Home Practice #3

Ok so I skipped a day, I'm entitled! :) I don't expect to practice every single day for the rest of my life. Baby steps. Today I got on the mat again and followed another YJ Home Practice which turns out, I didn't follow much at all. I went off the page in a completely different direction and that's ok. The practice was Iyengar based which consisted the use to props, blankets, chairs and I didn't want to go there so I did variations of the poses. I was feeling pretty solid so I did a series of inversions and standing poses like Warrior 3 and Standing Split. It felt wonderful and I was so refreshed after my meditation.

As great it is developing a home practicing and kind of finding my way, I do miss the community feeling a classroom environment. There is a YogaWorks one town over that I think I will go check out next week. I would love to at least go to one or two classes a week for the instruction and then practice at home and work on my meditation more.

On the subject of home practices, Gaiam has a Yoga Club 12 Week Home Practice.

Home Practice # 2

This morning was already busy with some errands I needed to run. By the time I was finished, I questioned if I wanted to still practice today. Then I figured I was already sweaty from the cleaning I just finished doing so sure why not? Doing the same thing I did yesterday, this time I went back and grabbed the August 2008 Yoga Journal and opened to the Home Practice.


Warm Up: Other than cleaning the bathroom? 5 rounds of Sun Salutations and my Tree Pose to regain focus.

YJ Practice: I did follow step by step this time and not skip anything. For the lunges I held for five breaths, forward bends eight. As you can see it all led up to Hanumanasana which was difficult since I only have one block and for this pose I usually use two.

Fun Time: I kept it simple today with a couple of forearm stands against the wall. Once down, did a Full Wheel for backbend and Savasana. After Savasana I sat for about a minute which felt like the cherry on top of a sundae.

Total practice time today was 20 minutes. I'm glad I went ahead and squeezed this in. The time certainly goes fast once you get going. Cindy from Yoga and a Latte wrote a great entry, Why a Home Practice? that is definitely worth reading.

Home Practice Day 1

Alright, so I have struggled with having and maintaining a home practice since I first started doing Yoga. It has been two weeks since I've been home and away from a studio so I decided that today is THE day to get my butt in gear and do something about that. As an added incentive, I will chronicle my progress here for anyone who might be interested.

One of the problems I've had practicing at home, besides actually doing it, is what to do? I acknowledge now that I have thought about this a little too much which is no fun, thinking sucks. At my finger tips I have a couple of years worth of Yoga Journal issues and every issue has a "Home Practice" section, duh! I need to take advantage of this. I began with the most recent issue #213 (September 2008) which I will tell you what it entails in case you don't have it in just a moment. Let's see if I can remember what I did.

Warm up: 2 variations of Sun Salutations
-Downward Dog, plank, Chattarunga, Upward Dog, Downward Dog (5x)
-Standing Sun Salutation (5x)
-I like starting in Tree Pose because I really feel like it helps center my mind. Both sides for eight breaths.

YJ Practice: I didn't follow to the T, they were more like guidelines
-Baddha Konasana - YJ said hold for five minutes, I think I only did 1 minute
-Cowboy Negotiation Pose - I have never done this before but it feels wonderful if you have open hips. Five breaths on each side.
-Hammock Pose for eight breaths
-I skipped Horse Stance w/ Uddiyana Bandha, I just wasn't feeling an intense breathing exercise today.
-Virabhadrasana II on both sides for 10 breaths
-Transition into forward lunge externally rotating the arms behind you to open the chest. Five breaths on each side.
-A very awkward Rounded Plank Pose into Cobra for 10 breaths. For plank it says to "Draw your tailbone under and round your back as you bring your shoulders over your wrists". I think I was tucking my chin which made it feel funny.
-After Cobra is instructs to do "Rocket Cat" - what's with these names? Were there "Rockets" in India 5,000 years ago??? I digress.
-Finally came the "Slumpy Swami Twist" which is just that, a seat twist hunched over. Not recommended for people with lower back problems.

Fun Time: Now is where I get to play around with a couple of random poses
-Arm balance: Crow Pose
-Inversions: I tried a couple of times to kick up into Handstand but it wasn't happening today. It's been a while since I have done it. So instead I did a Headstand for 1 minute
-After I came down, I did only one Full Wheel just because I hate this pose and the way it makes my wrist feel but I still feel like I should do one pose I don't like.
-Finally Savasana for 5 minutes.

In total this turned into a 30 minute practice and I am feeling pretty good and accomplished. See you tomorrow!

PSA: Sponsorships

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This is coming at a time where I find myself having to cancel my monthly membership to the yoga studio I belong to because the cost is just getting to be too much for me. I am going to take a stab at developing a home practice. I practiced yesterday morning but it was pretty discombobulated.

Anyone with a regular home have some tips to share please do! How long do you practice for? Do you use a DVD? Yoga Today? A book/magazine?