How to start yoga from home?
Good thing about yoga is that you only need a body to start doing it. it’s simple as that. You don’t need a safe neighborhood with expensive walking tracks or props. Or even yoga pants. You only need your body. Literally only that.
Why should I start a home yoga practice?
When I started yoga, I was so amazed how simple and approachable this practice is. How unassuming and always ready to go. It requires little resources to start. You only need enough space to roll out your mat. You even don’t need a yoga mat. Remember, yoga existed way before yoga mats, or even rubber. You just need enough space to roll the mat.
You don’t even need the space to be clean or clutter free, even though it helps. You can literally start on the go. From the pictures you see on the internet; you probably have this idea of getting with yoga is, that it must be in this serene looking ambience with soft music playing, incense burning and in cool looking clothing. Truth be told the contrary is real. You can have your first yoga experience in your small room that you rent, on your yoga mat or even some other form of mat or towel laid on the floor. you can be in your most comfortable cotton loungers and t-shirt with holes in it and some form of guidance from a book or device to start with.
Check this, you don’t even need internet access and multimedia. You can start with a yoga book you picked up from the library. Before all the multimedia that’s how some people followed yoga. I remember back in school, some mates exchanging a yoga book with sketches and steps in it to do yoga. That’s not how I started it, but some people did.
Ok, you convinced me, now how do I start?
Mindset
Make up your mind. Think of all the reasons why you wanted to explore this. Have the mindset to go with the process. Try new things out. Read and learn about it. check out some videos or even sign-up for an online yoga class if you think it’s going to give you that initial push. If you are completely new to yoga an online yoga class might even help you understand the basics to go by and the correct tips and confidence. However you want to do it, come to that place in mind that you going to try this. And that you are going to approach this with an open mind and keep exploring the many avenues of yoga
Surrounding
You may have read somewhere or had this picture in mind of the kind of a surrounding you need to create to start the practice. If you have the resources, willingness and energy to do it; by all means create that beautiful atmosphere yoga and have that retreat like experience you might think you need. If not, just start where you are. Good thing about spending sometime on creating that positive mindset is you’ll realize, that’s all you need to start with. That mindset.
On the get go, you can have the complete yoga experience. So, start with what you have. Rollout your mat, get into your breathable and comfortable clothing and layback on the mat or towel. This is all the surrounding you need. This is your space. Close your eyes and just be there in all the glory you are. Centre yourself. Bring yourself back to the body, place where you are going to start your practice.
If you want to go the extra mile or think you need it, go ahead and create that ideal picture you have in your head. Use some candles, adjust the lighting, play some soft repetitive music so you are in the same zone right throughout the practice. Put on your carefully chosen yoga pants and go.
Set a time and be realistic
Don’t start with an elaborate sixty-to-ninety-minute practice. Don’t schedule it to everyday. Don’t include weekends. This could very well fall apart very soon if you don’t have the metal fortitude of a hippo to squeeze it to your busy schedule. Start with 10-15 minutes. 05 minutes if that’s what you can commit to. Start with a few beginner level poses from your guide. Stick to it until you are ready to move to other poses. Don’t overdo the timing and do not overestimate your ability to commit to a daily practice.
If it’s short you are more likely to stick to it. there’s no minimum required duration for a yoga practice. Every pose counts. Every breath counts. My yoga teacher at the time said, ‘do one minute of yoga if you don’t have time’ ‘do one sun salutation every day’ he went on to say. ‘It’ll take only one minute, and see how it transforms your body’ ‘do a minute of pranayama every day’. This is not far from the truth. These wise words always helped me to remember the power of small consistent efforts. How profoundly it can change things for the better.
Check on your alignment as you go
As you practice at home, without guidance; this is one thing you need to pay extra attention to. Alignment is important in any physical practice. More so in a yoga practice where you hold the poses rather than move in a sequence. If you are a newbie, it’s a good idea to do those poses which are safe and you feel confident in trying. Pause and check the pose if you are using a video or a recording from an online class. If you are using a book or a printable; stop and cross-reference. If have the access and room, do your poses in front of the mirror to check your alignment. It’s a very good hack to use in your home practice. When you go along you’ll be more aligned with your body’s voice and know the adjustments you need to make.
Listen to your body
From early days, begin to always listen to your body and not push things too far. Always look for the cues body is trying to give you. Look for pain, pulling and pinching. At the beginning, and if you are only catching on to body awareness; you might not understand the difference between good pain and bad pain. good pain is mostly dull and bad pain is quick, sharp and hot. If you feel bad pain, gently reverse the steps and come out of the pose rather than jumping out of it in suspension. If you continue to feel discomfort, soften the pose or use props to assist you if you have.
Change it up
When you are ready to try other poses, plan your routine accordingly. Plan and play with it. try other routines of sun salutations and see whether you like it. Plan your simple, slow flow for the next week in your device or guide. play with it and see how your body likes them. Make it fun!
Relaxing
Don’t forget the savasana – the corpse pose and yoga nidra. You can do a very short version of yoga nidra or deep relaxation if that’s all the time you have. Yoga nidra is very important as it helps you to assimilate the active parts of the physical practice and relaxes you deeply as the name suggests. It’s amazing for stress.
Breathing and meditation
Until you can to commit to a longer practice and go deep into pranayama and meditation; try to do at least a couple rounds of pranayama and a few short minutes of meditation. This’ll make all the difference in the world for you. Besides, this way you don’t have schedule and worry about sticking to your meditation practice separately. It’s just a boost to both physical and mental practices.
“Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory” Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois
Finally, stick to it
see it through. Approach this as a skill. It’s not perfection that you are after. It’s practice. It’s a skill you are going to get skilled at. This is something like swimming. You need to get into the water and learn to swim from there. Going through too much material isn’t the way to approach this. Practice is.