How to establish your own Yoga practice?

🩸Establishing a Practice

Looking to establish your own yoga practice but unsure where to begin? While it can present challenges, approaching it with the right intention and awareness to your body can lead to a deeply fulfilling journey. To help you get started, here are some tips and insights for establishing a meaningful yoga practice.

One of the most common habits, which may prevent us from making progress, is trying too hard. The desire to understand and to affect change can cause us to use willpower and force. If we accept that the process of establishing a practice takes time and it is necessary to not know, then we can let go of unhelpful habits and see what is revealed. We are entering a process that unfolds gradually. This is the beauty in Yoga practice.

🩸Your intention

The frequency of your yoga practice depends on your personal goals, your budget and other factors. It’s possible to do yoga every day, but you can also gain benefits from practicing weekly or biweekly. It is important to create a regular and well-balanced practice from the beginning. If you’re a beginner, then you might want to have a different schedule than a seasoned yogi. If you want to gain strength, then your practice will be different than if you wanted to increase flexibility or relieve stress.

🩸 Make friends with your body

We have to question how we use our bodies, in every way. Resistance and pain most often result from lack of integration. We have to recognize tension and dilute it by noticing where a part of the body is not enjoying its range of motion. A tense and dull body can misinterpret the information we give it and cause confusion, fragmentation and injury. Talk to your body, listen to your body. Become lighter and see what that suggests. Our study is based on a well-ordered and harmonious body.

🩸 Be playful

Investigate your feet, investigate your hands. Feel the connections between the large joints of your body and try to soften the outer muscles to observe what is happening beneath them. Use your eyes and imagination. Become curious and question assumptions (my favorite part 😉 ).

🩸Where and When?

• A short practice every day is more effective than occasional long sessions. Yoga enlivens us if we commit ourselves to a practice performed over an extended period of time. It is the attention given, that is most important.
• Notice the quality of your breath before, during and after practice. Observe without controlling. Feel the strong connection between breath and mind.
• Let go of the concept of achievement and doing. Try not to anticipate your next move.
• You don’t need a special yoga place. You can make any space special.
• Don’t try to remember everything from class – one or two things can be enough to feed your own practice