I’ve been feeling a little funny the last few days, and reading a colleague’s newsletter finally gave me some clarity: with the arrival of September, school holidays over, and the days getting shorter, something has been feeling off.

By the end of the summer, you finally got into a rhythm: more time in the sun, less expectations around deadlines, lots of social activities, joy all around. It took most of the summer to arrive at and then it is over in a weekend. School goes back, the schedule refills, the light starts leaving earlier, and the whole pace of things resets before you have had a chance to agree to it.

School runs may not be part of your life, but its rhythm around you might be. The evenings draw in. The invitations thin out. Things ask for a bit more effort than they did in July, and you find yourself, perhaps like me, resisting the surge of productivity.

I will be honest with you: I am in it right now. I have been trying to get back into a routine for a fortnight and it keeps slipping away. I’ve been trying to get into a September schedule that my body wants nothing to do with yet.

We treat September like a new year (I even say my colleague Bernadette Clancy from Stress.Ed post about this). New notebooks, new plans, new resolve. The whole culture of the month is built on the assumption that September means all systems go and we are ready to launch (good for you if your rocket is already on its way to space).

What I think I and others experience is a period of adjustment. You feel a bit more tired, your sleep routine is off, your head is now full of stuff you haven’t been thinking about for 6-8 weeks. And your body, which is slower and more sensible than your calendar, needs a little while to catch up with all of that.

So you’re lagging and stalling, and possibly feeling guilty about it.

I find it enormously helpful to name it as a lag, because awareness helps you to figure out what you need next. Your risk prolonging how you feel by responding with force — scheduling more, planning harder and pushing through — rather than with intention.

So here is what I have actually done in the last 2 weeks to build intention and get back into gear.

Give yourself thirty unhurried minutes this week, a notebook. These are the questions I have been sitting with:

The last one is the useful one. September expands to fill whatever you give it, and most of us give it everything.

This is what I use when I catch myself being unkind about the stalling.

The sentence in my head goes something like this (you might have your own version): I should have done this out by now. Everyone else seems to have got their act together. What is wrong with me that I still don’t have it figured out!?

If you can, write the sentence down or voice-note it to yourself.

Then write or voice-note the reframe: the one you would say to a friend who had just said that to you out loud. The loving response, not the psychological jargon or the judgement.

Then repeat the second one aloud: I noticed myself going at a different pace to everyone around me, because my internal rhythm is unique and completely mine. I can carve my way into my own timing as long as I stay true to myself.

The difference between how the two sentences land in your body is what makes the difference. I teach about these energetic shifts based on the language we use in yoga all the time. Most of us are carrying an internal voice we would never tolerate from another person. Hearing the alternative in your own voice changes your energetic frequency instantly.

You can be perfectly functional and still feel out of step with your own life, and both of those are true at the same time. September asks everyone to change gear at once, and the fact that it takes you a few weeks to do it says nothing about you except that you are paying attention to what is actually happening.

You do not have to have your autumn worked out this month. Slowing down for a fortnight in order to choose properly will get you further than starting everything at once and abandoning half of it by October. You got this.

Warm Yin, Friday evenings, Vanessa Flow Yoga in Clitheroe. A new class, and a good one for exactly this feeling. Warm room, long holds. You arrive wound up from the week and you leave having actually put it down. Start Friday 3 September.

Restorative, online, returning in October. The practice where you lie down, get propped up with everything you own, and stay there. It comes back as the darker months arrive because that is when it does the most good. Details soon.

A note on dates: I am away from 22 September to 6 October visiting family, so there are no live classes in that window. You can still practice with me online. Book here. Everything resumes the week of the 7th.

And if the routine is the actual problem — if you have been trying to get a grip on how you live for longer than this September, and adding another habit is clearly not going to touch it — that is what the 1:1 work is for. Six months, fortnightly, looking at the whole picture: how you work, what you eat, what surrounds you, and what you have decided you are for. I open a small number of places at a time and the next ones start in October. Email me at [email protected] and tell me what is going on. We can then have a chat to unpack it.

This month, I bid fairwell to a class and a group of students I have loved sharing space with for 18 months: Functional Recovery & Flow in Barnoldswick is ending on September 15th.

Tuesdays, 7pm, Barnoldswick (KL Health Hub)

A small-group class blending yoga, functional movement and mobility to help you move well, build strength with integrity, and support recovery from the demands of modern life.

These sessions focus on joint health, steady strength, and nervous system regulation — so you leave feeling clearer, more connected, and capable in your body.

Accessible, progressive, personal and thoughtfully paced. *You don’t need to be a gym member to join.

Tuesdays online 5:15pm and Thursdays 6:30pm, Clitheroe

An intentional and inwardly focused practice rooted in breath, core strength and deep presence. Forrest Yoga invites you to build physical confidence while staying connected to feeling — developing resilience without disconnecting from yourself.

Expect intelligent sequencing, long dynamic holds, and space to work honestly with what arises.

Wednesdays 7:15pm in Barrowford & Sundays 6:15pm in Clitheroe (fortnightly)

A deeply nourishing online practice designed for the darker months. Slow, supported postures, longer holds, and conscious breathing help calm the nervous system and replenish energy.

This is a space to soften, reset, and allow winter to do its quiet work within you.

I am offering one more class online in this format on Friday 27th March, 7pm. After this date, I will explore how to integrate this deeply nourishing rest practice when the evenings are lighter and so many of us prefer to spend more time outdoors. Watch this space.

I also teach this class twice a month in Clitheroe and Barrowford.

Tuesdays 10am in Clitheroe

Left to your own devices, you'd probably take it easier than this.

Signature Flow is a set sequence - spiced-up sun salutations, standing postures, strength work and it builds heat! You come back to the same practice each time, which means you can feel yourself getting stronger. That's the point.

A morning class that sets the tone before the rest of the day gets in the way.
Suitable for all levels. If you're newer to yoga, the structure gives you something real to build on. If you already have a practice, this is the one that keeps you honest & rooted in tradition.

Fridays 5:30pm in Clitheroe (Fortnightly starting July 10)

These sessions take you on a journey of self-discovery, helping you find your strengths and embrace your imperfectly perfect flaws, all while syncing movement and breath in a creative, energising flow.

HOT FLOW is practised in a studio heated to around 35°C, allowing you to move deeper into poses, raise your heart rate, and enjoy a mental challenge that clears the mind. You’ll explore flowing sequences, vinyasas, and mindful breathwork, leaving you sweaty, empowered, and accomplished.

Some yoga experience recommended.

Fridays 6:45pm in Clitheroe (Fortnightly starting September 3rd)

If you feel stressed, are always rushing and never have a moment to be still, Yin Yoga gives you exactly that. Deeply meditative floor-based postures and long holds release tension and settle the nervous system. All welcome.

with grace and gratitude,

Supporting individuals and businesses towards authentic freedom and wellbeing