Yoga: How To Begin Your Home Practice

Yoga can be a very personal, deeply spiritual experience.  It can feel amazing, relaxing and rejuvenating.  You may be knew to Yoga or you may already have a deep love affair with your practice.  Either way, your home practice is a critical piece of your relationship with Yoga.

In my house in ND I had a space in the basement dedicated to Yoga.  It was a clean area with a small rug, a yoga mat, a little space heater (for the cold winters), a pillow and a blanket.  I loved my Yoga space.  The dogs knew they were not allowed in that area and each time I went there, I knew that I was there to either meditate or practice the physical asanas.

It isn't necessary to have a space dedicated to your practice, but it helps.
It isn't necessary to have a Yoga mat in order to practice.
Your "home practice" can occur anywhere as long as you are your guide.

To get started, I recommend that you:

• Make a list of all the poses you feel comfortable with and any others you're working on or would like to be able to practice with confidence. 
• Set aside some time for your practice: 10-20 minutes a couple of times a week
• Limit outside distractions ie: turn off your cell phone, have your spouse look after the children etc. 
• Play whatever music you'd like-,that you feel will help you focus on the moment and what you're doing (I know people who have practiced yoga to Classic Rock. It really doesn't matter, as long as you're working on presence.)
• Begin with flowing gentle movements and then take your practice wherever your intuition guides you.

Hard fast rules about warm-ups, cool-downs, sequences of poses etc.can apply in Yoga, but I don't believe they should. Everything should be taken as a guideline that can serve you, but that isn't necessarily right for you all the time. Remember, you are your best guide. Before you practice, ask yourself what you need on that day.   

Pose Sequences:

• Breathing and Centering
• Gentle Flowing Movements (including the Half Series: Plank, Crocodile, Upward Facing Dog and Downward Facing Dog)
• Sun Salutations 
• Standing Postures, Flowing Sequences if Desired
• Balancing Poses
• Back bends and Core work (although these can be and usually are incorporated throughout your practice)
• Seated Poses
• Inversions like Shoulderstand, Plow, Handstand, Headstand, Wheel, and Legs Up the Wall
• Reclined Poses like Reclined twists, knees to chest etc.
• Corpse Pose or Final Relaxation

In the West, we tend to view Yoga as strictly physical asanas and breath work.  Ulitmately, it is much more than that.  But what makes Yoga truly beautiful is that it can serve as a vehicle for presence in the moment.

Namaste,

Megan

Please e-mail: megankfitness@gmail.com with questions