Home Practice
The way to get the most benefit from Yoga is to combine a weekly class with a regular, ideally a daily practice at home.
A weekly class is important because it helps to keep you motivated, to learn new techniques and to expand your knowledge and experience of Yoga. When you are in a class (in person or online) it is much easier to concentrate on your practice and to go deeper into it.
In the end though, Yoga is something you do for yourself and it is what you do at home that really makes it work.
What if I do it wrong?
Sometimes people are put off home practice by worrying that they are not doing it correctly.
The answer to this one is very simple … don’t worry!
The three pillars of Yoga practice are steadiness, ease and awareness. This applies to pretty much everything we do, whether it is posture work, breathing practice or whatever.
In posture work, if you make sure that you feel steady in the position or the movement, that you are at ease and not struggling with it, and that you’re present with whatever you are doing you will be fine.
When to practice?
The best time for Yoga practice is first thing in the morning. This is partly because there are fewer distractions early morning but also because life has less chance to get in the way!
Your body will be less flexible in the morning than it is later in the day, but the morning is still the best time. If you do your practice in the morning it prepares you physically and menatlly for the rest of the day.
If you can’t do your practice in the morning you can do it any time. Regularity really helps though, so if you can make a habit of doing a bit of practice at the same time every day you’ll find it easier to maintain.
How long to practice?
As long, or as short at time as you like.
If you have time and inclination you can make your home practice as long as you want, but the important thing is to do something.
If you are really short of time you could literally do just a minute or two : close your eyes, bring awareness into your body and see how it feels, see where there is tension. Notice a few breaths, notice how you feel, mood and mind. Simply be present for a few moments and that could be it.
Even a two minute practice like this has it’s benefits. It also helps to maintain the thread of doing something every day.
What’s the best practice to do at home?
There are no hard and fast rules for home practice. Sometimes you might focus on posture work, other times it could be meditation or relaxation.
There are lots of recordings in our online library that you can use, but it’s also important to be able to do a practice without being online, or without needing to refer to handouts etc.
Include a combination of movements / posture work, breathing practice and perhaps a short meditation. There are so many things you could incude, mudra, mantra, relaxation and so on.
If you are learning a new technique it is good to work with it consistently over a period of time. However, it is also important to vary your practice. Sometimes we get stuck in a habit of doing the same routine every time and that’s generally not a good idea. At the start of your practice think about what you need and then think about a practice that will be most useful for you.
Your home practice should be a pleasure. It will go up and down and that’s fine. The important thing to remember is that Yoga is always there for you and you can come back to it again and again and again!
If you need any help with your home practice please contact us.
