. Just like we do in our yoga practice.

So perhaps instead of wishing that we’ll all wake up on 1 st January and realise it’s all been a bad dream, let’s focus on what we have in this very moment. We might not have our usual external pleasures but we have ourselves and the choice to ride the waves with fluidity. And of course, our yoga practice.

Written by Rachel Holmes