Are you missing your favorite yoga studio while stuck at home? We’re over a month into social distancing and have been challenged to find creative ways to stay moving indoors. If your body is craving more movement and self-care, now is an excellent opportunity to enhance your home yoga practice with these 5 tips.
I’ll admit, I can already hear the skeptics:
- I don’t have space for it.
- It’s not the same as going to a yoga studio.
- I lose interest when I practice on my own.
Take it from a girl who’s lived in small Chicago apartments the past 3 years, you can transform any space into a yoga sanctuary!
To support you with intuitive movement, while staying home, I’m bringing you 5 ways to enhance your home yoga practice.
1. Create your space.
Decide what mood you want to create for yourself. Are you in need of a relaxing, refreshing, or energizing yoga flow? How can your space reflect that? You don’t need a separate room for yoga, even the corner of a room will work! Here are some ideas for setting the mood:
- Soft-lighting. Turn off overhead lights, light candles, use the light of a lamp, or use a dimmer setting on lights if you have it.
- Go green. Indoor plants are a great way to add vibrance to your space. If you want your yoga practice to feel energizing and refreshing, plants will reflect that back to you. It can be as simple as a row of succulents on the windowsill next to you.
- Enjoyable scents. Turn on a diffuser with your favorite essential oils. Light palo santo or sage. Scents have the transformative power to change our energy levels and remind us of favorite memories. For me, palo santo reminds me of the Eat Stretch Nap yoga retreat that I attended last year in Mexico!
As I’ve been in small apartments, I keep a tray with a few of these items: candle, palo santo, flowers, etc. That way, it’s easy to move the tray next to my yoga mat, wherever I decide to practice.
2. Set yourself up with props.
Props are not a sign of weakness. I repeat: props are not a sign of weakness. Props are used to enhance the benefits of a pose, make poses accessible to your body, and ease into your practice. I recommend yoga blocks, straps, and blankets for getting started with your at-home yoga practice. Any blankets or rolled-up towels will work!
3. Queue up your music.
Do you like to practice yoga with music? I love creating playlists for yoga flows as a way to enhance the experience. For a calm and relaxing vibe, listen to my 45-Minute Instrumental playlist. Or listen to my 60-Minute Yoga Cleanse playlist, to feel a sense of renewal. You’ll find more playlists on my Spotify page! Also, music can help keep the time for you; if you want to commit to a 30-minute practice, queue a 30-minute playlist.
4. Decide between free-flow or guided.
This comes down to personal preference. As a yoga instructor myself, I enjoy moving to my own yoga sequences and flows, depending on what my body desires that day. Perhaps you feel confident in crafting your own sequences, too! Other times, I enjoy the support of a guide leading me through a class. If you’re new to yoga, seeking a community feel, or want additional cues for your practice, guided classes are a great way to practice at home. Here are a few FREE yoga resources:
- Peloton App. The Peloton App is currently offering a 90-day free trial. Did you know that they have yoga classes in addition to biking and running? You can filter by level and class type: beginner, intermediate, slow flow, etc.
- Alo Yoga. I stumbled upon Alo Yoga’s YouTube channel and have thoroughly enjoyed these classes. They offer a variety of class types and have multiple instructors for you to find which one you vibe with the most.
- Local Studios. Check-in with your local studio’s offerings. Many yoga studios are streaming classes live given the current stay-at-home orders.
5. Commit to a mini-goal.
It’s easy to say, “I will practice yoga at home.” However, we’re much more likely to follow through when we are clear and specific about our desired behavior. A strategy for this is setting implementation intentions. James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, explains implementation intentions as giving our habits time and space to live in this world. To set your implementation intention, fill in the following sentence:
I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].
For example, I will practice yoga at 4:30 in my living room. Or, I will stretch before bed for 10 minutes in my bedroom. You get the picture! Don’t set the bar too high. Make sure your implementation intention works with your schedule, not against you.
How will you enhance your home yoga practice?
Working with Me
I help my clients craft self-care routines that are grounding and nourishing from within. Looking for more support with this? Start with a FREE discovery call today!