So, September is upon us, and it’s the start of a new academic year! You might be starting a new school, going into a new class, moving away from home (or even moving country!) or just starting fresh in the same place. As the seasons change, and we start to calm down from what has hopefully been an amazing summer, this is the perfect time for setting some new goals. You may find that the summer break (if you’ve had one!) has shaken you out of your routine, so as you’re getting back into it, this is the ideal time to make adjustments and form new, positive habits.

Take 5 minutes to think about a few things you want to achieve this month, and write them down. You can even put them on the wall or somewhere else you’ll see them regularly. Let me know in the comments what yours are!

I’m going on holiday in a few days, having danced through the summer, so my goals are mostly based around keeping fit! Here are mine:

1.To use my holiday to kick-start a new cross training routine

I’ve been a bit lazy with my cross-training the last week or two; I haven’t been committing enough time to stretching, and I’ve barely done any conditioning exercises or other cross-training activities, besides walking. I hope that new surroundings and a break from my usual schedule can shake me out of this rut! We’ll be staying in a villa with a swimming pool, so I want to swim every day, and I would like to walk as much as possible (although that depends on if anyone wants to come with me!). I think I will take my yoga book and do a bit of outdoor yoga in the sunshine, or maybe even on the beach. I would love to get back into doing yoga, as at one time I was very dedicated in my practice and it was so beneficial. What better way to relax on holiday than with outdoor yoga? When I come back, although there won’t be much opportunity for swimming and beach yoga in London, I hope to choose a couple of new activities and keep on doing them every day!

2. To keep up daily stretching on holiday so that I don’t come back stiff

I am determined to stick to this! I love stretching, but at home I’m always jumping from one thing on my to-do list to another, and I often forget to set aside dedicated time. Often I only stretch before and after class, and it’s only enough to keep myself limber, rather than working on improving my flexibility. I don’t want to come back from holiday massively out of shape and have to go through that torturous first week before I’m capable of doing anything! So daily stretching it is!

3. To work hard upon my return to ballet, in order to get back into pre-holiday form by the end of the month

Do you see a theme emerging? I have been making such improvements lately, and whilst having two weeks off class is obviously going to be detrimental to that, I’m hoping that by keeping fit whilst I’m away, I can throw myself into class when I get back and really push to get back into shape quickly.

4. To write down all of my corrections after every class

I started doing this yesterday and noticed how much more I kept them in mind during today’s class, so I did the same thing today, and I want to keep doing so every day that I take class this month! If you don’t already do this, I highly recommend it. Taking a few minutes to think back on class, remember your teacher’s corrections, and reflect on them, is a very good way to start to combat your problem areas and really take your technique to the next level.

Those are all of my September goals- let me know what yours are! Happy September!

Jessica x