How to start your own at-home daily yoga practice
Through daily practice, you invest in yourself every day. You might not feel anything happening, but the “interest” grows and delivers innumerable returns over time. Below, I’ve outlined the preliminary BABY STEPS that you can take this week to start from ZERO and create a solid foundation for growth and compound returns.
You Will Need:
10-15 minutes
A quiet space to lay out your yoga mat and sit
Resolve to repeat this every day
Steps To Start Your At-Home Daily Yoga Practice:
Decide who you want to become
The ultimate goal is not to DO yoga; yoga is just the vehicle to get to the true destination, which is embodying who you were meant to be. That’s why intention-setting is the essential groundwork for yoga practice. This is a great way to make practice something you want to, not have to do. It helps you keep in mind the identity that you're shaping for yourself by showing up on your mat. It helps you stay excited for it! You might like to take some time outside of your practice to come up with a list of qualities or attributes that you choose to have. Create an avatar for that ideal version of yourself. Now you have your template to work towards in every action, first and foremost in your daily yoga practice.
Set up your space
The optimal space is one that is solely dedicated for your yoga practice, but of course it’s ok if you need to repurpose your space for other things during the day. What's most important is that your yoga space is clean and free of clutter when you practice, so if necessary, take a moment to organize your space before your sesh. To better establish your space for yoga, set up an “altar” on which you place special or symbolic objects, plants, photos, or candles.
Integrate your mind
Sit on your mat or cushion. Invite yourself to shift into a different mindset and separate your practice from the rest of your day. At all other times, your mind is welcome to roam free to the past or the future, but yoga is a practice of being present in the now. Bring your palms together at the center of your chest in anjali mudra, and acknowledge the beginning of your practice.
Practice postures (or not)
This post is primarily focused on getting you started with baby steps, so let’s say that poses (“asana”) are optional for now. If you do have an extra five or more minutes to add to your initial practice, do five Sun A’s and five Sun B’s. Following that, add in 5-15 poses of your choice, and hold each for at least 10 breaths- be sure to include poses that you're uncomfortable with. If the added time or poses is going to stop you from practicing at all, skip this part and go straight to step 5.
Observe yourself for 5-10 minutes
Sit on your mat or cushion. Set a timer so you don’t have to watch the clock. Be present. Your mind will wander, and when it does, just gently bring it back to the present moment. Tune into your senses. Notice what you hear. Feel yourself in your space. Feel yourself embodying your intention. Right now. One simple meditative technique to try is to count your breath upwards from one. When you notice that you’ve lost count, start from one again.
End your practice
Separate your practice from the rest of your day with an ending to complete your experience. Bring your palms together at the center of your chest. Feel the connection between your hands. Acknowledge the end of your practice and welcome your mind to shift back into its normal state.
Try It Out
Are you in for the win?? Try it out this week and let me know how it goes. If you don’t feel a difference right away, don’t worry- stick with it!
“Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”
— Jacob Riis