The reason why I didn’t post anything for the last week is that I was away in beautiful Italy on a yoga retreat. It was the first time I went to such a retreat and I did yoga so intensively (2 hours in the morning, one hour and a half in the afternoon everyday) and it was a wonderful experience to be repeated. I went with my mum and little sister and we had much fun together. I started practicing yoga last year after the birth of my third son Augustin and it really helped me to regain energy and to get my body fit again. Before I always thought yoga was not much work out, just a way to relax. But when I started doing it following the free lessons on Yoga Today website, I started to realize it was quite challenging for the body. It also helped me calm down at times when it was overwhelming to look after three boys! In fact, I enjoyed the practice so much that I looked on the Internet for a way to attend an intense training. I stumbled upon yogatraveller which offers retreats to several beautiful destinations in the world. But it’s not only about yoga, it is also about having a real break: “a beautiful location, some sun perhaps, nice food, fun activities, good company, new friends and some time to do what YOU want.” As well as developing my yoga practice, I discovered a beautiful part of Italy, Umbria with beautiful landscapes and villages and gorgeous food.

I also got to spend quality time with my mum and sister. My mum has multiple sclerosis . Before she became ill, she had been practicing yoga for many years every morning. Due to the illness, she was now practicing a bit on her bed but not a mat. Our wonderful yoga teacher, Laila Sell helped her get her confidence back and my mum was back on a yoga mat which was fantastic. At the end of the week, my mum, sister and myself decided we would keep up practicing yoga every morning. So we set up the yoga one year challenge community on Google+ where we tell the yoga we have been doing everyday. This is a way to encourage each other to keep practicing. The community is private and I just noticed that I cannot change the privacy setting but anyone can join. Just ask me to join in the comments and I will add you as a member.