…for many years, I practised the physical part of my yoga as if I was training for Olympic gold! At the end of the class, like lots of others, I would gratefully flop down into Savasana for a rest, often with twitchy muscles because I had completely over-stimulated my nervous system.

Every New Year, many of us embark on self-improvement plans and challenges. Some resolves and intentions we may stick with for the longer term, but mostly, the standards we can set ourselves at the beginning of January are so high and unattainable, that we often fail miserably and revert back to normal habits pretty quickly – only with an…

You might think of stress as being something that happens when we are upset or scared, but it’s not only how we feel about one-off events – that’s just one form of stress. It’s also how we process that stress emotionally. How willing are we to let go of things that don’t really matter? How do we feel day-to-day – for example, about our relationship; where we live or our job?

Intellectually we understand what is meant by the words sustain and balance, and we use them constantly. But what do they really mean? Sustain: Support, bear the weight of (for a long period), encourage, give nourishment, going continuously, maintain.

 Sustainable: ..[which] conserves an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources.

 Balance: Stability of body or…