Do you want to start a daily yoga practice and don’t know where to begin? Or maybe you have one already and are looking for new inspiration? Perhaps you also know this: you start full of resolve, and after two weeks the practice falls asleep again. In this article I show you how to build a home practice that is varied, joyful and, above all, lasting. I have been teaching yoga since 2007, and these building blocks have proven themselves over all those years.
The basic practice
A simple framework for the morning or late afternoon: First sit in silence and use a timer. Then do breathing exercises (pranayama). If you are a beginner, start by breathing a few times without controlling your breath, simply enjoying it. Then lengthen your exhalation until it is about five times longer than your inhalation, and lie down to relax for a few breaths.
Slowly get up, do some shoulder rolls and practise five to ten minutes of sun salutations, for example five rounds of the classical sun salutation on both sides, or three rounds each of Surya Namaskar A and B. Next come some delicious twists, standing or passively on your back. Add the plough (Halasana) and shoulder stand (Sarvangasana) as inversions, and finish with five to ten minutes in relaxation pose (Shavasana).
With this framework you receive meditation and breath work along the way, you move your spine in all directions, and the final Shavasana integrates what your body has learned and calms your whole system.
The weekly schedule: one posture group per day
It is fun to have a fixed focus for each day of the week. The following structure comes from the practice manual “Yoga for Beginners” by Orit Sen Gupta and from the workshops I attended with her. I highly recommend all her books. In the original, the plan adds up to an hour per day, but you can shorten the times so that your practice comes to 20 or 30 minutes.
The framework stays the same every day: sitting, pranayama, then sun salutations and the postures, and to close, plough, shoulder stand and Shavasana. Only the posture group changes: Sunday standing poses, Monday hand balances, Tuesday back bends and leg stretches, Wednesday forward bends and twists, Thursday sitting postures, Friday freely combined from all groups. And Saturday is a rest day: only sitting, pranayama and a long Shavasana, happily 20 minutes.
Why this plan works so well: You do not have to think about what to practise, which makes it much easier to get onto your mat in the first place. Over the course of a week you balance the whole body instead of only doing your favourite poses. Each group gives the day its own energy. Friday brings freedom and play into the plan. And I love that a day off is built in, for yoga is also about keeping your balance, and “only” a long Shavasana can be the more challenging practice.
Steady with ease: what the Yoga Sutras advise
In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali describes how a posture should be: steady and at the same time easy, achieved through persistent, light effort and alignment with the infinite. That is the whole art of consistency in one sentence.
You experience this practically in what Orit Sen Gupta calls “rooting”: there is a difference between pushing your foot into the mat and letting your weight sink into the floor. Pushing makes you stiff. Soft, decisive sinking, on the other hand, lets an uplifting energy flow through your body, keeping you tall and aligned effortlessly.
Exactly this principle applies to establishing the practice itself: instead of pressing yourself into the new habit, you relax into it, offer it to your Higher Self and follow the steps with joy. It takes both: the loving inner parent who keeps the practice going (“tough love”), and the surrender into the practice. With this combined strength of feminine and masculine energy you practise firmly but gently, without judgment and without blame, for judgment is what makes you stiff. Baby steps over a long period of time yield profound results. You can read how to change habits with love instead of pressure in my article on changing habits.
Yoga belongs in your whole life
Work and free time are often treated as opposites that need to be “balanced”. I invite you to a different view: find the qualities of your free time in your work (for example mindfulness and joy) and the qualities of work in your free time (for example the discipline that keeps your practice alive). Then the two worlds stop fighting each other and together become the playground for your practice.
And do not judge how much you practise. Your practice should never stress you, but you also do not want to forget about it, because you know it does you good. It is an art: the art of finding your balance again each day and each moment.
Yoga is connection: first with yourself
Yoga means connection, and the most important relationship is always the one with yourself. This friendship with yourself carries the same qualities as any good relationship: trust, joy, time for each other, honouring your feelings, and humour. You are the only one who is constantly with you; all others are with you in moments. “You don’t see yourself with your eyes, yet you know that you exist,” says Swami Rama.
Your daily practice is lived self-friendship, and from this place of peace with yourself, connecting with others becomes light and joyful too. You can read more in my article on unconditional self-love.
The yogic attitude: love whatever arises
While you practise, thoughts and feelings will come up. Do not worry about that, for it is the mind’s job to think, and during practice you will probably become more aware of your feelings. Simply love whatever arises. In doing so you practise loving unconditionally and experience inner peace, even if your mind would rather tell you that these thoughts are not okay right now. You are so much more than your body, emotions and thoughts, and your daily practice can show you exactly that. You can read how to quiet your mind beyond the mat in my article on quieting the mind.
If you would like your own personal practice
If you would like an individual home practice that fits your body, your daily life and your themes, I am happy to help you put it together. Let us meet.
Book a free Clarity Call: https://tidycal.com/sandragross/claritycall-en
