Home Practice DVDs

Many yogis don't practice at home because they simply don't know where to start. Here's how to create sequences that will keep you engaged, curious, and dedicated.

Virtually all yoga practitioners will tell you that developing and maintaining a home practice is challenging. Tackle this challenge head on by creating a sequence of poses that meets your needs. A well-rounded pose sequence is the foundation of a solid home practice. While some systems of asana practice, like the Ashtanga Vinyasa of Pattabhi Jois, use set groupings or series of poses, many systems do not designate the order of poses. So, within limits, students are left to choose the sequence of poses.  If you want to create a home practice, here’s a quick guide to DIY sequencing.

A basic, well-rounded sequence of poses moves your spine in all directions. Thus your practice should include poses that require vertical stretching, inversion, forward bending, backbending, twisting, as well as relaxation. Aim to include at least one or two poses from each of the main groups (see list below) in the order listed above, at least until you feel comfortable with the poses’ effects and the relationships between the poses. Once you have built a well-rounded practice, you can get creative, creating routines to either expand on what you’ve got or to achieve a more specific goal.

Each day's practice should be complete, but it can also focus on a specific group of poses, a specific part of your body, or a specific energetic shift you want to generate. One way to fashion a well-rounded practice over time is to divide your week up into specific practice segments, alternating between the more vigorous and the more restorative practices. For example, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday you may want to practice more vigorous poses. While on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday you could focus on seated poses, forward bends, and twists. On Sunday you could practice restorative poses. Another way to balance your practice over time is to create theme sessions that focus on a specific part of your body. For example, you might choose to focus on your shoulders for three days this week. On the other days of the week, go back to your basic well-rounded practice. Then, in the next week, shift your focus to another part of the body. If you choose this pattern of sequencing poses, be sure to warm up first with a few standing poses and end with a relaxation pose.

No matter what approach you use, keep in mind that the point of practice is not just to become more adept at the poses or to improve your health. These are worthy goals, but even more importantly, your home practice can ignite awareness about how you respond to difficulty and ease, to consistency and change, to the way you fall into the universal human strategies of avoiding the difficult (whether for you this means Savasana or challenging backbends) and clinging to the familiar and comfortable (whether that means calming, inward-looking asanas or difficult poses in which your ego is happy to show off). If your home practice draws you deeper into such awareness, it will achieve its most important purpose-and it will also create a momentum of consistency and a sense of accomplishment, pleasure, and well-being.