Home Stretch

Roll out your yoga mat at home and you'll find the freedom to experiment, to evolve, and to become your own best teacher.

By Jason Crandell

The first day of my two-year teacher training program, I experienced something akin to an existential crisis. It didn't have anything to do with awakening kundalini or realizing my true Self. Sadly, it was much more mundane: It hit when I realized that in order to participate in the program, I had to agree to the mandate to "have your own home practice."

A few days later, when I unrolled my sticky mat at home alone for the first time, I wanted to bolt. Up until then my idea of yoga was attending a class, which is kind of like being chauffeured around town, sitting comfortably in the back seat, enjoying the scenery. Practicing at home was totally foreign to me. It was as if someone handed me car keys but no map. I recognized great potential for freedom in my journey, but I was reluctant to go it alone—I was scared that I'd get lost.

Since that day of reckoning, I've talked to enough friends and students about the dreaded home practice issue to know I'm not alone. Many of us—even after we realize the benefits of a personal practice—seem to resist it. We tell ourselves that we don't have enough space or time or that we don't know what to do. Or we hold a romanticized vision of the perfect home practice and feel guilty when our reality doesn't match the fantasy.

I'm living proof that such resistance, however natural, is not impossible to overcome. Over time, I've even grown to love my home practice. Mark Whitwell, an internationally known teacher from the Heart of Yoga Association and a strong proponent of developing an authentic personal practice, describes it best: "When you practice at home you get to explore the exquisite relationship between the body, and the breath, and life itself. The whole reason for doing yoga is to enjoy this relationship, this natural intimacy with life."

The key to feeling the way Whitwell does is dropping self-imposed expectations. Your practice should be something you look forward to, and your expectations need to be realistic. You don't have to practice for an hour and a half doing the full primary series of Ashtanga on bamboo floors, surrounded by fountains and statues of Ganesh. You don't even—though there are folks who surely disagree with me—have to practice in utter silence, filled with restraint and completely undistracted every single time. For most of us, that's far from possible. But, if your time on the mat is nourishing, your home practice will become a refuge rather than another item on your to-do list. And it will take you places you may never have thought to go.

Do What You Feel

For starters, learning to practice at home solves the problem of not being able to get to class every day. If you sleep through your 6 a.m. class, you can still practice. If you miss your 6 p.m., you can still practice. Whether you have a quick 15 minutes or a decadent two hours, you can use the time you've got.

At home you can also practice whatever you want. You can do Triangle Pose five times, or spend 20 minutes in Corpse Pose. You can work on poses that challenge you—in the privacy of your very own home. My forward bends have always been pretty lousy. So, you know what? I practice them at home! Sure, I try to stay unattached to the outcome as I plug away, but the more time I devote to these poses, the more satisfying they are, and the more physical and energetic benefits I receive.

At the heart of it all, though, is the inner awareness you develop by practicing on your own. Without your teacher's voice guiding your every move, you can more easily go inside and witness what is happening in your body, emotions, and mind. When you delve beneath the surface of the daily events in your life and turn your attention inward, you'll get to know and experience yourself more clearly. You'll feel what your body craves or rebels against, hear your mind's chatter, and become aware of your current mood. One day in Triangle Pose you'll think, "Hmm, I'm tight and fidgety today. Actually, I'm sort of grumpy." Or, you'll think, "Wow, Triangle Pose feels really good today. I feel energetic and vibrant, like there is no clutter inside of me right now." When you clearly witness the multitude of mental, emotional, and physical ups and downs that you go through in the span of just one pose, and you begin to notice how much your experience changes from day to day, you'll learn a valuable lesson: that everything constantly changes. As a result, you'll react less to your inner dramas both on and off the mat, knowing that it is normal to fluctuate.

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