5 Tips To Practice Yoga At Home

Yoga is a spiritual and physical practice that people from all walks of life can participate in. You could possibly join your mates or fellow practitioners at your neighborhood yoga studio, but hectic schedules and punishing commutes mean that just making it to the studio can be an achievement in itself.

Perhaps this is why many yoga practitioners prefer to practice at-home Yoga. Regardless of your motivation, if you want to deepen your relationship with this practice, you will find that doing Yoga at home can be in many instances more rewarding. Here are 5 of our top tips to set you on your way:

1.    Same Place,  Same Time

If you are acting on a recent epiphany and are now motivated towards living a healthier lifestyle, it is important to establish routines. We have all made promises that we had no intention of keeping (so what was your New Year resolution this year?). Living a healthy lifestyle  involves a lot of discipline and it is not something that can be achieved overnight.

So, it is important to first commit to a daily yoga routine and then make great efforts to stick to it. Practicing Yoga at the same time and place every day is a good way to start.

Also, Yoga is as much spiritual as it is physical. Therefore, in a bid to keep distractions at bay, make sure that you turn off your cell phone or any other smart device for that matter, to put yourself in the right frame of mind for your Yoga session.

2.    Schedule It

Just as you would do for any official appointment or meeting, pencil in the exact time when it’s going to be just you and your Yoga mat. By writing it down or setting a reminder in your Google calendar, you are making a stronger commitment towards doing Yoga, which will help you hold yourself more accountable.

Don’t go overboard initially. It’s impossible to start doing Yoga for about an hour everyday just out of the blue. Even if you manage this somehow, you will be putting your body to its limits daily, which will eat away all your motivation levels. Setting unreasonable workout plans is an important reason why many people struggle to commit to it in the long run.

Alternatively, if you have committed to maybe a 15-20 minute Yoga session everyday ensure that you keep to it, and no, a 20-minute shavasana session  does not count as a “Yoga session”. By that logic, you have probably already done 8 hours of Yoga by the time you wake up!

The bottom line is this, get your butt to the yoga mat everyday at the scheduled time. Don’t sell yourself short in your efforts to practice Yoga and once you establish a routine, maybe you can treat yourself to an occasional ‘only shavasana’ Yoga session.

3.    Plan Your Practice

Bruce Wayne, didn’t just wake up one day, looked at the beautiful sunrise and thought to himself, “Heck, I am going to be Batman, all I need to do is stitch a new suit”.

Similarly, just thinking about doing Yoga the next day is not going to do the job for you. Like Bruce Wayne, you need to plan out your strategy to a T that includes all relevant details such as the duration of your routine and the type of Yoga you will practice.

In terms of deciding on your Yoga routine, there are two lines of thought that you could pursue.

You can set up a specific Yoga routine and carry it out every day. But, following the same routine every day can be boring and could lead to a loss of motivation. On the other hand, when you follow a set routine daily, it helps you to commit to a routine and it can also be a great way to see your body, change, strengthen and grow, as a result of your daily exertions.

If past experience has taught you to not trust yourself with repetitive routines, plan your workout accordingly beforehand.

Always remember that if you have fun with your daily Yoga sessions, you are less likely to find it a chore and abandon it prematurely.

4.    Create Your Very Own Yoga Space

It won’t be possible for you to practice Yoga in a cluttered, almost chaotic room filled with distractions. As I have said before, there is a strong spiritual/meditative component in Yoga, which makes it essential to find the right spot in your home to practice Yoga in. This is your personal yoga space so, look to make it welcoming and warm, a place where your mind and body can be in sync with one another.

Soothing music, candles, colours or incense can all go a long way in creating a relaxing atmosphere for you to practice Yoga in. The temperature of your ‘Yoga room’ also plays an important part in the overall comfortability factor, particularly in regions that experience harsh winters. In such instances a designer radiator   might act as a welcome addition to your room providing you with a warm and cosy atmosphere to practice your Yoga exercises in.

5.    Find Resources

Now, if you are beginner, you will find it difficult to visualise or execute a Yoga practice at first. No need to panic, there are a ton of helpful resources online that you could seek help from. You can find a lot of free online tutorials like Podcasts or YouTube channels that will put on the right path.

If you want to follow specific yoga sequences taught by experienced gurus, you can subscribe to available online resources for a fee.

This will allow you to take your practice to the next level by testing out various new styles and teachers.

Ensure that your mind is clear and focussed before every yoga session. In time, you should ideally be looking forward to your daily yoga sessions rather than thinking of it as a tiring obstruction.

Yoga  should not turn into a ‘chore’ that you are trying to tick of your daily task checklist, rather you should take your newfound tranquillity and mindfulness, and reap its benefits in other aspects of your life.