This is where I do my home yoga practice every morning - in the family room downstairs.
The March 2013 issue of Yoga Journal features numerous articles with tips and discussions about doing a home yoga practice.
I LOVE the following statement that I found in the section followiong the Letters to the Editor! "A new study finds that having a regular home practice is a better predictor of health than how many classes you might attend at a studio!" Whoa - that is a pretty powerful endorsement of home yoga practice.
As I have said in previous posts in this blog, I am not here to knock yoga classes - not at all. However, I have observed that except for people who participate in 3 or more yoga classes per week (and I do not know anyone who does this...), the people who take one or maybe two weekly 60 or 90 minute yoga classes at a studio or gym, benefit from their class attendance, but rarely (if at all) as much as I do from my daily home practice.
I am NOT saying this to brag, but merely to point out the value of consistent home pracice. As famed yoga class instructor (as well as instruction via DVD) Rodney Yee, once said (I have mentioned this before in previous blog post a year or two oga Journal...), "it is when people start to practice at home, the real insights occur. In class, the teacher sets the pace...At home, you learn to listen to your body and breath and to move at your own pace."
And, in the March 2013 issue of Yoga Journal, a columns reports the responses of selected yogis who were asked if they practiced yoga at home. Here are some of the replies:
"I practice at home in the morning before I start my day. I much prefer a home practice to a studio practice as I can go at my own pace and be more open and creative in my practice."
I could not agree more with the above statement! The other day I pulled a muscle just moving around my house (not doing yoga) and I had to revise and recreate my yoga practice over the following few days until my pulled muscle relaxed...
Another person said, "I always do yoga at home. I was limited by a frozen shoulder and very stiff body when I first tried to go to yoga classes, years ago. As a result, I started an incremental home practice at my own pace and read wonderful Yoga Journal. I LOVE my home practice."
The above example shows how in a class, we're typically asked to follow the instructor's lead. Granted, some instructors offer adaptations of a pose if someone is new to yoga, but, we still tend to try to keep up with the teacher, thereby risking injury if we're not sufficiently conditioned or flexible.
Another respondent shared, "I left the country for six months and had no yoga options other than my own mat. It did wonders for my practice and well-being."
Yes, indeed! If you know how to do a number of poses on your own, you can take your yoga practice anywhere - yoga WILL travel, as long as you take your mat!
I am discovering (directly and indirectly) more people who want to learn and practice yoga at home. Just yesterday, my beau told me that he may have gotten me a book sale because one of his work colleagues as well as the colleague's wife, were interested in starting yoga but weren't the type of people to go to a yoga studio or gym. They asked him if he knew of any resources and he replied that in fact he did! He shared my book and blog information!
Many people enjoy attending yoga classes. And they have their distinct advantages (teacher assistance, camaraderie, and more). However, fortunately, these days you have so many options for learning yoga - many of which including learning at home!
Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginner's Yoga at Home Coach
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