“I TOOK A GOOD LOOK AT MY LIFE”

Meg Somerville (55) MegsMindfulMovement.co.uk from near Loch Ness, found a whole new life direction through yoga, which also changed her career.

I’d reached a stage where I knew I had to change my life and I thought yoga would help me do that. My job in care work was stressful and exhausting, but then I star ted getting involved in mindfulness.

Mindfulness is about being present in your body and mind, at this moment, not dwelling in the past or worrying about the future, and it encouraged me to really look at my life.

I star ted the change in September 2020 by reducing my hours working in care and enrolling in 500-hour yoga teacher training, as well as delivering weekly online mindful movement and meditation classes.

Yoga didn’t just give me improved strength and balance, it was such a joy mentally that I knew this had to be my new career.

The 500-hour course will span two years and

includes submitting assignments and monthly meetings, though I don’t think training will ever end for me. Zoom has opened many doors; we no longer have to travel miles to get to a class, and I can have par ticipants from anywhere.

I also volunteer for Macmillan Cancer with Move More

Scotland – a gentle movement class for cancer sufferers and their families and friends.

I’ve actually spent most of my life worrying – about what could happen, about whether I’d made right decisions in the past, and about their outcomes. Mindfulness training taught me that thoughts are not facts, and to be aware how we can get so caught up in our thoughts.

Changing my life made me understand the impor tance of daily meditation to still the wandering mind. I also realised that I had never totally relaxed until I attended my first yoga class.

Living in the countr yside was another impor tant decision for me, especially as I have two dogs and cats who just accept me for who I am. Being so close to such beautiful countryside is the final per fect detail to life.