Day 11

I practised with a work friend. We had a nice spot at the back near the door, where she normally goes.

For years I always went for spots at the front, on the hot side of the room. The last few months I've liked to move around the room a bit. It's funny, but different parts of the yoga room bring a completely new experience to a class.

At the front, or even in the second row, you have the advantage of seeing yourself in the mirror. That's nice for the balancing postures, and for checking alignment in general. But there is also an element of pressure. At the front, I feel I should be able to demonstrate all the postures to a good standard, as well as being able to hold the balancing postures so as not to distract the people behind. At my main studio, in central London, capacity is over 70, and it's unusual for a class not to have several complete beginners. Any day that I don't feel 100%, I avoid the front, just in case I need to sit anything out. That doesn't happen much anyway, but I'd feel bad if it did and I was at the front.

Additionally, the spots I used to choose were around the heater. That made the class much tougher, but I used to relish that. I still love the heat, but I also appreciate a blast of cold air from a teacher opening the door. Sometimes in summer, the studio gets so humid that it can be hard to breathe, and the heater area is where you feel that most. I really started noticing that this summer. Probably because this summer I've been practising a lot more than previous ones. In any case, I don't make it a priority to go near the heater these days.

I think my attitude to position in the room changed when I went on a recent yoga holiday to Spain. There we were practising on a yoga deck at the top of a hill (see profile pic), looking out over the Andalucian hills, at farms and orchards in the distance. It was beautiful and calming being able to practise in such a serene place. Before that holiday, I'd already started moving round the room a bit, and that holiday sealed the deal for me...it's no longer important to me where I lay my mat in the yoga room.