Ask a Yogini: How Do I Start a Home Practice?

Hi Sweet Family,

SO happy to be back together with a sparkly new show for you! I’m just back from FOLLOW YOUR RISE, our retreat in the desert, and feeling so super-jazzed about our community and the work we are doing here. (In case you missed the fun in Sedona, we will be back there again in 2017– October 5-8. Sign up will open soon.)

Today’s episode is brought to you by the Wildcat Yoga Club, our online yoga community. The Clubhouse is currently under construction and will open soon. Membership in the club gives you access to over 8 years of past podcasts and all forthcoming audio and video practices, plus lectures, tutorials, video Q&A sessions and a monthly group online meditation circle plus discounts on all courses, retreats and products. All for $15 per month. I have the privilege of connecting with so many brilliant students around the world. Now, the Wildcat Yoga Club will connect all of you! A dream come true. To receive an invitation, submit your email here.

Today’s episode features our new segment: Ask A Yogini. This is a forum for asking questions and sharing insights. If you have a question about practice and life or if you would like to be a guest expert to engage with questions on the show, send me an email at sunroseyoga@gmail.com or ask via any social media platform.

Thank you Clair for today’s question. Clair asks:
My question/request to you is, do you have any advice about cultivating an at home practice? One of the biggest obstacles I face is finding flow when I am not listening to an instructor take me from pose to pose, I find I don’t get as deep into the poses or practice because I am preoccupied with thoughts like “how long should I stay in this pose?” or “what pose should I do next?” rather than really feeling the fullness of the pose and letting go, because in a class I know some one else is taking care of those questions! Would love to hear a podcast or correspond via message, or be referred to previous posts that may touch on this subject. Thank you thank you for providing inexpensive and free resources for some high quality yoga classes!

What a fantastic question! I think a home practice is the key to bringing your practice into the fullness of your real life. But how to do that can be challenging.

WHAT IS A HOME PRACTICE?

• For this conversation, we’ll assume that home practice means your self-directed yoga practice.

WHY WOULD I PRACTICE AT HOME?

• Only practice makes a practice. There is no substitute for practice.
• Honestly, in some classes, the pace is so fast and the instruction so technical, that the class can actually itself be a distraction. We can hide behind the yoga class.

HOW DO I DO IT?

• Figure out your relationship to expectations. I love this quiz by Gretchen Rubin about habit tendency. Podcasts about the four tendencies on the Happier Podcast: Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, Rebel.
• SPACE: you must have time in your day. Schedule it.
• SPACE: find a physical space in your home/office/favorite places to be to unroll your mat. Keep coming back.
• SIGNAL: cultivate signals to yourself that indicate– the practice begins now. Trace these back a few steps before you actually get onto your mat.
• KEEP IT SIMPLE: Early on in my home-practice life, my teacher suggested beginning with 5 poses a day. You can always do more, but 5 can be a complete practice. Here is the archive of 5-pose practices here on the podcast.
• PRACTICE NOTICING: While you are in your 5 poses, notice where you feel sensation. What is your current emotional state? How scattered or focused is your mind? Just begin to notice.
• REFLECT: I am dedicated to process and therefore continue to come back to the questions: Why do I practice yoga? Is what I’m doing “working”? How will I know it is working?

Here is a link to the archive of 5-Pose Practices.

Here is a worksheet for you to print and use to write down your 5 poses.

NEWS//

• The Sunrose Yoga Shop is full of offerings to support your practice: guided meditations, courses, books. Check it out. Check it innnnnn.
• HOT OFF THE PRESS! I’m teaching at the Sedona Yoga Festival in March! Hope to see some of you there.
• OUR NEXT Mini-Retreat is Happening in PORTLAND on February 18, 2017: a day of yoga, delicious food and a trip to the sauna. Mark your calendars. Space will be extremely limited.
• OUR NEXT IMMERSION begins in APRIL: BECOMING WHO YOU ARE// The Wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita. 8 weeks. STOKED.

• YES ^ CHECK IT OUT.

CONNECT//

What is coming up in your practice these days? Do tell. Where are you hoping our next retreat will be?  What are your questions and thoughts about practice moving into the new season? Share! I love hearing from everyone in the community and can’t wait to connect even MORE.

Keep in touch. Stay close. I love you, and I love hearing from you.

• email: sunroseyoga@gmail.com
• voicemail: speakpipe
• twitter: @kellysunrose
• instagram: @kelly_sunrose
• facebook: Kelly Sunrose Yoga

LISTEN//

You can download the episode to any device right here.

Thank you so much for being here.