Beginning a Home Yoga Practice
Why begin a home practice
Practicing on your own
How to begin a practice
What to practice
What to do if there is a problem
Hints and cautions
Practice guidelines
General guidelines
Groups of poses
A good order within a practice
Create awareness through practice
Recommended reading
Sequences to practice
Home practice – level one (pdf)
Home practice – level two (pdf)
Why begin a home practice
- Is very rewarding
- Gives you a chance to explore at your own rate
- Allows you to practice exactly what you need that day
- Allows you to practice for as long as required
- Gives you independence and confidence
- Makes you a much better student
- Is the natural next step that will deepen your understanding of yoga and yourself
- Start small! Commit to 5-15 minutes maximum even if you know that you will do more
- Select a clean, quiet place (7’ x 3’ minimum) in a portion of a room and use it only for yoga
- Select a time of day when you will not be interrupted
- Practice at the same time each day
- Early morning is usually best, however some like an evening practice
- Begin with an empty stomach
- Food may be eaten 30-60 minutes after asana
- It is advisable to bathe or shower before you practice
- Practice what you need
- Practice what you like
- Practice what you don’t like
- Practice your routine
- Practice what you learned in class
- Practice the sequences from recommended reading list at the bottom of this page
- Practice many ways of doing the same pose
What to do if there is a problem
- Try to figure it out
- Ask your teacher
- Do not practice in the sun or after being in the sun for an extended period of time
- You will know the correctness of your practice by its effect
- Always do Savasana at the end of any practice lasting more than 30 minutes
Practice guidelines
- Keep major groups of poses together (e.g. practice series forward bends together). Do not split them, except in the case of the inversions Sirsasana and Sarvangasana (see below).
- Within a group of poses work from easier poses to harder ones.
- With the standing pose group, begin with the open standing poses. Continue with the revolved ones. Then do the twisting ones. Finish with the head down ones.
- Finish twists with a symmetrical pose.
- Sirsasana and Sarvangasana should be practiced every day, with at least Adho Mukha Svanasana, Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana in the chair or Adho Mukha Vrksasana in between.
- Sarvangasana and variations generally should be practiced for the same duration as Sirsasana.
- If time is short do Sarvangasana and variations.
- Do restorative poses toward the end of your practice.
- Do Savasana regularly. Do Savasana in every practice longer than 30 minutes.
- Standing
- Sitting
- Twists
- Seated forward bends
- Backbends
- Abdominal
- Arm balances
- Inversions
- Restorative
A good order within a practice
- Standing
- Sirsasana
- Backbends
- Twists
- Seated forward bends
- Sarvangasana
- Halasana
- Restorative
- Savasana
Ways to create awareness through practice
- Work from the ground up
- Position of parts
- Action of parts
- Alignment
- Stretch
- Expansion
- Observation
- Balance between the two sides
Connect
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