Train to be a yoga teacher at Yoga West
(Picture: Yoga West)Brits when polled by YouGov about their new year’s resolutions mostly pledged to exercise more and lose weight. Admirable, but unoriginal and — frankly — joyless.
This year, take the ‘new year, new me’ narrative and run with it to look beyond temporarily dropping a few pounds to learning a skill or conquering a fear that will really change your life for the better.
From having mind-blowing sex to improving your self-esteem, this is how to become a better version of you in 2023.
Train to be a yoga teacher
Any keen yogi who has been considering making the practice either a proper side hustle or a full-on career change, this is your moment. Yoga West in Shepherd’s Bush offers a psychotherapist-led teacher training programme — spanning 10 weekends — that will not only give you the skills to facilitate yoga classes as a professional but will also elevate your own practice. Every aspect of yoga is taught as a part of the diploma’s curriculum, from the anatomical to the spiritual and everything in between.
From £2,990; yogawestlondon.com
Improve your financial literacy
Make this the year you stop looking at your bank balance from between your fingers. Obviously, this is easier said than done, particularly in the current financial climate, but there is definitely scope for taking even the smallest steps to expand knowledge of simple econonmics and feeling more empowered when it comes to money. The Money Charity (themoneycharity.org.uk) is a great place to start. Its website is an invaluable resource for anyone who feels a little lost at sea when it comes to cash. For anyone who already has a basic knowledge of financial markets but who might want to learn more about investing, there are courses such as Introduction to Financial Markets and Trading at London Academy of Trading, while Kalpana Fitzpatrick’s recently released book, Invest Now (amazon.co.uk) is a brilliant initiation into how to get the most out of your money.
£499; lat.london
How to play at work
The School of Life’s Professional Workshops series aims to help participants master skills such as resilience, decisiveness and confidence in the workplace. It is particularly cheering to see subjects such as playfulness being acknowledged as important skills that would benefit almost any career. The workshops are typically a couple of hours long and take place via Zoom. In Playfulness, you’ll learn how LOLs and silliness create happier teams and you’ll have a chance to try out ways of using play and humour to solve problems. If you’ve internalised the idea that work is a serious business and being professional means racking up zero fun, this one’s for you. Also, you’ll learn little hacks to shift mindset so even if you are not currently in your dream job and perhaps find yourself bored, you can generate a lighter and more positive experience.
£90, theschooloflife.com
How to have better sex (more often)
There are plenty of benefits to having more sex (aside from pure enjoyment) including increased immunity, reduced stress and improved heart health, but sometimes life — parenthood, workload and lack of confidence — gets in the way. There are a wealth of apps available to help with anything from scheduling intimate time for couples with Cupla (cupla.app) to an X-rated truth or dare thanks to Desire (getdesireapp.com). If you are happily single but want to feel a little more, well, self-satisfied there are countless guided masturbation tools to explore, but we think Dipsea (dipseastories.com), an app specialising in erotic audio stories, is a cut above.
Embrace flower arranging
Flower arranging may have once conjured images of preppy housewives getting their blooms ‘just so’, but the reality is, it’s an enduring, intricate art form with therapeutic benefits. The team at The Flower Appreciation Society run a host of different floristry workshops from £85 in their East London studio, from vase arrangements to bouquet making using seasonal flora. Not only is this a lovely way to spend a day or evening but you’ll leave with a deeper understanding of flowers and their ability to inspire, decorate and delight.
From £85; theflowerappreciationsociety.co.uk
Pose like a supermodel
And why not? If you want to work on your swagger, posture or ‘blue steel’, who better to lead the way than Naomi Campbell? One of the original supermodels, with decades of experience on catwalks and in front of the camera under her belt, she knows every trick in the book when it comes to strutting and posing. As part of a Masterclass subscription (£14 a month) she demonstrates how lighting can make or break a photo and explains how to identifying your best angles. Instagram won’t know what’s hit it when you start wheeling out amplified #flawless selfies. Campbell also gives plenty of little tips for relaxation and confidence building so that you can cultivate that supermodel poise IRL.
From £14 per month; masterclass.com
Improve your self-esteem
Low self-esteem is debilitating and can effect every aspect of life, often causing sufferers to perform badly at work, have difficult personal relationships or participate in risky or abusive behaviours. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to address it including a City Lit workshop dedicated to the subject. Taught by therapeutic counsellor Jonathan Freilich the workshop – three sessions over three weeks for £129 – will, first and foremost help students identify and acknowledge their potential. Issues like anger, shame or shyness are addressed, which might sound scary but is necessary for growth. Through group discussion, practical exercises and journaling - as well lectures and tutorials - students will learn all about boundaries and advocating for themselves.
£129; citylit.ac.uk
Seeing stars
Having your birth chart — a map of the sky at the precise moment you were born — read by a professional astrologer can help you grasp a better understanding of yourself. Francesca Oddie has read countless birth charts for clients in a bid to help them banish limited beliefs and address deep-seated fears. All she needs is your birthday, birth location and exact time of birth in order to give an insightful 50-minute reading. She is an encyclopaedia of celestial knowledge, weaving science and magic together to help people feel understood: even the most cynical amongst us will have a ‘hey, how did you know that?’ moment and at the very least the chart is food for thought about who we are and what we want. The birth charts are also beautiful objects — it’s you but in star formation — and if that’s not just a little bit special we don’t know what is.
£297; francescaoddie.com
Get the best out of your journal
Journaling is simple in principle but for many of us, much more difficult in practise. The year-long Writing A Journal For Personal Development course from Open Study College is designed to help students understand the importance of journaling for mental health. It’s a home-based course that teaches how to best record thoughts and feelings with a view to identifying patterns and understanding our behaviours. Students will have to complete regular assignments and there are modules on documenting dreams and journaling for addiction. You might need prompts at first but by the end of the course this will be a habit you never want to kick.
£329; openstudycollege.com
Master public speaking
If the mere suggestion of talking in front of people makes you want to hibernate indefinitely, make this the year you conquer your fear. The public speaking short course at Goldsmiths is directed by a barrister and uses science-based training techniques to banish the debilitating anxiety. Students on the one-day course will learn via interactive sessions, practical exercises and personalised training — but don’t worry the groups are small and you’re all in the same boat. You’ll leave feeling that what once felt impossible is not only entirely achievable but, dare we say it, enjoyable too.
£275; gold.ac.uk
