Tag Archives: home practice

Upward Facing Dog on My Mat

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We celebrated our daughter’s 16th birthday today with a hayride, pumpkin picking, caramel apple making, and dinner at Benihana.  So, I got back too late to go to my usual Sunday night Yin class.  After I digested, however, it seemed like a pretty good opportunity for a gentle home practice, and my younger (10) daughter was looking at a loss about what to do, so I invited her to join me – which was good, because it made me less self-conscious about speaking through the poses.

We started with a short seated meditation.  At this point, one of our dogs, Indy, placed herself squarely on my mat in a lovely sphinx pose.  After physically removing her from the mat, I settled back in.  Within seconds, she was on my daughter’s mat, laying on her legs during our meditation.  Hmmm…

From the seated position, we moved into a warm-up consisting of a variety of seated stretches and twists, moving into cat-cow, and finishing by coming up through Adho Mukha Svanasana into a standing position (Tadasana).  Since there was still a dog on the mat, I took advantage of the moment to ask my “student” what had worked for her in the warm-up and what didn’t work so well.  She gave me a little constructive feedback, and then we shooed the dog away and got ready to do a step back flow.

At this point, we proceeded into a step back flow consisting of:

  • Tadasana
  • Udhva Hastasana
  • Uttanasana
  • Ardha Uttanasana
  • Lunge
  • Lunge with chest lifted
  • Adho Mukha Svanasana
  • Plank
  • Asta Pranam
  • Bhujangasana
  • Adho Mukha Svanasana
  • Lifted foot
  • Lunge
  • Lunge with chest lifted
  • Uttanasana
  • Urdha Hastasana
  • Tadasana

We got through 2 series of flows (on each side), but not without some trials and tribulations, primarily related to a dog that WOULD NOT move.  I mean this animal was seriously plastered to the mat. She did not even care when my daughter was actually in Bhujangasana on top of her, she didn’t move.  And our attempts to move were for naught, as she only followed us.  It was funny, but maybe not quite the centered experienced we were going for : )  Besides the dog, my biggest challenge was to fit everything I needed to say into the space of a breath.  Whew!

After the flows, we quickly moved back to a meditative seat, as that seemed like the best option with our little helper on the mat.  We spent about 10 minutes in a cross-legged seat, concentrating on the flow of the breath.  This apparently worked well for at least the dog, who looked almost comatose by the time we finished.

All in all, maybe it wasn’t the best home practice I’ve had, but it was one, and it was nice.  I’m hoping to fit at least one more in this week with my studio classes and other obligations – maybe not including the dog or child!

Namaste,

L

Home Practice is Difficult

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I have an admission to make.  I didn’t do a “real” home practice this week.  Sure, I did 10 minutes of seated meditation here and there.  I almost always do some seated stretches and standing folds at some point in the day.  And, I usually end the day with a little pre-bed asana.  But, I didn’t get to a dedicated full-on home practice.

So, what is the problem?  What is in my way?  I suspect that the things that get in my way are not unique to me, so perhaps a little reflection on what the blockages are is in order.

  • Time – Time gets in my way for home practice.  Currently, I have a vinyasa, yin, or teacher training class scheduled for every day of the week.  Then I have work Monday-Friday and every other Sunday.  Then there are family commitments.  It’s hard to find a good time to fit the practice in, and this relates directly to…
  • Prioritization – Going to class, cooking for my family, going to work – in all of these things I feel an obligation to others.  I feel like I have let someone down if they don’t get done or don’t get done well.  Guilt is a motivator for me (probably sadly) to be sure that all of those things fit into my day.  But, a home yoga practice is just for me – no one else.  So, it’s easy to push it aside and leave it for the “leftover” time.
  • Distraction – In a studio class, I can easily focus, because everyone there is doing the same thing and there aren’t competing activities going on.  At home, I can hear the laundry (that I need to switch over), the kids having that argument (that I need to solve), the whining dogs (that I should take out).  It’s insanely easy to come to the mat and then distract myself so much that I don’t really even get started.
  • Uncertainty – I’m still not sure what to do in a home practice.  When I do my home practice, I typically do a modified ashtanga practice, because it is all I can think of to do.  That’s fine, but I can pretty quickly zip through the poses I am “up to” in the primary series and have only done a very short practice.  I’m hoping that as training continues, I will feel more comfortable with my own ability to put together a practice for even myself.

These are the biggies for me.  I know I need to get past them, because it’s necessary for my own practice and for teacher training.  So, in the coming week, I vow to get’er done.

How about you?  What gets in your way for yoga practice at home?  Or, if not, what do you love about it?

Namaste,

L

Do Just Sit There

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Though the teacher training was only half a week this week, I decided to try to fit in everything that I will be doing in  upcoming weeks, so that I can get used to the schedule.  This meant doing the reading (yay reading, not-so-yay note taking), going to 3 vinyasa and 2 yin classes, going to 2 teacher training sessions, doing 1 home practice, and writing three journal entries.  Some of those things I do anyway (the classes, reading, blogging).  Some I haven’t in the past – or at least not regularly.  Home practice has, for the past year or so, fallen into that second category more weeks than not.  It’s not that I don’t like practicing at home; it’s more that I like being in class and having the energy (and direction) of others and I just run out of time to do the home practice as well.  But, reasonably, it’s part of our training – since we’ll need to plan classes, we should be able to plan our own yoga practice.  So, this week was time to revive my home yoga.

Image from Yoga Journal Japan

Many practices begin with Sukhasana, or easy pose.  Now, I could lie and tell you that I usually look fabulous in Sukhasana, like the lovely yogi  to the left.  But, lying isn’t very yogic, is it?  I try, but I have a slouching problem, and after a few seconds of relatively upright posture and mostly straight back, bad things start to happen and I look like a big letter C with legs (metaphor courtesy of my friend Rachel).  And, if I can get my mid back in good shape, then I round my shoulders and end up looking like a candy cane.  It’s quite delightful, actually.

You probably know where this is going, but tonight I did my home practice in just Sukhasana for 1/2 hour.  My back is something I have been working on in yoga with my instructors’ help, and we haven’t really begun working on asana in class, so it seemed appropriate.  I focused on sitting straight, breathing, and being mindful (control the chitta vritti, eh?).  It wasn’t easy.  In fact, I would say it was difficult, both mentally and physically.  Sitting up straight in my back actually requires a pretty good amount of concentration, and core muscles.  My sides are feeling a little sore at the moment.  But, I know that it was worthwhile and it’s probably something I will try to work into my practice at home, even as it evolves and my focus changes to more active asanas here.

So, I would say… Do just sit there!  Do something!

Namaste,

L