The Friendly Games

What an excuse we had last week and the week before, to be friendly to complete strangers! At the Commonwealth  Games, my husband Andy and myself managed to attended various sporting activities including squash, rugby sevens and the athletics. We queued with the best of them and were chatted to by many an official... not just the Clydesiders but the police, the transport staff and everyone in between.

Whether grey skies or blue ... or the torrential rain that showed exactly what the cyclists were made of... and the spectators who didn't let the skies emptying stop them supporting the athletes... everyone was in determined mode. Some determined to finish... some determined to get a medal and some just determined to enjoy themselves.

I am working with that approach this week too... giving myself a reason to be friendly and determined to enjoy myself! I have taken a leaf out of the athletes' book... and aiming for my personal best!

Life's a journey - enjoying the journey from Fort William to Mallaig.

Glenfinnan Viaduct

This is a very famous viaduct, thanks to the fame of the Harry Potter films. However it has been around a lot longer than Harry's celluloid career and is inspirational whether you are enjoying the train journey or just admiring the scenery as you travel through some of the most breathtaking scenery in Scotland.


The west coast of Argyll is a place I was very familiar with, when growing up in Oban and holidaying every summer in various destinations on the west coast. All the views benefit from being seen on a sunny day but even on a wet and misty morning the scenery can still thrill.

Eigg and Rhum

The view of the islands on the day we decided to take the train from Fort William to Mallaig was superb and the combination of their shapes and the clouds made me smile. It is as if there are  smoke signals rising from the islands informing those on the mainland what is happening... and when you are in holiday mood, on a train, what is happening is pure pleasure. I can thoroughly recommend just sitting back and letting yourself get taken from A to B and delighting in every loch and lochan on the way.

 

Neptune's Staircase, Caledonian Canal

If travelling by train doesn't float your boat, how about making the time pass slowly on a beautiful yacht. These boats were travelling up the 9 locks on the Caledonian Canal. A short journey of distance but one of amazing engineering, as they travelled from one gradiant to another. Time was immaterial as convenience won over travelling around the north of Scotland. We learnt that the canal was built during the Napoleonic wars as too many ships were being shipwrecked by the storms that gathered around the north coast of Scotland.


Metaphors abounding, scenery astounding, I am now enjoying the latest home enhancement project - creating an en-suite bathroom off one of the guest rooms! and yes projects are part and parcel of life's journey, although they bring their own surprises and not the pleasant ones of Argyll's sandy coves and glistening waters. During the renovations, the joiner and the electrician decided that due to the uneveness of the roofs, they needed to come down!... and so they did and much to our surprise we discovered 5 wasp bikes in the eaves! They are now dealt with and work is progressing along nicely. It is just like the effect of building the canal... sometimes what we plan has unexpected long term benefits. We are now wasp free... and previously we didn't even know that there were metaphorical storms gathering overhead.

Game, set and match

Wimbledon... the place where dreams can be found. Andy (as in Andy Auld and not Andy Murray) and I were lucky to get tickets for the No 1 court on Friday the 27th June. Andy had drawn many Wimbledon tickets over the years from the Tennis Club's allocation but we had never managed to get ourselves down to the famous tennis arena. This year was to be the year... whether we got tickets in the draw or not... and we did! The power of intention folks...

We went down by train.. 1st class of course! on the Wednesday and intended to experience the queueing system on the Thursday. It is some system, with people camping from the night before and others queuing for 4-5 hours in the morning. We queued for 2 and half hours and met some lovely people in the queue including an American oil man from Houston!

Once in the grounds we were amazed at the activity on all the courts with the players having to rise above the noise levels ... and focus on their games.

Yes the Pimm's was weaker than the kitchen measures and yes the champagne bottle had a tennis cover on it and yes the strawberries and cream were delicious and yes, yes we had a wonderful time.


How could we not with the sun shining and all the tennis players working at making their dreams come true.

viewing an outside court

It had been a dream of our's to visit Wimbledon, but how much more precious were the dreams of the players to reach the ultimate destination of the final. We saw Na Li's hopes being crushed and shared in the William's sisters losses. Discovered Mr Dolgopolov as seen below, who took Grigor Dimitrov to 5 sets. Alexander Dolgopolov, Dolgo to his friends, will be one to watch out for in the future I am sure.

No1 Court.

We were inspired by Ross Hutchins and Heather Watson, who although they lost, made the story of tennis and overcoming the odds, a heart felt experience. So many heroes and heroines and no we didn't glimpse Andy Murray but I did say hello to Anne Hayden Jones who is still trying to work out who I was!

Attending Wimbledon may well be a fixture on the calendar for us ... don't think it will clash with any of the Italy visits!

Cheers folks... even the champagne had a touch of the "Wimbledons"!

Halfway down (or up ) the stairs!

The month of June is an important time in the calendar. It signifies the approaching halfway mark of the year... a time to look back and enjoy what has been and reflect on the successes and lessons that have been wrapped up in our memories.

Fiji

Castaway Island

These two photos are memories of the time I spent in Fiji at the Tony Robbins Life Mastery course.
The photo on the left is of Castaway Island, from the Tom Hanks film and the photo on the right is the view from my bedroom... bliss.

A halfway point is also a time to reflect on what the future could bring...

Tuscany

Budapest

It is my intention to visit Italy in September and Budapest in December. However, whatever the destination, whatever the direction, whether it will be blue skies or clouds, whether the road is straight or winding... what matters is that we have an idea of where we would like to be in the future.  We can start off with a three month plan, graduate to a six month plan and then who knows what we could accomplish within our allotted lifetime.

Most importantly, at the halfway moment, is to take time to reflect...

Holy Isle, Arran

The photo of the Holy Isle is a constant reminder of the peace and quiet that can be experienced in the present moment. The extended Auld family take time out every year for a holiday on Arran and the view of this Island is what we see every day as we practise being in the now.

Much like the deer in the photo below who took no heed of us golfers ...

deer grazing on the Lochranza golf course, Arran

Life is all about being in the now and breathing in all that the present is...what else can we really control.
An oft quoted phrase reminds us that the present is so called as it is life's gift!

So the recommendation for us, as we approach the end of June, is to unwrap our present..
and
Soak in it ... as if it was bubble bath.
Dance to it  ... as it if was your favourite song.
Listen to it ... as if it was the wisdom of Solomon
... or stop halfway on the stairs like Kermit's nephew, Robin, the frog who knows how, when and where to sit. Click on the alternative Robin below to hear the well loved song...

Robin's song

... or bask in the sun's setting rays. There is nothing quite like a sunset to bring you into experiencing the "now".

Sunset over Siena, Italy

Villa Brignole, Monteaperti

Some of us chillin' at Villa Brignole

Every time Living It Yoga visits another venue in Tuscany, we experience such hospitality that we are almost overwhelmed by everyone's generosity. From the welcome on our late arrival to the rearranging of rooms, nothing was too much bother for our hosts. Lorella had been Grainne's and my contact in March and now Annamaria was taking over the role of manager and making sure that everything was as it should be.  Andy and I were given a fabulous apartment and the original breakfast room in the villa had been turned into our yoga cum socialising room.

Yoga Room

 We felt blessed as we were living in a very historical part of Tuscany. Monteaperti is famous for the Sienese defeating the Florentines in 1260... and as many of you know Siena is one of my favourite cities. Our 2014 venue, Villa Brignole, is situated just 7 km from Siena, in this special of places, with the most outstanding views across Tuscan vineyards.

View from the villa towards the south.

We managed to pack in everything we wanted to do and some more. Meditation was at 7.30am every morning and the hatha morning routine scheduled at 8am, just before our scrumptious breakfast. All in preparation for whatever the day ahead would entail. Most evenings there was a yoga class on offer to stretch our bones and muscles and as the theme was the 5 Energetic Elements, we also got to stretch out minds!

Week's Programme: - and you really had to be there!
Sunday - visit to Monteriggioni and out for dinner at a typical rustic Tuscan restaurant.
Monday - visit to San Gimignano for the best ice cream in the world

The Maestro himself!

... returning home to the villa for dinner cooked by Andy and myself!
Tuesday - spa visit at Rapolana Terme. Only fabulous and then in the evening, out for dinner to an Osteria. I am still amazed at the number of antipasti that were produced for us.
Wednesday - for some of us, chillin' with deep relaxation practices followed by an at home/villa dining experience.
Thursday - Siena for its' "theatre", its' cuisine and its' atmosphere. Dinner was at a restaurant where not only were we fed extraordinarily well but mine host was also a bit of a comedian and entertained us thoroughly.
Friday - was to be whatever people wanted and so the decision was made to visit a small town in the hills called San Gusme that Grainne and myself had visited in March...  and they remembered us! We enjoyed wonderful coffee accompanied by Torta di Nonna (Grandmother's Cake)... deliciosa!
Our visit to Villa Brignole ended with a celebratory dinner on the Friday evening, with all of us from a wide range of age and experiences coming together to enjoy all that was on offer and to share in the joy that is Living It Yoga...
Grazie tutti miei amici... you made the week wonderful! Can't wait to see all of your photos...

Blossoming

Not sure how it happens but every year the cherry trees decide to blossom and then shed their blossom every where...
The photo on the left is of three of our cherry trees in bloom, sharing their blossom like snow all around the garden, on the street, on the cars and when it is windy even on the people passing by.

The trees are a perfect example of how nature works. There is no vested interest in permanence and certainly no anxiety for the following year. No pondering whether by blossoming this year perhaps there won't be any blossom left for the following year!

As you can see on the photo to the right the trees even share their abundance on the bus stop outside our home. Lots of people comment on the cherry blossom, remarking that it is such a shame that it is here for such a short space of time. I don't think that this affects the trees. They know what they have to do and don't care about the quota of time required to do so. I am going to take a leaf out of their book... please pardon the pun... and enjoy their brief moments of blossoming. I am also going to copy their abundance strategy...

Great expectations and wonderful intentions.

You can tell I have been busy folks as it has been over a month since writing the blog... my belief/hallucination is that a blog is about sharing what you feel passionate about and finding out if other people feel the same... and I feel passionate about Living It Yoga

Venue for 2014's LIYoga week

Five years ago we launched Living It Yoga as a vehicle for learning how to incorporate the principles and practices of yoga into your life and so enjoy your life's journey whatever it brings and however rocky is the road. The intention was to run events here in Scotland as well as taking Scottish people to Italy to enjoy the Italian yoga journey...


It's a joy to comment regularly on the milestones, the sunrises and the sunsets and even a weather forecast or two and combine it with my adventures in Italy. What can I say, I always seem to have them. They are what I now call my "Great Expectations"

I set off on Thursday the 6th March with some trepidation, as I had booked flights for my friend, Grainne and myself  through a third party broker called "cheapoair". Yep the name says it all, however we did have seats on AirFrance planes and we did arrive at our destination safely albeit a trifle tired as we went via Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport!

Villa Brignole

Arriving at Pisa airport late at night and picking up a rental car in the dark was a new experience for me but one that I needed to be familiar with as next month's Living It Yoga students will be arriving late evening and my husband, Andy and I, and perhaps even Kenneth, our son, will be driving south from Pisa in convoy to the most idyllic place called Villa Brignole, just outside Siena.

My recent visit was to firm up any arrangements that we may have overlooked when Kenneth and I booked the venue last July! I had invited Grainne along as she had been Well Connected's very own organiser many moons ago and is now a 5 star organiser of events for Edinburgh Council's Libraries. Needless to say I had indeed overlooked quite a few things but thanks to Grainne's expertise and my halting Italian we successfully confirmed all the necessary arrangements for the two LIY weeks this year... and we had a ball doing it.

Now that isn't to say there weren't hiccups... like when we were stopped at a junction in a traffic jam for 30 minutes not knowing what was happening... and then a train pulled through. Lesson learned, so when two days later it happened again in another town altogether, we knew the score. Or when I ordered what I thought was salami and cheese and it turned out to be cheese and chilli! Another lesson learned!

The visits to restaurants and bars and even shops were full of suprises. We were treated royally as many of the places I had visited before... and guess what, they remembered me! Even staying in the hotels along the way were a delight, but the biggest delight was the Villa Brignole's situation with stunning panoramic views across the fields towards Siena.

Even the visit to the spa at Terme Rapolana, which was in itself fabulous, faded into insignificance when looking at the view on a fresh, sunny, spring morning with the mist rising and the birds singing and a feeling of "all's right with the world" seeping through the air.

Whatever adventures come along, I remind myself of the intention that I set myself... to enjoy life. Sometimes it is enjoying the view while driving through gorgeous Tuscan scenery or sitting, sipping a coffee in a wonderful small Osteria away from the madding crowd and sometimes it is the journey home...

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colours. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky