We at Taj Yoga recognize that at the time you may need it the most, the studio is not available for you. But that is only the physical location. We are starting a series “How to Stay Sane,” and installments will be coming to you via email every few days.
These brief essays and videos are created by the educators at the Taj, will cover diverse topics from home practice to sleep, and we hope our years of experience will help support you during this unprecedented national crisis.
The Taj Primaries
Theresa, Becci, Kathleen, Robin
How to Stay Sane Chapter 1. Home Practice: “Lets do this.”
By Theresa Elliott
Whether you engage in yoga, Feldenkrais, meditation, or any aspect of the internal arts, how can you stay centered in the face of calamity? To me this is the test of any practice. I’m not denying the value of the other benefits, and it’s easy to enjoy them when things are swell. But I feel the greatest gift of a steady practice is the opportunity to focus and go inward.
I love the enthusiasm and acknowledgement of ability in Lowe’s slogan, “Let’s do this.” When approaching a home practice, one of the big mistakes students make is fearing they will make big mistakes, and so they never start. Errors are a way of life. If we didn’t make them, how would we know where we are?
Find a quiet place and put out your mat, mediation cushion, and any props you might need, or simply be on the floor or carpet. Turn off your cell phone AND put it in a different room.
Grab any reference materials you have, books and charts that are hopefully not on an electronic device set to ping and distract you at any moment. You might take a minute and jot down a few poses or exercises you did in your last class. Then start.
Try and do something from memory. Do questions come up? Awesome. Look at your references. Be curious. Let your intellect be engaged as much as your body. Go back, reboot your meditation or pranayama, try your pose or exercise again, and incorporate what you discovered from your resources.
Do another exercise from memory. Rinse, wash, repeat.
Now, are you going to have an amazing work out? That’s not the point, but kudos if you do.
The point is to anchor your mind and take a vacation from the outside world. Keep your expectations low if you have never had a home practice. 15 minutes is a fair amount of time when starting out, and I cite that number because I still remember my first home practice and how bewildered I was because I could only do 15 minutes. It takes time to build a practice into what you may experience in a classroom.
So what about online videos? Certainly that’s an option and you can go to the Taj Facebook page for practice tips, and stay tuned for an excellent video coming from Kathleen. You could even look further on the world wide web for on-line classes. However, I’d encourage you to also begin your own discovery of what it takes to develop a home practice as the rewards are different from those in class.
