As my Yoga classes in Horsham break for two weeks I thought it might be a good time to offer some home Yoga practice tips.

  1. Make time to practice: it’s hard with our busy lives, so here are my top tips…if you are stiff bodied I would not advise waking up and starting to practice with cold muscles.  Instead, have your cup of tea, maybe a tiny thing to eat, then do any urgent chores (e.g. getting the kids to school).  Then it’s much more likely that you’ll actually do some yoga- with just 15 minutes a day you will notice a difference.  Once you’ve finished, eat your proper breakfast and get on with the rest of your day!
  2. Make space to practice: many of us have small homes with limited space.  If this is the case, you can use the space in front of a door.  The space a door requires to open into a room is enough space to practice in.  You can then use the door as a support to lean on, press your foot into in standing poses and to teach perfect alignment in Tadasana (Mountain Pose).
  3. You don’t need much equipment: to practice the sun salutations you don’t even require a sticky mat.  Headstand (Sirsasana) can be done against a door.  Shoulder stand (Sarvangasana) can be done with the buttocks resting onto a sofa, with just a blanket under the shoulders.
  4. What to actually do: below is a link to some simple Iyengar Yoga practice sheets to follow.  If you are unsure about doing a pose (headstand for example) then skip that pose.  Repethome yoga practice tipsition is key- you will make mistakes but if you keep practising, even just 15 minutes a day, the poses will gradually improve.  There’s no need to stay in the poses for a long time.  If you feel breathless, pause and wait until the breath has returned to normal before continuing.

If you are still hesitant, it could be that starting Yoga classes may give you the confidence you need.  If this is not possible, then having private one to one Yoga tuition could be the answer.

Perhaps you could share these home yoga practice tips with your friends that keep saying they want to start Yoga but haven’t actually got around to it yet…