Hello beautiful humans! For those of you who have read the story of how I started my yogic path, How I Started My Yoga Practice, you know I first got serious about yoga by practicing at home. For me at the time, it was the only thing I could do with my work schedule and limited funds. While now I do belong to a studio, I am so grateful that I started at home. This really made me feel comfortable with my practice and form before going to a class where the instructor might not explain everything the way beginners need. It gave me a chance to go at my own pace and really see where my body was holding extra tension. It also allowed me to focus on no one other than myself, which can be difficult in a class surrounded by other people. An at home practice is really beneficial, from the newbie to the advanced yogi, and here are my 3-top reason why.
Reason 1: The Newest of the Newbs
If you are super-confident, don’t care what anyone else thinks, you are amazing, I admire you, and can skip this reason. For everyone else, including myself, it feels nice to at least kind of know what you are doing before going to any class, fitness or otherwise. The biggest reason I get from my friends and family for as to why they do not want to go to yoga is because they have never done it before, and have no idea what they are doing. While I always proceed to tell people that it does not matter, I get where they are coming from. That was without a doubt one of the reasons I hated my first yoga class, I felt like an outsider. So here was my solution, and it can be yours too – practice from the comfort of your very own home. You can buy yoga mats for less than ten dollars, so there really is no excuse. YouTube is a fantastic option for beginner yoga flows, or there are many free or cheap apps available as well. I found this method so useful for me because I was able to pause a video and check my positioning with instructor’s. It was easy and judgement free, rather than frantically adjusting yourself trying to keep up with the class.
I strongly encouraged beginners, especially if you are not athletically-inclined like myself, to begin by starting at home.
Reason 2: Listening to Your Body
This one goes for yogis of all levels of expertise. No matter how good you get, there will probably be a time when you are in a yoga class, something feels a little off, but you keep going to stay with the class. I am by no means advanced, but for me this problem lies in my wrists. I have very weak wrists, and downward dogging, planking, and especially side planking sometimes make me feel like I’m about to snap. Very un-zen of me, I suck it up and keep going because I don’t want to be the one who cannot do it. Because of a little thing called ego, yoga at home can be a great alternative or addition to your practice. When I am home, if something does not feel good, I can flat-out not do it. Even if it is a video, I can take child’s pose need be and feel zero shame. For some of us, including myself with many, many other aspects of life, we are our harshest judges. If this is something that you struggle with in yoga, I challenge you to practice at home and let yourself be alone with your body. Listen to what it wants, skip what it does not, and see if you feel any different after.
Reason 3: Get Creative
A surprising number of yogis never learn to practice on their own without a teacher, whether they be in the physical or on the web. For me, my practice really took off when I started to practice without instruction. Sure, it was a lot vinyasas and warrior poses at first, and it did not feel flowy for a while, but getting creative with it only serve deepened my love for yoga. The first time I did this, a set a time and committed to twenty minutes of free-form yoga. I was beyond proud of myself, and continued to push until I could do a full hour of pretty damn good flow. I am now able to have periods where my mind turns off, and I just do whatever my body wants. Ten child’s poses? Why not. Twenty second chair holds? Less happy about it but my body knows best. This can be really daunting, but I promise that it will take you to a whole new level of yoga.
I belong to and practice at a studio. I love visiting new studios when I travel or am home in Sarasota to see how different instructors teach. But having your own, personalized practice is so important to your growth. For me, it was how I truly was able to connect to my body and allow it to take reigns for a little. A final, quick reason as to why at home practice is amazing is shavasana. I don’t know about you, but I typically want shavasana to last way longer than it does in a typical yoga class. That time of reflection is my favorite part of yoga, but I understand it is hard to fit in a fifteen minute shavasana into an hour-long class. When I am at home, I can lie there for as long as the meditative state calls me to. I sincerely hope you enjoyed my three (or four) reasons to start your own at home practice, and I would love for you to send me an email to tell my all about how practicing at home has changed your yogi experience. Thank you, thank you, thank you
.Love,
Cazmera
