International Yoga Day and the beginning of a new challenge

The 21st of June was first declared as the International Yoga Day in December 2014 at the United Nations General Assembly, following the Indian Prime Minister's call for an annual celebration of yoga. He said "It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature". I definitely found this statement thought-provoking. 

Yoga is a form of exercise to me, despite what some people believe it can be a good work out. It does however help with a lot more than just keeping your body toned. Yoga classes taught me how to use my breath to focus the mind and enjoy the practise. Being present in the moment is definitely a struggle of mine, it's so easy to get caught up in our to do lists and forget that actually it's okay to stop for an hour and relax. The world is not going to end if you leave some things to do later. I guess this is what the second part of the above statement is about: taking the time to focus on yourself, check in with your body and your mind without feeling guilty or selfish. 

Source: reddit

International yoga day also seemed like a good day to start working on something I would like to improve within my practise. I think that tight hamstrings are something that limits me still and something I would like to improve. I have therefore started a 30 day hamstring challenge and am hoping to make progress with daily practise.

Hamstrings are the muscles responsible for bending your knee as well as limiting how far forward you can bend. They also play a role in our posture as they play a part in straightening the curvature of the lower spine when sitting. These muscles are a crucial part of walking, running, jumping etc. so working on them would probably benefit the majority of people. Although it takes a long time, apparently stretching the hamstrings is relatively easy (we'll see about that), one study showed that a straight leg raise angle can be increased by 25% in 4 weeks with easy daily exercises. It may also be a good idea to work on your hamstrings if you do a lot of sport, e.g. running, as tight hamstrings can lead to muscle injury as inflexible muscles might not be able to bear the full force of the action.

So how am I going to do this? My challenge only has one rule - to practise a minimum of 30 minutes every day. I will be applying what I have learnt in yoga classes as well as using YouTube videos from my favourite YouTube yogis - Yoga with Adriene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mirm7LKvKk) and SarahBethYoga (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOfTY39I8rU). I have a busy schedule ahead (as per usual) so I'm sure it will be challenging at times but I will do my best and let you know how I get on next month.

DIY Notebook/Planner

Last week I went into town for a wonder around the shops and obviously ended up in Paperchase. I love that shop so much, if someone gave me £1000 to spend in there I don't think I would struggle. One of the things I found was a gorgeous Blogger's Journal - a fancy notebook organised into a calendar and pages for blog post ideas. The temptation to buy it was unreal but the hefty price tag knocked some sense into me, I mean as much as I love Paperchase I refuse to spend £15 on what is essentially a notebook. Yes it was hardback and had a fabric cover but other than that it was just paper. This journal then gave me the idea of creating a similar thing out of what most of us already have at home. 

First thing's first - gather everything you will need before you start. For this project you'll need a cardboard box (I found that a cereal bar box worked perfectly), coloured card, wrapping paper, paper for the inside of the notebook (I used lined paper), a ribbon (approximately 30-40 cm), scissors, ruler, pencil, glue and a stapler.

Cut the box so that you only have the front, back and one side left. Then use the box as a template to draw around on the back of the wrapping paper (which will become your cover). Leave around an inch of wrapping paper around the edges to fold over later.

Glue the wrapping paper and the cardboard box together. This is the tricky part as you don't want to end up with wrinkly paper in your cover. Don;t rush this step and avoid using too much glue.

Now fold over the sides and stick them down to the cardboard using glue. 

You will need three pieces of coloured card for the inside - two of the same size for the front and the back and one that's more narrow for the middle. You want them to overlap but to be exactly the same length. 

Stick the middle piece of card down first, you want it to be a couple of centimetres over to the front and the back covers. Then stick down the front making sure that doesn't go past the fold.

Now staple the ribbon on the left side of the piece of card which will be glued to the back cover. Once you've done that glue the card the same way as you glued the second piece.

Next you will need to cut the paper down to the right size. The best way to avoid mistakes is to thread one sheet of paper through the ribbon and use a pencil to mark how much you need to cut off. Once you've cut that, use it as a template to cut out however many sheets of paper you think you will need in your notebook. Don't put in more than the thickness of the spine of your notebook - it won't close! To avoid the ribbon splitting I used a lighter to melt the edges slightly, but be careful not to burn your house down!

Tie the ribbon in a bow and voila! DIY personalised notebook that costs a fraction of a shop-bought one! You can use this idea for all sorts of different things - just a plain notebook, a planner for an occasion, a diary, journal, organiser... You could even make a cover for the Filofax fillers you can buy in shops.

This is how I organised my blog planner - a monthly diary in the front and pages for blog post ideas in the back along with photo ideas and to do lists. 

Room swaps, clear outs and clutter

This weekend me and my housemate decided to swap rooms ready for the next academic year. This meant that everything had to be tidied, possibly even packed up for a day or two before it finds its place in the new room. 

As most people would, I have started off really excited thinking I will get rid of unnecessary things (and I have A LOT of those) to make sure my new room is as clutter-free as possible. This mentality didn't last very long. Yes, I got rid of a few old t-shirts that I haven't worn in ages and decided to upgrade my mirror but other than that I ended up with 3 drawers of random clutter than doesn't really have much of a purpose and doesn't belong anywhere. I'm sure many people can relate to this, whether it's the messy kitchen drawer or a whole spare room full of things that "might come in handy". 

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to live in a plain white room and be able to store ALL my belongings in a back pack but a chaotic environment definitely makes me feel like I'm not in control of my life. But how do you break the habit of hoarding?

I think that there are three main reasons as to why people hold on to objects (but I'm not a psychologist, these are just my thoughts)

• We feel emotionally attached to things ("sentimental value").
• We feel we should keep them because someone bought them for us.
• "In case they come in handy".

I think often we don't want to upset people. If the object was a gift, it may not have much of a use in our house but we worry that it means more to the person who gave it to us, so it's easier to just keep it. We also don't want to seem ungrateful because I'm sure most of us appreciate both the gift and the thought, but how long do you keep a present for if you don't end up using it? In these situations balance is key. It would be wasteful to throw away, for example a spare light bulb but at the same time is there point in keeping a birthday card from 3 years ago? I mean, is there any sort of social etiquette that I am not aware of when it comes to hoarding, especially hoarding gifts? If anyone has an answer to this I would really appreciate it. Maybe it would help me decide what to keep and what to pass on to the charity shops.

Clothes are the next big thing I think people hoard. The jeans we wish we still fitted into, or that cute top you bought in the sales 2 years ago but haven't even worn yet. Even though I still have some things I keep "just in case" I feel that after a few years of practise I finally have my wardrobe under control. I have one double wardrobe and one chest of drawers of clothes (plus a few spare bits and bobs at my mum's house in case I come home and have forgotten something) and, compared to some people I know, I feel like it's not that much. I try to have clear outs every couple of months and I ATTEMPT to follow some rules. I ask myself if the item in question still fits me? Do I like wearing it? Does it still look decent? Have I worn it in the last couple of months? The last question can be subjective, especially when it comes to clothes for special occasions or seasonal items, and this is where the slippery slope begins as it can be a good excuse to hold on to things for that little while longer. 

I wish I had a solution to the issue that hoarding is but unfortunately, for now, this is just a post where I had a good rant about it and that’s it. If I ever do come up with a solution, or find out how long you should keep things before you can get rid of them, I will let you know.