February 18th

It’s the middle of February and Spring feels as if it’s arrived, although I’m sure there are more wintry days to come yet. The first narcissi, ‘February Gold’ are in bloom in the garden, and other narcissi emerging strongly from the ground. Over the last week I’ve been digging a new border and three new cutting beds in the garden. They needed to be finished by the end of the month as I’ve got a greenhouse stuffed full of seedlings that need to be planted out sometime soon – lots of hardy annuals sown last Autumn, and some new flowers to trial this year. This is where I’m so grateful for the physical benefits of yoga as after a day of heavy gardening, I need a good hour of yoga. Online gardening workshops start at the end of February with ‘Ready to Grow’ and workshops on cut flowers, veg growing and how to create interest throughout the year in your garden: https://vickythornton.co.uk/shop/ and hopefully later in the Spring and into Summer face to face workshops can run again.

Online yoga has been continuing since Christmas and has been invaluable for me as a teacher and for many of those coming to classes. I want to thank everyone for carrying on with me, even if you’d much rather be in a face to face class, and I’m hoping we’ll get back to live classes at some point in the future. It gives all of us some structure and a chance to see others, even if we don’t speak much whilst concentrating on yoga! New for this year was a block of deep relaxation sessions that ran in the darkest winter evenings. We always have these sessions when on retreat and they’re something very special for those who struggle with relaxing, switching off, sleeping.

The Spring Yoga Retreat has been re-scheduled for June 19-20^th, which although is a great shame, it will be a new and exciting experience to be on retreat in June and we can make full use of the outdoor natural swimming pool at Hill Cottage Retreat Centre http://hillcottageretreats.co.uk/rhos/

Don’t forget you can now buy vouchers as gifts for partners, relatives and even very lucky friends. Gift someone a gardening workshop or a deposit for a retreat weekend at https://vickythornton.co.uk/shop/