Didn't we have a lovely time at last Saturday's mini retreat! A great space (finally!), delicious snacks and fabulous people - thank you all for coming. Looking forward to the next one on 12th March.

​I'm taking some time off at the end of the week for a few days and, as ever, am starting to get a bit jittery. What will happen to the various projects that I'm running? What if people have to wait for a few days for me to get back to them? Will people turn up to my classes when I'm not there? Will they come back next week again?

​Hold the phone! It's not like I'm running MI5 and the nation's security depends on my being here all the time. I need to remind myself that things will be fine - and that the world still turns, even if I'm not doing my usual stuff. I've been talking to friends and colleagues about this and we all realised that we are, in fact, quite dispensable: things generally run smoothly when we take some time off.

​So for everyone who comes to my classes and reads this blog, enjoy your week off next week. I'm sure your world will still turn despite my absence...!

Do you ever find yourself thinking that you never used to be this busy? I thought about this at the weekend, when I was with a group of friends and we were trying to organise a date to meet up again. We eventually settled on a date in July... though this remains tentative! How had we all got so busy? And will we ever be less busy than we are now? I wondered about busy-ness and whether it's a bit of an epidemic, the first-world crisis that seems to snowball. It can also become a bit addictive... I was caught up in it last night, when my 'to do' list reached peak capacity and I thought I might literally collapse from all the things that I had to do. So instead, I went to yoga, had the best time (we did partner yoga, so a real physical challenge!), got a good night's sleep, and approached the list this morning. Refreshed and revived, it turns out the list wasn't that mountainous, and I've got most of it done already. The thought of being so busy was worse than the actual practice.  My conclusion? I need to draw a line at the end of the day, or at the end of the working week, so that I can re-energise effectively.  And I need to remind myself that stopping the busy-ness is a choice and I can do it. How about you?

Some people use the term 'guilty pleasure', whereas I like to think of it as essential escapism - the need each day to immerse yourself in something light, easy and perhaps a little bit vacuous, to act as a mini well-being boost. Mine is watching 'Home and Away', the Australian soap about impossibly beautiful people, uncannily emotionally-literate teenagers, and tricky situations that always resolve themselves within a matter of hours. Just 22 minutes of escapism every day (oh yes, I never miss an episode!) is so helpful and lifts my spirits unendingly. It also acts as the essential 'bridge' between work-me and home-me. Ultimately, it's a bit of quiet time to watch sunny weather, blue skies and seas, and switch off. Then I feel back to normal and refreshed! So what about you? Do you have an essential escape? Something light and easy? (Have I set myself up for the inevitable wine/chocolate references from some of you now...?!) I'd love to hear from you.