From the article: Can I Do Yoga at Home?
Starting a yoga home practice can be challenging- it's a big leap from attending led yoga classes to developing your own practice at home. How do you stay motivated and come up with sequences? Do you use videos or audio classes? Share your home practice tips here. Readers Respond
At Home Ritual
- I make a ritual of changing my grubby clothes into something I feel good doing yoga in ( yoga pants, a light, comfortable T). It helps motivate me to be purposeful. Also, I have 2 or 3 very good cd's that I use, never the same one two days in a row. I am in a very remote area and there is little (no) chance for ever expecting a yoga studio to open up, so my routine is very important if I am going to stay with my yoga.
- —Guest Kathy
Regular Instruction, Privacy, Music
- These are the three things that do the most for me to maintain my home practice. I maintain a fairly regular schedule of going to a Hatha yoga class at least two times a month and preferably once a week. I have been attending an intermediate to advanced class for the past three years. I have a special place in a room where I can put down my mat and close the door and go into my own inner peace. And, I always put a relaxing compact disc in the player that is at least 50 minutes in length so I can go through a routine without interruption. The regular class instruction keeps me committed. The privacy of a room keeps me focused. The music keeps my mind free. Namaste
- —Guest YoGirl Peggy
One downdog a day
- I try to do yoga everyday. On days when it is difficult to find time/energy, I say to myself that I will just do one down dog and get on the mat thinking that. I always end up doing more than one down dog. It feels nice afterwards
- —Guest Jyoti
Set tiny goals
- All of this is great advice. I totally agree that 10 minutes is still worth doing. You need to be open-minded about how you can approach fitting yoga in on a daily basis. I am a very goal-oriented person, which is not very 'yoga-like.' But setting tiny goals for myself - like learning over a couple months how to do a new and challenging pose - really helps keep me going. I have a series of basic poses that keep me balanced and then a little something added to push myself towards my goal. I am learning that patience is a process; it has made a huge difference in how I look at all the off-the-mat challenges I face.
- —5h2o
Portable Yoga Floor
- If you're having difficulty practicing yoga at home on carpeting then you might be interested in a new product coming in November 2009 called LifeBoard. Practicing yoga on carpet is often difficult, especially when doing balance poses. Carpeting can be too soft and slippery, and using yoga mats on carpet can be problematic because they tend to bunch up and are often feel too “squishy”. If you’re experiencing these problems then you might be interested in the LifeBoard. The LifeBoard is an affordable, durable, lightweight, easy to use portable floor that provides a firm surface to enhance your yoga practice at home. It can also be used outdoors for exhilarating yoga in your backyard, in the park, on the beach or up in the mountains. Place the LifeBoard on just about any surface, put your yoga mat on the LifeBoard and enjoy your yoga.
- —Guest Jim
Small Can Be Beautiful
- I've been very surprised with the progress I've made with small amounts of yoga done every day. For a long time I felt like yoga had to be 60 or 90 minutes (like my classes or videos) to be "real". Not so for me. Some nights I have 45 minutes, some nights I have 10 minutes. I try to set the bar low enough that I feel good about whatever I can do. My kids make a lot of noise, the dirty dishes sit in the sink. The yoga happens any way.
- —Guest Derek
start on the floor
- I have practicied yoga at home for several years and although I still am totally in love with yoga, I do get bored. I have recently discovered that if I start on the floor and work my way up to standing asanas, I tend to have a longer, more energized practice. Forward bends (balasana, paschimottanasana, janu sirsasana) to virasana, to cat and cat rolls, assist in opening the body and making the mind more receptive and intuitive. For me, this results in a well-rounded and satisfying practice!
- —yogainzoo09
yoga flash cards
- yoga flash cards that you can pick up at bookstores help me remember what to do next. I lay out the poses on the floor of what I want to do, so that I don't have to think while in a pose, about what to do next.
- —Guest patrick
Keep mat set up if you can
- I'm lucky enough to have a spare bedroom I've turned into the yoga room. I leave my mat spread out there, and have my music player set up. It really helps to have everything all ready to go - it removes one more barrier to doing a bit of yoga. I can do a quick 5 minute stretch whenever I have a spare moment. I try to get up early to do a short 15 minute practice before I start my morning routine. I've created a few playlists on my iPod that are 15 minutes long, so I don't have to worry about keeping track of time.
- —Guest Pat
One of the best features of Yoga
- Do it first thing in the morning, once you start delaying it gets put off all together. Other advantage: you can time your practice to your time available, just 15 min sun salutations or include standing sequences or sitting sequences or the whole primary series etc.
- —Guest botzman_w
starting home practise
- I started a home practise by aiming to do sun salutations everyday or every other day. It only took 10mins but had a big effect on my practise. I felt stronger and yoga became more a part of my life rather than just a class I went to once or twice a week. Interestingly after a few weeks of this my teacher asked me if I had been attending lots of classes as he had noticed an improvement in my practise. This helped to strengthen my discipline in maintaining and extending my home practise and has helped me experience a wonderful sense of freedom in being able to practise yoga wherever I am.
- —Guest SZ
Home practice
- If you have a basic set of warm-up stretches that you do in class, then start with that. Then add what feels right for how you feel now. Do my shoulders hurt or feel tense, then maybe I could do downward facing dog next. Eventually you'll find where you need to go next, by how you feel and what makes you feel good after.
- —BruceCP
Setting time and space
- It is key to set a specific amount of allotted time, shorter in the beginning, and a special space just for your practice. this will help you understand that you are doing yoga and only yoga for the next hour.
- —Guest Skylor
Podcasts
- I like to use iTunes podcasts at home. I keep them on my iPhone and can do them wherever. My favorites are the 20minutedownload yoga :)
- —Guest Tara SG
