One of the amazing benefits of yoga is the connection you can gain with your inner self. While group classes are always fantastic, it is a great idea to practice at home once in a while, allowing you additional time to breathe a little longer into the poses and stretches that your body may be yearning for. Apps like Gaia are wonderful tools for at-home sessions, as you are able to customize your practice to length and preferred style. There’s also of incredible yogis on YouTube who can assist you with your at-home practice.
Flowing at home is a great way to help build your cardiovascular strength, while also relaxing your mind and body by a slow release of stress. When you get the chance to Yogi up at home, you get to move at your own pace and repeat each move as many times as you need, helping to dive into a deeper self-discovery.
Benefits of at Home Yoga:
- Create Your Happy Place: opening up a space in your home specifically for yoga or meditation will ensure there is one place in your habitat that is focused strictly on serenity. Design this space in any matter that encourages you to decompress. Make sure that it is clutter-free, as a cluttered space is difficult to relax in. Feel free to add your own elements such as your favourite crystals or essential oils.
- Peace in Solitude: being by yourself can be very empowering. It is also an imperative when it comes to self-care. How can we know who we are and what we want if we don’t spend any time with ourselves? At-home practices are also wonderful when it comes to taking extra time for savasana or meditation.
- Practice Makes Perfect: practicing in a studio full of strangers can be intimidating for anyone, whether you’re new to the flow or are a full-time Yogi. It can be extremely difficult to separate our egos from our practice when everyone else around you is doing headstands and you’re still trying to master downward dog. Doing a routine at home or working on certain moves in your on space increases your confidence and abilities dramatically.
- Personalized, Chatter, Laughter, Customize: While there’s the unwritten Yogi rule to keep your noises to a minimum during classes which helps bring the zen energy to the room, you can feel free to laugh, grunt, groan and cheer yourself on when your at home on your own. You can also make a personalized playlist and say whatever may be coming to your mind when you’re holding a pose for too long.
The Poses:
1. Child’s Pose | Balasana
This is a super comforting pose that helps reduce stress to help bring you back to a good heart rate, with proper breathing. It’s a really useful pose as it helps relax tensiono in the face and mouth – yes we even carry tension there! You can also take this time to set an intention for your practice to make the most out of each move.
2. Mountain Pose | Tadasana
If you find yourself looking to improve your posture this is the perfect pose for you. This is the ultimate pose to soak up the earths energy and use it to help balance you out. Plus, it gives your body a full stretch to help get the blood flowing from top to bottom while focusing on your core and lower back.
3. Standing Forward Fold & Half Way Lift | Uttanasana & Ardha Uttanasana
This pose helps release built up tension that’s running through your mind and body. When you slowly bring your body up halfway you’re helping with blood flow and and releasing built-up tension; especially in your upper half, like shoulders, triceps and mind.
4. Chaturanga | Chaturanga Dandasana
Build and strengthen the endurance of the muscles in your arms, shoulders, core and back with this power move that also stretches your core and lower back. Chaturanga helps stretch out your core and lower back, which helps make your vertebrae feel extended. They key to moving through the postures is reminding yourself that you’re strong. When you practice at home, you don’t even have to feel shy about saying out loud “I have the strength”.
5. Downward Facing Dog | Adho Mukha Shvanasana
This pose is packed with the ability to reduce anxiety, stretch you out from head to toe and align your body. It works really well to bring energy into your lower legs that travels up to your spin. With your head hanging low, it takes away tension that we tend to carry around in our traps and neck.
6. One Legged Downward Dog With Knee Tuck | Eka Pada Adho Mukha Svanasana
This moves lengthens your hips and quads and brings increases the strength in your leg and arms from holding up one leg at a time. With the knee tuck, you’ll immediately start to feel your ab muscles working while your heart rate picks up. This is really important because a strong core is everything when it comes to supporting the rest of your body.
7. Warrior II | Virabhadrasana II
Keeping your direct focus past your finger tips helps to build focus and discipline. Warrior II will help you gain serious strength through your front leg while your arms get toned from keeping them up against gravity.
8. Extended Side Angle | Utthita Parsvakonasana
Work your entire side with this sturdy twist that strengthens your core and lengths you, leg to neck. While you look up to the sky you actually pull energy down from it to keep you motivated in your practice.
9. Pigeon Pose | Eka Pada Rajakapotasana
Women are prone to tight hips which makes this move ideal and immediately reliving. It’s a complete hip opener and relieves built up tension that you’re walking around with from your hip flexers into your butt.
10. Corpse Pose | Savasana
It’s rare that we let ourselves take the chance to lay completely flat in stillness, which makes this pose so useful. It’s said to be the most beneficial move of your entire practice because it’s when your body and mind are able to fully absorb all of the benefits it just experienced. It gives your body a chance to heal as you breath into the muscles that were just worked, while you melt into your mat.
Whether at home or the studio, here’s some great items to add to your Yogi collection:
