Last week, the Yoga Rant covered how to build a yoga home practice. This week, we’re talking about why home practice is worth your time. The world is full of yoga teachers, so why in the world would anyone want to practice at home alone? There are lots of reasons. Here are just a few.
Yoga Home Practice Offers Solitude
To me, one of the best things about yoga is the way it blends individualism and community. Though each yogi’s practice is deeply personal, it’s also a great way to be part of a collective group. You can be linked to others in the studio where you practice, other yogis in your city, or in the vast online world of yoga. That’s great, but if you want to do the real inward-looking work of a serious yoga practice, some time away from the group is a good thing.
Complement (And Deepen) Your Teacher’s Instruction
Yoga home practice and taught practice are complements to each other. Do you ever have that moment in class where a typically awkward pose suddenly clicks into place? You’re feeling open and expansive in the pose, and then the teacher tells you to transition into something else. If you take the time to work on that pose at home, you can stay as long as you want. You’ll have more time to observe how the pose works in your body, and the next time you’re in class, you’ll get to that open place more easily. In your home practice, you learn things about yourself and your own body that you can use when you’re getting instruction from someone else. When you take the time for home practice, your increased self-knowledge will interact with your teacher’s instruction to deepen your practice.
Tailor Your Practice
We all have individual needs and quirks in our bodies. Even the most thoughtful teacher’s lesson plan might night be what you need on a given day. If you can afford private lessons to address your individual needs, great. If not, yoga home practice is the next best thing when it comes to tailoring a practice for your body. When you’ve had enough yoga to know what works for you, you can make more time for your key poses and research other options to adapt your practice.
Do you practice yoga at home? Tell us why in the comments.
