Whether you are participating in a teacher-led online class, or practicing on your own through a self-led practice, there are many benefits of practicing at home.
Whether you are participating in a teacher-led online class, or practicing on your own through a self-led practice, there are many benefits of practicing yoga at home. Being in your own personal space without preoccupations about others watching you can mean that your practice is much more intimate and focused. The comfort and convenience of being able to roll out your mat wherever you are, without the stress and time drain of having to travel to class, means that maintaining a regular and more frequent yoga practice is much more achievable. You can be spontaneous; fitting in a practice when you have a window of time that suits you, or when you feel that your body and mind needs it.
It’s important to understand that the benefits of yoga come from consistent practice over time. Simply put, the more you practice, the greater the impact on your mental and physical wellbeing. Thanks to neuroplasticity, the brain can transform through the practice of meditation, building equanimity and reduced reactivity in response to adverse situations. Progress with your physical yoga practice comes from repetition; only by practicing the techniques and poses consistently over time will you see improvement in your strength, flexibility and ability to execute a pose.
Going to class once a week is great. Any yoga is better than no yoga. But if you can increase the frequency by integrating yoga into your daily life – even if that’s just 10 minutes of meditation or a 15 minute wind down stretch at the end of the day – you’re giving yourself the best chance of being a more emotionally balanced and resilient, stronger, more mobile, happier, healthier you.
So, here are my top tips for practicing at home:
- Find a teacher with whom you can practice at home.
Whether that’s through a live class, an on-demand pre-recorded class or even if you have your own self-led practice, it’s still valuable to have access to a teacher to guide, correct and inspire you. A led class also gives you the commitment to motivate you to practice for an allotted amount of time. I have my own self-led practice but I still enjoy being led by my teacher via his online classes on a regular basis; it allows me to switch off and prompts enquiry, growth and adds a richness to my practice.
- Create your practice space.
Firstly, let’s acknowledge that when you are practicing at home, there will be many more distractions than when you are in a class, and maintaining focus will be more challenging. So, find a quiet place away from distractions, leave your phone in another room and tell your family or housemates that you are shutting yourself away to practice for 30 minutes so that they will leave you in peace (hopefully!). You need enough space for your mat and enough clearance away from furniture so that you won’t bash into things. However, you don’t need acres of space. I practice in my bedroom, at the end of the bed. It’s not a huge space but it’s enough for me to move freely and safely, and importantly, it’s away from distractions. Once you’ve found your place, you might like to add items to create a calm and nourishing environment; you could light candles (I love St Eval candles) or use an oil diffuser. You could play music too.
- Have the equipment you need, or improvise.
Make sure that all of your equipment is easily accessible. It’s best to use a mat (I love Lululemon’s 5mm reversible mat). I’m a big advocate of using props too. For an asana practice that might be two bricks for your hands, a big block to sit on, a belt and a blanket. For Restorative Yoga you might have a bolster, blankets and an eye pillow too. For meditation you might have a cushion or a block to sit on. I get my yoga props from Yogamatters. But, fear not. If you don’t have these things you can always improvise; hardback books, biscuit jars and resistance bands all work just as well, so be resourceful!
- Wear comfortable clothing.
The great news is, you don’t need to make any effort to prepare for your home practice. When you are practicing at home, anything goes! Pyjamas, sweatpants, or your best leggings – it doesn’t matter what you wear as long as you feel comfortable and able to move freely.
- Make your yoga practice a habit.
I totally understand that it’s hard for us to prioritise our own mental and physical wellbeing over the million other things we have going on in our lives. However, if you don’t have your health, what do you have? Only you, and you alone, can make your yoga practice happen. Try to shift your perspective so that you view your yoga practice as a priority and integrate it into your life as a habit. According to James Clear in his book Atomic Habits “A habit is a behaviour that has been repeated enough times to become automatic. Your identity emerges out of your habits. Your habits are how you embody your identity. Every action is a vote for the type of person you want to become.” By making your yoga practice a habit, being a yoga practitioner can become an effortless part of your identity, helping you to automatically make more positive choices, to believe in your ability to accomplish things and to help you to become the type of person you wish to be. I’d highly recommend the book Atomic Habits by James Clear if you’d like to learn more about this topic.
- Commit to a practice schedule.
In order to integrate yoga into your life as a habit, you will need to create an intention so that it’s an obvious and committed part of your schedule. A simple way to do this is to allocate time in your diary. You can book onto a live class in order to allocate time, but if you are watching a class on-demand or you are practicing by yourself then you’ll need to schedule this yourself, as if you are creating a meeting with yourself and your mat. For example, “Starting from 1st August, I will practice yoga at 6.30pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays after I get home from work and before I have dinner”. This obvious cue will create structure and commitment from which you can build your practice habit. If you have young children and struggle to find ‘alone’ time at home, scheduling time and asking someone to take care of them at this consistent time every week will help you to find a routine. It’s important to be disciplined with keeping to this commitment, but be flexible, not rigid, with your expectation of the duration. You might not always be able to fit in the 30-minute practice that you had hoped for, but all is not lost. If you are short on time, commit to just 10 minutes. 10 minutes on your mat is better than 0 minutes. I often find that when I only plan to spend 10 minutes on my mat, it ends up as being 20-30 minutes, so set the bar low and see where that takes you.
- Do what you love.
This is YOUR practice. This is YOUR free time. Make sure you enjoy it. Practice at home with the teacher that you love. When you are doing a self-led practice, do the poses that you love, and the poses that make you feel good. There is no wrong or right, and you shouldn’t feel that you are obliged to do any particular pose. You have the freedom to use your time on your mat in the way that you want to. If you do what you love, you’ll love what you do, and that will motivate you to make more time for your practice.
- Celebrate your wins!
It’s nourishing to reflect on how your practice is progressing. Whether that’s taking stock of how much more focused your mind is when you are meditating, how much stronger you feel in plank, or your progress with balancing in handstand, take time to consider how far you have come. You might also like to reflect on how your practice has impacted you on personal level; perhaps you’ve seen a change in your confidence, in your ability to remain calm and balanced in the face of adversity, or in your general outlook on life. You might like to do this by keeping a journal, by writing a blog, discussing it with your friends and family, or simply by giving yourself a pat on the back from time to time.
If you’d like to practice with me at home, you can join me live or on-demand. My blog on how to establish habits might also be helpful!
Sources
Image: Online Yoga Classes with Felicity Wood (felicitywoodyoga.com)
