I arrived back from Germany on Wednesday after several weeks away.
Technically, I was home. But it has taken me until today to actually feel like I’ve arrived.
The last few days have been full. There was unpacking, a house that seemed to have collected dust everywhere while we were away, family to see, my nephew visiting from Australia to say goodbye to, shopping and cooking.
And after weeks of heat, travelling and being out of my usual routine, I was tired.
Yesterday, I cleaned the kitchen and went through the fridge. It sounds like such a small thing, but afterwards I felt so much better. Everything was back where it belonged. And somehow, I felt a little more back where I belonged too.
What I notice now is how much I am longing for regularity.
I want to get back onto my yoga mat, cook my usual meals, eat at familiar times. In short, I want the ordinary rhythm of my days back.
Perhaps that’s one of the things we underestimate about rhythm. We often think about routines as things we should do. Yet familiar rhythms also give the body something to recognise.
After travel, busy periods, holidays or times when life simply looks different, we can feel the pull towards them again. And I think that’s where I am right now.
I’m not planning a big reset for Monday morning. I’m simply returning to the things I already know help me feel steady.
One meal. One practice. One familiar part of the day at a time.
This Week's Blog Post/Podcast
Can you always trust what feels like intuition?
While working on the final part of my chakra series this week, I kept coming back to this question.
Ajna, the third eye chakra, is often associated with intuition. But one of its most important qualities is discernment.
Our first reaction can be shaped by previous experiences, emotions, habits, fears and desires. Something can feel very strong without necessarily being intuition.
As the mind becomes steadier, we have more space to notice the difference.
This week’s blog and podcast take us through the higher chakras — Vishuddha, Ajna and Sahasrara — from expression and communication towards discernment, inner awareness and consciousness.
We also explore Saraswati and the power of expression, why the gaze affects our attention, Nadi Shodhana and the subtle body, and why the chakras make much more sense when we understand them as one connected system.
Practice doesn't necessarily mean rolling out your mat and practising asanas. If your rhythm has shifted, notice what you are longing to come back to.
Perhaps it's ten minutes on your yoga mat — three Surya Namaskar or a few minutes of deep breathing.
It could also be cooking a familiar meal or sitting down for breakfast again.
Perhaps it's your usual walk or getting to bed a little earlier.
Choose one familiar anchor and bring it back into your day.
Sometimes the body already knows where it wants to begin.
From my Kitchen this Week...
This week was all about getting back to regularity.
With the ongoing heat, lack of appetite, everything felt just too much.
My favourite dish this week was a light and lemony lentil soup. Small brown lentils with fennel and thyme, a little onion, carrot and celery, finished with fresh herbs.
It was tasty and felt both light and substantial.
A glimpse into Back to Rhythm
I had to smile when I realised that this week has been a rather good example of why I’m creating Back to Rhythm.
Life changes our rhythm all the time. We travel. We have visitors. Work becomes busy. The weather affects us. Family needs us. Sometimes we simply get tired.
And then we find our way back.
That’s really at the heart of what I’m building with Back to Rhythm.
I want you to understand your own rhythms well enough that you can recognise when something has shifted and know what helps you return.
Because life will keep happening.
The aim is to have something familiar to come back to.
We passed this little gate near the beginning of one of our walks in the Lake District. There was something about it that caught my attention, so I stopped and took a photo.
A couple of hours later, on our way back, we managed to get lost. We eventually found the path again — and there we were, on the other side of the same gate.
I've thought about that moment a few times since.
Sometimes we know that we want something to change before we know exactly how we're going to get there. We take a step. We follow the path. We might even lose our way for a while. And eventually, we find ourselves somewhere new.
Perhaps that's what stepping into a pause can offer too.
A chance to step away from everyday life for a little while and create enough space to see where you want to go next.
A quiet Sunday morning in your inbox. Every Sunday, I share one seasonal reflection, practical yoga and Ayurveda guidance, and one simple idea to help you feel calmer, steadier and more like yourself.