This time last year, we had just done our first 3 weeks back in the UK having lived overseas all my kids’ lives. It was the end of term here but it was the beginning of their UK school experience. They went into school on the first day, jet-lagged, sick & the weight of the world on their shoulders, so anxious about their first day. They survived the whole day & walked out looking 10 year’s younger…and they were only 9 & 6!
With school out for summer, we returned to Thailand for quite the farewell: a 3 week holiday with my cousin & her kids doing lots of cool things we had never done before & another 3 weeks of farewells to our Bangkok-buddies…we know how to milk a good goodbye!
The first proper school year here has been an amazing one for the kids: they settled almost immediately & have gone on to blossom & flourish in a way I could only dream about. They have made lovely friends, excelled in & outside the classroom & I could not be more proud of them.
My son’s leaving assembly, for he heads off to Middle School in September, was an unexpected tear-fest. An old hand at these things & having only been here for a year, I honestly thought I would be hardcore, not a tear shed.
How wrong I was: by the chorus of the first song I had filled up, before long the tears floweth over & by the time Greenday’s I hope you had the time of your life closed proceedings it was game over. I struggled to thank the Head & Form Teacher for an amazing first year without dripping snot & sobbing: I could not be more impressed with their school.
I knew my return to UK after 12 years overseas would be a bumpy ride. The first year anywhere is pendulous despite welcoming & gregarious expat communities & the support of a spouse. This time I was flying solo, up to my ears in a toxic divorce (is there any other kind?) & navigating the uncharted waters of local school pick-ups, trying to make friends with the other mum’s.
There have been some truly desperate days & evenings of a loneliness I had never experienced before. Then I launched a new business & so amidst an arena that was already rife with uncertainty & vulnerability, I added another layer of uncertainty & vulnerability…never one to do things by half!
Slowly & surely the yoga classes are becoming more popular, culminating, just before we break for the summer, with the most successful week of classes & a big thank goes out to all my regulars who have continued to support me, you know who you are!
And we launch next week the Martini Yoga: yoga that can be practiced anytime, anyplace, anywhere as I take a break from the classes & offer bite-sized recordings of yoga to practice at home or wherever you are.
The mindfulness courses are gaining momentum on the back of really successful day of assembly, workshops & an after school club at the kids’ school during their healthy eating week. I couldn’t believe how receptive both teachers & children were.
I believe wholeheartedly in the huge benefits of yoga & mindfulness, but it really was beautiful to watch unfold in the way it did.
It culminated with the largest ever after school club in the school’s history as 70 kids & several teachers practiced yoga on a dry & sandy sports field at the end of the day. To see 70 kids sitting still like a frog in the closing meditation was a sight to behold. And very excitingly, a more extensive program will be rolled out next school year.
My own journey during this year has been amazing & awful in equal measure. But as we head off for our summer holidays, I can reflect knowing it was never going to be easy but the hardships will soon be a dim & distant memory. I am beginning to find ‘my crew’ & we have been blessed with fablious new friends & the chance to reconnect with old friends all over the UK.
New beginnings are evolving beautifully & the future is beginning to look bright again.
If you are interested in how mindfulness can be incorporated into your life, business or school, contact Alex directly on alex@myananda.co.uk for a bespoke package. Any project, big or small is readily considered from one-off workshops, to on-going courses and retreat.
If you are interested in Martini Yoga email me on alex@myananda.co.uk by Monday 30th July for more details.
Happy summer holidays!