A few people came online to do Yoga for Stephens House House and Gardens and GoodGym.

Yoga talk

Yoga helps you relax because it gives your body something simple and steady to follow: breath, movement, and attention. As the breathing slows and the body softens, the nervous system gets the message that it is safe to settle. So relaxation is not something you force — it’s something you allow to happen.

Paul and I snuck down to the Community Grocery in North Finchley again this week. An unspecified shipment of goods were expected once again from the Felix Project and we were there to intercept and unload the merchandise.

Wearing our trusty Goodgym disguises, we hung around inconspicuously with Gus at the entrance pretending to be a dog therapy unit. Then the delivery van arrived and we hotfooted it up and down the ramp with cages and trolleys, unloading the shipment.

A parking attended briefly stopped to ask how long the trick would be sat in the electric charging space, but we kept our cool, didn't break our cover, and got the job done in record time.

An excellent way to start the week!

May Anytime Anywhere Litter Pick

A big well done to everyone who got involved in our May Anytime Anywhere litter pick.

This is one of those wonderfully simple GoodGym tasks that anyone can do, wherever they happen to be. A short walk, a pair of gloves, a bag, a litter picker if you have one — and suddenly your local patch is a little bit cleaner.

Across the month we had GoodGymers out and about doing their bit in different places, including Barnet and beyond.

Paul Browning was out in Kidbrooke, south east London, alongside the Quaggy, where he filled three battered “bags for life” from either side of the river. He also pulled out and destroyed around 200 Himalayan balsam plants, which are highly invasive and damaging to river banks — a brilliant bit of extra environmental care while he was there.

Peter Van Tongeren reported his usual combination of “little litter picks out and about” along with some obstacle removal, including heavy canisters.

Sally and Paul also managed to avoid the Champions League final by doing a litter pick — and even found a quiet wisteria-covered pub for a cocktail afterwards, which sounds like excellent reward-based volunteering!

It was great to see people joining in, whether individually, in pairs, or as part of a walk, run or cycle. These small acts really do add up. As the weather gets hotter, more people are outside, bins fill up more quickly, and rubbish can easily spill out or be pulled around by animals. That makes these local litter picks even more valuable.

Thank you to everyone who signed up and took part in May: Harvey, Paul B, Matthew, Paul, Sally, Peter, Jacqui, Richard and Mel.

The June Anytime Anywhere litter pick is already listed, so please sign up if you can. It’s a flexible, useful and very visible way to help look after the places we live, walk, run and enjoy.

Well done everyone — small actions, big difference.