If you have ever tried to meditate, you will know that the early stages of the practice consist mostly of focusing your attention on something (for example, your breathing), inevitably getting distracted a little while later, realising you got distracted and focusing your attention once more. Again and again, as many times as necessary, in order to progressively train your mind.

To all the expert meditators among you, who have already overcome that initial phase, congratulations! That is still a pending task for me, so I´m not able to tell you firsthand what happens afterwards (and I suspect it may not even be something you can express with words). But it occurred to me that this training of the attitude that´s needed for meditation can be applied to many things in life: the ability to quietly return to the path when we notice we´ve gone astray, without judging ourselves or beating ourselves up, simply course-correcting and continuing to move forward, without getting stuck in guilt, self-justification, complaining, or victimism..

This is the thought that crossed my mind this evening, when I finally spent some time doing yoga after a very long streak of "not having time". Instead of going on about not having been practising (which, I confess, I tend to do quite a lot lately), this time I got myself out of that spiral, took out my mat and just started, without overthinking it. And it felt great.

(This photo is from the notes I got at one of the training courses I did with my first yoga teacher, back in the 1990´s. Thanks, Carsun!)

I once heard or read somewhere a phrase that said something like practicing yoga is the same as not practicing it, and I remember feeling quite confused by this idea at the time. How could they be the same? It didn´t make sense.

Then, as time went by, I found some meaning in it; I don´t know if this is what the author intended to say, but it did help me back then, and it still does. We know objectively that yoga has many benefits; some of them are more visible and immediate, like the flexibility and physical fitness it helps us to achieve, and others are deeper and more subtle, only appearing with continuous practice. Well, it turns out that, at least in my experience, the moment you become most aware of all those benefits is precisely the moment when you lose them, after having given up the practice. So, from that point of view, regardless of whether you practice yoga or not, you get to learn; you learn that keeping up the practice (or resuming it) is the best thing you can do.

I´d like to take this opportunity to thank all the yoga teachers I´ve had the pleasure to learn from over the years, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU (and apologies if I´m forgetting someone):

• To Carsun, for teaching me the basics of hatha yoga, pranayama, and so many other things, and above all, for awakening my curiosity about the world of yoga and the path to get to know myself better.
• To Mary, for those lunchtime classes at the Xilinx gym, I really enjoyed learning to flow with vinyasa.
• To Lisa and all her team at The Elbowroom, for taking such good care of us during pregnancy yoga, mum & baby yoga and yoga for families, and for giving us the tools to take a more natural approach to labour.
• To Martina and Stuart in their beautiful Carlinford studio, a retreat I would love to return to someday.
• To Karen and her classes in Adamstown, an oasis from day-to-day hassle until the pandemic shocked us all.
• And, in virtual mode for the last five years, to Adriene, my partner during countless home yoga sessions, whom I very highly recommend (her videos are in English).

I´m delighted to have returned to my yoga practice again. As Adriene herself often says, the hardest part is to take out your mat every day and show up, and today at least, I´ve achieved that... So what if I get distracted in a few days and it gets parked again? It´s OK, I now know that I can come back. And I will come back, again and again, as many times as needed, because it´s important to me, because it´s worth it.

What about you? What´s that thing you want to start practising again? And what are you waiting for?

A couple of weeks ago, our beloved C4 Picasso decided it was finally time to retire. Eva and I were in Galway with some friends, leaving the city centre towards the Dublin road, when the car kindly let us know (in its particular way, by beeping and flashing lights) that it had no intention of making the way back on its own wheels. So we had to switch to plan B and find an alternative way to get home (which by the way was a success, thanks to the tow truck operator arriving quite quickly, the train station being only a 15-minute walk away, Irish Rail´s regular Galway-Heuston service, and Fredi and Muriel, who came to pick us up in their two cars).

Here´s a picture of our Picasso on the street where we had to pull over and call a tow truck. I got this weird feeling that the car was saying goodbye to me...

A long time ago, I heard or read somewhere that, symbolically, a car represents our own life and the path that we choose to walk along. It is true that, in the last year or so, there have been many changes in my life, and all this time I´ve been thinking about maybe changing to a newer car, but I never taking the step.

Now, finally, the moment has come:

Let me introduce you to our newest acquisition: another Citroën, this time a C5 Aircross. I´ve been driving it for three days, and I love it! I´m getting used to it very quickly, it´s such a smooth drive.

As they said in that old song, to everything there is a season (by the way, I just found out that the lyrics come from a Bible passage, the beginning of the book of Ecclesiastes). Sometimes, we´re so embedded in our habits and routines that we find it hard to acknowledge something has already ran its course, and it´s time to let it go, so that you can continue to make progress.

Thanks a million, dear Picasso, for the 12+ years we spent together. The memories (and a handful of photos) will stay with us.

P.S.- If you´re also going through a transition phase, and could do with a few words of encouragement or a reminder of what´s important, I invite you to have a look at the very first post on this blog, which by the way was written exactly four years ago: This is your life.