No one would know it but for the last month I have been walking around with a broken heart, having split up with my girlfriend of nearly nine years. Instead of dwelling or whining to anyone who comes my way, I take it to yoga, swimming, tennis, rollerblading, running... and at the end of each workout it feels a little bit more mended.
MONDAYS: No time to wake up feeling the sadness, I have a small but incredibly energetic Highland Maltie, and Roxy needs to be walked vigorously before I head to work. I pull on my faithful Speedway sweats, I am out the door at the crack of dawn and occasionally we are blessed by the rising of the sun. We walk side by side and then I do my best to keep up with her in the open field by my house; entertaining her, throwing a ball back and forth until she tires, keeps my mind firmly rooted in the present.
TUESDAYS: In my lunch break I head to the Langham's Chuan Spa which is a few minutes from my office, and if I arrive around 2pm I have the stunning pool to myself. I swim fast - breaststroke, front crawl, backstroke, underwater - until my mind is refreshed. After around fifty lengths, I reward myself with a Jacuzzi.
WEDNESDAYS: I play tennis through wind or rain. Ordinarily my tennis partner and I are overly polite during our games resulting in many tedious deuces, but now I am ruthless, I take more risks with my shots, figuring what the hell have I got to lose?! And the aces come and my backhands are undefeatable. It's a 6-2 victory!
THURSDAYS: I have night yoga sessions with London's only Yoga for Better Sleep teacher, Lisa Sanfilippo. I suffer from insomnia at the best of times, but now I can lay awake for hours ruminating on love lost. After an hour of Lisa's variations of yoga poses, like lying over a bolster in child's pose, I have stretched out the sadness, tears have come and gone and I sleep peacefully.
FRIDAYS: I recently rediscovered my old rollerblades gathering dust in a storage cupboard, and so I blade to work and back. I feel part of film, as my iPhone plays out the soundtrack to my life, with London speeding past me... and I experience an incredible endorphin high.
SATURDAYS:The Day of Rest
SUNDAYS: I am at one with nature as I horse ride in Trent Park. Animals can be very healing for the heart. It is as if this horse understands what I am going through - he is silent but kind and gentle as he gallops me through woodland.
I urge the broken hearted to get off the sofa, put down your Ben & Jerry's and take up a form of sport - it doesn't matter what it is but just get moving. Not only will this heal the heart and mind, but remember you are now single so you want to get in shape!