The Home Practice

Starting A Home Practice

A home practice is an absolutely critical component of what I refer to as "yoga practice." In fact, I would say it is the most important aspect. I go to classes not to practice, but to learn new things for my home practice. The beauty of the home practice is, you don't need any money or props (though they're certainly helpful), rather all you need is you. Dedicating time to a home practice equals taking time for yourself, to study and improve yourself. What could be more important for the rest of your life?

How to begin...

• Evaluate your intentions: Why are you practicing yoga? What do you hope to achieve?
• This will help you to set a realistic pace for your home practice, including the time it should take each day, and the intensity with which you approach asanas. It will also help you set goals and watch your progress with a more finely tuned eye.
• Schedule a block of time every day for practice. 
• Scheduling your practice will help you maintain consistency. Stick to it as if you were going to a class for which you paid money.
• Create a space in your home that is just for yoga. 
• It need not be much larger than your mat, but it does need to be clean, tidy, uncluttered, and only populated by things that are special to you or that otherwise help you cultivate a sense of "sacred space." Reserving a place for yoga in your home is an outward manifestation of what you are attempting to do internally. By preparing a peaceful and clear space around you, the mind can more easily settle into a similar state. This is also an outward commitment to making yoga a part of your daily life. 
• Consider investing in a quality mat and some basic props.
• Such an investment will further commit you to practicing yoga, not to mention make it tremendously more convenient to practice. Basic kits abound, and are an inexpensive and easy way to get started. 

Break the rules.

• Yoga by its very nature is radical. It seeks to break the conditions of our existence, freeing us from self-limiting thoughts and tendencies, even freeing us from disease and our fear of death. Therefore, letting yourself be confined by the rules of one particular system or another can be counterproductive, and counterrevolutionary! Class time is the time to follow the teacher's instructions and learn things you don't already know. Your home practice, however, is the time to explore, improvise, create, and observe. Take the tools you learn in class and apply them to your own body and experiences. Explore certain poses more deeply, taking time to sit with them beyond that which normal class time allows. Pay attention to how you feel from day to day. If you truly feel like taking one hour in savasana, do it! But be meticulous and do it well. This is your sacred time and space to study yourself and reap the biggest benefits yoga can provide. This is where yoga truly becomes part of your life, for the rest of your life. 

Keep a journal.

• Write down your practices, your experiences, any thoughts or ideas you have about your yoga. This is the best way to keep track of your progress, and more intimately understand your practice. It was difficult for me to begin journaling, so I started by simply writing down my practice, all the poses and transitions. Once that became habit, my journaling expanded to include more depth and analysis on its own. Yet, I still have many days where I only write the sequence of poses. Still, no matter how much or little depth I delve into, it is a priceless record to have. 

Find videos you like, lots of them.

• This is especially important in the beginning, at least for the first year. Until you build up enough of a repertoire of poses in your mind and muscle memory to create your own sequences, it will be necessary to have classes on hand in your home. This is especially  important for beginners to learn safe transitions between and proper sequencing of poses. What's more, a diverse stock of home videos got me though my first year of daily practice when my finances were way too tight to pay for classes in a studio. Spend $15-20 on a great DVD and you have years' worth of home practices versus the same price for one class in a studio. I'm recommending DVD's that I've happily used over and over again for some time now, and tips for finding ones that you'll love. 
• Tips for finding great DVD's
• Browse rental services like Netflix, so you can try DVD's before you buy.
• Read reviews and lots of them.
• Look for practices that clearly provide several different levels of postures. This will give you options that ensure you will be comfortable and safe, as well as offering room for advancement.
• Look for DVD's that have many different sequences to choose from. This will mitigate the boredom factor.
• In the same vein, I can't say enough about the "matrix" feature on many of Shiva Rea's videos. I don't know if she's copyrighted this feature, but I have yet to see it on any other DVD. The matrix shows you a grid that includes all the segments from each pre-designed practice and allows you to build your own practice. This dramatically increases the life of the DVD, giving you countless options for variation.

• BE CONSISTENT.
• The key to building a successful home practice is consistency. Practice everyday, no matter what. Make it a priority until it becomes a habit. Then nurture that terrific habit with daily dedication and watch the benefits roll in. Even if you only have 15 minutes on a really crazy day, take those minutes to at least honor your yoga. Pretty soon, you won't be able to go a day without it.