Establishing a home yoga practice
Have you ever considered establishing a home practice? Or perhaps you already practice at home and wonder why others struggle to get going. Maybe you are hoping to train as a yoga teacher but know that you need to establish a home practice before you are accepted onto the course. Or maybe you wonder whether there really is any benefit to be gained from having one?
For me, establishing a home practice came easily. I was competitive back then, almost 22 years now, and there was a part of me that was keen to progress my yoga practice so that I could be as ‘good’ as everyone else in the class. However there was a bigger part of me that just loved the way that yoga made me feel and I wanted more of that feeling in my daily life.
I was hooked on yoga from my very first class; there was something about the physical and spiritual nature of the practice that resonated with me immediately. In fact it was probably the first time in a long time that I was taken out of my head and into my body. Wow, what a revelation, not least to consider my left from my right but also to really feel from the inside out.
I attended an Ashtanga based class with a local teacher, which made establishing a home practice a little easier as we followed a similar sequence each week. I was naturally strong so the strengthening poses came easily to me but after years of competitive sport my flexibility was challenged and it was difficult to practice poses, which opened the hips – but of course I was determined and this discomfort simply fuelled my desire for home practice.
Within weeks I had created a yoga space at home and invested in a yoga book –this was Katy Appleton’s “Yoga in Practice” which I always recommend to students for its very clear and straightforward approach – and used this as the basis for my practice, following the instructions for the poses and learning more about the benefits and contraindications of them in the process. My boyfriend at the time bought me some yoga music and my practice soon became a much needed respite in an otherwise busy day.
Life changed quickly for me that first year as the transformative nature of a regular yoga practice worked its magic – essentially it encouraged me to connect with my heart and soul again. So I ended up resigning from my (soul destroying) secure and ladder-climbing role in the local finance industry, and selling my house and splitting up with my boyfriend in the process, so that I could follow my heart and spend a few months in Byron Bay, Australia, immersing myself in the local yoga scene.
Needless to say the experience just fuelled my passion for yoga and a year later I returned to Byron Bay to train as a yoga teacher with the inspirational Lance Schuler of INSPYA Yoga. The next six years saw me combining months of teaching yoga and undertaking contract work at home in Guernsey with months of travelling, especially to Australia and Nepal but also around the world, experiencing life and yoga in different countries and cultures.
During this time I attended lots of different classes and undertook many training courses, but I complimented this with my own practice. It always felt comforting somehow, regardless of where I was in the world, to step onto my mat and feel a little as if I was coming home. By then it had just become such a way of life that I took my mat with me (and practised) all the way up to Everest Base camp and even found myself practising in a quiet part of Bahrain airport to help ease the effect of long haul travel while awaiting a connecting flight.
My home practice quickly became as essential to me as brushing my teeth – an opportunity for a quite space, connecting with my breath and leaving me feeling cleaner from the inside out. Not only that though, my home practice has enabled me to really enquire and investigate the nature of an asana practice, to gain an awareness of how poses make me feel by literally playing around with them and seeing what they bring up in me, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally and energetically too.
It is truly fascinating and without doubt has complemented my teaching, because I can teach from a place of experience and inner knowing rather than from what I may have read in a book or what someone else has told me. At the end of the day yoga is a spiritual practice and to really experience the benefits, then we must practice, and practice as regularly as we can.
My home practice has supported me through the highs and lows of life; depression, anxiety, eating disorder, preparing to conceive new life, the loss of people in my life, IVF, pregnancy, recovering from Caesarean birth, the challenges of motherhood, relationships, recovery from illness, changing friendships and finding new ways of being. I have wept both tears of sadness, despair, anger, happiness and joy on my mat, and I have laughed at myself and smiled. I have shared the space with the cat and with my boys, and all the while tried to breathe!
I am fortunate that I have a dedicated teacher who helps to direct in part my practice, simply because she will highlight an area of my body or practice, which may benefit from more of my attention. I very much value having a teacher, as was the traditional way, and will prioritise the expense over other things. But not everyone values teachers in this way, or can justify the cost, and it is for this reason that I have recorded a number of free videos, available through our YouTube channel, to help students practice at home for free here.
But even with this support, it can still be hard for students to get going; this due to a combination of carving out the time through changing routines and habits, creating the space and developing the discipline, and gaining the motivation needed to get onto one’s mat to practice daily without guidance. It is worth the effort though and I wholeheartedly encourage anyone who really wishes to experience the benefit of yoga (and especially if wanting to teach yoga) to establish a home practice – some say the practice doesn’t truly start until you practice on your own.
The benefits:
Self-knowledge – practising on your own can help you learn to more about yourself, to notice how you are feeling, how poses affect how you are feeling, how your mind works and how the mind affects the breath and vice versa. It helps you to be more attentive to yourself and come to know your Self on a deeper level, which is really what yoga is all about.
Self-healing – the more you practice, the more you understand how you are feeling and what practice and approach to practice may work best for you on any given day. Sometimes you may need an active practice, and others a quieter and more introspective practice. It helps to know how you feel mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually and I this way you can take action that helps your healing – this is extremely empowering and helps you to recognise more of your own truth.
Following your joy – we only have one precious life so live it well. Taking time out to be on my own for an hour or so a day is essential for my wellbeing. It is not indulgent. I feel no guilt. And nor should you. It allows me to follow my joy. By following your joy and meeting your need for space you ultimately give others permission to do the same. Furthermore, because you have taken the time to regulate and disperse negativity, you are less likely to be reactive or dysregulated. Even two minutes of lying and breathing is better than none. And remember we all need space to let go and recreate.
Personal development and spiritual growth – consistent practice will absolutely support personal development and spiritual growth. While no one quite knows how we become more conscious, there is no doubt that a regular yoga practice support this. The other benefit of course is that it is free and can be practised fairly much anywhere.
How to actually establish a home practice
1. Create a quite space – sit or lie and come to a place of stillness. Observe the body, the mind, the breath.
2. Setting an intention can help. Maybe you’d like to feel into a particular part of the body, maybe there is a pose you’d like to focus on, maybe you are trying to let go of something from your life. Notice what arises during the session and check in at the end – what’s changed, what is the body trying to tell you, what has the mind to say?
3. Practice to your needs in that moment. If you are tired and pressed for time then a shorter, quieter and more introspective practice would be best. If you have lots of energy and lots of time, then go for it, see how your body wants to move and honour this. You’ll soon know how to meet your needs in the moment on your mat and this may well filter into your life generally too.
4. Choose a variety of poses, not just the ones that challenge you, but also the ones which you enjoy. Paying attention to transitions is helpful too and how you might more easefully enter and exit a pose.
5. Pay attention in class – make mental notes in class of poses you’d like to further explore, of parts of the body that might benefit from more of your attention. Try and take something from the class home with you to practice. Even better if you can work with a teacher individually and take part of that session home with you to truly embody your learnings– take notes if necessary.
6. Move in all directions – see if you can find a creative flow to your practice, how one pose compliments another, how there can be a continuation of a rhythm, creating harmony on all levels of being.
7. Incorporate some breathing exercises, or at least maintain an awareness on the breath – not forcing it, but allowing it and watching it.
8. End a practice by sitting or lying and allowing the benefits to settle into the cellular memory of the body.
9. To finish, perhaps chant “Om” and take the pose of humility and/or pray.
When/where to practice
Try and find a quiet and clutter free space, where you won’t be distracted. Turn off the phone, turn off the WIFI if you can, lock the door and enjoy the peace. Even better if you can establish a dedicated space with an altar upon which you might light a toxic-free candle or place flowers.
But really you can practice anywhere. I have practised in the airport, hospital and squeezed between beds in mobile homes, hotel rooms and friend’s spare bedrooms.
You might have little choice about the timing of your practice. It is my preference to practice in the morning. In theory you should refrain from eating anything for at least two hours prior to practising, so that digestion is not adversely affected and so this may be something to consider. If you do need to eat, then it should only be something very light such as fruit.
Remember that you can mix it up – there are various yogic tools. I combine breath awareness, asana, Vedic chanting and often Yoga Nidra, but this will very much depend on my schedule that day and where I am at in my cycle and my life generally. I meditate separately, upon waking, but some will combine all practices together.
Remember that it has to work for you and add value to your life, if you are stressed about it, then that means something has to change – lighten up and self-compassion.
How to keep going
Your practice doesn’t need to look a certain way, it doesn’t need to be a certain time, it doesn’t even need to be every day. If you set yourself an unrealistic target such as an hour a day, you will likely give up with the pressure in an already busy day and then give yourself a hard time for not being able to do what you intended. Start small. Five minutes a day is better than no minutes a day. Some days you might be too busy and that’s fine. But even then, two minutes of breathing will have a beneficial effect on you. If you can breathe, you can practice yoga, so consciously breathing while consciously feeling into your feet, ankles and knees while standing in a shopping queue is a practice in itself.
Keep in mind that your commitment can take on a life of its own – that a deeper part of you yearns for the connection that a regular home practice affords. It will change your life in ways you may not realise until years later. So make the change, and slowly start introducing a home practice in your life and let me know how you get along by emailing me at emma@beinspiredby.co.uk
For those who are keen to practice with me directly, then you can attend a class or book in for a private - take a look at the website.
Love Emma x
