In this time of Corona Virus all of the studios and gyms are closed, most likely for the foreseeable future and you will have found that a lot of yoga classes have gone online. This is great in that you can now have your favourite yoga teachers beamed directly into your living room! 

This has been an ideal time to foster a home practice. But you need a good space to practice. The Upanishads state that it should be, “In a hidden, wind free, sheltered spot  which is flat, clean, free from stones, fire and sand, by quiet flowing waters and the like, agreeable to the mind  but not oppressive to the eye, there he should practice yoga.” 

The Bhagavad Gita states that, “In a clean place he should set up a firm seat for himself, with a cloth, deerskin and kusa grass on top.” Other texts talk about practicing yoga on the top of a mountain, at the foot of a tree or in a shrine.  

Clearly all of these ancient texts are referring to the ascetic yogins who lived on the outskirts of society and didn’t really have a living room in which to practice. However, the basic premise of all of these ideas is, as stated in the Upanishads, a clean, clear uncluttered space that is pleasing to look at and conducive to allowing you to practice without being interrupted. So not your family dining room at mealtimes then! 

That description from the Upanishads takes me back to the yoga space of my first teacher, Rolf Naujokat, in Goa. His practice space, or shala was a clearing at the bottom of Disco Valley in Vagator. Disco valley is a palm grove that leads down a hill to the beach. It was named Disco Valley because there would be full moon parties held there. Rolf had a space on a flat piece of land in a small clearing in the palm trees. The space was regularly smoothed over with fresh cow dung to make a floor, so it was free from stones, fire and sand. Though there was the odd knobbly tree root that appeared when it needed refreshing! The view was of the sea and there was a lovely cooling breeze coming off the beach. It was wonderfully shaded by the trees. A beautiful space to practice yoga, I was so lucky. 

Now though we have the option of practicing on a proper floor, in a studio. Even Rolf teaches on his roof now, which is better because it is flat and concrete and the stones and roots often got in the way. And during lockdown, and hopefully beyond, we have the option of creating a beautiful space in our home in which to practice yoga. 

So what do you need? Ideally a clean uncluttered space. I share my yoga space with the PlayStation. So it’s a room with a small sofa, a big TV and an old rocking chair which is used for gaming, and can be moved out of the way to create enough space for me to practice in. This space has become my ‘Yoga Studio’ during lockdown so I have had to move a bit of furniture around in order to make it look presentable. 

For your home practice, you don’t need to create a yoga studio, just enough space where you can roll out your mat and practice on in the morning. If you are aiming at a morning practice - in order to make yoga a daily habit, then ideally you’ll be able to quickly set the space up either the night before or first thing in the morning. I can’t stress the importance of a clean and uncluttered space! Otherwise you are likely to spend your whole practice looking at what needs cleaning and what needs tidying away, and if you are not careful your mind will get carried away and before you know it you are no longer doing yoga but you’re cleaning and tidying up! It happens! It is good to practice in the same space every day as well, that way you associate this space, and time with your yoga practice and nothing else, so you are more likely to stay focussed on your yoga, and create a morning habit. 

What happens if you live in a busy household with partners and children or housemates who can interrupt? Well, that will always happen and I suppose you could choose your time for practice so that the rest of the house isn’t up or around. Early mornings are great for this, no one else is up and so there are no interruptions, except for maybe the cat who wants a space by the heater! Obviously sharing a house with others and not having a special room to dedicate to your yoga, it isn’t always easy, and this is why I practice early morning so that I avoid everyone else and can practice in peace, but I know this isn’t that easy, or for everyone, so you have to do what you can and find a space that works for you.  

So, even during Lockdown, there is always a way to keep up your practice and there are so many options out there for online yoga at the moment. Find a class that suits you, and a teacher that resonates with you and roll out your mat in your space and practice. 

I am so pleased that even throughout this lockdown, I have managed to keep our morning Mysore community together and we have become stronger, even though we are all physically separate in our homes, we are all practicing together. We may not be physically in the same space but because we all come together every day at the same time in the Virtual practice space, the shared energy of our practice is so strong. It is truly wonderful to experience and be a part of. I feel so blessed to have this time to practice every morning. It has been a wonderful bit of normality in these uncertain times.

It has also fostered a daily Ashtanga practice for everyone who comes which I hope will remain a habit even when the lockdown has ended. The idea of home practice has now been tried and tested and it has worked. So hopefully this habit will continue for everyone into the future. As we have found during this pandemic, it is not always possible to be with your teacher all of the time, and there will be periods where you have a choice either to practice on your own at home or not practice at all. The beauty of Ashtanga Yoga is that it is taught as a self practice for just this reason, so that you can keep up your daily practice, even without a teacher.

Yoga has felt especially important to me in these uncertain times and being able to just connect with your breath, and move your body knowing that you are not alone has felt especially comforting. We practice every day, moving through the same familiar sequences of postures that we have always practiced, with our community, and it has felt normal in these deeply abnormal and unsettling times. It has brought some sanity into the chaos that is the world at the moment and feels grounding and safe. And it really sets you up for the day, making you ready to face everything the day throws at you.

Please do join our community if you want to make a home practice habit for yourself. We start at 6:30am every weekday with 12 focussed breaths, followed by the opening mantra and then we move into our practice. If you don’t think you can remember all of the sequence you can use a cheat sheet, but you will be amazed at how much you can remember if you have been attending regular led classes. If you join us regularly you will quickly find that you won’t need the cheat sheet for very long. It is fine to just go up to where you feel happy, no one expects anything from you. It’s your practice. Pets and children are always welcome too and we all meet up after practice on a Friday for a virtual cuppa!

Join our community