As we enter the winter months, it can be tempting to stay in bed longer and we lose those early hours, we can begin to skip our practice sessions, perhaps preparing for the busy-ness and distractions of christmas time, the delicate grace of autumn passing us by.

Many of us practice... and then don't practice....and then practice and on and on. To be a yogi one has yoga as a constant in ones' life. We may practice and at times we may not practice but we come back, just as the waves wash back to shore just as the sea swell of our inhalation arises from a profound exhalation.

We are tender with our discipline, we relish our stillness just as we thrive in our activity, and all the ups and downs and highs and lows we greet with this mild curiosity, what the yogis call equanimity.

The days get colder but what obstacle is 'cold' to our practice? we can soon warm up as we greet our core with some short sharp abdominal exhalations, as we spread our solar plexus allowing the lungs to expand all the way into the lower rib cage, nourishing the kidneys.

Move slowly but think sharp, be precise with your alignment but not harsh and all good things will come. It is helpful to loosely wrap a length of cloth around your middle and keep your feet bare. Socks are restrictive and it is hard to get good purchase down through the feet so be brave and stretch the toes, stretch all the way through the leg, stretch your limbs from your centre.

When we practice in this way, cold is no obstacle, This body of ours is ours to experiment in, it is our laboratory, no one elses'! And all those tensions we carry around, like dead autumn leaves we allow them to shed, to drop away as we melt in the knowledge that we are doing the best we can.