How to Cultivate a Yoga Practice at Home

Home Based Yoga Perspective

Many things have shifted in our world pretty quickly the last year, and a lot of yoga students were left without their studios/gyms, which subsequently left them without their yoga practice at a time when they needed it the most. If you find yourself struggling to transition to online classes and having a home based yoga practice,  don’t worry because many practitioners are also still struggling to adjust. Let’s unpack why a home practice is so hard and what we can do to try and help ensure a successful transition. 

For many yoga practitioners, a consistent home yoga practice is one of the ‘ultimate goals’ that always seems so unattainable. At home, there are so many distractions to work around from pets, kids, and partners to the never ending tasks of laundry, cleaning, and doing. Our lives have become so chaotic that the yoga studio is figuratively AND literally an oasis for yogis to take refuge from the chaos in. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE yoga studios and all that they provide. I started going to yoga 3-7x/week when I was 16, and there was no place on earth I would rather have been than in that hot yoga studio! It has taken me over 15 years of showing up to my mat in perfect studio conditions to be able to make it onto my mat at home consistently. My hope is to help other practitioners find the joy of a home practice more quickly than it took me. 

Think about the perfect conditions that a yoga studio curates for us, the yogis who are living in the big hectic world. As soon as we enter the yoga studio’s calming atmosphere we are hit with the sound of a fountain or gentle music, our nervous system starts to kick into relax mode after being in fight or flight mode for days, weeks, months, or years, and we are greeted with warm smiles. Then, as we check in with a beautiful hipster yogi (who is clearly everything spiritual af) at the chic front desk with the diffuser billowing clouds of lavender into your face, you remember your joy and take a deep breath. Finally, as the sound of your mat unrolling echoes into the silent space of the empty studio it feels as if all of life has disappeared and that we can finally practice in perfect peace. 

For me, I have a palpable physical reaction to this description of a yoga studio. I could literally see, feel, smell, and hear all of that curated spirituality so clearly in my mind as I think about it. The yoga studio is a very powerful product that is cultivated to be the most perfect spiritual pornography for the most transcendental spiritual masturbation. Every detail of a yoga studio is carefully chosen for the most blissful experiences. Which, again, is not wrong or bad in any way. It simply starts to create a reliance, or for some an addiction, that makes an at home practice more difficult. 

The yoga studio itself  is designed after the concept of ashrams, which were simply a tool to help practitioners learn about yoga and to cultivate yogic practices for the length of a few weeks or months. But the people would then leave the ashram, assimilate back into life, and continue to practice on their own. They don’t keep going to the ashram every day. In fact, even the most austere ashrams in India are in the middle of busy cities that are full of noises, dirt, and frenetic energy. 

The truth is, that life doesn’t happen in a perfectly cultivated space. Life is messy. Life is dirty. Life is noisy. Life is full of other life that never stops moving. While it can be very productive to practice in the cultivated space of a yoga studio, be with other community members, and get in person instruction, the truth is that the yoga studio is not designed to create self-motivated and independent yogis. It is, unfortunately, yet another product that requires our money in exchange for peace, reduced stress, and spiritual growth. When in fact these things are perfectly obtainable within your own home and for very little cost beyond the initial set-up supplies. 

You may be wondering where to start or how to build a home based practice, and the best advice  Ican give you is to keep it simple. Once you think you found a simple system, simplify it again. Chances are that we will initially make it too difficult to practice at home, or too much effort. 

Tips for starting your own home practice: 

1. Find a space that is easily opened up for enough room to practice. For me, I have figured out a way to quickly open up the space I need to practice with minimal time and effort. Keep in mind that you only need enough room for your mat, but usually a 3-5 foot perimeter around your mat of space is needed to not feel cramped. I put furniture that needs to move onto sliders that make set-up and tear-down super simple. 

2. Get a good yoga mat, yoga blocks, yoga straps, and a blanket. This is your basic yoga kit and should be with you whenever you practice. With this supplies, you don’t need anything fancy, but keep in mind that you get what you pay for. While initially a more economic approach is best, you will find that upgrading your kit as you deepen into your practice helps you get excited to get to your mat! 

3. Next gather other supplies that you probably already have: 
   1. Get a good heater (or two) and a humidifier. If you’re like me and love the heat of a hot yoga studio, create your own with these easy to find accessories. Now, it won’t be exactly the same, but you will create more comfort for yourself to be practicing (natural or clothed). I have two radiant quartz heaters that blast me with heat, and a humidifier that has a spot for essential oils. It was one of my biggest game changers. 
   2. Find a portable speaker with good sound quality to play your favorite classes clearly. Sync this up to your tablet, phone, or laptop to enhance your online class experience. 
   3. Grab some essential oils and crystals, or anything else that makes you feel in the zone. I love to use therapeutic quality essential oils for opening my breathing ways like peppermint or eucalyptus, as well as some crystals for good vibes. 

4. Optional: get a yoga board. This one was also a huge game changer for me because I found that I was losing strength and alignment into my carpeted floor. So, I got a piece of wood and had it cut to the size of my mat. I now put this down every time I practice and my body and joints have been so grateful for it. I have more strength, better balance, and a safer practice because of it. 

5. Announce to the household (if any) what you are doing, for how long, and what your expectations are. No one will ever be able to meet an expectation if it’s not communicated. So figure out your expectations of others during class times, and give them plenty of heads up to do what they need to do before your class starts i.e. use the bathroom, make food, etc. 

6. Get settled into your space for a few minutes before starting. I am always forgetting something, but if I allow myself a few minutes on my mat to roll around and stretch, I find that I can show up fully 100%. Water? Yoga towel? A/C off? 

7. Last step, settle in and SHIFT. No atmosphere will ever be 100% perfect, but we can figure out what is the most important for our personal preferences and create a system to utilize it. This whole process should take only 5-10 minutes. Try to keep it simple, and cut down to only the necessities. Too much fanfare or ritual can hinder our momentum. 

Try to just get in and start your class as soon as possible. Make the intention to stay for the entirety of the class, no matter what. No phone calls, no texting, no snacks, no wondering. Sit down, breathe, and enjoy! The first few times you will really have to parent yourself through the whole process, but you will soon come to find that practicing at home is actually very enjoyable. Especially when you have such a great community of yogis and instructors like we do here at MNY. You are never alone, and we are always here for you. 

Please feel free to contact me or any of the instructors about cultivating your home practice. Chances are that someone here has had to overcome hurdles similar to yours, and we can all learn from each other.