How practising yoga outdoors can change your day

A recent Friday lunchtime yoga we enjoyed outdoors

As my eyes reached the sky during sun salutation, there was a red kite floating high, high above. Closer, the leaves of the birch trees rustled in the breeze, but the sun gently laid her warmth on my skin.

As I twisted round in warrior pose, my eyes came to a miniature pagoda that was framed discreetly by the foliage behind me. I hadn’t noticed it before.

Nearby, the stream trickled gently over rocks. In the meadow, the lambs were baa-ing to their mothers. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, a swallow flashed over our heads and disappeared noiselessly into her nest.

Moving through yoga poses in the outdoors adds an extra dynamic to the practice. You get to notice things you wouldn’t normally, and you have the time and headspace to really take them in. Birdsong becomes stereophonic.

You become open to that connection with nature we struggle to keep a grasp of in modern-day life. All nature’s sounds, smells and textures become somehow more lucid, as they themselves play their part in your practice.

As our session drew to an end, the farm cat tiptoed across the grass. He sat in a patch of sun, regarding us through half-closed eyes. Or was he meditating? I couldn’t be sure. But I could tell he was as delighted to be there, in that moment, as we were.

• Francesca holds outdoor yoga in a beautiful private garden and woodland on Fridays 1 to 2pm throughout the summer months.