‘Why is home practice so hard?’
A question that often comes up with students and something practitioners struggle with is self-practice at home. Let’s look at what's difficult and what can be done to improve this for yogis.
The support of a Shala, teacher and fellow practitioners is unmatched in terms of what aids in a student's progression and I would say is essential. A Sangha and a dedicated room for religious practice energetically gives so much.
One of the biggest things you can do to improve the quality of your home practice is to have a designated space just for yoga. It doesn’t have to be large, or a separate room even. Just an allocated area where you just do yoga.
My home shala
What we are looking for with our home practice space is to minimise distractions. This can be especially difficult for parents with children. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but simple and clean, so the mind can focus is what helps the most. Somewhere just for you.
Energy levels
Often, students will tell me how much less energy they have in their home practice compared to the Shala with other students. This is perfectly normal as we receive so much from others when sharing a practice space. At home, it is easier to be distracted and our focus diminishes, which takes our concentration elsewhere.
When the mind is focused, and we are going inward with our yoga practice, we start to block out what isn’t useful. Yoga is largely about mind control, and our home practice can be an excellent place to test this in essence. No distractions, no extra help or support. Just you and your mat.
Now this might sound like a negative to many reading this, but for myself and many practitioners, this is a very good place to create fertile ground. Without the distractions of other students, teachers talking or unwanted sounds, we are able to go much deeper inwards than if we were sharing our space.
Over time, this is something I have personally grown to love. It is very honest and pure. When the mind is calm and focused, we are able to go much more into the philosophy of Bandha and our inner space. More on Banda here:
What can initially feel like something that is challenging, can become a place of sanctuary. Just you and your mat, which in essence is liberating and freeing.
I personally have much deeper insights and creative ideas from self practice than in a Shala. Neither is better nor worse. It is just that they have different energetic qualities.
In a Shala, you will likely be able to push more physically and potentially feel lighter in your body, which feels nice, but will also have a potential reduction in insights and the deeper meditative side of self-practice. With a quiet space with less external input, your awareness is drawn inward much easier and your inner voice starts to become more audible. We are practicing listening to this inner voice as your guide in life.
What can be challenging about this inner voice becoming stronger is if it brings up things for us that are challenging and potentially things we don’t want to hear. This is a very important part of yoga practice, which is classed as Samskaras.
‘Samskaras are subtle mental impressions or psychological imprints left in the subconscious mind by past actions, thoughts, and experiences.’
Working through this is essential to an authentic yoga practice, which is why it is important for practitioners to receive support from a teacher along this journey.
I encourage students to acknowledge the benefits of both the Shala and home space and appreciate both when we access them. This is especially true when life can be more challenging, and our mat becomes a haven and place of support on its own.
My go to
Consistency
Lastly, I will touch on consistency. What has aided myself and my students in building a consistent practice is rethinking our relationship to practice. Yoga is a relational system just like everything in our lives. If we commit to a relationship, it is likely to grow and develop. If we just dip our toe in the water from time to time without much devotion, it is unlikely to change much.
The biggest shift in my own personal practice was when I committed to it fully. I made a promise to myself that I would commit to the practice and see what happens. This is when things changed the most.
Nowadays, my practice is more inline with brushing my teeth. There isn’t an internal debate whether I am going to do yoga. That is not up for debate.
What will be different is how the practice is from day to day. Being accepting and compassionate with how I am from day to day and not forcing has given me the most benefit. No judgment on how it was or how much I did. Always kind words to myself however it went. In this way, your home practice becomes supportive and creates positive energy without competition.
In this way, we practice Yoga.
If you are a home practitioner and are looking for support in your practice, head to the link below for timings and memberships for Online Mysore Style classes, where you can receive support in your home practice Live from me.
