Day Five - high five! I'm well and truly on this thirty day yoga journey now and am starting to feel like my teacher, Adriene Mishler, is pretty much a member of the family. As does Little Lad who walked into the living room sleepy eyed and messy-haired at 8.30 this morning to find me doing a puppy dog pose with my bum shamelessly in the air and asked, "Oh, is it Adriene? Again?" And he plonked himself down on the sofa, scratched his bits and waited.

Today's practice was entitled, 'High' and was, according to the email I received this morning, all about synchronization, awakening and aligning. The idea was to introduce an extended exhale, as well as other pranayama techniques to leave the participant feeling high. And before you get excited, a natural high.

I cranked my aching body through the postures (aching because of Little Lad's apparent residential status in in my bed last night) and waited for the high to hit me. The flow was definitely speedier today, I noticed that. And I quite enjoyed it too. It got the energy moving, shifting around my body and, I realised, in the room too as both Lads were now scratching their bits on the sofa, wriggling around in wrinkled pyjamas and clearly looking for something better to do whilst Mummy dicked about on the yoga mat.

And while I tried my very best to finish my yoga sesh with the kapalabhati breathing (short, sharp exhales whilst drawing in the tummy muscles), I couldn't help but be more concerned about what the Lads were getting up to. So far they had chucked all the sofa cushions on the floor, 'poured' themselves drinks in the kitchen and were now ripping into a gingerbread house-making kit they'd been given for Christmas. As I bid Adriene Namaste, I knew the next hour was going to be dedicated to all things sugar and spice.

I don't know about a natural high from the yoga, but I do know from today and many, many other days, that yoga does start me off right. If I'd still been in bed on this grey Saturday morning, and the Lads had burst into the bedroom asking me to make a gingerbread house with them, what are the chances I would have leapt out of bed? I think we all know the answer to that.

AND what are the chances that, when the Lads got bored later on today, I would have dusted off the old Doreen Virtue angel cards and suggested we have a go? But that's what I did today, in all my yogic-powered wisdom.

"Right Lads," And I put on my best Mystic Meg voice (not that they would have a bloody clue who that was but you have to get into the spirit of these things), "What you have to do is wave your hand over the cards and hold a question in your mind. Then pick a card at random and we'll see what the angels have got to say about your question. Got it?"

So after the obligatory showdown over who would go first, Little Lad went to town. He started speaking like a cartoon ghost, "Angels can you tell me . . . when . . . will . . . I . . . die?" Big Lad fell about laughing and they both totally missed the irony that the angel Little Lad picked, 'Desiree', told him that 'the conditions aren't favourable right now'. *Phew. Wipes brow*

Big Lad went on to ask questions like, when will the universe end? Will there be a new species of humans? And when will all the charities of the world succeed? I needed a bit of light relief after that which was promptly delivered by Little Lad with: when will we get a new games console? What's for dinner? And when will my big brother get a life? As you can imagine, the angels had plenty to say about all of that.

But the magic really struck the Lads when they started urging me to have a go. "Ok, ok," I said. "I'll have one go and that's it." I hovered my hands over the remaining cards which, by now, looked less like a mystical formation and more like my up-turned recycling box, and thought hard about my question. Well, what was featuring heavily in my thoughts these days? It had to be about the yoga challenge. "Right. Angels, will I make it through my thirty day yoga challenge?"

The Lads nearly wet their pants.

"But, but, how can they know that?" Big Lad spluttered? "How can a pile of cards know that?"

"Ah," I nodded sagely, "you simply cannot underestimate the power of yoga, my child."

And, my good people, I carried that particular high with me for the rest of the day.

Go well,

Abi

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