Lisa Harwood is a 2nd year part-time PhD student at the University of South Wales. Her research is looking at the impact of yoga on static and dynamic balance in adults with learning disabilities.
I’ve always thrived on learning and questioning ‘why ‘or ‘how’ things work. I’ve had a real interest on how the body works and what happens when the body is not in equilibrium. As a registered nurse with over 30 years clinical and leadership experience, maintaining this curiosity enabled me to develop the knowledge to care for patients to the best of my abilities. These skills were underpinned by completing studying for my BSc and MSc part time with the Open University whilst working fulltime. Even becoming a new mum during my MSc.
The time management skills I developed I thought would be more than sufficient to get me through my PhD. My work life balance had changed as I worked part time in my nursing role and part time yoga teacher. Although me time was limited, I juggled working, PhD study and family commitments for the first year of my course. I thoroughly enjoy working on my PhD research and this enthusiasm for my subject area kept me motivated.
It wasn’t until my mother became very unwell and was hospitalised that I realised I had no flexibility. The demands of supporting my father, hospital visits as well as the work, study, homelife balance became every stressful. I took time off from work and spent time reflecting on my priorities. As a yoga teacher, I focused on my personal yoga practice to refocus and bring a sense of calm. A daily 20-minute yoga practice enabled me to start the day, whether that was following an online class or moving my body into yoga poses that felt right for me at that moment. I started cold water swimming and met up with old friends at Ponty Lido for weekly cold-water swims in the winter. A truly invigorating experience.
With the loss of my mother the post grad department and my supervisors were very supportive. Meetings were rearranged and I was signposted to the role of the wellbeing service. I have changed my work life balance and left my permanent nursing post to work more flexibly with a nurse bank. This means I can work around my studies particularly as I am about to start data collection.
For other PhD students I would support the need to be kind to yourself and allow yourself down time. Whatever that may be.