I’ve Never had a Home Yoga Practice, How do I Start?
A lot of us have never had a home yoga practice and are wondering, how do I go about starting one?
You just start.
This whole social distancing thing is very challenging both physically and emotionally for everyone. Humans are meant to interact, and we are also meant to move. Below are our tips for starting and nurturing a home yoga practice:
Find your space - not everyone has the luxury of having an extra room to create a yoga oasis in their home, but luckily that doesn’t matter. As long as you can fit your yoga mat in the space, that’s all you need. When it’s warm enough, we highly suggest practicing outside for an extra bonus of VitaminD! If you are in desperate need of a sweat, it is possible to create a make-shift hot yoga room in your bathroom. Yes, that’s right, in your bathroom (if it’s large enough). Turn that shower on HOT, and in a few minutes you’ll have a nice steamy space to get a little sweat on while you move. If you have a space heater, you can also utilize that in your new temporary yoga room. But remember, safety first! No setting your toes ablaze!
Make the time - you were already setting time aside to come to the studio, so now set that time aside to move at home. It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 minutes a day, or 2 hours a day, you will feel better if you continue to make time for your yoga practice. There can be added distractions at home, so set an alarm if need be. Let your roommates, family, dogs, and cats know that this is your time for yourself and it’s necessary if everyone wants you to remain happy. If you need an accountability partner, reach out to us! Shoot us an email and we’d be happy to peacefully harass you everyday and remind you to practice :-)
Take it easy - remember that your body is incredibly mobil in the hot room compared to what it will be at home at room temperature. Take it SLOW. The last thing you need right now is a pulled muscle.
If you are listening to a class on your phone, put your phone on “Do not disturb” for the duration of your practice. It is way too easy to pause your practice for mindless scrolling on your phone when you are practicing alone with no teacher and no accountability partner. So do yourself a favor, and put that phone on do not disturb!
STAY POSITIVE! In addition to continuing your yoga practice at home, make sure that you keep drinking plenty of water and eating good foods. Proper exercise and nutrition will help you maintain a healthy body and positive attitude during this time of turbulence. If you are in need of some human connection, do not hesitate to give us a shout! We are first and foremost a COMMUNITY, and we will continue to support you in any way that we can even though we can’t physically be together right now. Keep your chin up buttercup, everything is going to be OK!
-Rachel Mzhickteno
Hot Yoga Richmond Co-Owner
Here are some of our teachers’ yoga spaces at home:
