Overcoming Obstacles to a Home Yoga Practice

Having a personal yoga practice at home requires hardcore self-discipline.

Here are just a few whys and wherefores (and this is in no particular order) that some of us may falter.

1.    There is no teacher or class to hold you accountable.

2.    There is no teacher to adjust or align you better.

3.    There is no teacher to decide which pose to do next.

4.    There is no teacher to tell you when to stop a pose and transition to the next.

5.    There is no teacher to tell you to go deeper & challenge yourself in a pose.

6.    There is no teacher to teach you a new pose accurately and safely.

7.    There is no fee or class card to be forfeited if you don’t show up- hence you show up!

8.    There is no fixed “start time” and “end time” that is respected and stuck to by the yogi or her family.

9.    There is no barrier between you and your family (husband, children, dog, cat, neighbor) to inhibit disruptions.

10.  There is no room (in my case) in my house that is exclusive for the purposes of yoga and meditation.

11.  There is no sign on the door saying “please turn off all cell phones” (TV’s, video games, loud, annoying toys, what have you) to decrease distractions.
12.  If I say "namaste" there is no one there to say it back. 

Yet, despite all of this, we yogis keeping showing up.  We unroll our mat (if we can find it) and begin again…and again…and again.

It’s almost like quitting smoking.  Few and far between just quit the first time, cold turkey.  Most folks have to quit several times before it sticks. Same thing with a home yoga practice- you have to fall off the wagon and quit multiple times it seems before you can get a real rhythm going that is actually sustainable.

In the last two years as I’ve been making stabs at having a more consistent home practice, I’ve been exploring all 11 of the obstacles listed above in varying degrees.

Most recently, as I’ve been confronting the same ‘ol challenges, I’ve been coming back to this question about home practice:When time is limited, how do you decide which yoga poses to do?

Now, I do not believe there is one single answer to this question.  However, I have enjoyed checking out what others think.

For example, in the August 5, 2015 onlineYoga Journal article by Kathryn Budig, “10 Poses That Stand the Test of Time,” the author acknowledged that

“It’s only human to go through phases where you get distracted by the shiny, next, new challenge posein your practice—or on the opposite end of the spectrum simply get stuck on your favorite feel-good sequence.”

Having said that though, Ms. Budig also recommends that:

“While you definitely don’t want to lose sight of goals or the sweet sensations that keep you coming back to your mat, a critical eye to your practice now and then and look for the areas where you could strive for greater balance.  That’s what yoga is all about after all, and practitioners of every level can benefit from going back to basics regularly to reexamine the actions and alignment of foundationalstanding poses, backbends, forward bends, and inversions.”

Ms. Budig then gives a list of the 10 back-to-basics yoga poses that she recommends for any hearty home practice. These include:

1. Garland Pose

Malasana

2. Four-Limbed Staff Pose

Chaturanga Dandasana

3. Extended Triangle Pose

Utthita Trikonasana

4. Crescent Pose, aka High Lunge

5. Revolved Chair Pose

Parivrtta Utkatasana

6. Tripod Headstand

Sirsasana II

7. Supported Bridge Pose

Salamba Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

8. Camel Pose

Ustrasana

9. Head-to-Knee Forward Bend

Janu Sirsasana

10. Legs-Up-The-Wall Pose

As someone who appreciates the classics, vintage, and the general philosophy “if it ain’t broke, why fix it,” I found Yoga Journal’s article to be helpful in my quest for a meaningful yoga practice that is time-bound.

It reminded me of another approach that I’ve already begun to use which is toindividualize each home practice to a focused area of my body or to a particular emotional need.

For example, on Monday I might decide tofocus on my core and include a series of poses like Boat and Plank.  Then on Tuesday I might engage my arms in a series of poses including Sun Salutations and Tripod Headstand.

Continuing in this way, I may diversify the poses that I do for each part of my body over the course of a week in shorter home practices, rather than getting them all in in one single home practice of 90 minutes.

I have also considered using the meaning of each pose to help me individualize a briefer home yoga practice.

As a psychotherapist by vocation, I believe meaning-making is very powerful.  Therefore this belief sometimes shows up in my home yoga practice.

To stay with the illustration above, this allows me to then on Wednesday notice a need for a series of balancing poses due to the amount of multi-tasking and mental activity I’m engaged in to help me feel less scattered. This might lead me to do as series of poses like Tree and Crow. 

Recently, I did a little online search to explore this idea further.

Author Morgan Rush wrote in his October 31, 2013 article “Spiritual Meanings of Yoga Postures” that

“Fitness enthusiasts often seek yoga to tone muscles, achieve better balance and increase flexibility. But although yoga poses can help tone your biceps, flatten your belly and strengthen your quads, there’s a spiritual meaning underlying the poses that can add depth to your practice. Even if you’re not spiritually inclined, understanding the deeper metaphors behind the poses might help you power through them when you’re running out of breath or starting to feel tired.”

I’m not sure how I feel about the language “power through,” but I get the idea that I might I find internal resources I did not know were there to hold a pose longer when it is fused with a virtue or value that is important to me, and thereby allow that pose to work on me in a deeper way.

He goes on to give more metaphoric description to poses like: Mountain Pose,Child’s Pose, Warrior Poses, andSavasana, which is a Sanskrit term meaning “Corpse pose.”

In another Yoga Journal article, by Colleen Morton Busch, from August 28, 2007 called “The Heroes, Saints, and Sages Behind Yoga Pose Names,” this author gives greater complexity and profundity to each yoga pose by sharing the myth that accompanies the Sanskrit name. She says knowing the back-story may help you: 

“The next time your thighs are turning to Jell-O…or anytime life demands a great deal of you—you might want to invoke the spirit of the great warrior for whom this pose is named.”

Ms. Morton Busch starts by telling the myth behind Warrior II or Virabhadrasana II.

“A son of Lord Shiva (the Destroyer, considered the most powerful god of the Hindu pantheon), Virabhadra was born of unbearable suffering. After Shiva’s wife Sati was killed, Shiva tore out his hair in grief; from his locks, Virabhadra and the fierce goddess Kali were born. Shiva then made them commanders of the legions he sent to avenge Sati’s death. But…Virabhadra and Kali aren’t simply bloody warriors. Like Shiva, they destroy to save: Their real enemy is the ego. By cutting off the head of the ego, Virabhadra and Kali help remind us to humble ourselves.”

She then goes on to tell the tales of:

·         Vasistha & Vishvamitra

·         Astavakra

·         Hanuman

·         Goraksha & Matsyendra,

all either mythic or ancient historical figures who’s lives tell a lesson potentially helpful to the rest of us. 

These stories left me wondering how might my time-limited home yoga practice feel less superficial and give me more bang for my buck the next time I unroll my mat, if I hold each pose in a less purely physical awareness.

How do you engage in a meaningful home yoga practice when time is limited and the obstacles are many?